STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's ask what happens in the new year in education now that a national educational has changed. The No Child Left Behind law has been left behind, so is federally mandated types of tests that students take across the country. So, what happens next? NPR education reporter Claudio Sanchez, part of our Ed team, spoke with us about what to expect in 2016.
CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: Well, what's coming is a huge and sweeping change in how the federal government oversees public schools. The long, grueling fight over the 14-year-old No Child Left Behind law is over, but that will turn out to be the easy part. The new law returns most government oversight of schools back to states, with no guarantee that they will succeed where No Child Left Behind failed, closing the achievement gap, raising the performance of the absolute worst schools.
So we will see less testing - probably. But we're going to see reading and math scores drop for all kinds of reasons, tougher standardized tests, namely.
The dismal performance, though, of low-income minority children will trigger much more scrutiny from civil rights groups in 2016. They're going to organize like never before to pressure states to deal also with teacher quality in funding.
INSKEEP: So this battle that's been taking place on the federal level moves to states. And then there's another battle that involves both the federal government and the states over Common Core, these standards across the country that have been so controversial. What happens there?
SANCHEZ: Well, the controversy over the much-maligned Common Core Standards will wane in 2016. Most states will finish rebranding and quietly adopting the Common Core...
INSKEEP: Rebranding - what do you mean by that?
SANCHEZ: Well, what I mean is (laughter), we've already seen a lot of states just rename the Common Core Standards. Indiana is a perfect example. They have renamed their standards Hoosier Standards
INSKEEP: This is the state that dropped, very publicly, Common Core a couple of years ago. So now - or a year or so ago, so now they're going to continue in a different form.
SANCHEZ: That's right. What people are saying, though, about the Common Core is that even if - whatever you call them - that there's not going to be a so-called race to the bottom as we once saw under No Child Left Behind. We're actually seeing all 50 states raise their standards, and that's a good thing.
INSKEEP: What about charter schools?
SANCHEZ: Charter schools are going to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2016. There are 6,700 schools and nearly 3 million students in 43 states. That's huge.
Charters, by the way, Steve, often function as parallel school systems in some places. The federal government has put billions of dollars into charters over the past 20 years. The polling shows that a majority of Americans support them, but charter schools will increasingly come under fire from an unexpected critic, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Despite her longtime support of charters, she's blasted them for not taking what she calls the hardest to teach kids, especially those with learning disabilities. This is, by the way, an accusation that teachers' unions have been making for years and they're going to make more forcefully in 2016. It also means that charters (laughter) may very well make it into the presidential campaign debate.
INSKEEP: Well, what are the presidential candidates saying about higher education?
SANCHEZ: Well, higher education, of course, is another huge issue. Higher education leaders, for example, scrapped or at least opposed and pretty much defeated a proposal by the Obama administration to create a more transparent way for parents to decide what schools are best, which schools are the best buy.
And Senator Marco Rubio, who has denounced the higher education community and calls it the higher-ed cartel has been adamant about exposing what he feels is the abuse of higher education in terms of costs, in terms of transparency. So he's after them.
But here's one thing that's going to go on in 2016. As part of the presidential debate, the whole discussion about tuition-free and debt-free college is really going to raise the political heat on higher education because parents are just fed up with what they're getting for what they're paying and the fact that they're having to borrow so much more money to pay for their kid's college education.
INSKEEP: That's Claudio Sanchez of NPR's Ed team. Thanks for the forecast.
SANCHEZ: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, the fire in Dubai struck suddenly and captured the world's attention. Same thing happens when an earthquake strikes or a tsunami strikes - the world is often quick to send aid. Other kinds of catastrophes, though, claim their victims gradually, over weeks or even months and it's harder to focus attention on a slow-motion disaster. That is the challenge facing Ethiopia as it grapples with an epic drought. NPR's Nurith Aizenman reports.
NURITH AIZENMAN, BYLINE: John Graham has been feeling a mounting sense of dread. He heads the Ethiopian branch of the aid group Save the Children. It started with last year's winter rains. They were barely a trickle. Then came the spring rains.
JOHN GRAHAM: They're not terribly reliable. You see them fail fairly frequently, but this year they failed quite spectacularly.
AIZENMAN: Everyone hoped the summer rains would make up for it, but they were almost as disappointing.
GRAHAM: Many of the animals died, people by tens of thousands had to trek into places where they could get water, get food. A lot of the children were severely malnourished.
AIZENMAN: By then it was official. Ethiopia is in the midst of its worst drought in decades. That's devastating in a country where at least 80 percent of people live off the land.
GRAHAM: I have begun to think, my goodness, the scale of this thing is going to be enormous, and so how are all of us going to handle it?
AIZENMAN: So Graham's group teamed up with the Ethiopian government and the United Nations to deliver emergency food to millions of people. They expanded the plan in October and again this month, and each time, they called on major donor nations, like the United States, to pitch in. Yet each time, the donors have only come through with a portion of the funds.
GRAHAM: You know, we know what's going to unfold here, but this just isn't getting the visibility.
AIZENMAN: Graham says there's a paradox at work. Remember that horrific famine in the mid-1980s that killed hundreds of thousands of people in Ethiopia? Well, the world didn't really step up that time until our TV screens were filled with images of emaciated kids. But this time, the government and aid groups have been doing a decent job preventing mass hunger so far. We're not seeing a lot of starving people in Ethiopia, and that complicates Graham's fundraising effort.
GRAHAM: It makes it a lot harder.
AIZENMAN: Now, while the Ethiopian government has managed to make up for the gap in international aid, this setup is not sustainable. Within weeks, the U.N. says, Ethiopia will need $1 billion in additional food aid or more than 10 million people could starve over the next six months. Graham is beyond frustrated.
GRAHAM: You know, are we supposed to wait until we have these children suffering and malnourished before people are going to respond? This time we're saying we can just prevent all that - but we can't wait.
AIZENMAN: This type of situation is common in aid work, says Tom Kirsch. He directs the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at the Johns Hopkins University, and he says the world is just a lot more responsive to immediate disasters than it is to slower-moving ones, it's a product of our media-driven age.
TOM KIRSCH: Where we have a very dramatic, sudden event that causes very dramatic and widespread destruction and death, it captures a lot of attention from people.
AIZENMAN: By contrast...
KIRSCH: When you get to the cases where you can actually prevent a crisis like this where we can intervene early and we can prevent widespread death, you know, we don't get the media attention. We don't get the politicians falling over themselves to organize funds.
AIZENMAN: Kirsch says the irony is that slower-onset disasters often have more severe and lasting consequences. Droughts are only one example. There's catastrophic soil erosion, refugee crises. Then there are slow-rising floods like ones that devastated Pakistan in 2010. They displaced millions of people.
KIRSCH: But because they were gradual onset over the course of weeks to months, they didn't get the press and they didn't get the recovery.
AIZENMAN: Jan Egeland, a former U.N. emergency relief coordinator who now heads the aid group Norwegian Refugee Counsel, says there's another urgent reason the world needs to start getting their response to these cases right.
JAN EGELAND: The worse thing of it is that climate change will make these kind of slow, creeping, tremendous disasters even more frequent.
AIZENMAN: As for Save the Children's John Graham, he stresses it's not too late for Ethiopia. He says this doesn't have to be yet another cautionary tale - this one could be the success story. Nurith Aizenman, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
2015 was a record year for rooftop solar power sales. That means more homeowners are making their own power. It also means electric utilities are making less money. Solar has become extensive enough that some utilities see a threat to their business models. Today we have reports on how utilities in two states are handling this. Lauren Sommer from member station KQED starts in California.
LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: There's a certain kind of Californian who's making electric utilities very nervous.
MATT BROWN: That's the pasta.
DAVIS: That's the pasta.
BROWN: That's right.
SOMMER: That's Matt Brown, and he's getting dinner for his two young boys.
ANGELO: Daddy, can I have a little more?
BROWN: Yes, you can, but...
SOMMER: Brown recently got solar panels on his Oakland home, but it's dark out right now. His panels aren't working, so Brown's appliances are running on electricity he's buying from his utility, Pacific Gas & Electric.
So even with solar panels, you might think his utility bill is pretty high.
BROWN: Right now, we're projected basically to have a zero bill.
SOMMER: Zero dollars - that's because during the day, when Brown's panels are cranking out electricity, he sells the extra back to PG&E. The power he sells cancels out the power he buys. That's what makes solar so financially attractive - at least for him.
AARON JOHNSON: It is going to be a challenge for the utility.
SOMMER: That's Aaron Johnson, a vice president at PG&E. The utility is home to a quarter of all the rooftop solar systems in the country, and a new one comes online every seven minutes. And to that, he says, today's electric grid needs an upgrade.
JOHNSON: As we begin to build that sort of modern, 21st century grid, you know, everyone's going to have to contribute to that. And we think solar customers need to contribute that.
SOMMER: Did you catch that last part? He's saying with their low bills, solar customers aren't pitching in enough. That's creating a shortfall that PG&E says will reach almost $3 billion a year within a decade. So California's utilities want to pay new solar customers less for their extra electricity and to add new monthly fees.
WALKER WRIGHT: That argument can only come from a monopoly that is used to selling every electron to every customer for the past 100 years
SOMMER: Walker Wright works at Sunrun, one of the largest solar companies in the country.
WRIGHT: What rooftop solar represents is the first true form of competition
SOMMER: Wright sees the proposed fees as a direct attack on the solar industry. The same thing happened in Arizona, where a utility recently started charging their solar customers $50 a month.
WRIGHT: We saw a 95 percent drop in the applications for solar. We saw, you know, absolute devastation in the market, and it's created a lot of anxiety.
SOMMER: That's not something California wants to do, Wright argues, when the state has big renewable energy goals. Whatever California regulators decide, the state makes up more than 40 percent of the country's solar market, so the precedent set here could spread nationwide, says Brian Chin. He analyzes utilities for Merrill Lynch.
BRIAN CHIN: A lot of times, these states all kind of look at each other and go, well, if they can do that and it's reasonable, then we can do it too.
SOMMER: Chin says it just shows how solar is disrupting the way electric utilities do business.
CHIN: You look at sort of the business model, and you can't help but go the business model has to change in the next 15 years in some way, shape or form.
SOMMER: That's why utilities in some other states are trying a different approach to solar.
MOLLY SAMUEL, BYLINE: ...Like in Georgia. I'm Molly Samuel from member station WABE in Atlanta. And here, Georgia Power, which is the biggest utility in the state, is getting into the rooftop solar game itself. The company will evaluate your house to see if you're a good candidate for solar panels, and it'll even get them installed for you.
JACOB HAWKINS: In case our customers do want to add rooftop solar, we want to be there to sell it to them.
SAMUEL: Jacob Hawkins is a spokesman with Georgia Power. It just launched the rooftop part of its business about six months ago. But in general, unlike some other utilities, Georgia Power isn't acting like rooftop solar panels are threat.
HAWKINS: We look at it, not as necessarily something brand new, but an evolution of something that we've always done.
SAMUEL: Now, there are a few important differences between Georgia and California when it comes to solar. Electricity costs less here, so it makes less financial sense for people to get rooftop solar panels. When they do have solar panels on their roofs, the utility doesn't pay as much to buy the extra energy generated, as it would in California.
But solar is growing here.
JASON ROOKS: I believe Georgia Power has made great strides.
SAMUEL: Jason Rooks is a lobbyist in Georgia for the Solar Energy Industries Association. He says just a few years ago...
ROOKS: I remember down at the capital hearing that, you know, solar won't work in Georgia because it's too cloudy. It's, you know - too much humidity in Georgia, and then of course it was too expensive.
SAMUEL: He says that mood started to shifts, thanks in part to the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. Tim Echols is one of the commissioners.
TIM ECHOLS: When I ran for office, I promised to try solar myself.
SAMUEL: He says that taught him a few things.
ECHOLS: With the first lesson being don't put solar on a house in the shade.
SAMUEL: Echols says the commission brought Georgia Power to the table, and then directed the company to add more solar power, but especially with solar farms. But Echols wasn't in any rush to do that.
ECHOLS: Our commission is all Republican, and we wanted to make sure this would work financially.
SAMUEL: That all means the state's been slow to adopt solar, especially rooftop solar. Lobbyist Jason Rooks says that's not necessarily been a bad thing.
ROOKS: In hindsight, there's a benefit to that, even as a solar advocate, that we haven't had the trial and error of early adoption.
SAMUEL: Solar is still pretty tiny here. It accounts for about 1 percent of all the energy generated in the state. And rooftop solar panels, instead of large solar farms, are only a tiny percentage of that. But there's a lot of potential. And with the utility here embracing rooftop solar, they may be forging a different path than states like California.
For NPR News, I'm Molly Samuel in Atlanta.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Scientists are still trying to educate themselves about a substance they cannot see. It's called dark matter. Physicists are certain that dark matter makes up most of the mass of the universe. They are sure that, even though they can't seem to find it. NPR's Joe Palca, the reporter of our series "Joe's Big Idea," has been asking what makes scientists certain.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: One reason scientists are so sure dark matter has to exist is that they can see the effect it's having on the way stars and galaxies are moving. Without something providing the gravity to hold the stars in as the galaxy rotates, the stars would fly off into space, like a bunch of dishes flying off a spinning Lazy Susan. Richard Gaitskell is a physicist at Brown University.
RICHARD GAITSKELL: If you look at a typical galaxy and count up all the stars in the galaxy, which is perfectly possible for us to do this day, you find that the speed at which that galaxy rotates is simply too fast to be held together by the mass of those stars alone.
PALCA: Gaitskell says if you calculate how much gravity is needed to hold a galaxy together...
GAITSKELL: (Laughter) You find that 90 percent of the matter of that galaxy has to be some other dark material, which is why we don't see it in our telescopes.
PALCA: Once scientists were convinced dark matter had to exist, they quickly realized dark matter couldn't be something familiar, like clouds of interstellar soot. So they looked for something more exotic using giant particle accelerators and sensitive detectors and found nothing.
GAITSKELL: It cannot be a conventional particle that we already know about. That, of course, makes it so fascinating - is because it has to be new physics.
PALCA: Gaitskell says most scientists are now convinced that what makes dark matter so devilishly hard to pin down is it just doesn't interact with anything, even though there's a lot of it all around us all the time. And I mean a lot.
Gaitskell says, right now, if you stick out your hand...
GAITSKELL: (Laughter) You've probably got about 100 million dark matter particles going through your hand (laughter) every second.
PALCA: And none of them, not one, will leave any trace.
GAITSKELL: You could have your hand out for a century and still not have a single dark matter particle interact with it.
PALCA: But Gaitskell says theory predicts, at some point, one of these particles will interact with something. The question is...
GAITSKELL: Can we build an instrument that is sensitive enough to actually get the first signal?
PALCA: More than a dozen teams around the world are trying. Gaitskell leads one of the efforts. It's called LUX, the Large Underground Xenon experiment, 815 pounds of liquid xenon in a tank festooned with detectors in an abandoned gold mine in South Dakota, waiting for a dark matter particle to have one of those rare interactions. So far, nothing.
A much bigger detector is planned for later in this decade. I asked Gaitskell if it ever gets frustrating to keep coming up empty. Wouldn't he prefer to work on something with a higher chance of success? No, he said.
GAITSKELL: Even a small chance at ushering in this new generation of our understanding of both cosmology and, at the same time, fundamental particle physics - that's too good an opportunity to pass up.
PALCA: Well, you can't blame a guy for trying.
Joe Palca, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here and there, television programs feature women wearing headscarves. The change here is they're just women in headscarves, not seen as anything special, not associated with terrorism or the oppression of women or with Islamist politics. NPR's Neda Ulaby has been asking what this change means.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Especially on cooking shows.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF")
PAUL HOLLYWOOD: Well done, Nadiya.
NADIYA HUSSAIN: Thank you so much.
HOLLYWOOD: You're the winner of "The Great British Bake Off." (Laughter).
ULABY: The most popular program in Britain, "The Great British Bake Off," has a devoted following in the U.S. too. This year's winner, Nadiya Hussain, spent 10 weeks whipping up traditional British pastries such as cream horns and iced buns while wearing a crisp white apron and a traditional black headscarf.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Nadiya's triple layered, big fat British wedding cake will feature jewels from her wedding day and saris to complete a red, white blue theme.
HUSSAIN: I'm going to fill the cake. I'm going to slice them into three...
ULABY: Hussain's win was widely seen as a triumph of British multiculturalism, and this year, American Muslim women wearing headscarves competed on two primetime Fox reality shows. Amanda Saab, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, made it halfway through "MasterChef."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MASTERCHEF")
AMANDA SAAB: My grandmother's lamb kofta with a jalapeno-dusted potato and a sumac aioli.
GORDON RAMSAY: If there's one thing I love, it's kofta.
SAAB: No pressure then. (Laughter).
RAMSAY: Seriously.
ULABY: Cracking jokes and being creative are not normally how Muslims behave on television, Saab says, especially Muslims in hijab - nor do you see them cooking bacon.
SAAB: I cooked pork for the first time. I cooked bacon during the breakfast challenge, and that wasn't highlighted at all in that episode, but for me it was huge.
ULABY: Saab says she decided in advance to cook, although not necessarily eat, anything the show threw at her. And on the reality show "Home Free," a Muslim couple with a hijab-wearing wife build and win a house.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOME FREE")
AIDAH: This will be Anissa's room. She'll never leave.
ULABY: These good-humored, relatable people are far removed, says professor Evelyn Asultany, from the two kinds of Muslim women you see in scripted television.
EVELYN ASULTANY: Terrorist or CIA agent.
ULABY: Recently, Asultany's seen an uptick in hjiab-wearing characters as featured players in dark, terrorism-related dramas. ABC's "Quantico" has twin sister FBI recruits, and last year, the Showtime drama "Homeland" featured an analyst whose hijab made her boss suspicious.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOMELAND")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You wearing that thing on your head, it's one [expletive] to the people who would've been your co-workers, except they perished in a blast right out there. So if you need to wear it, if you really need to - which is your right - you'd better be the best analyst we've ever seen.
ULABY: In a show about Muslims as the enemy, Asultany says this role also lacks nuance.
ASULTANY: She is portrayed as a hyper-patriotic woman, and that is her function.
ULABY: Asultany finds this good-bad binary ultimately dehumanizing.
ASULTANY: It just also reveals how basic the level of conversation is that we are having in this country about Muslims.
ULABY: But this year, Asultany saw a scripted drama with a headscarf-wearing character not about Islamic terrorism. "Mr. Robot," on the USA network, is about computer hackers. One wears a hijab.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MR. ROBOT")
SUNITA MANI: (As Trenton) Even if they hack into Steel Mountain, we need to hit China's data center simultaneously.
ULABY: Maybe in 2016, Asultany says, more three-dimensional Muslim characters in headscarves will show up on our screens. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday, when we hear from StoryCorps. And on this New Year's Day, we have a story of a family looking for a new start. Charlotte Wheelock and Nick Hodges were struggling to raise their two young children in 2014 when they moved to Seattle hoping to find better jobs. Then Nick was hospitalized with a spinal condition that left him temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Soon, they were homeless.
CHARLOTTE WHEELOCK: I remember sleeping in the car while you're in the emergency room, the kids passed out in the back seat. We slept in the car outside, we slept in a parking garage.
NICK HODGES: I felt totally guilty because I had a roof over my head, I was getting three meals a day, and I knew that you guys were out there struggling.
WHEELOCK: I don't think we talked about it a lot at that point because...
HODGES: No, definitely not.
WHEELOCK: ...Because I didn't want to burden you with it.
HODGES: But when you guys would visit me in the hospital, it's just, like, a sense of relief because I know that you guys are going to be safe for a few hours with me and we get to be a family.
WHEELOCK: You would take over, and the kids would climb up into bed with you and start watching cartoons and I would just go in the restroom and cry.
HODGES: It's a very thin line to walk when you're trying to be normal for your kids but inside your head, you're scared to death.
WHEELOCK: You had gotten out of the hospital and someone had mentioned that they were opening a new apartment for families, and of the 10 open apartments that they had, we got one.
HODGES: It was just, like, so many doubts and worries just gone within a few seconds of hearing, come get your keys. I remember moving our stuff in on the first day...
WHEELOCK: And we locked the door.
HODGES: The door shut and we were able to lock it, and it was just like, these are our walls. And I kicked my shoes off and sat down and I was just like, home.
WHEELOCK: I mean, at that point, we were homeless for 14 months, and I almost forgot what it's like to have our own place. I'm just so ready to start making plans, and I'm so glad that we get to do it together.
HODGES: I want to thank you for being strong and working so hard for all of us so we can be whole again.
INSKEEP: Nick Hodges and his wife, Charlotte Wheelock, in Seattle. They got the keys to their apartment on New Year's Eve one year ago, and Charlotte now works for one of the homeless shelters where her family once stayed. Their conversation will be archived at the Library of Congress, and you can hear more on the StoryCorps podcast on iTunes and at npr.org.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
On New Year's Day, it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
As this new year dawns, things are moving quickly in the nuclear agreement reached between Iran, the United States and other nations. It's being carried out, and it appears to be approaching something called implementation day. Sounds like a big-budget Hollywood movie, but in reality, this is a time - not yet specified on the calendar - a time when Iran will complete a list of tasks limiting its nuclear activity. As soon as that happens, the United Nations will end major banking sanctions against Iran, so Iran is eager for implementation day. And Iran is moving toward it more quickly than many people expected. In fact, this week, Iran got rid of thousands of pounds of nuclear fuel.
Let's talk through the implications with NPR's Peter Kenyon who's covered this agreement. Hi, Peter.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: So, wow, more than 20,000 pounds of uranium put on a ship, sent out of Iran to Russia. How does that fit into this agreement?
KENYON: Well, it basically, as the White House likes to say, closes off the uranium pathway to a nuclear weapon, if Iran ever wanted one. And it means that a big step toward implementing its commitments has been taken. Now there's a lot more to be done.
I checked in with a couple of the analysts who've helped us track this agreement over the years, including Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the American branch of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and also Ali Vaez at the International Crisis Group. Now they told me in email exchanges that another big step still in the works is disabling this plutonium reactor at Arak. That shouldn't take more than a couple weeks. That would close off another pathway. And then the third big component is removing thousands and thousands of centrifuges, and that is also speeding right along.
INSKEEP: How do you speed up getting rid of thousands of complicated pieces of machinery?
KENYON: Well, apparently, the Iranians really weren't that worried about the older ones. They're called IR-1s. A lot of them were inactive. About 10,000 of them were basically just yanked out. The others are taking a little more time, but the whole thing should be done by the end of next week, I'm told. There's one theory that not preserving the older centrifuges gives a reason for nuclear technicians to stay in work during the deal, building new ones that might be used as replacements.
INSKEEP: Interesting, but the implementation day still is approaching. So when would it be?
KENYON: Well, Iran originally said oh, this is only going to take two to three weeks. That was last fall, and that didn't happen. But now, even ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency which has to verify all these steps, says it could happen in January.
Analyst Ali Vaez says that is possible. Mark Fitzpatrick says probably early February more likely. But when it does happen, Iran will have access to more than $100 billion in unfrozen assets, banking restrictions lifted, as you said. In short, Iran will be much more of a player in the region and beyond in 2016.
INSKEEP: Peter, let's remember there's lots of different political forces in Iran, not necessarily on the same page, many of them more conservative and hated this deal. How are they responding now that it's being implemented as far as we can tell?
KENYON: There has been a hardline backlash for some time now, and it is heating up, in part because we've got big parliamentary elections coming in about eight weeks. It's an atmosphere in which everyone wants to be strong and patriotic. And now we have an issue involving missile testing that has President Hassan Rouhani, the pragmatist, siding with the conservatives. He's ordered his defense minister to speed up planning for producing even more missiles. That's in response to threatened U.S. sanctions, and that goes back to an October missile test that the U.N. says violated a Security Council resolution. So this is going to be a big battleground in Tehran and also for conservatives in Washington. We're just going to have to see if it affects the implementation of this nuclear deal.
INSKEEP: And Peter, we'll be tracking that. NPR's Peter Kenyon, thanks very much.
KENYON: Thanks, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We now have the story of the Christmas gift that you just sent back. Many retailers let people return a gift that they don't like for a full refund - any purchase, as a matter fact. They do this even though returns cost them $260 billion per year. Somebody has to take in all those very slightly used goods. NPR's Dianna Douglas visited one of the companies that do.
DIANNA DOUGLAS, BYLINE: The Optoro warehouse in Maryland is a hoarder's dream. The building is packed floor to ceiling with returned merchandise. The CEO, Tobin Moore, stands neck-deep in stuff that people changed their minds about.
TOBIN MOORE: And this is probably 10 truckloads right here - Air compressors, power drills, lawnmower, I think, car seat down on the bottom.
DOUGLAS: You might think that when you return something it goes back on the shelf. But it's often too much hassle for the stores to sort and restock. Returns might go to liquidators or resellers or straight to the landfill. Optoro is trying to change that with something called reverse logistics.
MOORE: The real goal of reverse logistics is to try to get the products as fast as possible with the least amount of touches back to market. Whether that market is being sold online to a wholesaler, to a recycler if it's broken items, or being donated if it's - if it should be sent to a charity.
DOUGLAS: The workers here, about 150 of them, pick through every little thing in these stacks and decide where the stuff goes next.
MOORE: There are some things that you can put through very, very quickly, in a matter of seconds, especially if it's a new, unopened box.
DOUGLAS: Other things, says worker Greg Cole, need testing. He's sitting at a workbench, styrofoam packaging littering the floor, checking out a sleek new speaker system. Cole spends his day testing electronics like this. These speakers seem fine, so he sends a song through the cables.
GREG COLE: I haven't checked the subwoofer yet.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG FROM SPEAKERS)
COLE: Yeah, it's working.
DOUGLAS: Sounds good. All the parts are there. It looks untouched. This will go on the website link.com at a fraction of the price. Products that are dented or don't have original packaging go into big bins on the loading dock, off to pawnshops or mom-and-pop store. Another worker, Glieson Wood (ph), points to one pallet, a hodgepodge of hundreds of things.
GLIESON WOOD: That pallet right there, we're asking for $1,835 for it.
DOUGLAS: The stuff on it sold for five times that much.
WOOD: A couple of tools, a juice extractor. I mean, myself, if I had a flea market, I would want it.
DOUGLAS: But you don't have a flea market?
WOOD: No. No, no, no. Not yet. Not yet.
DOUGLAS: Optoro has found a niche sorting returns. And the river of rejects is expected to keep growing as more stores offer free shipping both ways. Tobin Moore is benefiting from America's obsession with stuff. It also makes him uneasy.
MOORE: Both how we consume and how retailer's are dealing with returns isn't really sustainable.
DOUGLAS: The folks at Optoro will take in and send out 25 million items this year, more than double the number from last year. Dianna Douglas, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today is implementation day of a different sort in California. A new fair pay law takes effect. It is meant to go beyond any other law in this country to ensure pay equity between men and women. Here's NPR's Laura Sydell.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Since 1949, equal pay for equal work has been the law in California. California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson says many women are doing the same work as their male counterparts but have a different job title and they make less. Jackson says the new law will make it much more difficult for employers to continue to do this.
HANNAH-BETH JACKSON: It will ensure that women are paid equally for substantially similar work to their male colleagues.
SYDELL: One example Jackson cites is hotel housekeepers, who are mostly women. They are paid less than janitors, who were largely men.
JACKSON: How is this job so much more different that we should be paying that man - the janitor more than the housekeeper?
SYDELL: These are the kinds of questions that employers around California are being forced to ask as they prepare for the new law to take effect. Elaine Reardon of the economic consulting firm Resolution Economics has been working with many California companies. She says it's not always clear what kinds of jobs are comparable.
So if the women at a bakery do more of the administrative work and the men are the bakers...
ELAINE REARDON: So does the fact that the administrative position requires more, perhaps, in the way of computer skills counteract the fact that working in a bakery you have to work with very hot ovens? You know, are these offsetting?
SYDELL: And there may be legitimate reasons for a pay difference says employment attorney Geoffrey DeBoskey.
GEOFFREY DEBOSKEY: So it is, of course, not against the law, necessarily, to pay two people differently. But what the law looks at is whether or not it's based upon a bona fide business reason.
SYDELL: DeBoskey says many of his clients are doing deep evaluations of their workforce. They're looking at how pay differences may have occurred in the first place. For example, if a job requires travel - and women are more often stuck taking care of children.
DEBOSKEY: That may create a situation where women are not able to achieve in the position to the same degree as a male colleague.
SYDELL: DeBoskey says some of his clients are trying to find ways to better accommodate childcare issues so that women are able to be more productive and to ultimately equalize pay.
And while these kinds of regulations often are opposed by businesses, the new Fair Pay Act was endorsed by the California Chamber of Commerce and passed with bipartisan support. And now many other states across the country are watching what happens with interest to see if California's new law helps close a persistent pay gap between men and women.
Laura Sydell, NPR News, San Francisco.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This new year offers a new chance for many states to head off drug addiction. Americans are dying from overdoses of prescription opioids and heroin at levels never seen before. NPR's Arun Rath reports on what many states are trying now.
ARUN RATH, BYLINE: First, let's start with something we know is going to happen in 2016 - more diversion. As an approach to solving the opioid problem, diversion means diverting addicts from the criminal justice system to the health care system. For Leonard Noisette, the increasing acceptance of diversion signals a final reframing of the war on drugs.
LEONARD NOISETTE: I think that the country has gotten to a place where there's widespread recognition that the war on drugs and the attempt to use the justice system, and particularly incarceration, as a response to drug use and drug misuse was a mistake.
RATH: Noisette is the program director of the Justice Fund at Open Society Foundations. They've been supporting law enforcement-assisted diversion programs across the country. And in 2016, they'll be funding programs in seven new cities.
NOISETTE: Law enforcement-assisted diversion is an attempt to get law enforcement officials and the public at large to think that a law enforcement person who's encountering such a situation might have other alternatives instead of arresting the person, putting that person into the court system.
RATH: Whether it's shifting a burden from the criminal justice system to the health care system or public institutions like police forces working with private foundations like Open Society, the blurring of institutional lines seems to be a sign of the times when it comes to the opioid crisis. Karmen Hanson is a program manager with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
KARMEN HANSON: I've been working on health policy for about 15 years, and I honestly can't think of anything other than the Affordable Care Act that has touched so many other aspects of policy in state legislation.
RATH: And she doesn't expect it to calm down in 2016.
HANSON: My guess is there's going be some type of bill to address prescription drug abuse and opiate abuse at some level for every state.
RATH: In the criminal justice system, in addition to diversion, increasing numbers of states are revising mandatory sentencing policies and criminal penalties for some drug offenses. Other measures include good Samaritan laws that let people seek medical attention for overdoses without fear of arrest and making anti-overdose drug naloxone easier to obtain.
Many places in many states have adopted these practices, and in 2016, many more are poised to do so. Karmen Hanson says states are looking at what other states are doing and copying the best ideas.
HANSON: And if you are looking for ideas and sharing what works, that's what they're interested in right now.
RATH: Meanwhile in Massachusetts, where many of the ideas laid out here are already policy, for 2016, Governor Charlie Baker has proposed a couple of alternative approaches that have not been tried before and are generating some controversy. One would limit a first-time prescription for opiate painkillers to a 72-hour supply. The Massachusetts Medical Society put out a statement raising concert the limit could undermine a doctor's clinical judgment. Here's Governor Baker.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHARLIE BAKER: But they came back a couple weeks later and said, well, for first prescriptions for opioids, given everything that's going on, maybe seven days would be fine. So my proposal's three days. There's is seven. We're clearly heading, I think, to some sort of agreement on that.
RATH: The other controversial proposal actually gives some doctors more power. It would allow emergency doctors to hospitalize addicts against their will for up to 72 hours. That doesn't sit well with many civil liberties advocates, but Baker points out the proposal has been endorsed by the Massachusetts Association of Community Hospitals.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BAKER: I think a lot of folks in the health care community know that not taking some controversial steps here and doing some things to disrupt the status quo, we're not going to disrupt the status quo, and we need to disrupt the status quo.
RATH: If these proposals become law in Massachusetts this year, one thing is certain. Other states will be watching closely to see if they work.
Arun Rath, NPR News, Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Californians hope they're nearing the end of the 5-year drought. A new survey finds the snowpack is higher than normal in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Those snow-covered mountainsides become the source for much of the water that flows down to the coast. Scientist Jay Lund sees this as a good sign.
JAY LUND: It's much better than last year, but it's still early days.
INSKEEP: He's director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. And he says it's still early days because heavy snowfall would have to continue for months to get back to normal. The El Nino weather system could also help.
LUND: It'll take quite a few large storms. We have a very large cumulative deficit over the last four years, both in reservoirs and in groundwater storage, but it'll take a real gullywasher.
INSKEEP: Which has not yet happened.
LUND: There's always this promise of El Nino, so we're hopeful that we'll get more rain, but we haven't seen it yet.
INSKEEP: For now, Lund says he welcomes the snowpack results. California will pretty much take water in any form.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Green Bay, Wis., kicked off the new year by parading a llama downtown. Why a llama? - you ask. Well. Mayor Jim Schmitt explained to TV station WBAY.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JIM SCHMITT: Legend has it that if you view this llama on New Year's Eve, good things will come your way the following year.
INSKEEP: Having said that, Mayor Schmitt confessed it's all made up. He just wants to start a new tradition, and he prefers the llama to Green Bay's other option, a giant illuminated cheesehead.
It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Several European capital cities canceled or cut back their New Year's fireworks. They didn't want large crowds to attract terrorists. Germany's capital, Berlin, was not one of those places. Huge crowds gathered there, a sign of confidence, although it also had a side effect. Berlin has become home to refugees for whom the crackle and boom of fireworks triggers disturbing memories. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: The sharp pops and loud booms that go on all night can send even hardiest souls into a panic. Fireworks of all kinds are flying everywhere - shot from rooftops, out of windows and on the streets. It sounds like a pitched battle, and I've seen a few. For people like Inana Alassar, who fled to Berlin to escape war, the effects can be paralyzing.
INANA ALASSAR: Like what's happening now, for instance. I get nervous, and I don't breathe so good. And I start sweating, and I open my eyes like crazy, and I don't know. And I sometimes cry.
NELSON: The young Syrian woman is working as my Arabic language translator on this night. And she isn't the only migrant gripped by fear or experiencing flashbacks.
Mental health professionals here estimate up to half of the million asylum-seekers who came to Germany last year suffer from depression or have post-traumatic stress disorder.
Psychiatrist Gis Rochow volunteers at a refugee camp in Berlin. She handed out earplugs and posted flyers explaining the noisy celebration that was coming.
GIS ROCHOW: There is such a lot of noise and such a lot of fireworks, and people don't care, really, much about other people not to be hurt or injured by the fireworks they use.
NELSON: Rochow adds she was thrilled when authorities announced the fireworks ban around the camp. It was one of dozens no fireworks zones set up near refugee shelters across Germany. But Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller was adamant his city's raucous tradition not be changed.
MICHAEL MUELLER: (Speaking German).
NELSON: He tells me that even though he doesn't personally enjoy the crazy fireworks tradition, it would be wrong to take it away from Berlin residents who do. Mueller encouraged the 60,000 new refugees living in Berlin to celebrate with their German neighbors, but camp resident Hassan Biko couldn't join in. The Syrian-born Palestinian found the noise disturbing. He stayed indoors and tried to put the war out of his mind.
HASSAN BIKO: If I will hear something like this, I will just remember what I've seen in Syria during the war - the blood and bodies, pieces of bodies and the crying babies and the scared people. You know, it's something when you remember, you can't sleep. Actually, it's very difficult.
NELSON: Also haunting him is a night in March 2013, when the rebels and Syrian forces battled for control over his Damascus neighborhood.
BIKO: That time I was holding my small son Aghyed in my hands. That time I was feeling his heart beating on my chest.
NELSON: Biko says he worried his son would die from fright, if not from the shells that rocked their fourth floor apartment. He says in lieu of toasting the new year here in Berlin with his German neighbors, he prayed at midnight for happiness and peace.
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Berlin.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
When billionaires think of something really nice to buy themselves, they sometimes turn their eyes toward a newspaper. Wealthy owners have bought The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and the Minneapolis Star Tribune in recent years. And now one of the country's biggest dailys, the LA Times, might join that list because Eli Broad wants to buy the paper from Tribune Publishing. From member station KPCC, Ben Bergman reports.
BEN BERGMAN, BYLINE: Only about 1 in 14 LA households still get the Times delivered to their doorstep. Fewer people pick it up at newsstands. But for Peter Leda, old habits die hard. On a recent afternoon, he scooped up a copy of the Times at one of the city's few remaining newsstands.
PETER LEDA: Whenever a paper is locally owned, you think that it would be more concerned with the city.
BERGMAN: Another newsstand costumer, Doug Phelps, says he hopes the Times is bought by Eli Broad.
DOUG PHELPS: He's a fighter for our city, and I would like to think that his perspective would show that.
BERGMAN: For more than a century, the Times was owned by prominent LA family, the Chandlers. Since it was bought by Tribune in 2000, the paper's daily circulation has fallen by nearly half. So has the size of the newsroom. There used to be 22 foreign bureaus; now there are seven. Coverage of the city and county shrank so much, the paper didn't even have a separate local section.
AUSTIN BEUTNER: When I got to the Los Angeles Times, I think it had lost touch with it's roots.
BERGMAN: That Austin Beutner, who was hired as the Times publisher in 2014. As one of his first moves, Beutner re-launched the California section, which Tribune had eliminated.
BEUTNER: So we reestablished that as the California section and said, we're going to work harder to be all things California to our audience.
BERGMAN: It was a locally focused strategy Beutner's bosses in Chicago disagreed with. In September, he was fired after only a year on the job without so much as a phone call.
BEUTNER: I heard about it on the radio on the way into work.
BERGMAN: Beutner's sudden dismissal struck a chord with civic leaders. Fifty of them, including Eli Broad, signed a letter protesting the firing. Broad has already tried to buy the Times at least twice, only to be rebuffed by Tribune. Both Broad and Tribune declined to speak for this story, but speaking on Tavis Smiley's PBS show, Broad sounded very much like someone wanting to own the Times.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE TAVIS SMILEY SHOW")
ELI BROAD: I believe local ownership would be a great thing for the people of Los Angeles and Southern California because we would want to invest in the future of the paper and not just keep cutting the newsroom staff.
BERGMAN: Some 80 Times journalists recently took buyouts. Sixteen percent of the newsroom went out the door, everyone from the chief copy editor to the wine critic to the main editors for city and state politics. But as much as the staff dislikes Tribune, there's apprehension about Broad. He has a my-way-or-the-highway reputation and strong views on issues the Times covers, like charter schools. Kevin Roderick is a former Times reporter who now blogs about LA media.
KEVIN RODERICK: What he is is a walking conflict of interest. He'd be a rich guy in Los Angeles who has his hands in lots of things.
BERGMAN: Fears about conflicts of interest have usually turned out to be overblown according to media analyst Ken Doctor. When he looks at papers bought by billionaires, it's usually been good news.
KEN DOCTOR: I can see why Eli Broad would be seen as a white knight.
BERGMAN: Doctor says rich owners have brought the patience public companies don't have.
DOCTOR: What is characteristic of all of them is they have steadied the paper and have steadied the enterprise as that paper moves digital.
BERGMAN: What none of the owners have figured out is a long-term business strategy for local news coverage. To University of Southern California journalism Professor Marc Cooper, it feels like the campaign for local control of the Times is driven by nostalgia for a bygone era.
MARC COOPER: You have a older group of civic leaders who, probably with noble intentions, would like to save the newspaper they grew up with.
BERGMAN: Though, according to the Pew Research Center as much as print ad revenue has declined, it still brings in five times more money than digital. And believe it or not, most newspaper readers still read the print paper. For NPR News, I'm Ben Bergman in Los Angeles.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some people celebrated the holiday last night by attending a political rally for a presidential candidate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
BERNIE SANDERS: Happy New Year.
INSKEEP: There he is, the unmistakable voice of Larry David. Wait, wait. No, no - Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders greeting a crowd in Des Moines last night with the Iowa caucuses just one month from today. NPR's Sarah McCammon was there at his New Year's Eve event.
Hi Sarah.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Good morning Steve.
INSKEEP: What was it like?
MCCAMMON: Well, you know, it wasn't your typical New Year's Eve event. It was advertised, for one thing, as ending at 9 o'clock and didn't really even go quite that late so...
INSKEEP: Icelandic new year, just a few times zones to the east.
MCCAMMON: Exactly. But I think by design it was kind of a pre-party for most people and a chance for, you know, the Bernie Sanders campaign to get Iowans together, get their contact information, remind them to caucus. And it really showed, Steve, that even on a big holiday night, Bernie Sanders can draw a crowd. I mean, there were easily over a thousand people of all ages, and the overflow room itself was overflowing.
INSKEEP: I'm glad you mentioned the contact information. It's a reminder that this is an organizing event. People are trying to draw their supporters out and make use of them later. So what'd Sanders say to this crowd?
MCCAMMON: Well, he just spoke for a few minutes - basically a version of his stump speech focusing on income inequality, and then he repeated that for the overflow crowd. He reminded them that Iowans have a chance in a month to make a big statement about where this race is headed.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANDERS: We together have an opportunity to make 2016 a year that history will long remember.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: We have the opportunity, and you here in Iowa have an extraordinary role to play in that process.
MCCAMMON: And so Sanders told the crowd, you know, he needs them to help him make a strong showing here in Iowa's Democratic caucuses and then he needs help in the early states that follow. And he says that would send a message to Washington that the government has to represent everyone and not just, as he often says, a handful of billionaires.
INSKEEP: Granting that Sanders is far behind Hillary Clinton in national polls, how's he doing in Iowa and the other early states?
MCCAMMON: He does face a big challenge, especially here in Iowa, from Hillary Clinton. She's well-organized, polling double digits ahead in this state. So Sanders needs to at least to make a strong showing. You know, Steve, the Iowa caucuses aren't just about winning. They're also about expectations. So doing better than expected could build momentum leading into New Hampshire, where he has a better shot. And beating her would be a big upset like it was in 2008 when Barack Obama beat Clinton. If you talk to Sanders supporters here, that's what they're expecting. Shawn Head is one I talked to last night. He's 32. He lives in Pleasant Hill.
SHAWN HEAD: I think there will be a surprise because if you look back in 2008, Obama wasn't supposed to get that. It was supposed to be Hillary here, and he snuck it out. And I think we're headed in the same direction. There's a lot more enthusiasm on the Bernie side than the Clinton side.
MCCAMMON: And that really began here in Iowa. I should point out though that the Clinton campaign has learned from that experience. They're better organized in Iowa and beyond this time, and she is the favorite by a lot of the Democratic establishment.
INSKEEP: And sure, enthusiasm is important, but that organization you mentioned is important too.
MCCAMMON: Yeah, and the campaign here and Iowa are really focusing on turning out new voters, younger voters - especially the under 25 set. You know, Bernie Sanders is popular with young voters, and those younger voters couldn't even vote - many of them - when Obama was first elected. They're also working on working-class voters. Sanders has been, you know, leading in the small number of - in the number of small donors that are giving to his campaign, and that's seen as a sign of his grassroots strength here.
INSKEEP: One other thing to ask about, Sarah McCammon. What were some of the Republicans doing on New Year's Eve?
MCCAMMON: Well, it was not quite the celebratory mood I suspect, for Ben Carson's campaign. Two top staffers stepped down - his campaign manager and his communications director. They were quickly replaced. This was not a huge shock. Carson himself had said recently changes were coming. But, you know, it's not a great sign just a month before Iowans vote, and it comes amid reports of ongoing tensions in the campaign and questions about Carson's grasp of things like foreign policy.
INSKEEP: Sarah, thanks very much.
MCCAMMON: Thank you.
INSKEEP: NPR's Sarah McCammon.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Cheering).
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We are listening to the start of the year in Rio de Janeiro, a scene of what is billed as the biggest beach party in the world. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro was there.
Hi Lourdes.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Hi. Happy New Year.
INSKEEP: Happy New Year to you. Hardship assignment?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, yeah, terrible. It was awful - some of the worst times I've ever had on assignment for NPR. It was my first Copacabana new year, and it was awesome. Twenty-four tons of spectacular fireworks were shot off these barges that were sitting off the coast. Basically, you just grabbed a beach chair and you sit on the beach with two million other people who show up as well to watch the show. It's amazing for people-watching. You know, Rio is a big destination for tourists as well, as you can imagine, and we met, you know, a few of them during Reveillon, as New Year's Eve is called here. Let's listen.
So tell me, what are you hoping for in the new year?
AVIKA PRETTIPAW: Fun, booze, alcohol, dancing - lots of dancing. Music.
AVICA NADEN: Hot guys.
PRETTIPAW: Yeah, if we find any.
FRANK VEERDS: I came to Rio because I knew New Year's Eve was going to be off the hook.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And how's it been so far?
VEERDS: It's been out of control. It's been a lot of fun.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter), Yeah. That was Avika Prettipaw (ph) and Avica Naden (ph) from South Africa, and Frank Veerds (ph) from Canada, having a good time on the beach.
INSKEEP: I was just making a list here. Fun, booze, alcohol - which apparently is different than booze - dancing, hot guys. They've got ambitions for the new year.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter). They do. They were really aiming high, and I think they got what they wanted. It was pretty fun.
INSKEEP: So are there particular traditions associated with this celebration on the beach?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, there are. First of all, you have to dress in white. It's considered good luck, and it's a sign of peace and a nod to the sort of Afro-Brazilian religious traditions here. I was pretty surprised to see that everyone respected that. You also bring offerings to give to the sea goddess. These are flowers normally. So you have these - this beautiful scene of the beach sort of festooned with flowers. And then you're supposed to jump over seven waves and make seven wishes for the new year. A little aside - if you're looking for love, as our two South African women were, tradition holds that after jumping into the waves, the first person you greet has to be someone of the opposite sex for a fruitful new year.
INSKEEP: OK. Are there any hazards - safety hazards associated with, you know, going to the beach and drinking a lot and trying to jump over seven waves?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, Steve, no. No safety hazards, of course. What do you mean? You get drunk and then you jump into the water. It's a terrible night for lifeguards, as you can imagine. It's not a great recipe to have 2 million people on Copacabana Beach with lots of alcohol. It's a very, very busy night for them, one of the busiest nights of the year. There were also 2,000 cops working Copacabana last night - so a lot of security. And just as an aside - the armies of sanitation workers that are up on the beach right now. Every year, they pick up 400 tons of trash on New Year's Day. So not a great New Year's Day for them either.
INSKEEP: Although the start of a big year for Rio.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Huge year for Rio. This summer, the city will be hosting the Summer Olympics so you can be sure the city government's New Year's wish was for a smooth and peaceful Summer Games.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Rio de Janeiro.
Lulu, thanks very much.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Thank you. Happy New Year.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some people spent New Year's Eve watching water levels. It's essential if you live near the Mississippi River in the Midwest, a region that has suffered severe and sudden floods. Linda Sympson sees the river from her window at the chamber of commerce in Chester, Ill.
LINDA SYMPSON: Chester is a beautiful town of 8,300 people. We're located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. When we look out my office, the Chester Chamber of Commerce office, I can take advantage of the beautiful view of the river, of Missouri bottomlands, the Chester Bridge that is now closed.
INSKEEP: And why is the Chester Bridge closed, the bridge across the Mississippi River?
SYMPSON: The bridge is closed because after you cross the bridge there is a small bridge, and that bridge is the bridge that is covered with water.
INSKEEP: Lucky that Chester's up on a bluff then.
SYMPSON: We are very, very fortunate, yes. But at one time, there was a whole downtown district under the bluff, a lot of businesses that were flooded out. And little by little, they were bought up by the railroad and the railroad then came in, raised their tracks and built a levee.
INSKEEP: So how isolated is Chester right now?
SYMPSON: We are isolated from being able to get into Missouri, which a lot of our people from Chester work in Missouri. There are several large plants about 12 miles from Chester, and employees - I don't know, several hundred people. And not only can we not cross the bridge to go into Missouri, Missouri people cannot cross the bridge to come here.
INSKEEP: So let's just remember, you are on the Mississippi River, it floods from time to time. How out of the ordinary is this situation that you're in now?
SYMPSON: This is very, I think, out of the ordinary because in 1993, we had weeks to prepare. We knew the river was rising. In this case, people were caught unaware because the rain started last weekend and they - for three days, some places in our area had anywhere from eight to 12 inches of rain in a matter of several days. So our people didn't have the warning weeks ago that you're going to see a major flood.
INSKEEP: Well, Linda Sympson, thanks very much for your time.
SYMPSON: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: And stay dry.
SYMPSON: OK, thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. The nation's capital will have to make do with paper cups in 2016. Washington, D.C.'s ban on Styrofoam takes effect today. It's meant to help the Anacostia River, where much of the material ends up. It is not clear how this will affect Congress. In 2011, when Republicans captured the House, they restored Styrofoam to the House cafeteria. Lawmakers said compostable cups and utensils cost too much and were not energy-efficient. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Images of a 63-story building in Dubai make it look like a torch against the sky. The fire struck the Address in downtown Dubai on New Year's Eve in one of the world's glittering cities. Becky Anderson witnessed that fire. She is an anchor for CNN International.
Welcome to the program.
BECKY ANDERSON: Hello Steve.
INSKEEP: What did you see?
ANDERSON: Yeah, smoke's still billowing from what is this luxury hotel in downtown Dubai today as firefighters - or, civil defense squads, as they're known here - continue what is the process of cooling down this smoldering building. It started around 9:30 p.m. local time on New Year's Eve and very quickly took hold, sending flames shooting out the side of this 63-floor building. And all of this as revelers gathered close by to watch what was expected to be a spectacular firework display on the world's tallest building, that being the Burj Khalifa. I was in a hotel close by with a view of the Burj also waiting to see what is considered to be one of the world's best firework displays. And the fire in this hotel complex just blocks away across the main plaza downtown - extremely spectacular. And the Dubai government at this point saying that everyone was safely evacuated from the hotel last night. Only 16 people, they say, were treated for minor injuries, Steve, and smoke inhalation. But clearly an extremely frightening experience for everybody involved, and investigators now working to determine the cause of the fire, which incidentally, is the second major fire to engulf a high-rise in Dubai. In 2005...
INSKEEP: Becky, what did the celebrants do, the New Year's celebrants?
ANDERSON: Well, it was remarkable really. I mean, the roads are being closed down because so many people are expected to be in Dubai, as they are every year for these fireworks on the Burj Khalifa, and then they sort of go - they move around Dubai over a sort of 25-minute period. So there were tens of thousands of people, of course, in the plaza and downtown. I think there was a sort of very subdued mood. I think people just really couldn't believe what was happening. But very, very organized, very well-controlled. Those who were in the building say the evacuation was very organized. As I say, even though people did suffer from smoke inhalation, clearly an extremely frightening experience. As I say, you know - if I say controlled, I mean it in the best possible way. You know, people were sensible. And within sort of hours, even though the fire continued, people were moving around town again.
INSKEEP: All right. Well, Becky Anderson of CNN International, thanks. Good to talk to you. Enjoy your work.
ANDERSON: Thanks Steve.
INSKEEP: She is in Dubai where a fire is still causing smoke to pour out of that building, that 63-story hotel.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's talk about pop music, where the biggest story of 2015 was this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HELLO")
ADELE: (Singing) Hello, it's me.
INSKEEP: Adele's "25" may have outsold everything, but it was not the only story. Here is NPR Music's Ann Powers and Jacob Ganz.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH ME")
SILENTO: (Singing) Now watch me whip. Kill it. Now watch me nae nae.
JACOB GANZ, BYLINE: Ann, I have to ask you, did you whip in 2015?
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: I whipped and nae naed last week in my living room with my family while the video for "Watch Me" by the 17-year-old Atlanta rapper Silento was playing on my daughter's computer.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH ME")
SILENTO: (Singing) Oh, watch me. Watch me.
POWERS: In a lot of ways, that song captured what pop was about in 2015. It's completely interactive. It's something that you might listen to in your car, but you're just as likely to be taking that song and making your own video out of it or cutting it up to create, you know, a gif, a meme, a Vine, all of those magical things you can make on the Internet.
GANZ: That's sort of the same thing that happened with Drake this year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOTLINE BLING")
DRAKE: (Singing) You used to call me on my cell phone.
GANZ: Drake made this song, "Hotline Bling" that had this video where he's basically standing in a white box doing goofy dances. But then what happened?
POWERS: Well, people used that very blank slate of the video to create many, many different versions of the video or lifted Drake out of it and made little very short Vine videos. My favorite viral video of late 2015 is one in which President Obama is quote-unquote "performing "Hotline Bling." Someone took words from all of his speeches and strung them together so that he's basically doing the rap of "Hotline Bling."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Because ever since I left this city you started wearing less and going out more. Glasses of champagne out on the dance floor.
POWERS: It's about creating something new from that not-quite-raw but not-quite-completely-cooked material of the pop song.
GANZ: One of the places where this didn't happened as much as I maybe expected it to was in just straight-ahead radio pop.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "E-MO-TION")
CARLY RAE JEPSEN: (Singing) In your fantasy dream about me and all that we could do with this emotion.
GANZ: Carly Rae Jepsen, who had a massive YouTube hit a couple of years ago with "Call Me Maybe" put out, I'll say it, my favorite pop record of the year. It's full of songs that are incredibly well-written and would sound amazing on the radio. And it didn't get played. And part of this is just, I'm sure, the whim of the pop moment. But some of it also really feels like it has to do with building your audience through these social channels. Somebody that you have paid a lot of attention to put out a record at the end of this year that really has done that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUTH")
TROYE SIVAN: (Singing)What if, what if we run away? What if, what if we left today?
POWERS: Troye Sivan is a 20-year-old South African actor-musician who really lives on YouTube. He became most famous for creating these goofy home videos with friends of his who are also YouTube stars in which they do things like stuff their mouths full of crackers or try out different kinds of makeup. But "Blue Neighborhood" is just a perfect pop album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUTH")
SIVAN: (Singing) My youth is yours. Tripping on skies, sippin' waterfalls.
POWERS: It is in and of itself a beautiful listening experience. But because he was a YouTube star we all know who he is - or his fans do. And that means his music comes already ready for people to take up. There doesn't have to be a marketing push. He's done it himself. And to me, that's very much pop in 2015 and how it's going to continue into 2016.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUTH")
SIVAN: (Singing) My youth, my youth is yours.
INSKEEP: That's Ann Powers and Jacob Ganz of NPR Music. You hear them on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
When you call for an ambulance, you might expect the crew to take you to the nearest hospital. But sometimes the closest emergency department just isn't taking new patients. Several hospitals in Cleveland have come together to try to keep ERs open for all the patients' ambulances so they can bring them in. WCPN's Sarah Jane Tribble reports.
SARAH JANE TRIBBLE, BYLINE: It is a run-of-the-mill call for east Cleveland's EMS squad. They're going to treat a man with a severe nosebleed.
ANTHONY SAVOY: One-four-five's enroute, part two.
TRIBBLE: Anthony Savoy is the head medic.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Unintelligible).
TRIBBLE: The patient walks woozily out to the ambulance. Savoy calls ahead to University Hospitals. It's the closest emergency department, and he wants to make sure they have room to take the patient. They get in that day, but it wasn't a given. For years, it's been common practice for UH to go on diversion. That means when he calls the hospital, UH says they don't have the room or the staff to handle the patient. The team then has to drive to another hospital, often the Cleveland Clinic, about a mile away.
SAVOY: If we get diverted and then we get a call while we're at the hospital, our response time will be lengthened by maybe a minute, maybe two minutes.
TRIBBLE: That may not seem like much time, but a minute or two is critical for some patients, says Dr. James Feldman, an emergency medicine doctor in Boston.
JAMES FELDMAN: We have strong evidence that people who have critical illness or injury who have a delayed time to treatment do worse.
TRIBBLE: A study released earlier this year found that heart attack patients whose ambulances were diverted from crowded emergency rooms to hospitals farther away were more likely to be dead a year later. In Cleveland this year, UH temporarily closed its main campus emergency room to certain patients for more than 550 hours. Another large hospital system, MetroHealth, clocked more than 400 diversion hours. Jane Dus, chief nursing officer at University Hospitals, says an aging population and hospital closures have increased demand on emergency departments.
JANE DUS: We've seen a 56 percent increase in our squad volume over five years, so we're getting many more squads coming to us.
TRIBBLE: Dus recently joined Cleveland area hospitals in negotiating an agreement to stop going on diversion. Indeed, all four major health systems in Cleveland say they will accept all ambulances starting February 15 in 2016.
If the hospitals are successful, the region will join a select few that have tackled the issue. After years of effort, the Seattle area has stopped nearly all diversions. Boston's Dr. Feldman says Massachusetts passed relations in 2009 to ban ambulance diversions after voluntary attempts failed. Hospitals there had to re-evaluate operations, in some cases, encouraging elective surgeries to be done closer to the weekends to free up beds on other floors throughout the week.
Changing the way emergency departments respond is complicated because they routinely operate with minimum staffing and beds, Feldman says.
FELDMAN: The staff are reasonably fearful that the next critical patient is going to push them over the brink of patient safety. They really can't handle another patient.
TRIBBLE: Both University Hospitals and MetroHealth are getting ready. Dr. Alfred Connors is at MetroHealth.
ALFRED CONNORS: It's an issue of - do we have enough beds open? Do we have the proper staffing? Do we have the capacity in the emergency room?
TRIBBLE: EMS medic Anthony Savoy is skeptical the hospitals can end diversions. Just hours after Savoy dropped off his nosebleed patient, UH stopped taking all but the most critical injuries for nearly four hours.
SAVOY: My concern is all of a sudden, you guys are willing to put this in paper and say that you're going to do this. What was stopping you guys before? Why now?
TRIBBLE: Savoy and others on the squad are worried that the emergency departments will stay crowded. It's something local leaders say they'll work to avoid. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Jane Tribble in Cleveland.
SIMON: And this story's part of a reporting partnership with NPR, WCPN and Kaiser Health News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The start of the 20th century was a dark time for Sergei Rachmaninoff. His first symphony had been panned in 1897. The composer sank into a depression that lasted for years. He couldn't write. With the help of a psychologist and amateur musician named Nikolai Dahl, Rachmaninoff climbed out of despair and he completed his "Piano Concerto No. 2" in 1901 and dedicated the work to Dahl.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2")
SIMON: Rachmaninoff's struggles will be the subject Maestro Marin Alsop's Off the Cuff presentation next week. And the BSO will perform Rachmaninoff's "Symphony No. 3." The maestro joins us now from the studios of WYPR in Baltimore. Marin, thanks so much for being with us again.
MARIN ALSOP: Great to be here, Scott. Thank you.
SIMON: So I've read Stravinsky described Rachmaninoff as a six and a half foot scowl.
ALSOP: (Laughter) Of course, that's the outward perception I think. But Rachmaninoff, indeed, I mean, he had a very tough childhood. He was born into a rather well-off family. But then his father squandered all of their money. They had to downsize. Eventually, he moved with his mother into an apartment and his sister - he had five siblings - and the sister whom he adored then got ill and died. So I think it was, you know, it was fraught with challenges. But I think he was predisposed toward depression from a very young age. And I guess he didn't conceal that very well.
SIMON: Yeah, and his first symphony got panned, I guess, right?
ALSOP: Unfortunately, the conductor was a well-known composer as well - Glasunov - but he had quite a bit to drink and he was essentially drunk for the rehearsals and the performance. And it was an absolute disaster. It was panned by the critics, and it was devastating for Rachmaninoff.
SIMON: Does that often happen, Marin, that a conductor will get drunk and ruin a great composer's work (laughter)?
ALSOP: Listen, that's why don't. No (laughter) I think that it really does speak to - you know, joking aside it speaks to the importance of the interpreter for the creator.
SIMON: Let's listen to a bit, if we can, of the first movement of Rachmaninoff's third symphony, and this is a recording with the Russian National Orchestra.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
SIMON: This has a Russian sound, but...
ALSOP: It does, yeah.
SIMON: ...I gather he wasn't in Russia.
ALSOP: Well, by this time he was a U.S. resident and he often would go to a summer home in Switzerland. That's where he actually composed this symphony. But he made his home at the end of his life in Beverly Hills. I think, though, for him, you know, he never spiritually or musically left Russia. I mean, he was extremely attached and I think it was a devastating moment in history for him when he had to flee the country in 1917 of course because of the revolution.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
ALSOP: There's a reference constantly to Russian folk music, to the scales, the modes that are used in Russian folk music. There's a plaintive quality. It feels that it has a longing that can't be fulfilled and yet at the same time you hear the colors of, you know, you can just see Russia in the summertime and the drama of the countryside.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
SIMON: Marin, what do you think we might be able to hear of Rachmaninoff's troubles in his compositions?
ALSOP: An interesting theme and motto that runs through his work is an obsession with death. And it manifests often throughout his music with a referencing of the famous sort of death theme, the dies irae. This is a theme - we don't know its actual origin, but it was written sometime probably in the 12th century. The theme bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. So the dies irae theme is used by many, many composers throughout history. Probably the most famous example is Berlioz's use of it in the "Symphonie Fantastique."
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
ALSOP: Now, of course, that couldn't be more obvious, but Rachmaninoff by this time in his career even though it's - he's used it in many other pieces, it becomes sort of a signature and almost a code that he hides within this third Symphony as well.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
ALSOP: So you hear it - it's every other note in that descending string line.
SIMON: Marin, you mentioned that Rachmaninoff wound up in Beverly Hills in the company, as it turns out, with a fair number of international composers.
ALSOP: Yeah, and particularly Russian composers. It's interesting that they ended up settling in that area and of course with the birth of the film industry - and just the explosion really of the film industry - many of these composers ended up becoming well-known film composers, like Bernard Herrmann or Korngold or Rozsa (ph). And it's my feeling that many of these composers took a lot of their cues from Rachmaninoff.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
SIMON: That's the sum coming up over the prairie.
ALSOP: Yeah, isn't it - I mean, it's - the imagery it evokes is just amazing.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
SIMON: There've been so many artists through the centuries who have struggled with darkness, depression, mental challenge and they've often been considered geniuses who sometimes say now not despite their problems but almost because of them.
ALSOP: I'm always fascinated by this question of, you know, mental illness and this kind of emotional struggle and the creative process. When I read the statistics, you know, that say that 1 in 4 of us will suffer at some point from mental illness, I guess it's not that unusual and particularly creative people, though, I think because there is an outlet in music that organizes one's thoughts that gives an emotional release. So, you know, the question really becomes whether they would be better off with the treatments we have today in terms of their creative output or whether we are the benefactors, really, of their tremendous emotional struggles.
SIMON: Marin Alsop is music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and she will present an Off the Cuff discussion about Rachmaninoff and conduct the BSO in his "Symphony No. 3" next week. Marin, pleasure to be back with you. Thanks so much.
ALSOP: Great to talk to, you Scott. Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF RACHMANINOFF SONG, "SYMPHONY NO. 3")
SIMON: And you can read the maestro's essay about Rachmaninoff on our website, nprmusic.org. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Selfie was the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year back in 2013, but selfies are still the rage. And this year, we learned something interesting about the medium. It appears to be dominated by women. The five most popular people on Instagram are all women. Kim Kardashian, who needs no introduction, is on that list, and she came out with the first book dedicated to selfies, hers, of course.
And as NPR's Aarti Shahani reports, in this story that has some colorful language, a debate brewed over what the selfie may say about females.
AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE: In 2015, women didn't just pout their lips to do duck face. They - we - shaped the conversation.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!")
KIM KARDASHIAN: I think girls, to be honest, they take a lot of nude selfies.
SHAHANI: Kim Kardashian talking with Jimmy Kimmel about her new book, entitled "Selfish," replete with boob and butt shots.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!")
KARDASHIAN: And I think some of them, you know, I'll look back and think - God, why would I complain about, you know, feeling fat? I, you know, I liked the way I looked then. So it's taught me to be a little easier on myself.
SHAHANI: This year, Kardashian also came out endorsing the selfie stick, which by taking pictures farther away, makes you look skinnier. Comedian Amy Schumer trashed the stick.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AMY SCHUMER: Selfie sticks are the most disgusting development that human beings have made for a long - I am so infuriated when I see someone with a selfie stick.
SHAHANI: Schumer also released a music video and hashtag, "Girl, You Don't Need Makeup," encouraging fans to post skin that's bare in a different way. Another selfie campaign, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, encouraged young women in tech to show that there are young women in tech. Women did face some serious public shaming this year for clicking away so relentlessly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS BROADCAST)
STEVE BERTHIAUME: Check it. Did that come out OK?
BOB BRENLY: That's the best one of the 300 pictures I've taken of myself today.
SHAHANI: At an Arizona Diamondbacks game, sportscasters Steve Berthiaume and Bob Brenly mocked a group of sorority sisters who were posing instead of watching the game.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS BROADCAST)
BRENLY: Every girl in the picture is locked into her phone.
BERTHIAUME: Oh, lord.
BRENLY: Every single one is dialed in. Welcome to parenting in 2015.
BERTHIAUME: (Laughter).
SHAHANI: The video got nearly 53 million views, though it omits a key detail. Right before the camera caught the selfie sisters, fans were asked to take selfies as part of a commercial promotion. And so the question arises - are selfies really a woman thing, or do men do it too, just without the same scrutiny? In November, husbands weighed in.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "INSTAGRAM HUSBANDS")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I've had to delete all of the apps off my phone just to make more room for more photos.
SHAHANI: In this satirical video called "Instagram Husbands," men shared horror stories of a wife or girlfriend turning them into human selfie sticks.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "INSTAGRAM HUSBANDS")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Oh, wait, just a second. I should probably comment on this. It helps me out if I'm the first one to comment.
SHAHANI: NPR tracked down the man behind this viral video, Jeff Houghton. And he says he limits himself to, like, five selfies a year.
JEFF HOUGHTON: For me, it just kind of feels weird to take a lot of pictures of myself
SHAHANI: But when asked to take out his phone and go through his photo gallery, the picture changes. It turns out he just took a selfie with his son building a Lego tower.
HOUGHTON: That was two or three days ago.
SHAHANI: Then another at a new boutique hotel.
HOUGHTON: It's a selfie of me in a bathroom with good lighting.
SHAHANI: Before that one...
HOUGHTON: Oh, someone at work had a selfie stick, and I took a picture...
SHAHANI: As we keep scrolling, the Instagram husband comes to this realization.
HOUGHTON: So maybe I'm, I don't know, I bet I'm going over my five per year idea.
SHAHANI: Yep, it looks like there may be a tad bit more.
HOUGHTON: (Laughter) You busted me. Yes, I guess there is.
SHAHANI: This year, about 2,000 scholarly articles reference selfies, according to Google Scholar, a steady uptick from prior years. Many of the papers examine women's self-representation with titles like "Virtual Lactivism: Breastfeeding Selfies And The Performance Of Motherhood."
But Terri Senft, a media scholar at New York University, says we still don't know in any rigorous way if selfies really are more of a woman thing.
TERRI SENFT: If you counted, for instance, every group party shot or every shot from a GoPro camera or every shot that includes some sort of extreme sports or guys playing instruments, I actually think that you would find a relative parity.
SHAHANI: She says it could be men and women are both into it, maybe just differently.
Aarti Shahani, NPR News, San Francisco.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's getting harder and harder to find quality special education teachers. Forty-nine out of 50 states report that there are shortages. Why? It's a tough job. Even if you're all right with low pay, a noisy classroom, special education adds another challenge, crushing paperwork. Lee Hale from our NPR Ed team understands this struggle firsthand. He was a special education teacher himself but got burned out after just one year.
LEE HALE, BYLINE: That's right. I couldn't hack it. But believe me, I wanted to. I chose special education for the same reason I think most teachers do, to help students who struggle to learn. But I soon realized that helping children was only a part of the job. The paperwork, the meetings, the accountability - eventually, it got to me. I couldn't do it all, and I got tired of showing up to a job I knew I couldn't do. It's that simple.
Part of me feels guilty for leaving, especially when I think about my friends and colleagues who stayed. I often wonder how they're holding up.
STEPHANIE JOHNSON: And guess what? You guys are having a test next week. So we really have to practice.
HALE: This is Stephanie Johnson. She teaches eighth grade math and ninth grade English at Oak Canyon Junior High. It's about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.
JOHNSON: We are taking a situation or an event and we are finding the information that we need...
HALE: Stephanie and I were in the same special education program at nearby Brigham Young University three years ago. But she wasn't your typical college student. She's in her 40s and a mother of three. And now she's got her own special education classroom, although it can hardly be called a classroom.
It's, like, just a step up from a closet, right?
JOHNSON: Yeah, it is just a step up from a closet. It is a very small room.
HALE: And there aren't any windows, yet she somehow managed to make it feel homey. You can tell the students like being here. I dropped in during a math lesson.
JOHNSON: These things right here - the slope or the constant rate of change, the initial value or the Y-intercept, and then we're going to use that information...
HALE: She's reviewing word problems that have to do with slope, you know, X-axis, Y-axis type stuff. The students copy some questions from the board and start sketching out their graphs. And I'm surprised at how focused and quiet everyone is. Stephanie weaves through the desks, kneeling beside each student and checking in with them.
JOHNSON: Nice job.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: So would that be 200?
JOHNSON: Nope, 200 is your slope. What's 100?
HALE: You can tell that she's in her element.
JOHNSON: My joy is in the classroom. When they catch onto something and they have those aha moments and just - those are the things that bring me happiness and joy. So that has to be my focus.
HALE: And she's good at it. This is one of her eighth graders, Abigail.
ABIGAIL: I struggled really a lot in math and sometimes when I don't get it in math class, Mrs. Johnson teaches it and I know how to do it.
HALE: This is the kind of thing I heard from every student I talked with. Math is hard. I don't like it, but it makes sense when Mrs. Johnson teaches it. I'm not surprised.
When I first met Stephanie, I had no doubt that she would be a dynamic teacher. For starters, she understands special education from a parent's perspective. One of her sons, Alec, was in special education classes from second through ninth grade, so she knows the heartache and the worry that comes when a parent is told their child learns differently.
JOHNSON: Now as the teacher I can say, I know exactly how you feel. I've been there, and it's going to be OK.
HALE: She also had experience as a teaching assistant in a special ed. classroom for five years. And on top of that, she was an extremely driven student. Back in college, it was obvious to me, our fellow classmates and our professors that she was meant for this.
We all looked to you as kind of, like, an example. I'm sure you felt that, right?
JOHNSON: Yeah, I did feel that. And I was really clear on why I was there.
HALE: But then she pauses.
JOHNSON: I wish that was more clear now.
HALE: From the outside, it looks like Stephanie has everything under control. But it's clear that's not how she feels.
JOHNSON: I don't know how to describe it. It's just so much work. Like, I just feel like I cannot do it.
HALE: She's not talking about teaching or lesson planning or even working with disruptive students. She really likes those parts of her job.
JOHNSON: It's all the other compliance and laws and paperwork, and oh, my gosh, it's so much.
HALE: All of that stuff can be summed up with these three letters - IEP. That stands for Individualized Education Program. Each student in special education has one. It's required by law. And each IEP requires hours and hours of upkeep. Forms have to be updated, data has to be tracked and there are additional meetings with parents and other staff.
JOHNSON: I stay after work hours, typically every day
HALE: And what she doesn't finish, she takes home.
JOHNSON: It's just frustrating because if I could really focus on making a difference in these kids' lives, then I have it, man. I totally have this job. I know how to do that.
HALE: But that just isn't how it is. And she doesn't expect it to get better anytime soon. All of this brought me to a question I had to ask.
How do you feel about people like me (laughter), the fact that I just, like - I was like this is too hard, and I just, like, walked away?
JOHNSON: I have mixed feelings about that.
HALE: Stephanie admits that she thinks about leaving all the time.
JOHNSON: Just because I'm exhausted, but I'm changing kids' lives. I'm making a difference. So why would I want to walk away from that?
HALE: So she finds herself facing a choice between her students and, well, her sanity, an extremely difficult decision for an extremely difficult job.
Lee Hale, NPR News, Salt Lake City.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Grieving is difficult at any age, but it can be especially isolating for 20 and 30-somethings. Many of them don't have peers who can relate to what it feels like to lose a friend or a parent. But a new support system is being developed in cities across the country. It's called The Dinner Party. WBUR's Deborah Becker reports.
DEBORAH BECKER, BYLINE: At first it seems like any other dinner party, with folks putting the last-minute touches on the meal as guests arrive. In the kitchen of her Boston apartment, Rosy Hosking describes the menu.
ROSY HOSKING: Now, I have prepared a ratatouille. It's very easy, and it's also vegan, so it, like, gets (laughter) all the the plus points for a dinner party of people, like, you don't know very well.
BECKER: The guests at this potluck dinner have never met in person before. Yet, they're coming together to talk about something that has profoundly affected each of them - the loss of loved one.
LENNON FLOWERS: Thank you, Rosy, for opening your doors and to all of you for opening yours.
BECKER: That's Lennon Flowers who helps those grieving find dinner parties like this one. After the toast and the usual small talk, the conversation quickly goes deeper. Flowers starts.
FLOWERS: I was asked the question how long has it been earlier this week, and I had to, like, count on my fingers and I realized it'll be nine years in February.
BECKER: Nine years since her mother died of cancer.
FLOWERS: I just - I had this, like, surge of just missing the [expletive] out of my mom, you know?
BECKER: The four women at this meal have lost a parent. Twenty-nine-year-old Alison Bard's mother died six years ago. She says she often can't talk about her loss with relatives who may also be grieving or friends who may find such conversations uncomfortable. She finds it helpful to talk with others who are navigating early adulthood.
ALISON BARD: I just started grad school and - business school - and my mom went to the same business school. This whole experience has been, like, hey, Mom - Mom, what would you, like - tell me about this. I'm feeling out of my element here.
BECKER: The Dinner Party started by accident five years ago when Flowers and a co-worker arranged a dinner in Los Angeles for friends they knew who had lost a parent. Soon they were inundated with people asking how to hold their own. Now a formal nonprofit, The Dinner Party helps connect participants with tables across the country. The gatherings are not meant to be professional grief support but to pair young adults with others who can relate. Jessica Foley was 13 years old when her father died.
JESSICA FOLEY: I'm volunteering at this camp for kids who've lost someone and that's been really amazing, feeling, like, in awe of that process, like, you know, this venue is, like, my camp.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: With wine.
FOLEY: With wine, camp with wine, yes, absolutely.
BECKER: The Dinner Party was cited in a recent Harvard Divinity School study as an example of how millennials are gathering in new ways that are almost religious. But a Pew Research Center survey in May found that more than a third of millennials do not affiliate with any religion. Flowers believes young adults are eager to create their own communities to help find meaning in their lives.
FLOWERS: As we have kind of abandoned institutions and sacred spaces, we are still looking for spaces where we can talk about, you know, what we normally would have shared with a priest.
BECKER: Dinner Parties are now being held in more than four dozen cities around the country. For NPR News, I'm Deborah Becker in Boston.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Famous names can be hard to live up to. Those who carry them are born with expectations as well as advantages. And the sons and daughters of famous people have to make their mistakes and learn their lessons under a lot of watchful eyes. When we spoke with Natalie Cole in June of 2013, she just recorded an album of Spanish language music, as her father had in the 1950s. Natalie Cole told us that when she started out in a singing career, she avoided any comparison to her father.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
NATALIE COLE: Absolutely. No question. When I first started to sing, the last thing I wanted to do was sing my dad's music. And ironically, when I was signed to a label, it was Capitol Records, which I thought that they would be like, oh, you got to sing your dad's music. But they did not...
SIMON: He made Capitol Records.
COLE: He certainly did. The house that Nat built. But they did not insist on that, whereas I went to two other labels and they said, well, are you going to sing your father's music? And I said no. And it took 15 years into my career before I felt comfortable and confident enough to even attempt at singing my father's music.
SIMON: Like a lot of famous fathers, Nat King Cole was often away from home. He died when Natalie was just 15. She had some rough times in the years that followed, sometimes making her own name in all the wrong ways with drugs and drink. But she sought help and she persisted, having her own R&B hits in the 1970s before she recorded a 1991 duet with the recorded voice of her father that sold over seven million copies and won many Grammys.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
COLE: It was very, very difficult, very hard for me, because I'd never had the chance to really spend time working with him. The "Unforgettable" record was done in tribute to my dad. It was my way of saying goodbye because when he passed away, I was in school. I was in - actually on the East Coast in boarding school when he passed. So...
SIMON: And he was astonishingly young, just 45.
COLE: Forty-seven.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
NAT KING COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable, that's what you are.
COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable, though near or far.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
COLE: I believe that, you know, he guides me. Dad led by example. You know, he was not a big talker of, oh, you got to do this, you got to do that. That was not him. He led by example. And I watched. I was very observant. And I learned so much from my father. And he continues to be my number one inspiration.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
COLE: (Singing) Unforgettable.
SIMON: Natalie Cole, who died this week in Los Angeles after an illness. She was 65.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNFORGETTABLE")
NAT KING COLE: (Singing) And forevermore.
COLE: (Singing) And forevermore.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan apologized this week for how the water crisis in Flint has been handled. Flint residents were exposed to highly contaminated water for months, after the city switched water suppliers. They've since switched back to the Detroit water system. Governor Snyder also said the state has to learn from Flint, as many cities in Michigan have an aging infrastructure.
We're joined now by Robert Puentes. He's director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Mr. Puentes, thanks so much for being with us.
ROBERT PUENTES: Well, thank you very much for having me.
SIMON: How does something like this happen?
PUENTES: Well, I think the water infrastructure we have in this country is seriously neglected. I mean, all infrastructure acts as a foundation for economic prosperity, but water is especially important. It does live in this different world where it's so intrinsic and folks expect that we're going to have clean, fresh water any time you turn on the tap. But given the fact that it's buried, it's literally underground, it's easy to ignore. And while we have large infrastructure problems in this country, the water infrastructure problems loom particularly large.
SIMON: So we don't see them, perhaps even can't taste them. It's not until they - well, that just makes it easier for problems to hide in a sense.
PUENTES: Exactly. And some of these systems are, you know, were built 100 years ago. Some of the pipes are made out of wood. Some of them were built in the time when metropolitan areas were expanding and decentralizing. And just - we just need to reinvest in these existing systems. But because we don't do a good job in this country investing in the infrastructure that's already built - we do a good job building new stuff - we don't do a good job taking care of what's on the ground. Things like water infrastructure are seriously neglected.
SIMON: I don't think any city likes to hear - but you have to spend more money.
PUENTES: Yeah, and but particularly when it comes to how we pay for water infrastructure in this country and the user fees that are associated with it and, you know, how that comes down to residences and businesses in these areas. So - but we have to pay for it. We have to figure out different ways that we can raise the revenue to invest in the system and do it in a way that doesn't impact the most vulnerable households. You know, we know that things like in Los Angeles, that the rich households get a lot of attention for the water that they're wasting during the drought out there. But in places like Milwaukee, there have been studies that show that, because low income households can't invest in kind of new efficiency systems in upgrading their own household water systems, they wind up paying more because they're wasting more water just because the systems are older. So we've got to make sure that while we're raising this revenue, it doesn't impact low-income households disproportionately hard.
SIMON: And when Governor Snyder suggested that other cities in Michigan might be vulnerable, that makes sense to you?
PUENTES: It does. I mean, Warren, Mich., just recently as 2008, had to declare basically a state of emergency, to bring in consultants to really - to expedite the repairs on the water infrastructure there because it was - they were just having too many water main breaks. So this is not a unique problem to Flint. Flint has its own unique challenges for lots of different reasons, but this is something that, particularly in the Northeast and the Midwest, we've got to give more attention to.
SIMON: Robert Puentes is director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Thanks so much for being with us, sir.
PUENTES: Thank you very much for taking the time.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Two Israelis were killed on Friday and others wounded as a shooter opened fire at a bar in downtown Tel Aviv. Authorities are searching for suspects and are not saying whether this is terrorism or a criminal act. Attacks against Israelis have been a near daily occurrence for more than three months. Along with shootings there have been vehicle rammings and stabbings. The Israeli death toll is around 20. Many Palestinians have died as well, more than 130. Israel says most of those killed were in the process of committing attacks, others were killed during clashes with troops. Violence is becoming a fact of daily life in Jerusalem. Reporter Daniel Estrin spoke with people in that city about how tensions have affected their daily routines.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Rabbi Reuven Birmajer finished teaching his Talmud class at this religious seminary last week and then told his students he had to rush home. Delivery men were bringing a new bed.
CHAIM ZBAR: He was afraid a Palestinian guy was going to deliver the bed and his wife was going to be all alone.
ESTRIN: Chaim Zbar, a student, says the rabbi was worried the deliveryman could be Palestinian and be a danger to his wife. But it was the rabbi who was killed in a Palestinian stabbing on his way home. And now his student avoids going out in the streets.
ZBAR: The thing I don't like is - I do not consider me to be a prejudiced person - but with all this happening, like I see someone, I think it's a Palestinian. I think he may hurt me. But he may just be a, you know, normal guy who has a normal life, normal job and he's not trying to harm anyone. But I can't assume that. I don't know him. I have to be careful.
ESTRIN: A short walk away, I met a Palestinian who's also nervous. Twenty-nine-year-old Amjad Karmi mans a hookah shop in the Old City. He's worried even though the violence isn't as intense in Jerusalem as it was a few weeks ago.
AMJAD KARMI: We don't feel that dangerous like before, but we are afraid, still now, to go out.
ESTRIN: He's afraid he could find himself at the scene of an attack and get mistaken for an attacker. He stopped going to an Israeli mall after drawing suspicious looks.
KARMI: Not like normal looking, you know? They checking you. They afraid from you. You know, the personal feeling, it's bad.
ESTRIN: Personal, that's what many people say. It's not the anonymous violence of a rocket or bomb, it's the fear of that person next to you on the street. And for some, it's regret for suspecting an innocent person in the first place. Things could change if there's a steep escalation in the violence. But at the moment, people have mostly gotten used to the new normal in the city - the posters for self-defense classes, the stores advertising pepper spray. Weeks ago, there were times the streets felt empty. But not anymore.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ESTRIN: Lots of Israelis crowded on the street recently for a Middle Eastern music festival. One Israeli in the crowd, Avital Keslasi, says she just wants to live a little.
AVITAL KESLASI: (Foreign language spoken).
ESTRIN: She said, "there's been violence here for a long time, years, right? Nonsense. It'll pass." The city has now begun to install concrete poles about waist high around bus stops. They're supposed to protect people against the kinds of car-ramming attacks that have killed a number of Israelis while they waited for the bus. But already people seem to stare right through the concrete barriers, as if they've always been there. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Police departments across the country are now pledging to try to reduce their use of deadly force. This week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that his police department will double its supply of Tasers and will train officers to use them. The Fayetteville, N.C,, Police Department will spend the next year and a half trying to implement 76 recommendations issued by the Department of Justice. Those recommendations range from better record keeping to better information sharing to trying to reduce the racial disparity between the number of blacks and whites who are pulled over at traffic stops. Police Chief Harold Medlock requested the Justice Department review his police department. Chief Medlock joins us now. Thanks very much for being with us.
HAROLD MEDLOCK: Scott, it's good to be with you. I hope you're doing well.
SIMON: Yes, sir, thank you. And, you know, usually police chiefs try and keep the feds out. Why did you invite them in?
MEDLOCK: Well, I think, Scott, we are - in our city - coming out of a time - in fact, I was hired three years ago as a result of some difficult times in the city involving disparity of traffic stops and also the concern over consent searches during traffic stops. As I reached out to the COPS Office for the...
SIMON: The COPS Office is an acronym for...
MEDLOCK: Community Oriented Policing Services - it's part of the Department of Justice.
SIMON: Yeah.
MEDLOCK: Fayetteville Police Department was the fourth in the nation to have DOJ to come in under the collaborative reform process and make these recommendations.
SIMON: And what recommendations - 'cause there are quite a slew of them - strike you as most urgent?
MEDLOCK: Well, you know, there were a couple that concerned me greatly. And I'll give you a really easy one. Our policies in Fayetteville still allow officers to shoot at moving vehicles and also fire warning shots. And those practices just are not acceptable in policing today. And as soon as we heard those recommendations even from the draft perspective from the experts that came in, we made those changes immediately.
SIMON: When you talk about reducing the racial disparity of traffic stops, that certainly sounds like a good and decent goal. But does it mean not stopping people who seem to drive in an unsteady or belligerent manner just because you're worried about your statistics?
MEDLOCK: No. In fact, my expectation is - and I think most officers expectation - and certainly our citizens in our city expect us to deal with drunk drivers or folks who are driving recklessly immediately and appropriately, which means making a traffic stop, pulling that dangerous person off of the roadway and enforcing the traffic laws. But the way we have gone about starting to improve the purity (ph) is simply by enforcing it. We have moved our officers out of neighborhoods and having them stop people in neighborhoods for what I would call an equipment or regulatory violation - in other words, someone with an expired tag or an expired inspection sticker we have those in North Carolina or a broken tail light - and dealing with the things that save people's lives in our city. Those include speeding, drunk driving, reckless driving, red light violations, stop sign violations. And so by moving away from regulatory violations to moving violations, we have started to make our stops less disparate.
SIMON: Does the Fayetteville department have Tasers?
MEDLOCK: Absolutely. Every one of my officers are equipped with the latest generation Taser.
SIMON: Are Tasers necessarily less violent than guns?
MEDLOCK: No, sir. As one who has been Tased as part of my training, it is a horrible experience. And what that taught me was that we need to be very careful in deploying that piece of equipment. But it certainly bridges the gap between known deadly force with a firearm and hands-on use of force or some other type of equipment. But, Scott, there's a piece of this that folks seem to forget and that is the whole de-escalation piece of interacting with the public. What we have done over the last couple of years is encourage and train our officers to go a little bit slower when it is possible and when someone's life is not immediately in danger to try to de-escalate a situation and not have to use any force at all. And as a result of that, we've been very successful. Our injuries to officers have gone down. Our injuries to the public have gone down. Our uses of force overall have gone down. And our public satisfaction with the way we deliver services has increased.
SIMON: Harold Medlock, police chief of Fayetteville, N.C., thank you very much for being with us.
MEDLOCK: Thank you, Scott. Have a happy new year.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The war in Afghanistan intensified in 2015, even as the conflict in Syria and battles in Iraq got more attention. The Taliban has resurfaced in Afghanistan and now controls a fifth of the country. Islamic State offshoots have emerged in Afghanistan and al-Qaida training camps have been established in several parts of the country. Afghan forces have suffered heavy casualties and President Obama has halted the withdrawal of U.S. military forces, prolonging the American role in a war that has gone on for 14 years. Andrew Wilder is the vice president of Asia programs at the United States Institute of Peace and he joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
ANDREW WILDER: Thank you.
SIMON: Why do you think the Taliban's gained so much ground this year?
WILDER: Well, I think the most obvious reason is that, you know, two years ago we had 140,000 U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan, and today we have about 13,000, of which about just under 10,000 are U.S. forces. And so when you withdraw very well-trained and equipped troops from Afghanistan, there's going to be a consequence.
SIMON: You paint it as a failure of U.S. policy.
WILDER: In part. I think there's many contributing factors. I was actually not necessarily a fan of the surge of going up to 100,000 in the first place, but I would have cautioned against drawing down from that level down to under 10,000 in a very short period of time.
SIMON: I haven't been there since 2002, but I remember Afghans speaking very movingly about their contempt for the Taliban and remembering public beheadings and executions and the way they were forced to live as prisoners in their own homes.
WILDER: Yeah, and I think largely there's still not a large popular support for the Taliban coming back to power. But I think where there's been a failure is on the Afghan government side, a failure of leadership, you know, both under President Karzai where he adopted a leadership style of backing sort of corrupt and predatory local leaders and many Afghans at the local level are sort of caught between, you know, corrupt and predatory local government officials and the Taliban, neither of whom which they like.
SIMON: Mr. Wilder, when you talk about that it might've been unwise for so many U.S. troops to leave and how there has to be a continuation of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, I can imagine a lot of Americans hearing that at home and saying wait a minute. We've been there 14 years. Why?
WILDER: Well, I think it's important to go back to the reason why we went to Afghanistan. We went there because of 9/11 and, you know, transnational terrorist groups, namely al-Qaida, at that time were based in Afghanistan from which they planned and launched some of the attacks on the U.S. homeland. I think if we pull out of Afghanistan too quickly and see the collapse of the state again and a return back to the anarchic situation which we had in the 1990s, you will see Afghanistan become a safe haven for transnational terrorist groups again.
SIMON: And what about those Americans who say when does the country stand on its own?
WILDER: That's one of the areas where I think, you know, political leadership needs to be honest with the American public that there isn't a quick fix solution to these situations. But there's a devastatingly high cost if you pull out prematurely and allow states to collapse, which we kind of saw in Iraq or in Syria or in Libya. And Afghanistan is not at that stage. We have a government in Afghanistan now that is very pro-Western, reform-oriented, unfortunately very weak. And we also have Afghan National Security Forces that are fighting very hard. I mean, we've had over 7,000 killed fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. So it's not just the U.S. that is fighting there.
SIMON: In November, we saw Afghans in the street who protested the beheadings by ISIS of ethnic Hazara. Does this signal a new political engagement by a lot of Afghans?
WILDER: I think there is growing unhappiness, you know, about the deteriorating security situation and as well as the sharp deterioration in the economy. And I think that those demonstrations were a manifestation of that. I think it's probably too early to conclude that it's part of a broader pattern because Afghans fear instability more than anything else. The most notable thing about that demonstration is it remained largely peaceful.
SIMON: Andrew Wilder, vice president of Asia programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, thanks so much for being with us.
WILDER: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Soldiers must face many dangers - exhaustion, battle, loneliness and MREs.
MREs are the vacuum-packed food that soldiers eat on deployment. The initials mean meals ready to eat, but over the years, soldiers have developed many alternative explanations, including meals refused by everyone, meals rejected by the enemy and lots of other permutations best left for conversations in a bunker.
I've eaten lot of MREs while war reporting. Most people don't join the Army and expect to be fed by Nigella Lawson. U.S. Army dietitians really seem to do their best to provide for a range of tastes, from standard American comfort food to Latin American and Asian specialties. But soldiers always wind up comparing the beef stew to dog food and the meatballs with marinara sauce to something the dog left behind.
Now the U.S. Army is asking for volunteers to eat MREs and nothing but, for three weeks. They want to see what an unrelenting diet does to a human being's digestive system, in search for ways in which the meals might be improved.
Volunteers must be willing to have their blood drawn and submit themselves to other medical exams. Participants will be paid $200. But so far, there is no Purple Heart awarded for eating MREs.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The history of competitive insults goes back generations. In the United States, we trace it back to the dozens, a sort of verbal duel developed in the African-American community. Today, it's having a renaissance in the form of battle rap. Thanks to social media, local rap battle leagues have popped up all over the world in the last few years. New England Public Radio's Henry Epp takes us to a tournament in Holyoke, Mass.
HENRY EPP, BYLINE: In a large brick-walled room at the Waterfront Tavern, two rappers stand face-to-face in the middle of an excited crowd, mostly men in their 20s and 30s. The rappers don't have mics, and there's no DJ in sight. Petey Mitch, whose real name is Steven Daley, goes up against Blackademiks, real name Ibrahim Abdul-Rahman.
Petey Mitch lives in a fairly rural town, so Blackademiks goes after that with a literary reference.
IBRAHIM ABDUL-RAHMAN: (Rapping) Now you saying you from the streets? That's just a story he's telling. You talk to pigs. "Animal Farm." Your whole life is Orwellian. You got a problem with what I'm...
EPP: Blackademiks is a self-proclaimed nerd, so Petey Mitch comes back with a harsh attack.
STEVEN DALEY: I'm a bully, [expletive]. I kill dorks for sport. Matter of fact, where's my [expletive] book report?
EPP: During the second round of a tournament in the 413 Battle League, named for the area code in western Massachusetts, one of them will advance to the league semifinals in January.
Jason Weeks, one of the organizers, says the rappers are each given three two-minute long rounds to deliver their rhymes. The only other rule...
JASON WEEKS: Don't slap nobody (laughter). You know, the only thing we don't want is beef. We don't want any fights. You know, we leave it on the floor. You come here. You get your rhymes off and then you walk away and we go have a drink afterwards.
EPP: This league's events usually attract about 150 people. Tonight, there are visitors from as far away as Utah and Texas. They've heard about it online. Social media and YouTube videos are a huge part of rap battle culture these days. Joell Ortiz, an emcee from the New York rap group Slaughterhouse, says this kind of organization is relatively new.
JOELL ORTIZ: Back in the days, it was just like, yo, this guy wants to battle you. Like, all right, cool, tell him meet me here. Put the beat on. Now it's just way more intricate. Like, people are studying their opponent, preparing punch lines and metaphors and cadences.
EPP: Ortiz says he thinks local leagues started appearing around 2009 or '10. VerseTracker, one of the largest battle rap social networks, registers about 550 leagues around the world and over 16,000 rappers. And the importance of videos has altered the form. Ortiz says battles used to be mostly freestyle and before the Internet, it was easy to recycle rhymes. Now that's not as acceptable.
ORTIZ: Because the worst thing you want to see, like, when you're reading comments coming from your fans is like, yo, that was dope, but I heard that here, or yeah, yeah, you ripped that, but that's off of this song.
EPP: The rhymed insults can get pretty vicious. Back at the Waterfront Tavern, Julie Holden can attest. She's Petey Mitch's wife, and she's attended all of his battles since he started last year.
JULIE HOLDEN: When people think of battle rap and hear that my husband battle raps, they're like, wow, that's ridiculous. But it's really, like, this huge family that just makes fun of each other all the time. Nobody gets offended. and afterwards, everybody just sits around and drinks and laughs about it, and I love that.
DALEY: Your "Animal Farm" bar and that Orwellian...
ABDUL-RAHMAN: It's reachy (ph). When I was like Orwellian and it hit, I was like, thank you, God, people read books.
EPP: After the battle, Blackademiks and Petey Mitch are in the dirt parking lot next to the tavern. They're remarkably friendly and complimentary. The two emcees say battle rap is about much more than one-upmanship.
DALEY: It's a performance.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: Exactly.
DALEY: That's all it is. It's a performance.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: It's performance art. That's what I tell people. It's performance art at the end of the day. I mean, like, I...
DALEY: We put stand-up comedy, rapping, you know, freestyling, a cappella, like, all that into one.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: It's so much. It's so much. It's so, so, so much.
DALEY: ...Into one.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: And it's all about having the good mix and knowing when to do what.
DALEY: Exactly. Yep, yep.
EPP: As for who won? Petey Mitch and Blackademiks are undecided.
DALEY: I felt your third round was your strongest. Like, I feel like you got it 2 to 1. I feel like...
ABDUL-RAHMAN: Fair enough, fair enough.
DALEY: ...Your third round was your strongest. But I heard, like, from five different people that I got the third round, which is crazy.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: Battle rap.
DALEY: Yeah, dude.
ABDUL-RAHMAN: Battle rap.
DALEY: It's just crazy to me.
EPP: A few weeks later, after the judges have reviewed the video of the battle, their decision comes out. Blackademiks won. He heads to the next round of the 413 Battle League tournament. The grand prize? $413.13.
For NPR News, I'm Henry Epp.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The next time you hear somebody confidently predict the future of media, remember "Hee Haw." It was a show that most TV executives said would fail, so did critics. Country music, barnyard humor and quick cut blackouts.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HEE HAW")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Hey, did that medicine I gave you for your uncle straighten him out?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Yep, buried him yesterday, straightened him right out.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMON: In fact, the co-host of the show didn't even think it would last. But "Hee Haw" stayed on the air for 25 years, 1969 to 1993 on CBS, then syndication for 585 shows. It helped make mainstream stars of Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty and many others. And now it's a three-DVD collection. "Hee Haw" indeed.
The co-host who said the show wouldn't last? Roy Clark, one of the great guitar players and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He joins us now from the studios of KWGS in Tulsa. Thanks so much for being with us.
ROY CLARK: Oh, can I say hee haw?
SIMON: Yeah, should we?
CLARK: Hee haw.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HEE HAW")
CLARK: It is my pleasure to be here and especially when you start off by talking about "Hee Haw." I've told everyone that I grew old on "Hee Haw," but I could've grown old without it.
SIMON: (Laughter).
CLARK: So I'll take the plus.
SIMON: Well, I didn't know until reading a short memoir you wrote in The Huffington Post, there is a link between Jonathan Winters, the Smothers Brothers and "Hee Haw."
CLARK: Well, I think that we had the same producers when it first started out. The two gentlemen from Canada came down with this idea for doing a country music, not unlike "Laugh-In" - wanted to know if I would be interested. And, you know, in this business, you say yes to everything.
SIMON: What do you think almost everybody missed about "Hee Haw" that kept it around for 25 years?
CLARK: I think basically, we didn't hurt anyone. We were out there having a good time. You can go and get educated, but you can come to "Hee Haw" and get another education. The critics all said that the only listeners that we had were country. And I said, wait a minute - I was just in New York City, and I was walking down the street and the guy yells across and says, hey, Roy, I'm a-picking. Well, I'm obligated to say, well, I'm a-grinning.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HEE HAW")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I'm a-picking
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) And I'm a-grinning.
SIMON: Did great editing make the show work?
CLARK: Oh, yes. Yes it did. Anything that comes out, that's really, you know, not your favorite part of the show, well, just wait a minute, and it'll be something else.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HEE HAW")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) (Singing) Well, where are you tonight? Why did you leave me here all alone? I searched the world over and thought I found true love. You met another and (blowing raspberries) you was gone.
(LAUGHTER)
CLARK: And then somebody like Garth Brooks will come on if you don't like the corny joke. And, you know, a lot of the big stars of today got their beginnings and their first network and national exposure from "Hee Haw."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HEE HAW")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Here's Donna Fargo.
(APPLAUSE)
DONNA FARGO: (Singing) Funny Face, I love you. Funny Face, I need you. My whole world's wrapped up in you.
CLARK: Back when we were writing in our heyday, a little lady came up to me one day and she said, Mr. Clark, don't let them take "Hee Haw" off the air. That's the only thing we have left. And she had a tear in her eye. And I said, sweetheart, I'll do all I can in my power to keep it on as long as you and I both are willing to listen to it.
SIMON: What do you think she meant by it's the only thing we have left?
CLARK: That most of the other television - the only other things that she has to watch are not anything that she really understands or looks that much forward to. And it - she identified so much with "Hee Haw," and that goes back to personal contact with people.
All the mail that I got, half of it said, you looked exactly like my brother, or you look exactly like so-and-so. And I looked at myself later - I had those pork chop hairdos that look like it grew out of my ear. And I looked - we were opening a concert, and I looked down in the first five rows, would be some young people with pork chops on their face. So I knew that they were watching me and copying everything I did.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I NEVER PICKED COTTON")
CLARK: (Singing) I never picked cotton. But my mother did and my brother did and my sister did and my daddy died young, working in the coal mine.
SIMON: So how did you get introduced to country western music?
CLARK: You know, like my dad told me, listening to different types of music and the way that people live, he said, don't put it down until your heart hears it.
Now, you'll hear it with your ears, but don't write off, say I don't like that. Listen. Listen for a while. There'll be something in there that will appeal to you. And it - it's made me, you know, a successful life that I wouldn't change one note.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROY CLARK SONG)
CLARK: (Singing) Where did it go, baby? I've got to know, baby. What are you and I going to do? We've both got to try 'cause I know that I don't want another lonely night with you.
SIMON: Roy Clark. The "Hee Haw" collection is now a three-DVD set. Thanks so much for being with us and happy holidays, Mr. Clark.
CLARK: Bless your heart. It's my pleasure.
SIMON: Picking and a-grinning, BJ Leiderman wrote our theme music. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROY CLARK SONG)
CLARK: (Singing) If love is still there but hiding somewhere, let's find it and start something new.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The winter flood that slammed Illinois and Missouri over the last week is being blamed for at least 22 deaths. Now the surge of rainwaters moving south threatening more committees along the Mississippi River and the towns that were hit hardest around St. Louis are taking stock of the damage and beginning a long cleanup. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann reports.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: I'm walking over frozen mud at the edge of the Bourbeuse River. This is just outside Union, Mo. This river erupted, really exploded from its banks and ran right through the low-lying parts of this community. People are just starting to sort out what damage this has done.
JIM HANNON: There's about four foot of water inside the house.
MANN: That's Jim Hannon. This river just southwest of St. Louis has receded now, and he's sitting in his car outside his battered, white house. The walls are smeared with mud and the front yard littered with debris.
HANNON: Everything's pretty much gone.
MANN: So what do you folks plan to do?
HANNON: Move I guess (laughter).
MANN: They have no insurance, he says. That's a common story here in this town of 10,000. A lot of people either couldn't afford flood coverage or they thought they were on safe ground when the waters started rising. Reverend Beth Elders is working in a Red Cross shelter down the road in Manchester, Mo. They've shifted from offering food and beds to handing out five-gallon buckets filled with cleaning supplies.
BETH ELDERS: Everything from sponges to scouring pads to work gloves to detergent, clothes pins, a little bit of everything - the small things and some of the things that begin to get in short supply in many of our stores immediately following a disaster.
MANN: More than 500 buckets have gone out so far and she says more are on the way. But rubber gloves and clothes pins won't start to touch some of the mess caused by this flood.
CARRIE DICKEY: OK, well, we're just setting up some lights and taking it step by step. Do you know where they took all of the work lights? Did Paul...
MANN: That's Carrie Dickey talking to her dad on the phone. They own a huge hardware and lumber store here in Union called Dickey Bubs. It was square in the path of the river.
DICKEY: It's a complete devastation. We've taken at least six to seven feet of water throughout the building. So we have a lot of cleanup to go.
MANN: Do you mind just taking me right inside and letting me look? I won't go too far in.
DICKEY: Sure.
MANN: Oh, there's some smell, too.
DICKEY: Well, it's hard to imagine if you've never seen six feet of water take over of 47,000 square foot building - total devastation, destruction. All our hard work has been destroyed in a very short period of time.
MANN: She shakes her head and turns to get back to work. All the interstate highways in this area did reopen on Friday, though many smaller roads remain impassable. With these towns shifting from crisis to clean up, St. Louis County has lifted its state of emergency. For NPR News, I'm Brian Mann in Columbia, Mo.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Many Democrats and Republicans agree that the tough drug laws of the 1980s and '90s put too many people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses. Many prisoners are still serving 20 to 30-year sentences, even life. President Obama has granted just 184 commutations and pardons - fewer than many of his predecessors - even as he's encouraged prisoners to apply under a program called the Clemency Project. One of the 95 prisoners who got good news during this holiday season is David Padilla of Philadelphia. He was sent to prison for life in 1997 for conspiracy and intent to distribute cocaine. NPR's Carrie Johnson and Marisa Penaloza met Mr. Padilla at the end of 2014 when he was serving his life sentence at the Fairton federal prison in New Jersey.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
DAVID PADILLA: There's no doubt in my mind that I feel I should have been punished - no doubt about it. But I don't agree that I should die in prison
SIMON: He told NPR that after 18 years in prison he's not the same as the 30-year-old who once helped sell drugs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PADILLA: I'm truly remorseful. I'm sorry. I'm not the same man I used to be. I'm a different person. And hopefully my work has shown that I can be a law-abiding citizen. I can make a difference. I could be a father, a husband, and I could do the right thing.
SIMON: David Padilla had three young children - two daughters and a son - when he entered prison. He says he decided to try to make them proud.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PADILLA: So I decided to enroll in college. So I decided to get into the dental field. So I decided to do these things that I'm telling them to do. So every time I would get grades in the semester, I would send them my grades. This is what Daddy got. Show me your grades. You know, it was important for me to stay the course because I already have caused so much damage. That was an incentive enough for me to have the bond that I need with my wife and my children.
SIMON: He's 48 years old now and lifts his hand as he speaks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PADILLA: I never imagined that these hands will make a denture for somebody. These hands will make a prosthesis for someone. I never thought that. But until I put it to practice and I put my effort is when I realized that wow, you have more potential than what you think.
SIMON: He's rediscovered music in prison, too, and became a singer in the prison's church.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PADILLA: (Singing in Spanish).
SIMON: David Padilla's father died while he was in prison, as did his brother and a 16-year-old niece. But his marriage stayed together. His wife, Lisette, cared for their family and supported her husband through failed appeals and disappointments. The Clemency Project took on his case. In 2014 he said...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PADILLA: I don't want to put my hopes too high 'cause I've been let down so much. And my hope is to be home soon, to be with my family once again, to reestablish my household one more time.
SIMON: David Padilla ended 2015 in a halfway house, his sentence commuted by President Obama. If he's able to find a job and continue his 18 years of good behavior, David Padilla will be a free man in the spring of 2016.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Saudi Arabia announced that it has executed 47 people for terrorism, including a prominent Shia cleric. It is the largest mass execution in the kingdom since 1980. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was a cleric who supported peaceful antigovernment protests in 2011 and denied he had endorsed violence. His execution could rip open sectarian tensions in the Middle East that are already flaring. NPR's Leila Fadel joins us now from Dubai. Leila, thanks so much for being with us.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Thank you.
SIMON: Tell us who this sheikh was and why he was executed.
FADEL: Well, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr really became a symbol for young Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia protesting for their rights in 2011. He publicly criticized the royal family. He supported peaceful protests. He supported antigovernment protests in nearby Bahrain. And then he was arrested two years ago, and he was actually shot while he was getting detained and sentenced to death. He was convicted of disobeying the ruling family. He was accused of taking up arms against the state, of foreign meddling. But human rights defenders have called his trial unfair and politicized. Among those executed also were three other Shia activists, and his young nephew is also on death row.
SIMON: What's the reaction been?
FADEL: Well, we've seen condemnation from Shia leaders from Iran to Yemen to Lebanon. In Iran, the foreign minister accused Saudi Arabia of supporting extremism while executing domestic critics. A top Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami (ph), called the royal family criminal and warned that this execution could actually lead to its demise. Already we're hearing of protests in Bahrain. There are planned protests according to residents in the eastern province of Qatif, which is where Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is from. And Nimr's brother has condemned - obviously has expressed sadness about his brother's death but also warned against violence in reaction. He says his brother always talked about peace and a war of words, not violence.
SIMON: And what has Saudi Arabia said about the executions?
FADEL: Well, they say that this is legal. This is, you know, these mass executions are for the safety of the kingdom. The country's top cleric says it's in line with Islamic law - Saudi Arabia follows a very strict interpretation of Islamic law - and were needed for the safety of the country.
SIMON: There was a trial, right?
FADEL: There was a trial, which Amnesty International and others described as politicized and unfair. They've been calling for this death sentence to be overturned along with these other activists, especially his young nephew. And so far, the kingdom has shown no willingness to do that.
SIMON: And what about concerns as to what affect these executions could have in the region?
FADEL: Well, really, there's concern about a possible regional sectarian war. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but that's what, you know, analysts are worried about. Iran and Saudi Arabia have been battling for influence in the region for years now. And already we're looking at a Middle East that's mired in political conflicts that have taken on sectarian overtones, from Yemen to Bahrain to Iraq. And this execution, which was widely seen as unfair, as politicized because this is a Shia cleric who supported Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia who've been demanding their rights who say they're treated as second-class citizens, that they say that he was killed as part of this competition between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran. Experts say that they really worry it will get a lot worse than what we're seeing right now.
SIMON: NPR's Leila Fadel in Dubai, thanks so much for being with us.
FADEL: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's been just about a year since two terrorists, two brothers, stormed into the editorial meeting of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine. They killed 12 men and women, including a police officer and set off three days of terror throughout France, including the killing of four people in a kosher market. In the wake of the deaths of the satirists, Je suis Charlie, I am Charlie, became a slogan of solidarity for free expression around the world. Stephane Charbonnier, the editor of Charlie Hebdo - known as Charb - had just completed an open letter, which has now been published as a posthumous manifesto - "Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, And The True Enemies Of Free Expression." The book's forward is by Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker, a famous chronicler of Paris. And he joins us from New York. Thanks so much being with us.
ADAM GOPNIK: Glad to be here, Scott.
SIMON: You say when you first read Charlie Hebdo in the 1970s it just wasn't to your taste.
GOPNIK: No. I was a kid and it was kind of scabrous, and it wasn't the sacrilege that bothered me so much as the obscenity that challenged a 14-year-old American. But over the years, I came to have a keen appreciation of Charlie Hebdo and what it did. That was partly, Scott, because I became a pedant of the form. I did my graduate work in art history and particularly in the history of French satirical cartooning. And that made me aware of what a rich and resilient tradition this seemingly scabrous sacrilegious magazine still represented in French life.
SIMON: Maybe we should explain for Americans who perhaps only heard of the magazine when these terrible killings occurred...
GOPNIK: Sure.
SIMON: Charlie Hebdo was and is not The Onion or "The Daily Show." This is a different kind of satire. Might I put it this way - less politically correct.
GOPNIK: Infinitely less politically correct but also far more omnivorous. Charlie Hebdo mocked everyone. They mocked the left. They mocked the right. They mocked, above all, the extreme right, the extreme right of Le Pen's. If anything could identify their politics, they were kinds of anarchists. They had contempt for all authority and for anyone with pretenses to authority. They mocked rabbis and priests and presidents and imams and the prophets. So it was a kind of way in a very, as you know, Scott, in a society that in many ways is extremely formal and uptight as France can be, as official France can be. These were the licensed anarchist clowns of the society. And everyone understood, as people had understood for hundreds of years, knowing that Rabelaisian tradition of French satire, they knew how to read it. And they understood the kind of release from piety that it represented every week.
SIMON: Let me ask you to do a reading, if we can, from the Charb. It's a section that seems to be - seems to have the working title "God Is Big Enough To Take Care Of Himself."
GOPNIK: That's right. And Charb writes (reading) frankly, if God exists and is as powerful as his minions claims, we infidels, unbelievers, lay folk, atheists, anti-theists, freethinkers and apostates are in deep [expletive]. We are irremediably damned to the fires of hell, which raises the question why do believers resort to human justice to punish us when divine justice would do the trick far more severely than any judge? Exactly who is this God character who is said to be all-powerful yet needs to hire lawyers to take us to court? Isn't he miffed when someone he had always considered to be a true follower turns to the legal system rather than to prayer? Why would the faithful risk making God look ridiculous by losing a trial on Earth when he is certain to win every trial in heaven?
SIMON: Thank you. Adam Gopnik reading the words of Charb in "Open Letter" from posthumous manifesto by the editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo. I take Charb's point, but at some point has Charlie Hebdo been trying to have it both ways because some of what they do is not funny if it weren't for the fact that some people consider it blasphemous?
GOPNIK: Sure. And we can say that about a lot of satirists. You know, I - a good analogy in lots of ways is "South Park" - the hugely popular American cartoon show - and the things that the "South Park" creators have created, like "The Book Of Mormon," the Broadway musical. If I were a devout Mormon, I would be offended by a lot of things that go on in "The Book Of Mormon," right? It mocks mercilessly the pretensions to truth of Mormonism and the pretensions to virtue of Mormon missionaries. But we understand because it's the environment we grew up in that the animus towards individual Mormons is really quite small in the work of the "South Park" people. The animus towards what they see as the absurdities of Mormon theology is large, but the Mormons themselves are regarded as, at worst, kind of innocents in the whole game.
Now, you can't prevent someone who takes their Mormonism very seriously from being offended by "The Book Of Mormon," and you can't prevent someone who takes their Islam very seriously from being offended by some of the cartoons in Charlie Hebdo. But when we ask what are the intentions of the creators, is it to cause harm to individual Mormons or Muslims or is it to mock authority to be sacrilegious, I think the answer's very clear.
SIMON: The Committee to Protect Journalists said this week that 69 journalists around the world were murdered this year doing their jobs, 28 of them by Islamic militants. Have journalists become targets?
GOPNIK: Oh, I don't think there's any question journalists have become targets, but then I think that - that anyone who tries to practice liberty becomes a target of fanatics. And it's not Islamic fanatics alone, though it certainly includes Islamic fanatics. We've had mass shootings in the United States in the part of violent antiabortion protesters, in the part of violent pro-ISIS militants. The trick and the trap and the horror is not faith, Scott. I don't think the trap and the horror is fanaticism. And fanaticism comes in as many flavors as there are human beings. And I think the worst thing we can do is to concede to fanaticism its devotion, say. Well, you have to understand, these people are really fanatics, so we should back down from them. I think if journalists start doing that then they won't be practicing journalism. If satirists start doing that then they won't be practicing satire.
SIMON: Adam Gopnik - he's written the forward to Charb's "Open Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia, And The True Enemies Of Free Expression." Thanks so much for being with us.
GOPNIK: It was a pleasure, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Time now for Snapshot 2016, a series of audio portraits of folks that we've - meeting on the campaign trail, people swept up into the excitement when a candidate comes to town. NPR's Asma Khalid has our latest installment.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Sometimes those people don't get swept up. A couple of months ago, Hillary Clinton was in Charleston, S.C., giving a big speech to the local NAACP. And so I went down there, too, and I met Anton Gunn.
ANTON GUNN: There are a lot of people like me who are very sour - very sour - at how Barack Obama was treated as president.
KHALID: And so they're apathetic about 2016. It wasn't always that way for Anton Gunn. Back in 2007, he was very passionate. Gunn was a little-known community organizer who ended up joining the Obama White House. What he wanted me to know was how his political story began.
GUNN: My first political awakening was in 1988. It's when I bought the album "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" by Public Enemy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRING THE NOISE")
FLAVA FLAV: (Rapping) Yo, Chuck, these honey drippers are still fronting on us.
GUNN: Chuck D was my first role model outside of my family.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRING THE NOISE")
CHUCK D: (Rapping) Bass, how low can you go? Death row...
GUNN: His music spoke about the issues that were impacting the black community, and it spoke to me about how we solved those issues in the small P politics, not the big P politics but the small P.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRING THE NOISE")
CHUCK D: (Rapping) Never badder than bad cause the bother is madder than mad at the fact that's corrupt like a senator.
GUNN: It was in 1988 that I participated in my first anti-apartheid rally because of the hip-hop artists' opposition to apartheid.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOW'EM WHATCHA GOT")
PUBLIC ENEMY: (Rapping) Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes.
GUNN: So hip-hop is my first political memory. Hip-hop is what got me involved and engaged and I got my social conscience and my political awareness from hip-hop. Chuck D said in his one interview about his record deal with Def Jam - is your goal to go platinum? He said, no, our goal is not to go platinum but it's to create 5,000 new black leaders working in the community. And when I heard that, that's when I made a decision that I was always going to be involved in something. And I didn't know that it was going to end up being involved in presidential politics and working for Barack Obama, but I knew I was going to be a community leader to make a difference in some way, shape or form. And that's what I miss about the music and that's what I miss about the cultural framework of hip-hop. It is commercialized like politics has become commercialized today, but nonetheless, I know the passions that drove me into it and still inspired by that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK STEEL IN THE HOUR OF CHAOS")
PUBLIC ENEMY: (Rapping) I got a letter from the government the other day I open and read it and said they were suckers.
KHALID: Anton Gunn no longer works in national politics. These days, he's working at the local level dealing with diversity issues at a hospital in Charleston. This election, Gunn says he's not looking to a candidate. He's looking to a movement. He says Black Lives Matter is pricking the consciousness of people not in the culture, people like Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley, and making them talk about issues of criminal justice and police violence, making them talk about issues that have not normally been a part of election-year politics. Asma Khalid, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIGHT THE POWER")
PUBLIC ENEMY: (Rapping) Our freedom of speech is freedom of death. We got to fight the powers that be. Fight the power. Fight the power. Fight the power...
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Podcasts are huge, and they've created a demand for new music. At Berklee College of Music in Boston, students are learning how to make a living making music they'll likely never get credit for. Aaron Schacter from WGBH radio brought us this report earlier this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
AARON SCHACTER, BYLINE: Chances are you've heard lots of stuff like this in the past few years.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "SERIAL")
SARAH KOENIG: From "This American Life" and WBEZ Chicago, it's "Serial."
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE WORLD IN WORDS")
NINA PORZUCKI: Nina Porzucki here, and this is "The World in Words."
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "SLUMBER PARTY WITH ALIE & GEORGIA")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hi, it's "Slumber Party With Alie & Georgia."
SCHACTER: Podcasts would sound pretty bland without music. It's evocative and sets a mood. But for the most part, the music is meant to be invisible. You will never sit down to listen to it or put it on in your car, and chances are you'll never know who composed it. But this kind of music is everywhere, and it's big business.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCHACTER: This, for example, may someday be the sound that seduces you into buying a new Hyundai. You can't see the pictures that go with it, but trust me here. Music and images are kind of sexy. Sexy or sad, dramatic or heartfelt, the students in Commercial Writing 450 at Berklee College of Music in Boston already know how to tweak your emotions for films, for commercials, for production libraries. That's where podcast music generally comes from. Going to Berklee is a big deal for a musician. Loads of famous Grammy winners have studied here, but no one I spoke with would admit to thinking about fame. They were too pragmatic for that.
ANDREA PEJROLO: Pop stars kind of come and go (laughter), but the people working for them usually stay. You know, they're always there because they're always needed.
SCHACTER: Andrea Pejrolo is a professor in the contemporary writing and production department. He says of course his students have the same dreams as musicians everywhere. They do want to be famous. But these days, he says, they don't have to be to make it.
PEJROLO: It used to be, you know, to make it in the music industry was like to be the pop star. Now, we are surrounded by different type of media, you know, it just became this global thing now that keeps expanding. It's everywhere.
SCHACTER: In addition to film scoring, there's web advertising, lots more TV with lots more commercials, podcasts and video games. And this means there are so many more outlets where you can showcase your music and make money. Podcast music is not a moneymaker, by the way. Folks in the biz think of it kind of like a calling card to attract paying customers.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIOLIN)
MERCEDES AVILES: When you make music for a production library, you can just, like, completely let go of it.
SCHACTER: Mercedes Aviles is a violinist majoring in commercial writing.
AVILES: And so, even if you don't like what you produce, as long as it works for that spot, you can still get a sense of pride from it, even though it's not for your own personal use.
SCHACTER: Come on, Mercedes, you want to be a pop star, right?
AVILES: (Laughter) Maybe.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCHACTER: Professor Kurt Biederwolf says not too long ago, someone like Aviles probably would have spent a lot of time waiting tables while struggling for stardom. Now, he says, if she nails the commercial writing thing, it's all music all the time.
KURT BIEDERWOLF: They could do this from their hotel room. They could do this on a bus between gigs or during breaks. And this fits into those gaps in their schedule.
SCHACTER: Berklee is one of the only colleges in the country teaching undergrads to make commercial music, and they are running out of studio space.
For NPR News, I'm Aaron Schacter in Boston.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
No better way to begin a new year than to say - time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: Alabama and Clemson closed out the year with monster victories. Clemson - 37-17 over Oklahoma; Bama 38-zip over - well, let's just save a certain team in Michigan the embarrassment. And they'll play for the National Collegiate Football Championship in - what? - nine days. Our man Howard Bryant of espn.com com and ESPN The Magazine joins us. Howard, happy new year. Thanks for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Happy new year, Scott.
SIMON: What do you foresee in that game?
BRYANT: Oh, it's going to be a great game. I have no idea what to expect, considering that you thought that - I thought that Michigan State - oh, sorry, did I say that? - Michigan State-Alabama game was going to be a lot...
SIMON: (Laughter) I was trying to save their feelings, OK?
BRYANT: But the Michigan people want to hear it. They got shut out, and Michigan State didn't. I think when you're Clemson, it's great. You spend the whole year waiting for this moment because you've been a great team all year, but nobody really believes in you because you're not Alabama, or you're not USC or one of the teams that wins every year. But you're undefeated. You're here. You've got Deshaun Watson who's the - probably the best quarterback in the country. And this is it - I think this is going to be fantastic. On the other hand, you've got Alabama that has been a decent team all year then they became a great team midyear. And now they're playing as well as anybody in the country, so I expect a really good game.
SIMON: We don't do predictions, do we?
BRYANT: We don't really do predictions. I don't know who's going to win, Scott. That's why they play the game.
SIMON: Yeah, right. Thanks for reminding everyone.
BRYANT: (Laughter) Right?
SIMON: I want to ask you about the Winter Classic yesterday. This is a game I have grown to love. The Habs, the Montreal Canadiens, defeated the Boston Bruins 5-1, but, you know, the uniforms were great. Those throwback uniforms - the whole atmosphere, hockey outdoors, Bill Belichick taking a turn on the skates before the game - I think this is a great tradition.
BRYANT: (Laughter). Yeah, it is. It's fantastic. And I think one of the reasons why it's a great tradition is because all those kids - most of kids playing - grew up playing on the ponds in Canada and in the United States. And they grew up - it's an outdoor game until you start to become a really good player and you start playing organized in high school and in and juniors. But pickup hockey in the east coast Canadian style is played outside, so to go back to the throwback days of when you were kid playing - and you playing in conditions and you're playing in the wind, and you're playing against the sun and all of these different things that makes it - it makes for a very different environment.
The other thing about it though (laughter) - I'm not sure it's a great environment for the fans because it's a TV event. They couldn't see anything, but it was a good environment to be there.
SIMON: Yeah. And, for the first time, Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Women's Hockey League played against the Boston Pride of the new National Women's Hockey League. How do you think this league is going to do?
BRYANT: No - I hope it succeeds. I think it's fantastic. It just started up this year, and it took a couple of different incarnations of trying to have a women's league, and I think it's great.
I went to 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. I remember, you know, seeing Julie Chu at Harvard and a lot of the great women players that didn't have a place to play. It doesn't have to be compared to the men. It has to be a place where great female athletes get a chance to compete. The fact that they actually played at the Winter Classic as well is fantastic.
So I think it's a really - it's a fledgling league. I hope that it has a chance to succeed. I think being connected with the NHL in any way really helps for that exposure. Good luck to them.
SIMON: Yeah, OK - same here. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine, thanks so much for being with us.
BRYANT: Thank you.
SIMON: Look forward to talking to you in the new year. Happy holidays.
BRYANT: Happy holidays.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Sometimes, a good idea and fate collide to create an interesting opportunity. That's what happened with "All American Boys," a young adult novel whose co-authors chose a contentious subject, racial profiling.
Karen Grigsby Bates from NPR's "Code Switch" team talked with Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely to discover the story behind their story.
KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, BYLINE: Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds were both authors with the same publisher, but they didn't meet until 2013 when Simon & Schuster sent them on a group tour of male authors. While they were on the road, a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin. That sparked national outrage and protests. Jason Reynolds remembers his discomfort.
JASON REYNOLDS: And so here I am on this tour. I'm angry, I'm frustrated, and I'm sort of wrought with emotion. (Laughter) And I'm traveling and living with a stranger.
BATES: But soon he discovers he and Brendan Kiely had more in common than he thought.
REYNOLDS: It turns out, though, that as the conversation eventually arose that he was as frustrated and as angry and as confused and as upset as I was. And so we started to talk about these things.
BATES: They became not just colleagues, but friends and continued talking until something else happened the next year.
REYNOLDS: And in August, Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, and that was sort of the final straw. And Brendan actually came to me, and he said look, man, I can't take anymore. Like, we have to do something. Will you write this book with me? Can we do this thing together? And, you know, who says no to that, you know?
BATES: The result is "All American Boys," a short novel told in alternate chapters by high school classmates Quinn who is white and Rashad who is black.
The tension is established pretty early on. Rashad is wrongly accused of shoplifting in a convenience store. A policeman in the store drags Rashad outside and beats him so badly he has to be hospitalized. Quinn is nearby. He sees the whole thing and just wants it to go away. But a number of people documented the beatdown on their cells and pressed send.
Soon it's on the news and in social media. Everybody's seen the video except Quinn, who refuses to look. The policeman is a close family friend.
BRENDAN KIELY: (Reading) No way I was watching that video - I wanted to erase the whole damn memory from my mind. But I couldn't because it was like the whole damn high school had been there on the street with me. Everybody had seen it.
BATES: That's Brendan Kiely reading a passage in Quinn's voice.
Kiely says Quinn is concerned but in an abstract way. He wants to pretend he hasn't seen Rashad get beaten.
KIELY: But ultimately, he knows he can't because he has to acknowledge it and see it. You know, he might not be in the video, but he was on the street. That's a metaphor for him and, I think, for many of us in America, especially those of us who are white who have escaped this kind of brutality, to recognize that we do have a role to play, that we can't just shut it off and pretend it's not there.
BATES: Rashad, meanwhile, has to convince his father of his innocence. His parents always instructed him how to act when he meets police to assure them he's harmless. Jason Reynolds says he got the same lecture from his parents when he was Rashad's age.
REYNOLDS: Think people believe that as long as you carry yourself respectively that you won't be victimized.
BATES: In this passage, Rashad's parents see him in the hospital for the first time. His nose has been broken, his ribs, too. One eye is swollen shut.
REYNOLDS: (Reading) Ma was clearly horrified. But Dad - he had on that son-you-aren't-telling-me-everything look. And it was clear that, to him, I had to have done something wrong to bring this on. Well, were your pants sagging? - Dad interrogated, now back over by the door. Were my pants sagging? - I repeated, shocked by the question. What does that have to do with anything?
BATES: Rashad's pants weren't, but that's beside the point, says Reynolds.
REYNOLDS: And even if it isn't the case - even if a young person does have his pants sagging, that doesn't mean that he deserves to be brutalized.
BATES: Eventually, the school then the town divide over whether the policeman who beat Rashad stepped over the line or was just doing his job. Neighbors don't speak. School friendships are broken. But Quinn comes to see that condoning racial profiling, especially when it results in violence, is wrong. He chooses a side.
Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds say they hope their book will be a jumping off point for kids who want to discuss race, even when it makes their parents squirm.
REYNOLDS: But no matter what the adults say, nine times out of ten, the young people are ready to talk.
BATES: "All American Boys" may give them a way into that conversation.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There is a place for musicians can take a break from the tedium of the road to record songs and post them online for fans. It's called Daytrotter, and it turns 10 years old next month. The studio has an archive of thousands of recordings from such big-name musicians as Tori Amos and Alabama Shakes. Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters has the story of the website's evolution from funky Midwest walk up to state-of-the-art studio.
CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: On the surface, the old Daytrotter studio looks like a dump. It's an old 1970s radio station, up three flights of stairs, above a pizza shop in downtown Rock Island, Ill.
SEAN MOELLER: There've been a lot of great people in this room, but it's just a room, you know? I mean, you could say that about Stax. You could say that about Motown. You could say that about Mussel Shoals and - it was just a room until you started doing something in it, you know?
MASTERS: So how did the site's founder Sean Moeller, who at the time was working for the local newspaper, convince bands to stop by?
MOELLER: I think I promised them pizza. I think I was like, I'll buy you lunch, and that was, like, enough.
MASTERS: It was, says Marc Hogan, who writes for Pitchfork, Billboard and other music outlets.
MARC HOGAN: Just a place that was kind of - seems like almost a rite of passage for these various touring indie bands that are driving through Iowa anyway on the way to Chicago or wherever.
MASTERS: A lot of other websites started picking up what Daytrotter was doing, but Hogan says the little studio on the edge of the Mississippi River makes musicians feel at home.
HOGAN: Daytrotter has really stuck to its guns, and they have this unique concept of just stop by our place in the Quad Cities, and we'll record you. You'll pick up some instruments that probably aren't even yours, and you only have a couple hours. And you play usually four songs, and that goes out there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEEL ME FLOW")
NAUGHTY BY NATURE: Rock Island, Ill. Daytrotter Studios, y'all.
MASTERS: Daytrotter has recorded a ridiculously wide range of musicians from Carly Simon, Glen Campbell to Bon Iver and Naughty by Nature.
NAUGHTY BY NATURE: And it goes a little something like this. You about to feel the chronicles of a bionical lyric, lyrically splitting, dismissing. I'm on a mission of just hitting.
MASTERS: All of this despite the studios didn't even have AC.
MOELLER: To ask a band to come in in middle of July, when it's a hundred degrees outside, and it's not much cooler in our studio - that's just not nice, you know. It's, like - it's kind of rude.
MASTERS: Nevertheless, Moeller and two sound engineers have recorded more than 5,000 Daytrotter sessions, but they were going broke doing it. The site was supported by ads, but that wasn't enough to pay the bills. So about seven years ago, Moeller partnered with the owner of Paste Magazine and Wolfgang's Vault. They decided to start charging subscriptions. Moeller says some people complained, but enough signed up that Daytrotter was able to move across the river and build a new state-of-the-art studio in downtown Davenport, Iowa.
DAVID RAMIREZ: Check, check, one, two.
MASTERS: In October, Austin, Texas, singer and songwriter David Ramirez broke it in.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HARDER TO DIE")
RAMIREZ: (Singing) The first impression is what I've always been best at. You'd never question me or my intentions. I could be your best friend the minute you shake my hand.
MASTERS: Ramirez played the old Daytrotter studio a few years ago. He remembers that Sean Moeller's online write-up about those sessions was one of the best things he'd ever read about himself.
RAMIREZ: And maybe that's what was really touching about it - is because he was the only one that really was writing something from the heart, very intentional. I mean, I knew the guy cared about music because of what he was doing.
MASTERS: On any given day, Daytrotter hosts as many as a half-dozen bands. It's also gone on the road to record the likes of Mumford and Sons and Wilco, but most of the musicians are far from household names. Denver-based Strawberry Runners practiced their harmonies in the lobby as Ramirez and his band were packing up.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HATCHER CREEK")
STRAWBERRY RUNNERS: (Singing) I would have run, would have run away, but I couldn't leave you.
MASTERS: The musicians are about to release their first record, and they hope that once it's posted, their Daytrotter session will attract some new fans.
STRAWBERRY RUNNERS: (Singing) This is where can do what I want. This - this is where - this is where nobody cares. This is my log. I sit on top. There's moss underneath. You can look if you want. Yeah.
MASTERS: The new Daytrotter facility also has a club, and Sean Moeller hopes some of the bands will stick around after their sessions to play for the hometown crowd. He's not nostalgic for the old space. After all, he says, it wasn't meant to be used 12 hours a day, every day. And for those who worry that the pristine new facility lacks a certain vibe...
MOELLER: You know, hopefully, we'll dirty it up quickly, and, you know, some things will get spilled and some things will be made a little more rock and roll, I suppose.
MASTERS: For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
As we start the new year, we're going to look forward to what will be on your plate in 2016. Food writer Bonny Wolf stopped by to talk about this year's food trends. And she gave us the answer in just one word.
BONNY WOLF, BYLINE: Vegetables in the center of the plate. Vegetables are sort of the new meat. Michael Pollan 10 years ago said, eat food, not much, mostly plants. And that's become real. And it's - it's developed over the last 10 years.
MARTIN: So how is that change going to happen? 'Cause what you're saying is a big deal. The American diet is based on this idea that in the middle of your plate you've got, like, beef or chicken or fish. And then the side dishes are the vegetables.
WOLF: Well, it's happening in a variety of ways. Meats are being used as condiments or as side dishes. You know, you'll have a dish with a lot of vegetables, a lot of spices, a lot of other things and a little bit of meat or fish or some other protein. Some of this is in response to concerns about food waste. About 40 percent of food is wasted in this country every year. And so just as in the last few years we've eaten the whole animal - nose to tail - now we're going to eat the whole vegetable sort of root to stem.
MARTIN: So you literally mean, like, the stem of a carrot or, you know, off of a broccoli crown.
WOLF: There's a whole movement to make salads out of trimmings. They take a core of a cabbage and trimmings from carrots and leaves from broccoli and put it all together in a salad and put some kind of anchovy dressing on it and some Parmesan cheese and mix it all together and...
MARTIN: I mean, it sounds good.
WOLF: Yeah. There are going to be more big bowls where grains and nuts and cheese are mixed up with vegetables. And the U.N. has declared this the international year of the pulse.
MARTIN: We're not talking about my heart rate.
WOLF: We are not. We're talking about dried peas, lentils, dried beans. Chickpeas are going to be the star of the pulse show.
MARTIN: I love a chickpea. That's good news.
WOLF: Well, this is very good news.
MARTIN: This is my year.
WOLF: Yeah. There's going to be flour made from chickpeas, so you can bake with it - flours made from nuts, other legumes, which addresses gluten-free concerns.
MARTIN: So vegetables front and center.
WOLF: Vegetables front and center.
MARTIN: Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about different generation because you've noticed some trends when it comes to how different generations eat or think about food.
WOLF: Well, millennials are huge. There are now more millennials than there are baby boomers. And I think they are going to change not only what's on the plate but how we eat. They don't sit down generally. And of course, this is a great generalization, but they tend to snack. Their snacks are very involved, made with good-for-you foods and all sorts of things. They order ingredients online. And millennials get a lot of meal kits that deliver prepared ingredients. Everything is cut up and ready for you to just make into a dish. They use food delivery services rather than shopping. And I think this is - this is going to really change the way people eat 'cause they're very influential.
MARTIN: Food writer Bonny Wolf. Thanks so much, Bonny.
WOLF: It's a pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A whole new year stretches before us. A whole new year full of big resolutions to be kinder, healthier, more adventurous or smarter than we were the year before. So here's a baby step toward a better brain in 2016. It's time for the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Good morning, Will. Happy new year.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel. Happy new year to you too.
MARTIN: Remind us, what was last week's puzzle?
SHORTZ: Yes, I said name a famous actress who has four letters in her first name and four letters in her last. I said, add one letter, and rearrange the result to name an animal and the sound this animal makes. Who's the actress and what's the sound? Well, the actresses is Teri Garr, who starred in "Tootsie" and many other films. And if you add the letter O and rearrange the letters, you get tiger and roar.
MARTIN: So over 410 of our listeners got the correct answer. Our randomly selected winner, though, this week is Dan Simmons of Salem, Ore. He joins us on the line now. Hey, Dan, congratulations.
DAN SIMMONS: Hey, thank you very much. I'm honored to be here.
MARTIN: And how'd you figure it out?
SIMMONS: Well, I Googled a list of women actors. And as you probably know, the number that have only four letters in their first and last name is a relatively short list. And then you go down, and you try to unscramble and find animals and sounds. And by the time you get to Terry Garr, the tiger roar almost jumped off the page at you.
MARTIN: Well done. So how do you feel about being the first puzzle of 2016?
SIMMONS: I'm really excited. I was just flabbergasted. I worked this out when my daughter was out here for Christmas holidays. And I sent it in, and she says, oh, yeah, but you'll never win. And when I got the call yesterday, I was just blown away - just - just blown away.
MARTIN: Well, I think it means an auspicious beginning to your new year.
SIMMONS: Well, I sure hope so.
MARTIN: Are you ready to play the puzzle?
SIMMONS: I think so.
MARTIN: OK, let's do it, Will.
SHORTZ: OK, Dan and Rachel. I'm going to read you some sentences. Each sentence has two blanks. The first word has an O somewhere in it. Double the O, and you'll get the second word, which completes the sentence. For example, in math class, my blank asked me to find the shortest blank. You would say my prof asked me to find the shortest proof.
MARTIN: OK.
SIMMONS: Ooh.
SHORTZ: So just double the O. Number one, to get to an online article about the 31st U.S. president, you should blank your cursor over the name Herbert blank.
SIMMONS: Hoover.
SHORTZ: That is right, hover and Hoover.
MARTIN: Hover, yeah.
SHORTZ: On the team's baseball blank was a player who perfectly imitated the crowing of a blank.
SIMMONS: Baseball... The crowing of a blank.
SHORTZ: Yeah.
MARTIN: Crowing.
SHORTZ: What bird crows? Especially a male bird.
MARTIN: Rooster?
SHORTZ: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MARTIN: A rooster? OK.
SHORTZ: Yeah, yeah. Drop the...
SIMMONS: Roster and rooster.
MARTIN: Roster.
SHORTZ: A baseball roster, good.
MARTIN: Got it. OK.
SHORTZ: To order craft stockings made in Indiana, I needed a blank who was a blank.
MARTIN: Craft stockings?
SHORTZ: Yeah, you know, sort of homemade.
SIMMONS: A hosier that was a Hoosier.
MARTIN: Oh, good.
SHORTZ: There you go. You nailed it.
Our instructor on whaling would always blank the need for the blank to be very, very sharp. And I'll give you a hint. What goes in the first blank is actually a two-word phrase. Our instructor on whaling would always blank.
SIMMONS: Harp on the harpoon.
SHORTZ: Oh, yeah, good job.
MARTIN: Excellent.
SHORTZ: When barbecuing spare ribs, you should blank them with a bourbon sauce to get a blank taste.
MARTIN: Blank them with a bourbon sauce...
SIMMONS: I...
MARTIN: Spoon? No...
SHORTZ: Oh, it does start with S. It does start with S, yeah.
MARTIN: It starts with S. Smother?
SHORTZ: There you go. Yes.
SIMMONS: Smother and smoother.
MARTIN: Smoother.
SHORTZ: To get a smoother taste. Nice job.
MARTIN: Good work.
SHORTZ: All right. And here's your last one.
SIMMONS: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: You bet. You bet. I'm here for you.
(LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: John's wife stormed out of the disco after the blank dancer made blank eyes at her husband. And I'll give you a hint. There are two O's in the first word. And you're supposed to double them both. So here it is again. John's wife stormed out of the disco after the blank dancer made blank eyes at her husband.
SIMMONS: Go-go and goo-goo.
MARTIN: Oh, my gosh.
SHORTZ: That's it.
MARTIN: Dan, that was excellent. Well done.
SIMMONS: (Laughter) That was fun.
MARTIN: And for playing the puzzle today, you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and all kinds of cool puzzle books and games. You can check them out at npr.org/puzzle. Dan, before I let you go, tell everyone where you hear us. What's your public radio station?
SIMMONS: KOPB in Portland.
MARTIN: Dan Simmons of Salem, Ore. Thanks so much for playing the puzzle, Dan. And happy new year.
SIMMONS: It was my pleasure, and same to you both. Thank you very much.
MARTIN: OK, Will, what's up for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes, it's a variation on the old world-ladder puzzle. And the object is to change whole, W-H-O-L-E, to heart by either adding or subtracting one letter at a time, making a new, common, uncapitalized word at each step. For example, you could change red to rose in five steps. Starting with red, you would add a U, making rued, R-U-E-D. Drop the D, leaving rue, R-U-E. And an S, making ruse, R-U-S-E. Add an O, making rouse. And then drop the U, leaving rose. So changing or rearranging letters is not allowed. Also, no plurals or verbs formed by adding as. And no word in the chain can have fewer than three letters. How many steps are needed to change whole to heart? I have my best answer. We'll compare results next week.
MARTIN: OK, so you know what to do. When you've got the answer, go to npr.org/puzzle, Click on that submit your answer link. Just one entry per person, please. Our deadline for those entries is Thursday, January 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, then we'll give you a call. And then you will get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel. Happy new year.
MARTIN: Happy new year.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's hard to talk about football without talking about concussions. And with football season nearing its end, we're hearing about these injuries on a somewhat regular basis. Take, for example - today, Cleveland Browns' star quarterback Johnny Manziel will sit out the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers because he got a concussion in a game last week. Scientific studies have shown the kind of repeated hits NFL players take are linked to a degenerative brain disease. The first person to publish research on this condition was Dr. Bennett Omalu. He's portrayed by Will Smith of the new movie "Concussion."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CONCUSSION")
WILL SMITH: (As Bennett Omalu)I found a disease that no one has ever seen. Repetitive head trauma chokes the brain.
MARTIN: Dr. Omalu has argued that kids shouldn't play football until their brains are fully developed, and that means holding off until they're at least 18 years old. But some doctors, including Dr. Omalu's own colleague, disagree. They say changes already made to youth football to reduce risk are sufficient. Here's Jon Butler. He's the executive director of Pop Warner Little Scholars, the youth football organization. He says there's a keen awareness about concussions, but he insists the risk is no more than any other typical childhood mishap.
JON BUTLER: If you take a typically active boy or girl - 8, 10, 12 years old - and you - they want to play football, and you say, you can't play football, it's not like they're going to sit on the couch, wrapped in bubble wrap. They're going to be active. They're going to go out and fall off a roof or bicycle into a concrete bridge abutment by accident or something. So, yes, I mean, concussions certainly have always been around, always been part of not only football, but all kids' activities and all sports.
MARTIN: For the Record, today, we are revisiting a segment we aired last year that is still relevant today - football's reckoning. We begin with Tregg Duerson.
TREGG DUERSON: My father took his own life in 2011 in his Miami home.
MARTIN: Tregg's dad was Dave Duerson. He was a defensive back who played most of his professional football career with the Chicago Bears. He was part of the legendary '85 team that won the Super Bowl, and five years later, helped the New York Giants win their own championship. He retired from the NFL after the 1993 season and started working in the business world. He had some successes, some failures, but nothing that his family thought would drive him to kill himself. Tregg remembers that day five years ago.
DUERSON: And when we went to the scene of the event, we were given a suicide note that was handwritten for the most part.
MARTIN: In that note, Tregg says his dad detailed a devastating decline.
DUERSON: He described having trouble with spelling, blurred vision, short-term memory problems, issues with putting full concepts and sentences together.
MARTIN: Was he suggesting in his note that the cognitive problems he was going through had something to do with football?
DUERSON: Directly. There's direct sentences in there that are talking about the hits that he took during the game. He said at one point that he is thinking about other NFL players that have similar issues.
MARTIN: Duerson shot himself in the chest, and he made a request in the letter. He asked his family to donate his brain to science in hopes that it could help others understand the connection between concussions and traumatic brain injuries. That's where Chris Nowinski comes in. He's co-director of the Boston University research group that studied Duerson's brain. Now he's the head of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, an advocacy group focused on what they call the sports concussion crisis. And the conclusion they found when they looked at Duerson's brain...
CHRIS NOWINSKI: He did have advanced CTE. So Dave had damage on his frontal lobe, throughout his medial temporal lobe, which controls things like memory and emotional control.
MARTIN: CTE - that's chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that's associated with memory loss, impulse control problems, depression and dementia. Nowinski started his work in 2006.
NOWINSKI: At the beginning, I was literally reading obituaries. And so I'd have to track down a phone number and, in most cases, just cold call the house.
MARTIN: As of September, Nowinski's group had studied 91 brains of former football players. Eighty-seven of them showed signs of CTE.
NOWINSKI: We're still kind of guessing. We don't know what is actually triggering the beginning of it. Is it a - one hard hit? Is it one hard hit that you - followed by a bunch of small hits? Is it two concussions close together? Like, what is - you know, because not everybody gets this.
MARTIN: But what he is sure about is the connection between the number of hits a player takes over a career and the incidence of CTE. Nowinski says the longer someone plays football, the higher the chances of getting multiple concussions that could lead to CTE. And for Nowinski, that means waiting until kids are in high school to let them start playing the game.
NOWINSKI: And to think that we would hit kids in the head a few hundred times each fall under some concept that we're teaching them lessons through this sport that are better than any other way we could teach them is insane to me.
MARTIN: The rules for kids' football have changed. In 2012, Pop Warner started limiting the contact allowed in practice. They don't allow full-speed, head-on tackling and blocking, no straight-ahead hits and no intentional head-to-head contact. Chris Nowinski says all this is good, but he says the whole culture of the game has to change.
NOWINSKI: We're not teaching kids or encouraging them to report when they do get symptoms. And so the kids are staying quiet, and the coaches are coaching the game and don't really have - they can't see inside a kid's head. And so we have this kind of culture of silence around the injuries.
MARTIN: Tregg Duerson understands that. He himself played college football for Notre Dame.
DUERSON: You want to be in the game. You want to be in the game with your friends. You don't want to let them down. You don't want to leave over a concussion. Taking yourself out of the game is something that's just not in most people's DNA.
MARTIN: He shared that instinct with his dad, along with a love of the game.
DUERSON: We'd go in the backyard. We'd run sprints. We'd work on technique. We'd go through different formations on a notebook because football's a very structured game. And if you can understand the formations, you can really start understanding the bigger picture.
MARTIN: Tregg still lives in Chicago. He's got a job in finance, and he works for a mental health advocacy group now, too, but his dad's suicide has left a big void.
DUERSON: Whenever I see a cab with 22, I think of my father.
MARTIN: I asked him if he still has the same love for football that he did when he was growing up.
DUERSON: I'm very conflicted, to be honest. I probably speak for a lot of people when I say that I still know the game very well. I still love the game. I think it's just people going in with complete eyes open that there is risk out here and that, you know, no matter what we do, the risk is still going to be there. So for me, I still like the game, but would I want my child to play it in the future? No.
MARTIN: Tregg Duerson, talking about his father, former NFL defensive back Dave Duerson, who killed himself in 2011. We also heard from Chris Nowinski of the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Medical researchers are in a constant search for truth. Each study is supposed to be another step toward that goal. But it's pretty obvious that many studies just don't hold up. Think about the contradictory advice about what you should eat or drink. Coffee is bad for you, then it's good for you. Same goes for soy, even eggs, which have been in and out of favor. Scott Hensley, host of NPR's Shots blog, joins us to talk about the year in health and medical research and what lies ahead. Hey, Scott, thanks for coming in.
SCOTT HENSLEY, BYLINE: You bet.
MARTIN: So how can all of us make sense of all these conflicting health guidelines?
HENSLEY: Well, in the short run, be skeptical. It turns out that so much of this research that gets done, even the researchers' medical colleagues can't reproduce the results. And so what you hear today may be contradicted tomorrow. What I would say, though, is that in the long run, science tends to work it out.
MARTIN: Is this just something that's part of science and medical research? Or is something new happening?
HENSLEY: It is part of research. And I think what's new is that there's more acknowledgment within the field that the reproducibility of research is a problem. And it's something that people are specifically trying to address. And so in the case of the food studies, for instance, some of the scientific critics are calling out the methods. So studies that rely purely on questionnaires, for instance, have been seen as not as reliable as other kinds of studies that randomly assign people to have this diet or that diet.
MARTIN: Another area that seems to be marked by confusion is cancer screening. We've seen a lot of this, especially in the last year.
HENSLEY: Yeah, the American Cancer Society - very influential - changed the time at which women should think about starting mammograms. They had been saying 40 for women with average risk and moving that up to 45. That's a little closer to what some other groups are recommending. There's a federal task force recommendation that says for the average woman, it should be 50. But it's still confusing. How do you decide what to do and then how often to have the mammograms once you start?
MARTIN: So how do you decide? Does this mean we're supposed to just put a lot of faith into our general care practitioner?
HENSLEY: I think that's right. I mean, I think it's important to say here that these groups that are making recommendations are generally looking at the same studies. A lot of it is how do you make the trade-offs between the benefits and the risks of doing something versus not doing it? For instance, in the case of screening, it is a fact that with screening, there are many false alarms. And those can lead to unnecessary treatment, stress and worry. And they wouldn't have prevented an illness anyway. But you have to weigh that against the benefit, which is for those cancers that are caught early, it can really help treatment a lot.
MARTIN: And this came up in the world of statins, too. Can you tell us what happened there?
HENSLEY: Sure. So guidelines from 2013 could double the number of Americans who would be candidates for statins, these cholesterol-lowering drugs; think Lipitor.
MARTIN: OK.
HENSLEY: They showed that in fact, more people taking statins would reduce the number of heart attacks, particularly these first heart attacks. It's called primary pension. And the drugs are pretty cheap now. Most of them are generic. So this was all in favor of the guideline. Some critics, however, pointed out that many of the people who took the statins would never have had heart attacks in the first place. So they wouldn't really be getting the benefit. And there is a slight increase in risk for some things, most notably diabetes. And that's not a trivial thing. So people have to really weigh what are the benefits and risks from exposing many people to these drugs.
MARTIN: But it does seem that when it comes to these medical guidelines and the research they're based on, it all raises more questions than it answers.
HENSLEY: Absolutely right. And I think what's encouraging - to me, anyway - is that many of the guidelines are now recognizing the uncertainty. And they are explicitly saying that doctors and patients have to talk more about these trade-offs, these risks and benefits, and also, in a very explicit way, saying, figure out what matters to the patient. And so this is an invitation. Use this to your advantage to talk with your doctor and say, what are the risks and benefits from this? What could I get out of it? And by the way, here's what matters to me. The hardest part may be getting enough time in the exam room to actually have that kind of conversation. But it's worth trying.
MARTIN: Scott Hensley from NPR's Shots blog. Scott, thanks so much for explaining it to us.
HENSLEY: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
DNA from a genetically modified goat, a spritz of perfume, sculptures so small you need a microscope to see them - these are just a few of the things in an eight-inch container that blasts off into space in a couple of years. The container is called the MoonArk, and it's part of Google's Lunar X Prize, a competition to send a robot to the moon. WESA's Irina Zhorov has the story from Pittsburgh.
IRINA ZHOROV, BYLINE: The Ark is a sort of portrait of humanity, with more than 200 artists and designers contributing. Lowry Burgess is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the MoonArk project lead. He holds up one of his contributions, a vile full of red liquid. A drop will go in the ark.
LOWRY BURGESS: And this is human blood, and that's all artists' blood.
ZHOROV: Thirty-three artists' blood, all mixed together. Some of the artists are pretty famous, he says, but he won't name-drop. He's doing the same thing with a mixture of water from some of the world's rivers. There are hundreds of items in the ark. Burgess says each one is like a word in a poem.
BURGESS: A poem is like a bell. Every word in a poem brings rings and makes all the rest of the words ring. So in this, everything that's there is making something else ring. So the totality is meant to hum together.
ZHOROV: Yes, this is conceptual art, where the idea is more important than any traditional aesthetic. Or you can think of it as a time capsule with its contents open to interpretation. Burgess sees it as a cultural outpost in space, waiting to be discovered.
BURGESS: We're desperately hoping that whoever opens it is perhaps a little more evolved than we are.
ZHOROV: Unlike some earlier space art, like the Golden Records on the Voyager craft floating beyond the solar system, the Ark will stay in one place. But Mark Baskinger, one of the artists on the project, says the point is not to conquer.
MARK BASKINGER: We think it should be different than sticking a flag in the soil and claiming territory. And maybe we're leaving breadcrumbs for someone else to find their way back here. It's an attempt to communicate forward in time. It's an attempt to communicate outward.
ZHOROV: Other artists are just interested in the collaboration. Some don't really care about space or who finds it. Some of the artists are prone to over-intellectualizing, but some will let themselves get a little emotional. Dylan Vitone's contribution includes ordinary text messages between him and his wife.
DYLAN VITONE: You know, cynical me is critiquing the way we broadcast our life. The sentimental me is kind of celebrating this thing that's really important for me and trying to give it more meaning than it actually has.
ZHOROV: A copy of the Ark will stay here on Earth to be exhibited. In space, weight is money, so the team has had to be innovative with materials. The Ark's four chambers will weigh less than six ounces. I pick up one of the aluminum outer shells. It's so light, it almost feels flimsy, but it's designed to last hundreds of years.
BURGESS: It's funny. You touched this, and your fingerprints are on it. Your fingerprints are actually going to go to the moon.
ZHOROV: Suddenly, the moon is personal. My fingerprints are just a simpler form of self-expression than the other items on the MoonArk. For NPR News, I'm Irina Zhorov.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Around this time last year, we started getting to know four Howard University seniors. Ariel Alford, Taylor Davis, Kevin Peterman and Leighton Watson gave us a look into life on the precipice of adulthood. Now they have arrived. Ariel Alford spent the last few months as a student teacher in Washington, D.C., finishing her final requirement before getting her degree. Taylor Davis stayed in Washington, too. We'll hear more from her in a moment. Leighton Watson moved just a few hours' drive away to Richmond, Va., where he works in finance. Kevin Peterman moved up the East Coast to Princeton University, and in many ways, life is the same there. He went straight to grad school - seminary at Princeton - so he's still a student, but he says it's been different in a couple of ways. First off, he's one of the younger people in his program.
KEVIN PETERMAN: I forget that I'm often 22 because most of my classmates are much older than me. So I'm engaging in conversations constantly about marriage, about Ph.D. work, about careers down the line, and I really do begin to forget I just graduated from college.
MARTIN: At the same time, he's trying to navigate an academic world that looks a lot different than the one he came from. Howard is one of this country's most elite historically black colleges and universities. The student population is 85 percent African-American. The Princeton Theological Seminary is 63 percent white.
PETERMAN: One of the first lessons I learned in my first week at Princeton was that I was as much student as I am teacher because many people who come to this institution have not been exposed to African-Americans and especially not African-American ministers or the African-American faith tradition. So as much as I'm learning in the classroom, I'm always constantly teaching those around me and sharing more about my own individual faith and my own individual cultural, religious heritage with my classmates. And sometimes it can become frustrating.
MARTIN: Even so, he says his four years at Howard made him feel more secure in who he is and what he believes.
PETERMAN: When I was applying to Princeton, I was nervous about leaving the historical black college space and coming to an Ivy League seminary. And it's only until I got there that I realized that I had been prepared better than most of my fellow African-American students who had gone on to predominantly white institutions. They had been in an environment where they themselves were trying to study this thing that we call black theology and this place that we call the black church by themselves in a vacuum, whereas I had gone to a historically black college where that was the center of our focus, where that was our context.
TAYLOR DAVIS: I do think there is something to be said about being in a place where everyone looks like you and everyone wants the best for you, especially for undergrad.
MARTIN: This is Taylor Davis.
DAVIS: Because undergrad is such a molding period in your time, and you need as much support as possible. You don't need to be fighting your whole way through.
MARTIN: You might remember Taylor didn't pass one of her nursing classes last year so she couldn't graduate with her friends.
DAVIS: I mean, you know, the last time I spoke with NPR, like, it was - I told you guys that I wasn't graduating, that I had to postpone it to 2016 and how, you know, I've always known that 2015 would be a life-changing year because I assumed that'd be the year I would graduate and, like, you know, start my adult life. It was still life-changing, but in the way I had never expected.
MARTIN: Life changing because she said she learned how to fail and get back up again. She learned how to check her ego and do the work to get where she wanted to go, and she is stronger for it. We're happy to report Taylor took the class again, and this time, she nailed it.
DAVIS: When I got my scores back - when I tell you, I literally start screaming, and I break out into praise and worship.
MARTIN: Taylor's going to celebrate by doing some traveling, then she'll take her board exams this summer. She wants to work full-time as a nurse, but she's also thinking about other options long-term, maybe law school.
DAVIS: I actually took my LSAT last year, so we're going where it leads me. I mean, the power of possibilities - that is - that's been, like, my mantra ever since I learned I was going to be in school an extra year. I feel like God gave that quote to me. There's power in your possibilities. And for me, what that means is you literally control your destiny, and you have the ability to do great and miraculous things if only you would believe that. And that's where I'm at right now.
MARTIN: That was Taylor Davis and Kevin Peterman, two Howard University alumni talking about life after college.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In the last year, the U.S. and its allies have been enmeshed in a complicated war with ISIS. It's happening on the ground in places like Syria and Iraq, where the so-called Islamic State is trying to build up a caliphate. And it's happening online, where the group actively recruits would-be jihadis from around the world, including from the U.S. and Europe. The man you're about to hear from has been at the forefront of this war. In 2014, President Obama tapped retired Marine Corps General John Allen to spearhead the U.S.-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State. General Allen stepped down from that job a couple of months ago. He joins me now in our studios to talk about the past year in the war against ISIS and how it might evolve in 2016. General Allen, thanks so much for coming in.
JOHN ALLEN: It's good to be with you.
MARTIN: May I start with a big picture question? Is the U.S. closer to containing the threat from ISIS than it was a year ago?
ALLEN: I'd say yes. Much of this year was setting the conditions, ultimately to effectively contain and then begin the process of pushing back on ISIL - or Daesh, as we've typically called it - and to begin to degrade it.
MARTIN: When you were in Iraq, you were an integral part of the Sunni Awakening, which is often credited for turning that war around, getting Sunni sheikhs on board with the U.S. coalition against militants. There have been calls for something similar to happen now, to get the Sunni sheikhs of Anbar to step up against the threat from ISIS. Do you think that's possible?
ALLEN: The Awakening as we knew it occurred because of a series of conditions that don't exist today in Iraq. What we want is not the Awakening as an entity to be replicated. What we want is the effect of the Awakening. And that is ownership by the Sunnis in the outcome. And that's what we want.
MARTIN: Develop very personal relationships.
ALLEN: Exactly correct. But we had the military capacity to do that in those days. What we need today is for the sheikhs and, more broadly, the Sunni leadership, to become invested ultimately with the defeat of Daesh.
MARTIN: But they were invested, in large part - correct me if I'm wrong. But they were invested in the fight back in '06, '07, in large part because they were paid. They were given financial incentive.
ALLEN: That wasn't the real reason. They were invested because Daesh - or at that point, al-Qaida - was attempting to wipe them out. That was - and I was there every day. And the casualties that they inflicted upon the sheikhs and their families and the individual members of the tribes were horrendous, really horrendous. The profound difference between what occurred in '06, '07 and '08 and what's occurring today - we had 35,000 Marines and soldiers in Al Anbar province. The notion that the Awakening occurred in complete isolation from the Americans is a flawed notion. It's just not historically correct. The reason the Awakening could get on its feet was because Marines and soldiers fought and died every single day to shape the environment that created the space for the tribes to get on their feet. That's why it was so powerful. Now, we don't have those kinds of forces there today.
MARTIN: Should U.S. ground forces be there? I mean, in many ways, this is a traditional war. ISIS needs territory in order to maintain its legitimacy. It's what its mandate, its mission, is all about is creating a caliphate. And they need ground to do that. Some would argue that in order to eliminate the threat, you just - you have to go in full bore. Should the U.S. engage in a ground war in Iraq? And what would that look like? What are the consequences of that?
ALLEN: One thing that we have learned over time is that in an emergency like this, where you introduce large numbers of foreign forces, you may see some form of an immediate tactical return that's favorable - something that you want to see, the defeat tactically of the force. But often, just the very presence of those foreign forces create a whole series of dynamics and tensions that is fraught. It truly is fraught and can create additional issues as those forces begin to pull out.
MARTIN: Can you say more about what that means?
ALLEN: The resistance, as it has emerged in the Middle East over the last 20 years, has been the result of elements within populations responding to the presence of foreign troops inside the social fabric of this relatively delicate region. And so it was the right decision, I believe, to decide to do all we could to empower the indigenous forces of Iraq - and now, increasingly in Syria because we have that chance - for them to be the defeat mechanism. And I use that term very precisely, the defeat mechanism of Daesh - because if Iraqis defeat Daesh, if Iraqis are able then to stabilize and rescue the liberated populations, if Iraqis are the authors of the restoration of the infrastructure that's been defeated, that's the permanent solution. The permanent solution doesn't come with large-scale numbers of American or Western maneuver forces in a big ground battle there for weeks, taking hundreds of casualties potentially and then pulling out, having created in essence the kinds of antibodies once again in a region that has sown, in many respects, the instability that we face today. So it may take longer to empower the indigenous forces to be effective against Daesh. But they have taken Ramadi. They have taken Tikrit. They have taken Baiji. And when they take it and they stabilize the population and they rescue the population, they are the authors of their success. And that creates permanence in the outcome that we seek.
MARTIN: I imagine when you left, you had an exit interview, if not with the president himself then with top members of his national security team. May I ask you to share what you can about the guidance you gave as this threat unfolds, as the administration looks to 2016?
ALLEN: I was clear that beyond dealing with Daesh as an entity in the Middle East, we have to be extraordinarily attentive to the capacity of Daesh to create linkages with other organizations that are equally reprehensible and abhorrent - Boko Haram, for example, in Nigeria, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis in the Sinai, the breakaway elements of the Taliban. We have to understand the network that operationalizes the linkage and attack that network relentlessly to disrupt it.
MARTIN: Retired Marine Corps General John Allen. He recently stepped down as the U.S. envoy to the global coalition in the fight against ISIS. Thanks so much for talking with us.
ALLEN: Great to be with you. Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
World leaders hope to counter the so-called Islamic State's ideology through the work of places like Egypt's Al-Azhar. It's a historic and revered center of Sunni Muslim scholarship. But its close ties to a repressive Egyptian government once backed by the West weakens its credibility. NPR's Leila Fadel reports from Cairo.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: In 2009, President Obama came to Egypt and gave his landmark speech to the Muslim world. And he singled out Al-Azhar for praise.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning.
FADEL: On a recent day in the same Cairo auditorium, it was the ideological war against ISIS being discussed by one of Al-Azhar's top scholars, Osama el Azhary.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
OSAMA EL AZHARY: (Through interpreter) You young people, ISIS is a nightmare that must disappear. And it will disappear because it's betting on the ideology of calling others infidels.
(APPLAUSE)
FADEL: His words are met with applause, and outside, his books on the true path of Islam are distributed to the students. They're being printed in several languages. It's part of Azhary's roadmap to counter extremist groups luring a minority of young Muslims into their ranks. Later, in his office, the soft-spoken sheikh says he has a plan.
AZHARY: (Through interpreter) The first challenge must be the short-term goal, to extinguish the fire of what these extremist movements are doing here and now.
FADEL: For centuries, Al-Azhar has been one of the most respected and largest Islamic institutions in the world. It has some 500,000 students in various schools that range from elementary school to university. And it draws thousands of foreign students through its doors each year. The sheikh wants a satellite channel and better outreach on social media to counter extremist groups he says are perverting Islam and recruiting people online. El Azhary has another job too. He's adviser to Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, on religious affairs. And that, he says, will help Azhar's influence.
AZHARY: (Through interpreter) Azhar can do what's needed. And its proximity to the current president government is not a barrier. It's a positive thing that will push us forward.
FADEL: But others say it's actually a barrier. Al-Azhar is seen as an arm of a state that does not tolerate dissent.
IBRAHIM EL HOUDAIBY: Al-Azhar has significant moral capital, historical capital. But this is sort of an image of an Azhar that people are increasingly distinguishing from the current institution.
FADEL: That's Ibrahim el Houdaiby, an Egyptian analyst who is an expert on Islamist movements and a critic of the state. He says many young Muslims at risk of joining militant groups because of social grievances view Al-Azhar as hypocritical.
HOUDAIBY: You cannot really be combating extremism and insisting that these radical voices do not represent Islam while you are in bed with authoritarian regime - not only authoritarian regimes, with regimes that are literally killing.
FADEL: It's a problem around the region, autocrats co-opting religious figures or institutions and using them to control expression. And recently, Al-Azhar has squelched dissent itself. It accused a television host who questioned some traditional religious teachings of insulting Islam, a charge that led to his imprisonment. And Shia Muslim leaders say it encourages anti-Shia sentiment. Azhar expelled 19 students recently, accusing them of inciting violence on campus. But one of those students says that's not the case.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: This student, who's not using her name for fear of repercussions, says she was just in a peaceful protest for Palestinian rights when she was taken by security forces and beaten. Nearly all protests are banned in Egypt.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: She says it's this kind of oppression that leads to the extremism Azhar says it's against. But Al-Azhar still has global influence.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: On a recent day at the university, Malaysian students sit through lectures, which 22-year-old Amir Aref sums up like this.
AMIR AREF: Islam is a religion of peace. And then we were taught here we have to spread muhaba. We have to spread love to the world, not hatred or war to the world.
FADEL: He still believes Al-Azhar is an effective tool to spread that message. Leila Fadel, NPR News, Cairo.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last week that the city's police force is going to start using more Tasers and less lethal force. The mayor presented a path toward what he calls a new reality in Chicago policing in response to a series of fatal shootings this past year. The Chicago Police Department will double the number of Tasers at its disposal and train officers to use them. But our next guest says the evidence on whether Tasers actually reduce violent encounters is inconclusive. Peter Moskos is a former Baltimore police officer and now an associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He joins us on the line from New York. Welcome to the program.
PETER MOSKOS: Thanks for having me on.
MARTIN: Peter, what do we know about other police departments that have expanded their use of Tasers? Because other departments have tried this. How does it work?
MOSKOS: It always brings risks. But it is not a guaranteed nonlethal use of force. And that's part of the problem, is how the use of the Taser is regulated and how officers are trained. All too often, Tasers are not used on somebody with a knife who won't drop it, which is the perfect use for the Taser. It's pretty much what the Taser was designed for. But what happens is it becomes a tool for compliance. Somebody who is not a threat but is also not complying gets tased. And that, I think, is something that we should be wary of.
MARTIN: So you're saying that in some situations, using...
MOSKOS: In most situations.
MARTIN: In most situations, using Tasers can actually increase the number of confrontations or the level of violence that happens in a confrontation.
MOSKOS: Well, it certainly changes the confrontation. There are studies showing the overall, Tasers do reduce injuries because it prevents officers from going hands-on. And sometimes officers need to go hands-on. And that risk is part of the job. The shame is that when someone gets tased and they - you know, they land on concrete; they lose their teeth. And occasionally - not often, but occasionally - they die. And then you have to ask, well, what did they die for? Simply because they wouldn't put their hands behind their back - because they wouldn't get out of a car? Most Taser uses are in these compliance situations. And I think they need to be much more - the use of Taser has to be much more strictly confined to places where suspects are threats.
MARTIN: So is it a training issue? I mean, how do you measure how effective these things can be in actually reducing the number of police shootings? Because Chicago - we're talking about - Chicago is the reason for this conversation. In 2010, that police department expanded the use of Tasers, and there was not an immediate decrease in police shootings.
MOSKOS: No, and I may be unaware of some other studies out there. But I - generally, I don't think you do see a reduction in lethal use of force with Tasers. It becomes an additional use of force, most often. I mean, New York City, which very much restricts Taser use - only sergeants and above generally have Tasers - has a very low rate of officer-involved shootings. So you can lower shootings. You can lower police-involved shootings without resorting to Taser use. And New York City has shown that very well.
MARTIN: Beyond Tasers, what changes can be made to deescalate these kinds of conflicts?
MOSKOS: It's always going to be tough. And nothing is ever going to be perfect. And that's important to say because the job does have a lot of variabilities (ph). But there are training methods about verbal de-escalation. There is just a different mentality officers can have. Officers tend to have a lot of time on their hands, even in these situations. If someone doesn't comply the first time, you can keep talking to them. Now, eventually, sometimes that doesn't work. Nothing works all the time. But there has to be a greater patience before police officers say - 'cause, well, police know that they're going to deal with noncompliant individuals. So it very much then becomes a question of how they deal with them when those situations arise.
MARTIN: May I ask for your professional opinion about the mayor's decision in Chicago? I mean, that city has just been stricken by so much gun violence. The mayor has proposed doubling down on the use of Tasers. Is it a good idea?
MOSKOS: I'm mildly against it. It's not going to reduce gun violence. If someone has a gun, police officers can and should shoot that individual. You don't play games, then, with a Taser. You also have a problem, a lot of times, where Tasers don't work as intended. The barbs don't go in. And this is more anecdotal, but a lot of bad police-involved shootings we've seen recently first involved the misuse of a Taser because once you attempt to use a Taser and it doesn't achieve the desired effect, I think officers get a little freaked out, quite frankly, and then are much more willing to use lethal force. Tasers are not the panacea here.
MARTIN: Peter Moskos of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Thanks so much for talking with us.
MOSKOS: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When reporter Nick Schifrin went to Nigeria to cover the country's notorious culture of corruption, he was immediately hit up for a bribe by the man behind the Lagos airport X-ray machine, then by a police officer outside the airport and by a soldier on the road from the airport. You get the idea. As Nick reports, corruption isn't just an annoyance and a drag on the economy. It can have tragic consequences.
NICK SCHIFRIN, BYLINE: On the streets of Lagos, there's a saying. Every day is for the thief. Godwin Ekpoâs thief was supposed to be his protector.
Do the police often ask for money?
GODWIN EKPO: Police taking money from people by force.
SCHIFRIN: Godwin drove a taxi called a tricycle. He made $25 a day, enough to support his wife and four children. Last month, a police officer stopped him to demand a bribe. He refused to pay.
EKPO: All of a sudden, I heard a gunshots, twice. And now I went down, and the blood was just gushing out.
SCHIFRIN: The officer had shot him for refusing to hand over the equivalent of $10.
And so the bullet came in through your shoulder?
EKPO: Bullet cut here - cut here as well.
SCHIFRIN: He's pointing to his shoulder and his jaw. He can't use his arm. He can't eat solid foods. He hasn't worked since he was shot.
EKPO: Up 'til now, I'm still thinking, what came on him? What motivated him? What gave him that audacity to shoot the gun to innocent people?
KEMI OKENYODO: The perception has been that the police is corrupt.
SCHIFRIN: Kemi Okenyodo is an anticorruption activist.
OKENYODO: The police has been - always been used as a tool of oppression.
SCHIFRIN: She says low salaries and a culture of impunity mean police try and get away with anything. Corruption has become the grease the system needs to function. And police usually have gotten away with anything. Local TV stations air videos of police officers inside of people's cars asking for money.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: (Foreign language spoken).
SCHIFRIN: That's an officer saying, settle up and demanding the equivalent of $50. He exhibits no shame. His victim reveals no surprise and hands over a bank card.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is my ATM card. This is the number of the ATM. This is the code.
SCHIFRIN: Earlier this year, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was elected on a platform of fighting this corruption. He's investigating ministers accused of stealing billions. He hopes that serves as a warning to corrupt police. But it's too late for Godwin.
EKPO: I heard my children shouting, mommy's dying. Mommy's dying. Mommy's dying.
SCHIFRIN: Godwin Ekpo's wife, Comfort, had been nursing their newborn in his taxi. A second bullet missed him and hit her in the head. She died instantly.
EKPO: And now I went back to police. Why do you kill my wife? Why? What have I done wrong? All of them get inside their vehicle and left.
SCHIFRIN: Godwin talks to me in his living room, in a working-class district of Lagos. He's surrounded by his children. The oldest daughter wears a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. The youngest daughter wears a frilly yellow dress. His song leans against his father's shoulder.
EKPO: My wife cherished me so much and our children. She loved me so much. So my friend died and left me. And my wife that would have assisted me is gone. I used to tell my wife that I would like my children to be great men and women in this generation. And I'm going to train them. (Crying) My God.
SCHIFRIN: The police have promised to prosecute the officer who shot Godwin and killed his wife. The trial hasn't happened yet. The police promised to pay for his kids' school. He says the tuition funds haven't arrived yet. Corruption steals so much from Nigeria. It stole Godwin's wife. And unless something changes, he fears it could steal his children's future as well. For NPR News, I'm Nick Schifrin in Lagos.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Imagine for a moment it's 1925 instead of 2016. And you're living in a stately English manor.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DID I MAKE THE MOST OF LOVING YOU?")
MARTIN: Yes, of course, it's "Downton Abbey." The hit series about aristocrats and their servants begins its last season on PBS tonight. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans has this review. And a heads up, there are no spoilers here. But there are details about the new season.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: For six seasons "Downton Abbey" has played a sly game, making its characters fret over social changes the TV audience knows will turn out well. The series, set in a stately English manor in the first decades of the 1900s, often worries over issues like premarital sex or women in the workplace. And this stuff can seem a little silly to modern ears. On tonight's episode, Lord Grantham discusses the size of the staff with the butler who runs his household, Mr. Carson.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
JIM CARTER: (As Charles Carson) I must ask you to remember, my Lord, that there were six footmen when I first came here and five house maids. No we've got two of each and no kitchen maids at all. We must run this place as it should be run.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: (As Robert Crawley) I'm not asking you to wield a scythe. But, I mean, who has an under-butler these days?
DEGGANS: Who indeed. In another scene, housekeeper Elsie Hughes is worried about her upcoming marriage to Mr. Carson. In a talk with Downton's cook, Mrs. Patmore, Hughes reveals concerns about completing her wifely duties.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
PHYLLIS LOGAN: (As Elsie Hughes) I hadn't fully considered all the aspects of marriage.
LESLEY NICOL: (As Beryl Patmore) I don't understand. What aspects? Oh, my lord. You mean...
LOGAN: (As Elsie Hughes) Yes.
DEGGANS: That leads to a wonderful bit of comedy as the women struggle to talk about sex with Mr. Carson, who holds the undisputed title as Downton's stuffiest shirt. But it also highlights the secret sauce that makes "Downton Abbey" so popular. Each season, as the characters wring their hands over a new trend, they echo what people fear today, that more permissive modern attitudes will eat away at traditional values. "Downton Abbey's" final season also offers scenes die-hard fans have been waiting for. Here, the often bullying Lady Mary finally has the argument with her doughty sister Edith that has been brewing for years. As Mary tries to apologize for a seriously cruel action, Edith tells her off.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
LAURA CARMICHAEL: (As Edith Crawley) Who do you think you're talking to? I know you. I know you to be a nasty, jealous, scheming [expletive].
MICHELLE DOCKERY: (As Mary Crawley) Now, listen, you pathetic...
CARMICHAEL: (As Edith Crawley) You're a [expletive].
DEGGANS: But Mary, who's torn over a possible romance, also finds comfort in a talk with her grandmother, the usually sarcastic dowager countess of Grantham, played by Maggie Smith.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
MAGGIE SMITH: (As Violet Crawley) You are the only woman I know who likes to think herself cold and selfish and grand. Most of us spend our lives trying to hide it.
DOCKERY: (As Mary Crawley) Oh, granny, please don't lecture me on sentimental virtues.
SMITH: (As Violet Crawley) Don't worry; don't worry. I believe in rules. But there is something else. I believe in love.
DEGGANS: "Downton Abbey" is, at its heart, a meticulously crafted soap opera. But its faults are often tied up in that very same soap opera formula. It's slow. It's repetitive. It's predictable. And the larger question, whether the idle rich are exploiting their working-class servants, is never really resolved. British TV has already aired the final season. So be warned, spoilers abound online. And the familiarity of the stories here is a telling sign. After six seasons, it's about time for "Downton Abbey" to close its doors for the last time. I'm Eric Deggans.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of the most influential bands to emerge from the new wave and punk rock scenes of the 1970s didn't last long enough to record an album. Rocket from the Tombs got together in 1974 and came to a volatile end less than a year later. But a handful of live recordings and demos circulated far and wide and inspired such better known bands as Pearl Jam, Guns and Roses and Living Color. Rocket from the Tombs has reformed and disbanded several times since, but as David C. Barnett of member station WCPN reports, the group is back on tour behind a new record.
DAVID C. BARNETT, BYLINE: Rocket from the Tombs was created by five guys who were fed up with most of the music on top 40 radio, says vocalist David Thomas, who went by the name Crocus Behemoth.
DAVID THOMAS: I mean, people say we were angry. Well, what we were angry at was the ordinariness of things - you know, of the mainstream rock bands.
BARNETT: So one of the guitarists in the group, Peter Laughner decided to do something about it and went to a local radio station, says bassist Craig Bell.
CRAIG BELL: Peter had somehow challenged the people there at the station - why won't you play any local music? And they said, well, nobody gives us a tape. So he comes back and says all right, guys. Let's make this tape.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIN'T IT FUN")
BARNETT: The station was WMMS, and this is the tape the band made.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIN'T IT FUN")
BARNETT: To everyone's surprise, Bell says, the station played it.
BELL: I think it was recorded in February '75. And I think a few weeks later, it was played on the radio, and that pretty much was unheard of at the time.
BARNETT: Not only that, but the station invited Peter Laughner to talk about it on air.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO BROADCAST)
PETER LAUGHNER: The reason we did this tape and the reason MMS is going to broadcast this stuff is to tell you that you can do it, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AIN'T IT FUN")
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS: (Singing) Ain't it fun when you're always on the run? Ain't it fun when your friends despise what you've become?
BARNETT: And that was it - no singles, no album, nothing. Nevertheless, the band's message to other musicians got out there.
LAMONT THOMAS: I'm thinking, like, these guys are my heroes.
BARNETT: Lamont Thomas was working in an Ohio record store when he ran across a copy of Laughner's broadcast. Thomas took it to heart and now records his version of punk under the name Obnox.
L. THOMAS: I'm not thinking, like, whoa, in 1974, '75, this was a failure. I was thinking, like, this is some of the best punk rock I ever heard.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SO COLD")
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS: (Singing) Got to close my mind. Got to hold on tight.
BARNETT: The music was fast, loud and distorted. It was punk before there was a name for it. Crocus Behemoth's voice commanded attention. One fan is Vernon Reid, guitarist with the band Living Color.
VERNON REID: At one point, you hear him being very, very melodic. And then he's just kind of this rambling, you know, dark, muttering, guttural - you know, he's almost a kind of anti-vocalist. And you hear - I hear bits of Nina Simone in the way he uses vibrato. You know, I hear bits of Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WAITING FOR THE SNOW")
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS: (Singing) There's ships in the night. There's signs in the sky. There's some bottomless holes out there. And you're no friend of mine.
BARNETT: Rocket from the Tombs only gave about 15 performances, but David Thomas says that they put everything into them.
DAVID THOMAS: We thought, here we've got this beautiful engine. It's capable of anything. We've got this car. We've got this vehicle. Let's go.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "30 SECONDS OVER TOKYO")
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS: (Singing) Dark flak spiders bursting in the sky, reaching twisted claws on every side. No place to run. No place to hide. No turning back on a suicide ride.
BARNETT: The road had proved to be bumpy, says Craig Bell.
BELL: I just think that what grew was our frustration of we're going in a direction, we see movement, but we don't see this movement fast enough.
BARNETT: Rocket from the Tombs broke up in the late summer of 1975. Guitarist Cheetah Chrome, drummer Johnny Madansky and a Youngstown vocalist named Stiv Bators went on to form the straight-ahead punk group as The Dead Boys. Vocalist David Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner formed the core of the art rock band Pere Ubu, but Laughner died from the effects of drug and alcohol abuse two years later at the age of 24. Rocket from the Tombs never did crack top 40 radio, but that's not what they were after.
DAVID THOMAS: You know, we weren't interested in being pop stars 'cause being a pop star was totally unrealistic for a kid in Cleveland in the '70s.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SONIC REDUCER")
BARNETT: Sixty-two-year-old David Thomas says Rocket from the Tombs had a higher aspiration.
DAVID THOMAS: What we were interested in was history and making history in some teeny, little, small way in one field of human endeavor.
BARNETT: And they did, although maybe not in the way they originally imagined. For NPR News, I'm David C. Barnett in Cleveland.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SONIC REDUCER")
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS: (Singing) I don't need anyone.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Saudi Arabia executed 47 prisoners charged with terrorism yesterday. One death of a Saudi Shiite cleric has sparked sectarian outrage across the region and has further divided Sunnis and Shiites. Iran's top leader warned that Saudi Arabia would face divine revenge for executing the outspoken Shiite cleric. Protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and looting the building before police stepped in. NPR's Deborah Amos joins us now to talk more about this. Good morning, Deb.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: Deb, are Saudi officials surprised by the reaction to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr? I mean, they knew his position in the society. They had to have known that executing him would trigger some kind of big reaction.
AMOS: It couldn't have come as a surprise because this has been brewing since his death sentence in 2014. There were warnings from the region. There for appeals from Washington, from Europe, from the U.N. to spare this Shiite cleric. He's part of Saudi Arabia's repressed minority. He's been a persistent critic of the Saudi royal family. He often talked about the roar of the word - certainly not arms. The other people who were executed - they were members of al-Qaida. Very clearly, they had killed people - part of this bloody time in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006. If they'd stopped there, they would have been no reaction. I talked to some Saudis today, and they were surprised by the execution. They said, look, it was a closed court. We really don't know what happened in that courtroom. And one said it shows that dissent can be punished by death.
MARTIN: The U.S. State Department yesterday issued a statement saying that the execution of this particular Shiite cleric could have dangerous consequences. This clearly complicates an already fraught relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
AMOS: The criticisms have been coming not just from the U.S., but from the European Union. Germany issued a separate statement today. Nimr met with U.S. officials in 2008, and he wanted to show that he wasn't anti-American and that he wasn't pro-Iran. He became a leading Shiite figure in 2011. He was the voice of this revolt in the eastern provinces. It was part of the Arab Spring. This is a minority that's seeking rights in Saudi Arabia. He criticized Saudi autocrats, also in Bahrain. He also criticized the Syrian leader that's supported by Shia Iran. So he was an equal opportunity criticizer.
MARTIN: The demonstrations are expected to continue today, so how do you see this unfolding? What are the potential long-term consequences here?
AMOS: Yes, there are demos in Tehran. There's a funeral for Nimr in his hometown in the Eastern province in Saudi Arabia. Reportedly, his family was told his body has already been buried. You know, the region is in the grip of a sectarian fever. The wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq are all based on this Sunni-Shia divide, so this makes things worse. Many people say that you cannot have a solution to these wars unless the Saudis and the Iranians come to some kind of understanding. When you listen to the rhetoric today, the top Iranian cleric is comparing Saudi Arabia to ISIS. The base of Sunni learning in Egypt is saying this is God's will - these executions. This rhetoric tells you that these conflicts will be even tougher to solve with these kinds of events over the past couple of days.
MARTIN: NPR's Deb Amos. Thanks so much, Deb.
AMOS: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We've been talking about the 2016 presidential race for almost a year already, and it's finally 2016. The first presidential nominating contest is less than a month away. NPR's Sarah McCammon spent much of last week on the campaign trail in Iowa, where voters will meet to caucus on February 1. She joins us now. Good morning, Sarah.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: OK. A month out from the caucuses - how's the race looking?
MCCAMMON: It is crunch time, especially on the Republican side of the aisle where there are still about a dozen candidates. So at the top of the pack, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and billionaire Donald Trump have been duking it out. You know, Trump was solidly ahead in the polls for a long time, but Cruz has a really strong organization in Iowa. And we're seeing that pay off for a few weeks now in both polling and important endorsements. Cruz seems to have displaced Ben Carson is the favorite of many Iowa evangelicals who are a very active part of the party there and have a history of siding with the candidate who wins Iowa.
Now, Trump is a new kind of candidate - a little unpredictable, doesn't fit a lot of the conventional categories within the GOP. You know, he does draw those huge crowds. He packed an arena in Council Bluffs, where I was last week, so still lots of excitement for him. He is getting some support from longtime Republicans, but also attracting a lot of new people who haven't been as engaged. So, Rachel, the real question is whether those people will go out and spend a couple of hours on a cold February night caucusing for Donald Trump.
MARTIN: So as you know, Sarah, Trump has prided himself on running this very unconventional campaign. What has that meant for his ground game in Iowa?
MCCAMMON: You know, as unconventional as his campaign can seem, he is doing a lot of the work on the ground that successful candidates do. I mean, at his rallies, his staff are passing out these cards, collecting information from people that they can then follow up. They're asking them to caucus - to commit to caucus. He's hiring staffers who know what they're doing. This is important in Iowa. The person running his campaign there ran Rick Santorum's campaign four years ago. And as you may remember, Santorum won in 2012 and surprised a lot of people. But as I mentioned, Ted Cruz is also very well organized, has a serious ground game there and the other early states. He's also got a big Super Tuesday strategy. That's a lot of largely Southern states that vote on March 1.
MARTIN: OK. What about Democrats?
MCCAMMON: Hillary Clinton has a big advantage in polling and fundraising, and she is the favorite of the party establishment - the Democratic Party establishment - by a lot. That's also very true in Iowa. So a win there by Bernie Sanders - or even, you know, a stronger-than-expected showing - could give him a lot of momentum going into other early states. A win would be a big upset. Looks like a big challenge for Sanders from where we sit now, but he has a lot of youthful energy behind him, and there are four weeks left until Iowans vote. A lot can shift in a short time.
MARTIN: As it can, things change from week to week. What should we look out for in coming days?
MCCAMMON: A face on the trail - Bill Clinton will be hitting the trail on his own on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clinton. He has campaigned with her a couple of times before, but largely stayed out of the spotlight so far. That's changing. He'll be in New Hampshire the first part of the week. And that could give some new ammunition to Republicans like Donald Trump, who has criticized him in the past for his history of infidelity and said that's fair game, so we might hear more about that. Also, Ted Cruz will be spending the week on a big swing through Iowa, really taking on Donald Trump.
MARTIN: NPR's Sarah McCammon. Thanks so much, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Subway riders everywhere, be warned - tourists are in town, and they probably don't know your local subway etiquette. Washington, D.C.'s, got one rule that is so dear to its commuters, it inspired a jazz duo to write a song about it. NPR's Yu Sun Chin has more.
YU SUN CHIN, BYLINE: In Washington, D.C., there's an unspoken escalator code that subway riders know by heart.
MAGGIE O'BRIEN: If you're going to stand, you've got to stand on the right and let people pass you on the left. Sometimes people, like, stand in the middle. That's terrible.
CHIN: And when unwitting Metro riders break this code...
VANESSA CUNNINGHAM-WEST: I've seen people, like, push people out of the way, so sometimes I think people take it a little too far (laughter).
CHIN: That's Metro riders Maggie O'Brien and Vanessa Cunningham-West. The rule inspired D.C. jazz pianist Oren Levine when he first moved to the city five years ago.
OREN LEVINE: Some stage, I know I heard about the D.C. rule about standing on the right and walking on the left. And stand right, walk left had a really nice rhythm to it.
CHIN: So he turned to the D.C. into a smooth jazz tune.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAND RIGHT")
AARON MYERS: (Singing) Stand right, walk left on the Metro escalator. It's what the locals do.
CHIN: Jazz artist Aaron Myers handles the vocals. When I first meet him, he's performing inside a crowded restaurant in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
MYERS: (Singing) Walk left, stand right.
CHIN: People swayed their heads to the beat. He says the song has always resonated with audiences.
MYERS: People started clapping, like, yeah, that makes sense. It was like, oh, so, you know, he had - he was onto something with the song, which is good.
CHIN: D.C.'s Metro authority says there's no official role that tells riders where to stand for safety concerns. That's why you never hear stand right, walk left in announcements or read it on signs.
MYERS: It would be nice to be on the Metro, and then people walking down - folks like stand right, walk left. Come on, people. Let's get this thing together.
CHIN: The rule isn't a norm everywhere. In Australia, it's stand left, walk right. In Shanghai, it's stand and walk whichever side has room. But that probably won't stop D.C. subway riders from enforcing their code or singing to tourists under their breath. Yu Sun Chin, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAND RIGHT")
MYERS: (Singing) It's like the Golden Rule. Walk left, stand right. You won't be learning that in school.
MARTIN: You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Time now for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF HORN MUSIC)
MARTIN: Oh, man, it's finally cold outside in Washington, D.C. And it's the beginning of January, so in my household, that means this afternoon, we're going to make a big, old pot of chili and watch ourselves some football because things are starting to get good. It's the 17th and final week of the NFL season. Everything's on the line. Here to talk us through it all is Mike Pesca, host of The Gist. Hey, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hey. I think teams like the Browns and the Jaguars - what have you - are chilly to look forward to, at least.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: It's pretty good. I'm just saying.
PESCA: Yeah.
MARTIN: OK. So what teams have it all on the line this week?
PESCA: Well, as far as winning, they're in, losing, they're out, there's the Jets. The Jets play the Bills. The Jets play their old coach Rex Ryan. It should be a close game up in Buffalo - in fact, 5-38 - though stat genius say Buffalo has a 54 percent chance to win. But if the Jets win, they will make the playoffs as a wild card. If they lose, I assume Pittsburgh's going to win. They're playing the hapless and lowly Browns in Pittsburgh.
MARTIN: (Laughter) What do you really think?
PESCA: They're not so great - the Browns.
MARTIN: The Browns.
PESCA: Historically so, yes.
MARTIN: OK. So as I look through the lineup, some of the teams with the best quarterbacks are not even making it, so - why? Why is that?
PESCA: There's a few reasons. One is just because you're a great quarterback - Drew Breese is a great quarterback, but the Saints defense, for instance, was terrible. And then there's luck, and then there's injury. So Peyton Manning - you expect him to be in the Super Bowl, and then his team, Denver Broncos, are, but he got hurt. He brought his team to a 7-2 record. Without Peyton - actually, had kind of a down year, and they have a great defense. But let's just say Peyton helped them along the way, the same as Andy Dalton with the Bengals. If the Bengals go far in the playoffs, he could return from injury, but as of now, he's not there. So in the AFC, you have this deal where if the Jets do make it, there's a conversation. Is Ryan Fitzpatrick or Alec Smith, the second best quarterback in the AFC playoffs - and if you don't recognize those guys from your pro ball rosters, which I know you collect...
MARTIN: (Laughter) Yeah. I will. Yeah.
PESCA: ...And, you know, pour over as you eat that chili. Yeah, it's not your fault. Right.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: So we're close enough that I can ask you if you have Super Bowl picks. Who's going to be in the final game?
PESCA: Don't just ask me. I go to another genius site, the Football Outsiders. And they run 10,000 projections, and three teams win it most of the time. It will be either the Carolina Panthers, who had their first loss last week, could be the Arizona Cardinals, the most exciting offense in football, or it could be the New England Patriots. Sorry if that sounds boring.
MARTIN: Boring.
PESCA: But I'm - yeah - but I'm sorry. Tom Brady, who is in the playoffs, and Rob Gronkowski has tied in - that passing combination is the best play and, I think, the one unstoppable play in football. So until someone could show me they know how to stop that play, I will not be betting against the Patriots.
MARTIN: The Gronk - so you got a curveball?
PESCA: Sure. So after some terrible college football games, including the national semifinals, which Clemson won by 20, and Alabama won 38, there were a spade of new year games where the average margin of victory was 26 points. And I shut down - I shut off the game between TCU and Oregon at half-time and watched "Making Of A Murderer."
MARTIN: Oh.
PESCA: But guess what?
MARTIN: What?
PESCA: In the second half, TCU, after being down 31-nothing, scored 31 points...
MARTIN: What?
PESCA: ...took it to triple overtime and won the game.
MARTIN: That'll teach you for turning away. Mike Pesca - he's the host of The Gist on slate.com. Thanks so much, Mike.
PESCA: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
America chose its first "American Idol" winner way back in the fall of 2002, and here's a spoiler alert.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN IDOL")
RYAN SEACREST: The winner of American Idol 2002 is Kelly Clarkson.
MARTIN: But Fox has announced that this 15th season of "American Idol" premiering Wednesday will also be its last. Show has had some big hits, including Clarkson, and some misses. Anyone know what happened to season 10 winner Scott McCreery? Here to talk about the show's legacy is NPR's pop culture writer Linda Holmes. Hey, Linda.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel.
MARTIN: OK. Why now? I mean, the audience is still relatively strong, no?
HOLMES: It's strong, but it's faded quite a bit from the peak. You know, in about the second half of these 15 seasons, they started to mess around with the judging panel. And the audience started to fall off and has fallen off kind of steadily over the last particularly, I would say, four to five years. So most shows like this have a natural lifespan, and this one had a very long lifespan, but it reached the end of the road, I think.
MARTIN: OK. Let's talk about why it was so good for so long because there have been talent shows on TV for a really long time. I grew up with "Star Search."
HOLMES: Right.
MARTIN: I was obsessed. I'm also a big "Idol" fan. I watch other iterations of this kind of entertainment.
HOLMES: Right.
MARTIN: But what made "Idol" so unique?
HOLMES: Well, they had really not been doing a lot of talent shows for quite a while. As you said, in the '80s, they had "Star Search." Before that, you had, like, "The Gong Show." But the idea of real shows that were really intended to find people who would then be famous was something they weren't really doing. And I think it was the mix of bad auditions and good auditions. People got very addicted very quickly to being able to laugh at goofy people and then also being able to appreciate talented people.
MARTIN: Because it was the first time that we saw additions, right? Like, that was something that was new for a talent show.
HOLMES: Right.
MARTIN: It wasn't just the performance and the very polished, you know, stage act. We got to see behind the scenes when they were trying to make it.
HOLMES: Right. If you watch something like "Star Search," the only people who you were going to see on the show were the people who the show was putting forward as - they're good. "Idol" introduced an element of people who were terrible. And one of the things that started to interfere with the chemistry of the show for a lot of people who watched it was when those bad auditions began to get so bad and so uncomfortable to watch.
MARTIN: Yeah.
HOLMES: And you started also to get people who you knew were just there to be a bad auditioner and get on television.
MARTIN: Can we talk about...
HOLMES: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...What's-his-name?
HOLMES: I think you're thinking of William Hung.
MARTIN: Yes, I am. I can't believe I forgot his name.
HOLMES: Who did - who sand "She Bangs" on the show.
MARTIN: Yes
HOLMES: There were a lot - I mean, a lot of those bad auditioners who made people so uncomfortable - you know, if they didn't speak good English or if they seemed to be genuinely kind of troubled...
MARTIN: Yeah, yeah.
HOLMES: ...You know, you really started to feel...
MARTIN: A little cringey (ph).
HOLMES: ...Like this was something you should not be doing, as opposed to just people who weren't good enough.
MARTIN: I feel obliged to just note that there were some really big names who were discovered through this show, right? I mean, there are critics out there who say reality TV - you know, all of this is so contrived and orchestrated. Kelly Clarkson we mentioned. Carrie Underwood, one of the biggest stars in country music and pop music, for that matter, Jennifer Hudson...
HOLMES: Yes. A number people who have gone on to be on Broadway - Fantasia Barrino...
MARTIN: Fantasia.
HOLMES: Constantine Maroulis, a middle finisher, and who's in "Rock Of Ages" and nominated for a Tony.
MARTIN: Oh, really? I didn't know that.
HOLMES: I think when people watched him on "Idol," they were not necessarily like that looks like a future Tony nominee, but there he was, right? And then you just have a lot of these people who aren't necessarily gigantic stars, but they work. They still work. They make records. They perform live. And some of them are still people who just operate on this huge well of goodwill toward them. People like Clay Aiken, who still can go out and get fans anywhere and ran for Congress and was on "Celebrity Apprentice," and he'll never go away.
MARTIN: So much of this show's success had to do with the judges, right? Like, in the beginning we had the curmudgeon Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul and...
HOLMES: Whatever Randy Jackson was.
MARTIN: Randy - whatever he was in that moment.
HOLMES: Right.
MARTIN: This panel - we've got Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick, Jr., and Keith Urban. What do you like about them?
HOLMES: They are a pretty laid back panel, and they avoid overreacting to people. It's a panel that I really think has a nice, even quality. They don't get too out of hand. They don't yell at people.
MARTIN: They seem like they take it seriously.
HOLMES: They do.
MARTIN: They're genuinely trying to help these people.
HOLMES: And unlike anybody who was on that original panel, Harry Connick, Jr., gives a lot of substantive musical criticism that you can actually follow from a musical theory and musical execution perspective, which is something that was really lacking from those early seasons, I would argue.
MARTIN: NPR pop culture writer and the host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, Linda Holmes. Thanks so much, Linda.
HOLMES: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: A lot changed on "American Idol" over the years.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN IDOL")
SEACREST: Hi. I'm Ryan Seacrest.
BRIAN DUNKLEMAN: And I'm Brian Dunkleman.
MARTIN: Brian Dunkleman didn't stick around to co-host past the very first season, while Ryan Seacrest went on to become a veritable institution.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW MONTAGE, "AMERICAN IDOL")
SEACREST: The winner of "American Idol 2003"...
2007...
2009...
Season 11...
14...
Is...
MARTIN: Also unforgettable - those so-bad-they're-great auditions.
WILIAM HUNG: (Singing) She bangs. She bangs. Oh, baby. She moves. She moves.
MARTIN: And the little bits of crazy from the judging panel, whether from Paula Abdul or Steven Tyler.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The rock legend decided to take off his shirt and pants.
MARTIN: And every year, there was always a ballad or two that just stopped us in our tracks.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN IDOL")
CLAY AIKEN: (Singing) Like a bridge over troubled water...
MARTIN: Because, yes, this is just a TV show designed explicitly to get ratings and to make money, but it was also a place where an amateur singer with a dream, like Clay Aiken, could take the stage in front of millions of people and sing like nothing else mattered.
AIKEN: (Singing) ...Ease your mind.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
If you know organs, the sound of the Hammond is instantly recognizable.
(SOUNDBITE OF ORGAN MUSIC)
MARTIN: In the 80 years since the Hammond organ hit the assembly line, it has made its way into rock, pop, R and B and jazz. But as Anne Ford reports, there was a time when, in order to hear a Hammond organ, you had to go to church.
ANNE FORD, BYLINE: Long before Booker T. and the M.G.s came along, the Hammond organ was created to be a smaller, cheaper alternative to the sonorous behemoths you hear in churches - pipe organs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ORGAN MUSIC)
FORD: The Hammond offered something beyond prize and size. It yielded an entirely new encyclopedia of tones.
BOB MAROVICH: You had all this different sounds that you could produce. A pipe organ couldn't shout, but a Hammond organ could shout.
FORD: Bob Marovich is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gospel Music. He says that in 1939, a black pastor named Clarence Cobbs bought one of the earliest Hammond organs for his congregation, the First Church of Deliverance in Chicago. It was more or less a marketing move.
MAROVICH: Clarence Cobbs was a very dynamic person, a very charming person. He had the ability to bring people to him, primarily because he was one of the first pastors to launch a radio broadcast. He did that back in 1935 when there were hardly any African-American pastors on the radio.
(SOUNDBITE OF SERMON)
CLARENCE COBBS: You know, a lot of us need to learn how to wait for the Lord.
FORD: And when people heard the strange new sounds of the Hammond organ on the radio, they were so intrigued that, just as Reverend Cobbs hoped, they headed to his church to hear more.
MAROVICH: The street would be lined with cars for blocks. Celebrities would show up. Billie Holiday would show up with her dog in her purse.
FORD: The Hammond's warm, warbling sound quickly spread to churches beyond Chicago, the perfect soundtrack for a brand-new genre called gospel.
JAMES BRYSON JR.: You are not going to find too many black churches that don't have a Hammond organ because it suits our music so well.
FORD: James Bryson, Jr., is the current organist at the First Church of Deliverance. As long as he's been worshiping here, the church has had a Hammond.
BRYSON: Think of an old black and white television. It may not be able to depict rightfully a sunny day. It's kind of like that with music. What I like about the Hammond organ is that it allows you to really add the coloring elements that bring it more to life.
And this is the organ that I grew up listening to (laughter) and - yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF ORGAN MUSIC)
FORD: By the 1960s, that full-color palette had bled over from church music onto the jazz, blues, R and B and even pop charts.
(SOUNDBITE OF ORGAN MUSIC)
FORD: No musical genre stays the same forever. And as popular music moved away from Hammond sound, so did churches. They bought electronic keyboards that were even smaller, even cheaper.
FORD: Jerry Welch started working for the Hammond Organ Company in 1964. When it went out of business 21 years later, he purchased its entire inventory of repair parts, which he now sells to Hammond organ technicians all over the country, but those parts are running out.
JERRY WELCH: When we started, we had five public storage units, and we are now down to two and trying to get it into one. We're literally selling ourself out of business.
FORD: If you're wondering why Welch doesn't just have parts manufactured, the answer is not enough demand.
WELCH: I used to fill upwards of 80 to a hundred orders a day, and now we're down to a whole lot less than that (laughter). It might be 10 to 12 in a weeks' time.
FORD: Just as Hammond organs have gone out of favor, the sound of gospel music has changed.
MAROVICH: A Hammond organ sounds like grandma's church, especially in the burgeoning mega-church environment. It just - it's out of place.
FORD: Again, Bob Marovich from the Journal of Gospel Music.
MAROVICH: For the contemporary gospel sound, they want to use keyboards that are - sound more like what you'd hear on the radio.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
FORD: So to hear the Hammond organ on a Sunday morning, you'll to have to find a congregation that still worships with that old-fashioned sound, like the First Church of Deliverance, where James Bryson says that if the Hammond sound ever goes completely out of style...
BRYSON: Hopefully, I will be around. I will reinvent it and bring it back.
FORD: And if Bryson's revival doesn't take hold or you can't make it to First Church, there's always Booker T. For the NPR News, I'm Anne Ford in Chicago.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, as people age, the risk of dementia increases. And it can be frustrating trying to figure out if memory loss is because of dementia or just normal glitches. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports that there are actually pretty clear differences.
PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE: When my memory fails me, it's usually with names, that great restaurant I liked, the actor in that old movie. I'll go through the alphabet - A, B, C - trying to remember. Turns out I'm not alone, says Harvard Medical School neurologist Kirk Daffner.
KIRK DAFFNER: The speed at which we can retrieve information, the number of things that we can keep in mind at the same time, these things are more difficult.
NEIGHMOND: At around age 50, people might start to notice they're forgetting things. And lots of people do what I do, says Daffner - go through the alphabet for help. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. The fact is the brain ages just like the rest of the body. It can literally shrink. Brain cells don't communicate as well. Blood flow can diminish. Bottom line - this exquisitely complex organ just isn't functioning like it used to. But Daffner says forgetting the name of an actor is a lot different than this.
DAFFNER: It's far more concerning if when reminded of a movie that we've seen not remembering anything about the plot or not remembering that you even went to the movies.
NEIGHMOND: So it's not such a problem if you forget little bits of things. But it could be a problem if you forget entire experiences - how to operate a familiar object like a microwave or how to drive to a friend's house where you've been many times before.
DAFFNER: People who get lost in very familiar places, that's a red flag that something more serious may be involved.
NEIGHMOND: Even then, he says, people shouldn't panic. There are many things that can cause confusion and memory loss - health problems like sleep apnea, high blood pressure or depression, medications like antidepressants, even over-the-counter remedies like antihistamines. But Daffner says the best thing people can do is prevention. Build up your brain's reserve to combat aging.
DAFFNER: Read books. Go to movies that challenge. Take on new hobbies or activities that force one to think in novel ways.
NEIGHMOND: Keep your brain busy and working and get physically active. Exercise is a known brain booster. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Today in Your Health, we'll hear about how to tell normal memory loss from dementia. But first, let's look at the link between Alzheimer's disease and sleep. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on emerging evidence that a lack of sleep can make the brain more vulnerable to Alzheimer's.
JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: People with Alzheimer's often have trouble sleeping. And for a long time researchers thought that was simply because the disease can affect areas of the brain that regulate sleep. But Jeffrey Iliff, a brain scientist at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, says there's another possibility.
JEFFREY ILIFF: The relationship may go the other way as well. Changes in sleep habits may actually be setting the stage for the development of Alzheimer's disease.
HAMILTON: Iliff says much of the evidence for this comes from mice, mice like the ones he studies here in his lab.
ILIFF: This is the room where we do most of our imaging. Warning sign here because there's a very powerful laser in here that can actually blind you if you look into it.
HAMILTON: The laser also allows Iliff to study the brains of living mice using a state-of-the-art microscope.
ILIFF: Black curtains surround this microscope because our microscope is very, very sensitive. And it's almost literally counting every single photon that comes up out of the mouse's brain.
HAMILTON: Iliff says two recent discoveries support the idea that sleep problems might lead to Alzheimer's disease. The first came in 2009 from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. They showed that the sticky plaques associated with Alzheimer's develop more quickly in the brains of sleep-deprived mice. Then in 2013, Iliff was part of a team that discovered how a lack of sleep might be speeding up the development of Alzheimer's plaques. The team showed that a remarkable cleansing process was taking place in the brain during deep sleep.
ILIFF: What happens is during sleep the fluid that's normally on the outside of the brain, which is called cerebral spinal fluid - it's a clean, clear fluid - it actually begins to recirculate back into and through the brain along the outsides of blood vessels.
HAMILTON: Iliff says this process appears to clear out harmful toxins, including the toxins that form Alzheimer's plaques.
ILIFF: And so that suggests at least one possible way that sleep or disruption in sleep may predispose toward Alzheimer's disease.
HAMILTON: To know for sure, though, researchers will have to study this cleansing process in people. And Iliff says they won't be able to use the laser microscope approach he's used on mice. It's too dangerous.
ILIFF: So we have to find a way to see the same sort of function but in a way that is going to be reasonably noninvasive and safe for a human.
HAMILTON: That's where Iliff's colleague Bill Rooney comes in. Rooney directs the Advanced Imaging Research Center at Oregon Health and Science University. This center includes one of the world's most powerful magnetic resonance machines. It sits in a basement a short walk from Iliff's lab.
BILL ROONEY: Down here the magnetic fields are a little bit less controlled than they are upstairs. So I'll ask if you have any medical implants?
HAMILTON: I don't, so we enter the control room. It's filled with the sound of compressors that help cool the machine's superconducting magnet. Rooney thinks this machine will allow researchers to watch human brains activate the toxin removal system during sleep. One challenge, he says, will be finding people able to fall asleep in the device's cramped and noisy tunnel.
ROONEY: It's a tricky thing because it's a small space. But we'll make people as comfortable as possible. And we'll just follow them as they go through these natural stages of sleep.
HAMILTON: Rooney says when people enter deep sleep, there should be a change in one particular signal coming from the brain.
ROONEY: Starting out with young, healthy people that have totally normal sleep, we would expect that they would have a robust response when they go into deep sleep.
HAMILTON: That would indicate that the brain's cleaning system is working properly. Rooney expects a weaker response in older people and people who are likely to develop Alzheimer's. If he's right, it would bolster the idea that sleep problems can contribute to the disease. And Rooney says it might also help doctors identify people who need some help getting more deep sleep.
ROONEY: And it could be anything from having people exercise more regularly or new drugs. A lot of the sleep aids don't particularly focus on driving people to deep sleep stages.
HAMILTON: Rooney hopes to have the first study participants sleeping in the big magnet within a year. Jon Hamilton, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's look now at one of the world's most precious printed volumes. It is the book that gave us Shakespeare. And it's going on tour, beginning today in Norman, Okla. The Folger Shakespeare Library here in Washington, D.C. is sending out the "First Folio" to all 50 states to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The "First Folio" was published seven years after Shakespeare died. And it's the first printed collection of all of his plays. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg went to the library's vault for rare manuscripts before the folio hit the road.
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: I asked two young classical actors to come along.
SARAH PRETZ: I'm so excited. I can't wait to go down. I can't wait.
THOMAS KEEGAN: Sarah's not containing her excitement very well.
PRETZ: I'm not. I'm really not.
STAMBERG: Neither could I. They had to wait a bit, though. Folger director Michael Witmore took me first.
MICHAEL WITMORE: I just have to grab my vault keys.
STAMBERG: The Folger has 82 "First Folios," the most in the world. The books are kept several stairways down in the vault.
WITMORE: Here we go, through the fire door.
STAMBERG: If, heaven forefend, a fire did threaten these priceless objects, it would be extinguished not with water - never water near priceless paper - but with a system that removes oxygen from the room. A massive safe door comes next.
Oh, my goodness. It looks like my bank.
So heavy it takes two burly guards to open it, and then another door.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)
STAMBERG: The bell tells librarians someone's come in. Another door...
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)
STAMBERG: An elevator way down.
WITMORE: We're now going to a vault that spans the length of almost a city block.
STAMBERG: To where they store tens of thousands of pieces of paper, folios plus half of everything printed in England from 1473 to 1660 and more. And there, propped open on spongy wedges to protect the binding, the "First Folio."
WITMORE: If you had to pick one book to represent Shakespeare, this is it.
STAMBERG: Two of Shakespeare's pals put it together in 1623 after he died. John Hemmings and Henry Condell were fellow actors who felt the plays should be collected in a single large volume. The men added some literary gold to the project.
WITMORE: They put 18 plays that had never appeared in print into the "First Folio." Without this book, we probably wouldn't have 18 of Shakespeare's plays, including "Twelfth Night," "Julius Caesar," "Macbeth," "The Winter's Tale."
STAMBERG: So a total of 36 plays in the folio. The others had been printed as individual works in smaller format, quarto, single pages folded in four and bound. Some of those were published in Shakespeare's lifetime.
Would he have been able to supervise the publication of those quartos so - to make sure that they were his words, the words as he wanted them put in print?
WITMORE: We believe he did not.
STAMBERG: He wasn't much interested. He wanted to write - on vellum with a goose-quill pen he cut himself and ink he may have made. There was a ready audience for Shakespeare's writing.
WITMORE: You would buy this book outside of St. Paul's. It would have been in a stall in a bookseller's shop.
STAMBERG: St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
WITMORE: St. Paul's Cathedral.
STAMBERG: For 20 shillings, $200 in today's money, you bought loose sheets of paper and took them to your binder, who put them between hard covers. They think 750 copies of the "First Folio" were printed. Just 233 survived. The book was so popular that more editions were printed. Eventually there were four folios. And each time it was printed, someone made changes in the text, which is what has kept armies of Shakespeare scholars busy for centuries.
Very carefully, Mike Witmore turns the pages of the "First Folio."
May I touch it?
WITMORE: You may touch it.
STAMBERG: Are you sure?
WITMORE: All right, but your hands have to be clean.
STAMBERG: What do you think?
WITMORE: I'm going to say that you are okay.
STAMBERG: He tells me to hold the foot-long page about 3 inches from the bottom.
WITMORE: And then pull it directly across.
STAMBERG: I'm holding my breath. Enter two graduates of the D.C. Shakespeare Theater's Academy of Classical Acting, Thomas Keegan and Sarah Pretz.
So turn around and look at that.
PRETZ: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It was right behind me. I didn't even know. Oh, my God.
KEEGAN: It's just "Hamlet" in the "First Folio."
PRETZ: Shut up.
KEEGAN: (Laughter). That's incredible.
PRETZ: Oh, my God. I'm going to cry.
STAMBERG: To Sarah, to other actors, to scholars, this 4-pound-13-ounce volume is the paper equivalent of the Holy Grail.
PRETZ: I can't think of another playwright with an output of this magnitude that has changed so many people in the way that people think about the world and the way that people think about each other and relationships.
STAMBERG: Which is why those two Shakespeare friends, the folio makers, wanted the plays preserved.
KEEGAN: If they're not put down in print there forever, then we don't get to say them today.
To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler...
STAMBERG: Eighteen of the Folger Shakespeare Library's "First Folios" will be touring the country, six at a time for a year, to mark the 400th anniversary of the master's death. Everywhere it goes, the big book will be open here, 793 pages into the "First Folio."
KEEGAN: To sleep perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub.
STAMBERG: I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
An important moment this morning in San Bernardino, Calif. The office complex where 14 people were killed in a terrorist attack is reopening. Matt Guilhem from member station KVCR paid a visit.
MATT GUILHEM, BYLINE: A fountain gently splashes in the courtyard between buildings one and two of the Inland Regional Center as Vince Toms describes what began as a routine day on December 2. He'd been on several calls that morning and decided to take an early lunch.
VINCE TOMS: So I walk through the building and I got out the gate, took about seven steps and the fire alarm went off. And I thought, oh, boy.
GUILHEM: He quickly realized it wasn't a fire drill. Toms is a manager at the center and former medic. He says that as he came back into the courtyard he...
TOMS: Turned around, told everybody that this is real. There's a shooting in building three. And I went into the building and I told everybody in this stairwell to get up, shelter in place - it's an active shooter.
GUILHEM: Unfortunately, events like this now aren't completely unexpected, says Lavinia Johnson, the executive director of the Inland Regional Center.
LAVINIA JOHNSON: Of course, there is the memory of it. But these kinds of things can happen anywhere. They've happened in Paris and Africa. That's the world we live in today.
GUILHEM: Terror may have visited the center, but Johnson says many of her 500 or so employees wanted to work in the wake of the attack. The center is the administrative hub for caseworkers and others serving the developmentally disabled across San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
JOHNSON: They expressed that they wanted to go and visit the consumers. By helping other people it helps them.
GUILHEM: Staff worked remotely as cleanup crews removed broken doors and shattered glass. As employees return today, they'll find their offices and the buildings look unchanged. But staff will acknowledge the events.
JOHNSON: Our plan is to have each group of people meet with their managers to talk about their feelings and what they need to move forward to treat the day as a day back - business as usual - but also to take time to reflect on what we do here and what happened.
GUILHEM: Johnson walks out of the center's courtyard and into its empty parking lot. She stops and takes in all the buildings.
JOHNSON: I'm - pretty much accepted what has happened and I'm moving forward with it. I think it's important that I lead the staff in that direction. We can't, you know, wallow with the sadness and the tragedy that's happened. We have to move forward.
GUILHEM: Johnson says counselors will be on site for returning employees. They may be necessary if manager Vince Toms is right in his prediction.
TOMS: I honestly expect those people that even think they're healed are going to come back and they're going to be jolted right back to that day as we go through those processes of grief and loss.
GUILHEM: As the two administrative buildings reopen today, the conference center where the shooting occurred remains closed indefinitely. For NPR News, I'm Matt Guilhem San Bernardino.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The long-standing hostility between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran heated up over the weekend. Saudi Arabia broke diplomatic relations with its Persian Gulf neighbor after a mob overran and set fire to Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran. The Iranian protesters were angry at the execution by the Saudi government of 47 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric. For more on what this could mean for the region, we spoke with Thomas Erdbrink, Tehran bureau chief for The New York Times. Welcome back to the program.
THOMAS ERDBRINK: Thanks for having me, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, the Saudi's say that most of those executed were Islamist extremists - terrorists they call them. But beyond that, several of those executed were Shiite who have been critical of the Saudi government, including this cleric. How did he get caught up in this?
ERDBRINK: Well, as you said, Iran is a Shiite country. And Iranian leadership has, over the past year, been warning Saudi Arabia not to execute Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Now, this man is a very well-known opposition leader in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia where most people are actually Shia. They are a minority in Sunni Saudi Arabia. And the Iranian leadership has been saying to the Saudis that if they would execute Mr. al-Nimr, it would be an attack not only on the Shiites of Saudi Arabia but also on Iran. And this has led to the events we have seen unfolding over the weekend - the attacking of the Saudi mission here in Tehran and also its consulate in the east of Iran.
MONTAGNE: Well, this break would seem to have implications way beyond both of those countries because they are engaged in several of the wars on opposite sides that are now burning there in the Middle East, especially Syria.
ERDBRINK: Exactly. These countries have gone head-to-head in several arenas in the region. And the most important one is of course Syria, where the Saudis are supporting some of the Sunni extremist groups that are fighting against President Bashar al-Assad's government that in turn is being supported by Iran. Well, the same goes for Yemen, which is another theater of this increasing proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. So as this fight between Saudi Arabia and Iran is increasing, it's clear that also the original wars will also enter possibly a new, more harsher state.
MONTAGNE: In particular, what about the peace talks, though, that are due to start up just weeks from now where it was pretty key to get both Saudi Arabia and Iran at the table?
ERDBRINK: Exactly. It has taken years to get Saudi Arabia and the United States to agree that Iran would also take place at that table. The Iranians are now at the table. And now I think the whole world is watching what the Saudis will do. Maybe they will decide not to join the peace talks because Iran is there. It seems that they are playing this brinkmanship game in which they are forcing countries to choose either between Saudi or Iran. And the fact that they have colorful relations and that they are most probably also asking other Persian Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates and possibly Kuwait to do the same shows that the Saudis want to get other people on board with their anti-Iranian line. And we could see the same in those peace talks.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
ERDBRINK: Thanks for having me.
MONTAGNE: That's New York Times Tehran Bureau Chief Thomas Erdbrink.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
President Obama might be getting closer to meeting a goal he set when he first took office - emptying the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One hundred and seven captives remain there. Fifty or so have no immediate chance of getting out. And let's hear about one of Guantanamo's so-called forever prisoners. It's a case that's drawn support from celebrities and human rights activists. Here's NPR's David Welna.
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: These words were written by the man U.S. officials once considered their highest-valued detainee at Guantanamo.
NICK CAVE: (Reading) When I arrived in the camp in August, 2002, the majority of detainees were refusing to cooperate with their interrogators.
WELNA: That's Australian musician Nick Cave. He is reading from "Guantanamo Diary." It's a book published in January that a Mauritanian named Mohamedou Ould Slahi wrote by hand while held captive in Guantanamo. Words and entire pages have been blacked out by government censors, but much of Slahi's tale remains intact.
CAVE: (Reading) Like me, every detainee I know thought when he arrived in Cuba it would be a typical interrogation and after interrogation he would be charged and sent to court. And the court would decide whether he is guilty or not.
WELNA: But after nearly 14 years of imprisonment, Slahi, like most other detainees in Guantanamo, has never been charged, much less tried. He has also not seen his book. Nancy Hollander is Slahi's personal attorney.
NANCY HOLLANDER: Guantanamo has denied him and everyone else who has tried to get the book in - they have refused it.
WELNA: On what grounds?
HOLLANDER: We don't ever get grounds. They just refuse it.
WELNA: Slahi has acknowledged serving allegiance to al-Qaeda in the early 1990s while fighting a communist regime in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say he recruited three men involved in the 9/11 attacks. But Hina Shamsi, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, says Slahi's detention is entirely unjustified.
HINA SHAMSI: He wasn't captured on a battlefield. He voluntarily turned himself over to authorities in his native country of Mauritania for questioning. He never fought against the United States. He was subjected to one of the most brutal torture regimes at Guantanamo.
WELNA: A lot of Guantanamo detainees were subjected to harsh interrogations, but what Slahi went through was extraordinary. In 2003, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld personally approved what was called a special interrogation plan for him. It used so-called enhanced methods. According to a Justice Department investigation, he was beaten, sexually throttled, put in extreme isolation, shackled to the floor, stripped naked and put under strobe lights while being blasted with heavy metal music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BODIES")
DROWNING POOL: (Singing) No. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor.
WELNA: This particular music, called "Bodies" by the group Drowning Pool, was fond by the Justice Department. It had been used frequently by Guantanamo interrogators. Slahi writes he reached his limit after interrogators threatened to detain his mother and lock her up with Guantanamo's all-male inmates. He decided to tell his interrogators whatever they wanted to hear. He insists it was all fabrications, but it was enough to satisfy his interrogators. It was also why a Marine colonel and Pentagon attorney named Stuart Crouch ultimately refused to prosecute Slahi. Here is Crouch describing that decision two years ago on public radio station WNYC in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF INTERVIEW)
STUART CROUCH: And in my legal judgment, the information that he gave up after he broke under interrogation was so intertwined with whatever quantum of evidence there would have been of his guilt. That's why as a legal matter and an ethical matter I resolved that he had been tortured and would not be able to be prosecuted.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Because that's a form of torture...
WELNA: Ever since then, Slahi has remained stuck in Guantanamo. His decision a dozen years ago to break his silence does not appear to have improved his chances of leaving the island prison camp. That puzzles Ben Wittes, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who edits a national security legal blog called Lawfare.
BEN WITTES: You get somebody who has provided really useful information, who has in some meaningful sense broken with his past, and what's the endgame for that person?
WELNA: Five years ago, Slahi used the writ of habeas corpus to challenge his detention in federal court, and he prevailed. A District Court judge ordered his release. But the Obama Justice Department appealed. A circuit court vacated the district judge's ruling and sent the case back to be retried. Slahi's attorney, Nancy Hollander, says even if he were to win again in the lower court, the government would likely appeal it again.
HOLLANDER: They have fought his habeas. They are not moving on this case at all and fight it tooth and nail. At the same time, they say they want to close Guantanamo. And it's simply inconsistent. If they want to close Guantanamo, they should send Mohamedou home today.
WELNA: Just before leaving Washington for the holidays, President Obama reaffirmed his desire to close Guantanamo. The way he plans to do that, he said, is steadily chipping away at the numbers there.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We have a review process for those who are eligible for transfer. We locate in countries that have accepted some of these detainees.
WELNA: That review process is carried out by senior security officials from six federal agencies, all of whom sit on what's called the Periodic Review Board, or PRB. It's a parole hearing-type panel ordered up by Obama nearly five years ago to determine whether Guantanamo captives still pose what's called a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. But the PRB has moved very slowly. Only 21 detainees have had their cases reviewed. Of them, 15 were cleared for release. Lawfare editor Wittes considers a PRB hearing the best bet for Slahi's lawyers. Problem is Slahi's never been told when he'll have a hearing with the PRB even though he was promised two years ago he'd get one. A federal judge rejected Nancy Hollander's plea for his court to order a hearing date. Hollander says she's not sure now what she's going to do.
HOLLANDER: I don't know why they're holding onto him. I wish I knew. It makes no sense.
WELNA: Government officials contacted by NPR gave no specific reasons why Slahi remains a forever-prisoner. David Welna, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene, with congratulations to David Moya. The lifelong LA Lakers fan got one chance at a half court heave last night at Staples Center. He was shooting for a $95,000 prize, and he hit nothing but net. The Lakers' opponent, the Phoenix Suns, were not as hot. The team scored just 22 points in the first half, an all-time franchise low. As for the fan, he says he knows he will spend some of the money on tickets to Kobe Bryant's final home game. And you're listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And when California this year becomes the fifth and by far the largest state to adopt an aid in dying law, it will draw many doctors into those decisions. Physicians will prescribe the lethal drugs, and there have to be two doctors involved in every case. Patients must administer the drugs themselves. Doctors most likely to be involved are those specializing in palliative care, those who try to relieve the suffering of patients as they are dying. Some are conflicted about the new rules, and that includes Carin van Zyl. She's a palliative care physician at the USC Keck School of Medicine.
Thank you for coming in and talking to us about this.
CARIN VAN ZYL: Oh, it's my pleasure.
MONTAGNE: What has been your reaction - your initial reaction to the possibility that you will be asked to be involved in hastening one of your patient's death?
ZYL: Well, it's so funny. If you ask me as a patient, I was relieved to hear that something like this might be an option for myself in the future. Like, at the very basic level I think I feel a panic around my death and what that might look like. And I'm certain I'm not alone in that feeling, and I recognize that in my patients and empathize with it when I see it all the time. So from a personal standpoint, knowing that the law is there calms that panic just a little bit. If you ask me as a professional, I was really worried. Part of the reason was that I feel too often patients feel as though their real choices are between untreated suffering or physician-assisted suicide. And there's a really effective third choice that isn't available to everybody.
You know, palliative medicine, when it's applied skillfully and at the right time, often relieves most of the suffering that prompts people to ask for this in the first place. I've never had somebody persist in their request once their physical suffering has been dealt with. Their outlook really changes. And so I worry that we made this available before we really put the necessary effort behind making sure that palliative medicine was available to anybody with a serious illness and that anybody treating seriously ill people have a baseline fluency with good symptom management and good communication skills around these issues.
MONTAGNE: End-of-life discussions, do you have them with your patients?
ZYL: All the time, every day.
MONTAGNE: Obviously very delicate.
ZYL: Yes.
MONTAGNE: How might this new aid in dying law change that conversation?
ZYL: At its heart, palliative medicine discussions about end-of-life options are about learning the story of the person and figuring out what it is that they cherish the most, what they're hoping to achieve with treatment. And then my job is to help this patient and their family navigate the choices and pick the one that gets them closest to what they most cherish. That conversation isn't going to be changed by this option being made available. And if we arrive at the conclusion that this might be an option that gets them closest to the things that they hold dearest, then we will explore those things honestly.
MONTAGNE: This has not been an option up until now in the state of California.
ZYL: Right.
MONTAGNE: Now that you're looking ahead to this new law, if in fact any given patient came to you and said I want to hasten my death...
ZYL: Right.
MONTAGNE: ...What do you think at this point you would say to that patient?
ZYL: I could imagine lying awake at night for months no matter what I do.
MONTAGNE: For months?
ZYL: Oh, yeah. I would always worry that I hadn't done enough to get to the root of that request. Once the prescription is actually ingested, there's no going back. And I would carry my part of the responsibility for that. And I would feel the same if I said no to a patient.
MONTAGNE: It sounds like a great burden of guilt is being placed upon you.
ZYL: I would rephrase it more as responsibility than guilt. I worry when it's easy. That to me means that an appropriate thoroughness in the examination for whether this was a good idea or not might not have taken place. I think it ought to be difficult to make these decisions. I think that's the internal check.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for sharing this with us.
ZYL: Thank you so much for letting me be here.
MONTAGNE: Carin van Zyl is a palliative care doctor at USC.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, when homeowners add onto a house, they usually build out or maybe up. They could add a floor. But there are some places in the world where cities have no room for houses to grow. And so there's only one option, and that is to dig down. NPR's Robert Smith reports from London on a new subterranean building boom.
JOHN COYLE: You'd be surprised what's underground (laughter).
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: Above us is a street of narrow London townhouses. Down here, it is the Wal-Mart of basements.
This is huge. I mean, look at how tall the ceilings are down here.
It is still under construction. It has been for nine months. The contractor, John Coyle, walks me through what is to come.
COYLE: I just wanted to give you an idea of the scale of it.
SMITH: Bedroom, bathroom, another bedroom, utility room, a home theater.
COYLE: So this will be - this will be the cinema room here. This will be a big projector and a screen on that wall.
SMITH: I have literally been in movie theaters smaller than this room.
COYLE: Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, come down and...
SMITH: I'm guessing reclining leather chairs?
COYLE: Yeah, everything.
SMITH: Popcorn machine.
COYLE: Everything.
SMITH: It's not just that the English love to sit in dark, damp spaces. This basement boom is happening because wealthy Londoners feel like they have no other option. The most fashionable neighborhoods here feature these really narrow houses. And historic restrictions make it hard to add anything that you can see from the street. And so the engineers start digging. Some residential streets in London have had dozens of basements dug out. There's even a name for them, iceberg houses, bigger below the ground than above.
COYLE: Where we're standing now, it wouldn't be unusual to have another staircase down to a swimming pool.
SMITH: It is a simple calculation. London real estate is so expensive that adding any extra space is worth the money. This basement right here costs $1.8 million to build. It will probably add $3 million to the value of the home. Usually, you can double your money. Of course, things do go wrong. Tim Chapman is a subterranean engineer with Arup consultants. He's dug some of the biggest holes in the city. And he says once you go down in an old place like London, you can find anything - underground rivers, sewer pipes, Roman ruins, old train tunnels.
Is there any dirt left under London?
TIM CHAPMAN: You're quite right. I mean, there's a huge amount of things underground in London. Every decade, we add a new tube line. People are putting in new fiber optic cables. And no one takes any of these things away. So it's a form of pollution.
SMITH: Find a human bone or a piece of pottery, and suddenly your new basement project can take twice as long. And then there are the neighbors. If you're rich enough to build a million-dollar basement, your neighbor is probably rich enough to get a lawyer. Chapman is often hired as an expert consultant in these cases. And he says in such tight quarters like London, things do go wrong.
CHAPMAN: If you dig a basement, it is inevitable that there'll be some movement of the property next-door. So people who say, I'm going to cause no effect whatsoever, you can't dig a basement without causing no effect whatsoever.
SMITH: In fact, last year, a massive house collapsed in the city. It came out afterwards that they were adding a cinema, a home gym and a wine room. There was even a debate in the House of Lords over the epidemic of digging, as they called it. Some of the richer folks wanted a moratorium. But the contractor John Coyle says once he starts building a luxury basement, many of the neighbors want one too. Right across the street, Phoebe Dickerson has been watching this basement construction for the last nine months. And I asked her, would she ever do it?
PHOEBE DICKERSON: I think it's quite expensive. I'm not sure if I'm in the market for that.
SMITH: They told us that for every dollar you spend on it, you get $2 back.
DICKERSON: Really? Well, I'm still not in the market for it - maybe one day.
SMITH: (Laughter).
Hey, if you want to move up in this world, you've got to dig down. Robert Smith, NPR News, London.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Miss World 2016 pageant is still many months away, though one contestant is already looking to it with great hope for herself and her country.
SHAIMA QASSEM: (Foreign language spoken).
MONTAGNE: Shaima Qassem is the newly crowned Miss Iraq. When I spoke with her, she said if she's lucky enough to win Miss World, she would like to bring more attention to the struggle of refugees in Iraq, especially the children. When the 20-year-old was crowned in Baghdad last month, it was the first national beauty pageant in that country in more than 40 years. The event was more than just tiaras and evening gowns. It was an attempt to move forward with something of a normal life. And when Shaima Qassem, like many beauty pageant winners before her, said that she hopes for world peace, she really meant it.
QASSEM: (Foreign language spoken).
MONTAGNE: "My dream is to spread a message of peace to the world. Iraqis are fighting to live their lives," as she put it. Qassem grew up in a country at war. Two of her cousins died fighting in the Iraqi army, although she says her own upbringing in Kirkuk was relatively calm. Death threats did mar the Miss Iraq pageant, causing some women to drop out. For the new Miss Iraq though, it was a moment of joy.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This first week of the new year promises to be even busier than usual in the political arena. President Obama is talking executive action and gun control, a certain former president hits the campaign trail and footage of presidential candidate Donald Trump turns up in a video from the Islamist militant group al-Shabab. To guide us through all of these political goings on, we're joined now by Cokie Roberts and NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning to you both.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
ROBERTS: Happy New Year.
MONTAGNE: Happy New Year to you all. Let's start with President Obama, just back from the family vacation in Hawaii. He's jumping straight into possibly the toughest issue in politics to date - gun control. And Mara, what's going on here?
LIASSON: Well, this is one of the toughest issues. And for President Obama, it's one of the most frustrating issues because he hasn't been able to get the Congress to move on his gun-control agenda, even when Democrats had the Senate. But his team has been working on a set of executive actions on gun safety for some months. And today, he's going to discuss them with his attorney general, his FBI director and other officials. Then on Thursday, he's going to hold a town hall meeting on gun violence. Basically, the centerpiece of these executive actions is his effort to close some loopholes that allow certain smaller gun sellers to avoid doing background checks on gun purchasers.
MONTAGNE: And Cokie, Congress - Congress is also coming back this week with a lot of talk that the Republican leadership is forming its own agenda. What's their reaction going to be to this particular rollout from the president?
ROBERTS: Just to completely shoot it down and ignore it. One of the things you're already hearing is a lot of complaints about executive orders, and the Republican presidential candidates going on a lot about that yesterday as news of this gun-control agenda was rolling out. But also, the Republicans in Congress are thinking that they need to do something to show the American people what they stand for, and some of it is - could even be bipartisan - for instance, criminal justice reform. But right away, they're going to go back to their tried and trues of repealing Obamacare and cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, send the president bills that he will veto certainly. So the two sides are nowhere near each other, and it's all just a setup for the 2016 presidential campaign.
MONTAGNE: And Mara, sticking back to gun control for a moment, what about on the campaign trail? I mean, there's already been plenty of talk about that.
LIASSON: Yes. And not surprisingly, Democrats are in favor of what the president is doing. Hillary Clinton is even taking some credit for suggesting some of these measures on the campaign trail first. Republicans, as Cokie said, are completely against these efforts of the president. They are promising that if they're elected, they will undo whatever executive actions the president takes on guns. And that's the thing to remember here - executive action is temporary. It doesn't have the permanence of legislation. So it's really a strategy born from weakness. This is all the president can do if he can't convince Congress to pass his agenda.
MONTAGNE: Well, OK, everyone's watching the calendar very carefully I know now. It's 2016...
ROBERTS: Finally.
MONTAGNE: ...Weeks away from the Iowa caucuses and also the primary in New Hampshire. One of the most skilled campaigners ever - former President Bill Clinton - will be hitting the campaign trail for his wife this week. Donald Trump has already taken him on. Whoa - how is this likely to play out?
ROBERTS: Well, President Clinton is a skilled campaigner. He did not help his wife in 2008 when he made some intemperate remarks. So you have to assume that he will be more careful this time around. But Donald Trump is just going after him and going after his difficulties with women accusing him of various things along - over the years and saying that Hillary Clinton was complicit in Bill Clinton's activities and that she should be attacked for it. How that plays is really something we have no idea about. It's going to be - but, you know, we've had no idea about how anything that Donald Trump has done would play. And he continues to ride very high in the public opinion polls, something that he makes a point about.
MONTAGNE: And here comes down the pike another thing - the terrorist group al-Shabab using his words for a recruitment video. But what - what's his response, first of all? I mean, what, is it going to hurt him?
LIASSON: Well, we don't know if it's going to hurt him. It probably will help him to have a terrorist group attacking him.
ROBERTS: Right, exactly.
LIASSON: But he did dismiss this video. It was an al-Shabab video that quoted him saying that we're going to ban Muslims from the United States temporarily. And the video says this is evidence that the U.S. is turning against Muslims, so Muslims should join the jihadists. Donald Trump dismissed it. He said I have to say what I have to say. And it's interesting because in the last Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton had said that Donald Trump's words were being used in terrorist recruiting videos. At that time, there was no evidence of that. Now we have a video.
ROBERTS: But, you know, the other thing that's happening is Trump has released his first television ad. He says he's going to spend $2 million a week in advertising leading up to the Iowa caucuses on February 1. And the ad is very stark with images of terrorists in the - and people coming across the border. And he talks about how he is going to cut off the head of ISIS and build the biggest wall ever and make Mexico pay for it. He is not - he is quite the contrary from backing down on any of this. He's doubling down on all of it, thinking that this is what has made him so popular for so long.
MONTAGNE: Well, lots more to come in the months ahead. Thanks both of you for joining us.
LIASSON: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: And that's Cokie Roberts and also NPR's national political correspondent, Mara Liasson.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's turn now to a developing story in the Middle East. Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on terrorism charges. This is the largest mass execution that country has carried out in two and a half decades. For more on this, we turn to Angus McDowell, a reporter with Reuters, who joins us on the line from Riyadh. Angus, good morning.
ANGUS MCDOWELL: Good morning.
GREENE: So can you tell us a bit more about who was put to death here?
MCDOWELL: Well, of the 47 people they executed, 43 were convicted al-Qaida members who had carried out a series of bombings and shootings in Saudi Arabia about 10 years ago that killed hundreds of people. However, the main response to the killings has come over the execution of four Shiite Muslims, particularly a Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who is a prominent cleric in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia and who had pushed for protests among the Shiite minority in the kingdom over inequality.
GREENE: So what is the timing of this that Saudi Arabia would execute a Shiite cleric along with, as you say, you know, more than 40 al-Qaida members?
MCDOWELL: Well, there are two schools of thought. One explanation is that they are seeking to show Iran, which is Saudi Arabia's main regional rival and - with which it engages in a series of proxy wars and ideological conflict across the Middle East - that it wants to show Iran and its Shiite allies that it is tough and will not be - will not back down in its contest with Tehran. The other explanation is that the timing is more about Saudi Arabia's internal politics, and particularly in regards to the surge of Sunni militancy that there has been over the past year or two in which supporters of Islamic State have killed over 50 Saudis in a series of bombings and shootings. And the idea is that by executing 43 al-Qaida people, it's sending a strong message to domestic Sunni militants that it will crack down very hard. And at the same time, by executing four Shiites for the acts of violence that's occurred during protests by the minority, that it is not showing sectarian favoritism and that it's not singling out Sunnis.
GREENE: I think a lot of people hear about Iran and Saudi Arabia being two very important players - you know, a Shiite country, a Sunni country sort of competing for influence in that region. With these new tensions, how important a moment is this?
MCDOWELL: Well, this is the latest in a series of escalations. However, given that the two countries are already backing opposing forces in wars and in political conflicts across the Middle East, it's hard to see quite how far the escalation could go, what new forms of escalation they could take short of some much bigger conflagration. And I really don't think that either Saudi Arabia or Iran really wants to go that far.
GREENE: And Angus, let me just ask you, I mean, we're already seeing reaction in Iran. The embassy has been attacked -- the Saudi embassy has been attacked in Tehran. But you're saying these two countries don't really want this to escalate much more than what we've seen so far.
MCDOWELL: I don't believe they do. And if you look around the Middle East, it's hard to see quite where they could take further escalations given that their proxies are already engaged in open conflict against each other in so many places.
GREENE: All right, we've been talking to Angus McDowell from the Reuters news agency. He's in Riyadh, talking to us about a mass execution in Saudi Arabia. Angus, thanks very much.
MCDOWELL: You are most welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This week, we're taking a closer look at the future of history. This field of study is changing rapidly because of new technologies and shifting expectations. This morning, author Eric Weiner examines one scenario where future historians look back at our time and find nothing.
ERIC WEINER, BYLINE: Consider the most exhaustively researched historical figure in the land - Abraham Lincoln.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LINCOLN")
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS: (As Abraham Lincoln) Abolishing slavery by constitutional provisions settles the fate for all coming time.
WEINER: Stephen Spielberg's take in the movie "Lincoln" was based on the reporting of renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. She dug through thousands of documents, letters and photographs.
VINT CERF: Imagine a 22nd century Doris Kearns Goodwin who's trying to figure out what happened in the beginning of the 21st century.
WEINER: Vint Cerf, an early Internet pioneer, is now a senior executive at Google.
CERF: And she's got what? Well, is there any email anywhere? Are there any drives that can read somebody's CD-ROMs or their floppy disks, or, you know, what about the hard drive that was in a laptop that's sitting in the closet for the last 50 years and pretending we can turn the machine on? You know, does anything actually work?
WEINER: We may be drowning in data today, says Cerf, but future historians might look back at our time and find a gaping hole - a digital dark ages.
CERF: I literally mean a dark age. The information is gone. It's inaccessible. It's uninterpretable.
WEINER: In other words, the future might sound something like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking in Old English).
WEINER: That is English - Old English - a reading from the epic poem "Beowulf." We know what these strange words mean because thankfully a handful of scholars can still read Old English.
CLIFFORD LYNCH: It is like a lost language. But it's on a kind of a different scale.
WEINER: Clifford Lynch is director of the Coalition for Networked Information. Digital preservation is more complex than the "Beowulf" problem because it requires more than simple translation. News sites, for instance, are now customized. One person's experience reading, say, The New York Times website is not the same as another person's. How do you preserve that or video games or other remnants of our digital lives? It's an extremely difficult problem to solve, but that hasn't stopped some from trying.
MAHADEV SATYANARAYANAN: This was very cool, very cool vision.
WEINER: Mahadev Satyanarayanan, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, runs the very cool Olive project. It all began when Satyanarayanan was experimenting with a new computing technique called Internet suspend/resume. Then he had an idea.
SATYANARAYANAN: You know, Internet suspend/resume is about traveling across space seamlessly. Could you travel across time seamlessly? Could I suspend in 1993 and resume in 2015?
WEINER: Are you talking about, in a way, a sort of time travel?
SATYANARAYANAN: Yeah. And so one way to think about Olive is one-click time travel.
WEINER: Using this time travel technique, he's managed to recover long-lost video games and other digital artifacts. Other archivists, though, say the biggest hurdle to long-term preservation is not technical.
BREWSTER KAHLE: It's not technical, no. It's institutional I would say.
WEINER: That's Brewster Kahl, founder of the Internet Archive, the most ambitious project of its kind. Kahl is aiming to build a modern digital version of the great Library of Alexandria. Working out of a converted church in San Francisco's Mission District, Kahl and his team take snapshots of nearly every page on the World Wide Web every two months. They can't capture everything. Paywalls and other institutional roadblocks get in the way. But so far they've amassed more than 400 billion web pages, two million videos and, among other things, 9,000 recordings of Grateful Dead concerts. Kahl makes all of this available online for free on what he calls the Wayback Machine.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE SHOW")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Mr. Peabody) The Wayback Machine, my incomparable invention for traveling through time, has been set for the year 1513.
WEINER: At first, says Kahl, the Wayback Machine was a tough sell.
KAHLE: When we started the project, people just thought we were crazy or that you couldn't do it, that it's impossible to do or why bother. And I think that has generally evened out because it's used by so many people now.
DAVID KIRSCH: It's a marvel.
WEINER: David Kirsch is a historian and professor of business at the University of Maryland.
KIRSCH: I thought he was crazy when he started it. I thought what a silly thing. And since then I have used it hundreds and hundreds of times as a scholar to try and recover the past.
WEINER: Not just any past.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) What goes up...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Try to get it. Try to get it. Try to get the burger.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) ...Must come down.
WEINER: Kirsch's particular interest - his obsession - is the dotcom bubble of the early 2000s.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Pets.com because pets can't drive.
WEINER: The fact that he's managed to save so much from these forgotten go-go years helps explain why he takes a more sanguine view about the future of history.
KIRSCH: The fear of the digital dark ages is a little misplaced 'cause I think the things that we do save, we're going to get really close to. Whatever ones and zeros do survive, we're going to have very intimate knowledge, but, again, for certain questions.
WEINER: And that, historians say, is the key to fending off a digital dark ages. Not saving everything - we've never done that - but preserving a wide spectrum of contemporary life, even the silly bits.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "NO NO NO CAT")
UNIDENTIFIED CAT: (Meowing).
WEINER: Take the ubiquitous cat video. We might consider them trivial, but archivist Deanna Marcum says historians have always strived to save slices of our quotidian lives.
DEANNA MARCUM: If you want to know what a chatbook looked like, you can find one in a library. If you want to know what an old comic book looked like, you can find one.
WEINER: So we should save some cat videos.
MARCUM: We should save some cat videos. That's part of our culture. But we shouldn't save a million cat videos.
WEINER: Preservation, she says, shouldn't be left to chance. And that is what's largely happening now. Some things are saved; others lost - data from some of the Apollo moon missions, websites from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and much more.
KAHLE: Oh, the story of - well, of life, is just lost.
WEINER: Again, Brewster Kahl, founder of the Internet Archive.
KAHLE: I've learned to not cry over having things disappear and more rejoice on the things that are being kept care of.
WEINER: For NPR News, I'm Eric Weiner.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The Boston Globe switched to a new delivery company last week, and subscribers started complaining about missing papers. So before dawn on Sunday morning, dozens of The Globe's reporters and editors fanned out and delivered the papers themselves. They carried flashlights and GPS. And in the case of reporter Josh Miller, he arrived at the Statehouse toting a stack of papers and a suit for his next bit of work - an interview. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This new year had begun with some hope for calm in the relationship between India and Pakistan. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, just made a high-profile visit to Pakistan, bringing along a new peace initiative. But now you have to wonder if this is all in jeopardy.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
That's because heavily-armed gunmen believed to be from Pakistan have carried out an audacious assault on an Indian airbase. There have been prolonged gun battles over two days. Four attackers and seven Indian security personnel have been killed.
GREENE: And we should say this is not over. There is still an operation underway trying to flush out the remaining gunmen at this military base. Let's turn to NPR's Julie McCarthy, who joins us from New Delhi. Julie, good morning.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Good morning. Happy New Year.
GREENE: Well, happy New Year to you, too. Can you tell us what's happening here? I mean, we're in day three now of this operation to clear this Indian air force base. I mean, I'm wondering who these suspected militants are and how they got onto a military base, which, you know, you could imagine is pretty heavily fortified?
MCCARTHY: Exactly, that's what investigators want to know, too. India's security officials say that the gunmen were disguised in Indian army uniforms when they stole onto the Pathankot airbase. Indian authorities suspect the gunmen are Islamist militants from the Pakistani-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, who are also blamed for attacking the Indian Parliament in 2001. Well, now they've snuck on to one of the most strategically-important forward bases in India, where an army division and a fleet of fighter jets are stationed.
GREENE: And so the Indian government is pretty certain that it's this Islamist group from Pakistan, these militants?
MCCARTHY: Well, you know, evidently they - there are phone intercepts. And Indian officials say that the gunmen made calls on stolen phones that were traced back to Pakistan and handlers. And one man is reported to have called his mother to say he was on a suicide mission, so there was intelligence. And officials say it helped prevent a much worse outcome. But that said, David, seven Indian security forces - that's the highest total in years of an incursion of this kind - were killed during this assault that's mired in confusion. On Saturday night, the operation was declared over. But by Sunday, two more militants emerged from hiding and another firefight broke out.
GREENE: Well, Julie, that all sounds like a huge embarrassment for the Indian government.
MCCARTHY: Well, yes, there are questions being raised about how this counteroffensive was handled, why it's taken so long to take back control and why India claimed success so early. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to answer for all of that.
GREENE: And Julie, if you can, just set this in the larger context. I mean, you have India, Pakistan - people have heard about the long-running tensions between these two countries - both with nuclear capabilities. I mean, what does this mean that a militant group from Pakistan could come in and lay siege to an Indian airbase?
MCCARTHY: Well, really, I mean, most practically, what it normally means is any kind of end to a dialogue or a peace initiative. And that's exactly what Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India tried to do when he showed up 10 days ago in Pakistan to meet with Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani leader. It was the first time in over a decade that an Indian leader had traveled to Pakistan, and he won't want that wasted. So what you're hearing here is none of the condemnation of Pakistan that you normally hear. Instead, India is talking about discussing how Pakistan, who was also condemned this attack, can crack down on Jaish-e-Mohammed. And that sort of restraint represents a change. And if it holds, the new year would have begun on a very different, perhaps hopeful note.
GREENE: All right, we've been speaking to NPR's Julie McCarthy in New Delhi, who's been covering the siege of an Indian airbase that's still ongoing. Julie, thanks a lot.
MCCARTHY: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And let's turn now to another developing story, this one in Oregon where armed protesters are occupying the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge. The self-described militia men accused the federal government of overreaching its authority and say they're planning to stay in the refuge for weeks, months, maybe years. As federal and local law enforcement plan their response, the protesters insist they are peaceful. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Amanda Peacher has more.
AMANDA PEACHER, BYLINE: Protesters emerged from brick buildings at the refuge headquarters for a Sunday press briefing. This self-styled militia man identified himself as Fluffy Unicorn.
FLUFFY UNICORN: Head count, anything of that nature - none of that will be addressed for operational security.
PEACHER: Although the protesters won't reveal their numbers, fewer than 20 militiamen were visible Sunday. The protesters originally arrived in Burns, Ore., to defend local rangers Dwight and Steven Hammond. Their prison sentences start today for arson on federal rangelands. But the Hammonds said they didn't want the militia's defense and intend to report as required. So the protesters turned their focus to this remote Malheur Wildlife Refuge 30 miles away.
AMMON BUNDY: This refuge, from its very inception, has been a tool of tyranny.
PEACHER: That's Ammon Bundy, the leader of this occupation. He believes the government violated the Constitution in its purchase of the refuge land back in 1908. Bundy says their mission is to put the federal lands under local control. But it's unclear by what means.
BUNDY: We do have a plan. That plan is going to take several months at the shortest to accomplish.
PEACHER: Ammon Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy. He made headlines in 2014 after he refused to pay the Bureau of Land Management cattle grazing fees. That resulted in a standoff with the agency. Armed, self-described patriots flocked to southern Nevada to defend Bundy.
BUNDY: Well, we are asking people to come.
PEACHER: Ammon Bundy is calling on protesters to gather again in Oregon.
BUNDY: We need to be united. And we need to have a strong defense. That's the way we can make sure that there is no lives that are lost here.
PEACHER: Bundy insists that the protesters are not looking for violence.
BUNDY: Let's actually walk this way.
PEACHER: To prove that, protester LaVoy Finicum shows reporters around the occupied complex. The Arizona rancher wears a wide cowboy hat.
LAVOY FINICUM: We're being respectful. We're not vandalizing. We're not tearing up.
PEACHER: The complex is nestled among sagebrush and blanketed by snow. It includes about 15 small buildings that look out over the 190,000 acre refuge in Oregon's high desert. It's unclear how many of the buildings protesters have broken into. Ammon Bundy says he hasn't heard from law enforcement since the occupation began. Harney County Sheriff David Ward says officers are monitoring the situation.
DAVID WARD: A few things have happened. But I don't think that we've gone so far that we can't work through this. I don't think it needs to come to any type of violent behavior from anyone.
PEACHER: But some of the militia did arrive expecting a showdown. A protester who gave the name Captain Moroni guards the road to the refuge on a windy hill.
CAPTAIN MORONI: Like, last night, we were all ready for a gun battle. They actually just decided to set down our guns.
PEACHER: The militiamen say they want to occupy the refuge for a long time - possibly years. For NPR News, I'm Amanda Peacher in Harney County, Ore.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It's almost as if you are living on some other planet. That is how Missouri Governor Jay Nixon described the devastation he was looking at over the weekend in the city of Eureka. It is one of the communities along the Mississippi River that were literally underwater after deadly flooding. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum went to visit as well.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: I'm standing here at South Central Avenue in Eureka, Mo. It wasn't that long ago that this commercial thoroughfare was swamped by historic flooding. But as the rain stopped and the rivers receded, the residents of this St. Louis suburb are focused squarely on cleaning up.
(SOUNDBITE OF CLEAN-UP)
ROSENBAUM: Over the weekend, President Obama granted Missouri's request for federal emergency relief. And residents around St. Louis spent their time tearing down soggy drywall and banging out ruined floorboards. Scores of volunteers helped spruce up Charles Gillick's real estate office, a gesture that the longtime business owner says speaks volumes about Eureka.
CHARLES GILLICK: We always knew it was great because our children all went to school here. But we had no idea how truly great it was until you have a disaster.
ROSENBAUM: At the Eureka Pacific Elks Lodge, volunteers are chomping down on lunch amid their repair work. Lisa Cushing, who serves as the head of the lodge, says the meal is a thank you to people who are willing to help even when the flooding was at its worst last week.
LISA CUSHING: We weren't sure that it was going to hit as hard as it was. And all of a sudden, they're telling them that morning, you guys are going to get hit hard. They had people down there bagging sand and getting people taken care of. People were stepping up to the plate, you know, coming out of the woodwork.
ROSENBAUM: Still, it could be weeks or even months until business owners and homeowners are back to square one. At Eureka's Central Baptist Church, Jessica Flannery is picking up donated supplies to help clean up her home in nearby Pacific. She says the past few days have been difficult and her troubles aren't over.
JESSICA FLANNERY: We haven't been home in a week. And it's just - it's hard because nobody expected this. Nobody really thought that this is how high it was going to get. And they kept changing it. And it was 29 feet and then 32 feet and 33 feet and 35 feet. And we just weren't able to prepare.
ROSENBAUM: With the waters now receding, some want this flood to shift how local policymakers think. Bob Criss is a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Criss has been critical of how levees were erected around St. Louis to protect floodplain developments.
BOB CRISS: This first thing we need to do is recognize that we have a problem. And we haven't done that in the St. Louis area. We're amplifying flooding and amplifying flood damages by what we are doing.
ROSENBAUM: Whether these development patterns change is an open question, especially since some flood-affected towns grew dramatically over the past few decades. For now, Eureka business owner Brad Beebe says many people are focused on the cleanup task at hand.
BRAD BEEBE: Hopefully, you know, the guys who are a lot smarter and understand, you know, the various engineering needs of the area will explore any solutions that are possible that are reasonable for us. But the reality of it is, I think, is this is a very - it's a different occurrence. It hasn't happened in 40 years. It may happen again, I'm sure, because that's just weather cycles that happen. But, no, I think we're going to recover problem.
ROSENBAUM: So for now, people like Beebe will help feed and coordinate volunteers - people that will help communities wounded by water. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum in St. Louis.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Japan has made some progress recently in getting more women to join the workforce. The latest numbers show more Japanese women work outside the home than American women. But for a rapidly aging and shrinking population, progress may not be happening fast enough. NPR's Elise Hu reports on one of the biggest reasons Japanese women chose to stay home.
ELISE HU, BYLINE: It's past dinnertime at a Japanese child care center in Tokyo's Setagaya ward. But because of their parents' 12-hour workdays, children still fill every classroom and play space here until as late as 8 at night. Through a translator, they invited me to play.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Through interpreter) If you want to play, there is toys there for you.
HU: Oh, thank you.
The children here at Hato-Poppo nursery school range from 3-month-old infants to kindergartners. It's one of Japan's highly-coveted subsidized day care centers for families of all income levels. Takayuki Yoshizawa is director.
TAKAYUKI YOSHIZAWA: (Through interpreter) There's a huge demand for day care and kindergartens. The number of day cares are increasing, but slowly.
HU: Parents face long odds just to get their child into a center like this. As of this spring, about 23,000 children in Tokyo were on day care waiting lists. Reika Hattori considers herself lucky that she found her preschooler a spot in the center.
REIKA HATTORI: In total, I applied for maybe 20 to 30.
HU: It meant a gauntlet of applications and lists, competition for slots so tough that it has its own name, hokatsu. She says her fellow moms often wanted to keep working after having babies.
HATTORI: Some of them couldn't get back because of the nursery school - because they can't find any nursery school.
HU: In fast-aging Japan, resolving the child care crisis is now at the center of economic policy. Recognizing that keeping young, educated women in the workforce is crucial to Japan's economy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made, quote, "womenomics" central to his economic revival plan. His pledge is to cut child care waiting lists to zero.
KATHY MATSUI: They're about halfway to their goal, but at least there's been some progress on that front.
HU: Kathy Matsui is chief Japan strategist at Goldman Sachs. She coined the term womenomics more than a decade ago and has long advocated for gender diversity in Japan.
MATSUI: If you could raise Japan's female labor participation rate to match that of Japanese men, you could significantly lift the size of Japan's economy.
HU: On the policy front, there's movement in getting more women in the workforce. But Matsui says they're still at a disadvantage because cultural attitudes are harder to change.
MATSUI: Even if you have the infrastructure and the support around you, there are questions from your family members about, is it really appropriate to be raising a newborn child, your baby, when you're not home full-time.
HU: Japanese men do the lowest amount of household work in the developed world, a reflection that the East Asian nation still sees caretaking and household duties as the women's domain. For mom Reika Hattori, finding a day care slot was one win. But she says her husband sharing the load at home...
HATTORI: Very important.
HU: Is how she's made things work. Elise Hu, NPR News, Tokyo.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, we talk so much about technology and how it's changing the way we work. Well, get this - humans are still vital for some things, like protecting our water supply. We're about to meet reservoir caretakers. As Colorado Public Radio's Grace Hood reports, some cities and counties employ these workers to live in remote locations and keep a human eye on the water supply.
GRACE HOOD, BYLINE: Many people start their work day with a computer login screen. For Doug Billingsley, it begins with a snowmobile ride that feels like a bucking bronco.
DOUG BILLINGSLEY: This is where it gets fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF REVVING SNOWMOBILE ENGINE)
HOOD: Oh.
Yeah, that's us falling into a snow bank. But we recover and head in 30-mile-per-hour winds. This is a typical day for Billingsley. By snowmobile, snowshoe or foot, he looks after about a half dozen northern Colorado reservoirs that feed the city of Greeley's water supply. He does it multiple times a week. And he's done the job for two decades. Today, Billingsley digs through snow at Barnes Meadow Reservoir to make sure the water levels are holding steady. Next, it's time to take a look at the nearby dam.
BILLINGSLEY: Do I see any bulges? Do I see any rises? Do I see any dips? Anything out of the ordinary because I know what the dam's supposed to look like, summer and winter.
HOOD: When it comes to dam safety, human eyes are still one of the best tools to recognize problems. That's according to Bill McCormick, dam safety chief for Colorado. Take for example earthen dams - automated tools monitor water seepage. Small amounts are common. But if new seepage starts in another location, sensors can't catch that problem.
BILL MCCORMICK: The caretaker can help see those things, they can determine the appropriate action and they can prevent a small situation like that from ever becoming an emergency.
HOOD: Today, water managers have a lot of automated tools to help out. Some, like the Bureau of Reclamation, can even operate dams remotely. But the need for a physical presence at reservoirs remains. Sometimes that's because the equipment is old.
MICHAEL ROYCE: It really takes a lot of experience and practice with each valve.
HOOD: Michael Royce watches over Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, a key water source for the San Francisco Bay area. Much of the equipment there is from the '20s and '30, when the reservoir was built inside Yosemite National Park.
ROYCE: That's one reason why I think a watershed keeper will always be here.
HOOD: And it's not just technical know-how. Many caretakers say the job also requires diplomacy and people skills. Royce fields questions about the controversy surrounding Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. Some environmental groups want to remove the dam there. Colorado reservoir caretaker Doug Billingsley checks water levels at a stream near Barnes Meadow Reservoir. For him, the job has become a calling. In order to watch over a reservoir, he didn't evacuate during a significant 2012 wildfire. He stayed put during the 2013 floods to make sure the dams held steady for the city of Greeley, which they did.
BILLINGSLEY: They're trusting me to take care of the city's assets. And I'm up here enjoying life. I'm by myself 90 percent of the time. I'm out here in nature. I talk to myself and nobody judges me. It's great.
HOOD: Billingsley's job may shift in the coming decades with technology. But many water managers believe the caretaker's role won't disappear completely. That's because some reservoirs are too remote. Also, the demand and importance of water is just too high for there not to be eyes on the ground to make sure water gets to those who need it. For NPR News, I'm Grace Hood near Cameron Pass, Colo.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The era of the real-life whodunit series is upon us.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The podcast "Serial" attracted legions of listeners last year, all drawn to the story of a 1999 murder of a Maryland teenager for which her high school boyfriend was found guilty. HBO's documentary, "The Jinx," follows a reclusive, eccentric real estate heir suspected of murder.
MONTAGNE: Now all the talk is about the new Netflix series "Making A Murderer." Here, the central character is a man by the name of Steven Avery. He was freed after spending 18 years in prison when in 2003, DNA evidence proved he did not commit the brutal sexual assault that put him behind bars. A long injustice, it seemed, had finally come to an end. In the 10 years that Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos spent filming their documentary series, they would come to know well Steven and his world.
MOIRA DEMOS: Well, Steven Avery, his family ran an auto-salvage yard in rural Manitowoc County, Wis. So this is a part of the country that's dominated by dairy farms, and his family ran the junkyard. And he grew up working on his family's salvage yard. He did not graduate high school. So in that community, they were sort of the marginalized folk, you know - from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak.
MONTAGNE: As a teenager, Demos says, Steven Avery made a series of bad choices, like burglarizing a local tavern with friends.
DEMOS: These are felonies, but when you look at the actual report, it's about breaking in and making a cheese sandwich and stealing some beer.
MONTAGNE: But what turned out to be his most fateful bad choice was his decision to escalate feud with his own cousin, who was spreading nasty, humiliating rumors about him. One night, he decided he'd had enough. He ran her off a country road and pointed a gun at her he says was not loaded. Turns out, she was the wrong person to intimidate.
DEMOS: She was married to a sheriff's deputy. And there's certainly a line that he crossed there that it became personal.
MONTAGNE: And by extension, personal to the sheriff's department. Not long after that incident, a woman - a prominent member of the Manitowoc community - jogging along a nearby lake one day was sexually assaulted and badly beaten. Hours later, Steven Avery was arrested. The series "Making A Murderer" follows in great detail how small-town detectives and local law enforcement went about making the criminal charges stick, at one point even ignoring a tip by one officer that a known violent sex offender was a more likely suspect. The year was 1985, and it wouldn't be until DNA testing came along that Steven Avery would be exonerated. He returned home to a crush of cameras and a family who always believed he was innocent.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
STEVEN AVERY: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How are you?
AVERY: Pretty good.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How does it feel?
AVERY: It feels wonderful.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Laughter, crying) Oh God, Steven, you're home.
MONTAGNE: Soon after this homecoming, news reports started delving into how Avery had been railroaded. And for that, he sued the county - and he sued big. His relative, Kim Ducat, told the filmmakers she believes that move ultimately sealed Steven Avery's fate.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "MAKING A MURDERER")
KIM DUCAT: They weren't going to hand that man $36 million. They weren't going to be made a laughingstock, that's for sure. They just weren't going to do all that. And something in my gut said, they're not done with him; something's going to happen.
MONTAGNE: This, by the way, is a good moment to tune out if you haven't yet started watching the series because, as we find out, one of the most compelling elements of this series is how quickly Steven Avery goes from being a local celebrity for his long overdue release, to someone who - and it's just two years later - he's accused and goes on trial for a grisly murder which sounds unbelievable.
DEMOS: Yeah, I mean, we read the New York Times headline "Freed By DNA, Now Charged In New Crime." And immediately we recognized this as an unprecedented story. But what we really recognized in Steven's story was this valuable window through which to look at our system.
LAURA RICCIARDI: Laura here - what also was so fascinating for us was we were trying really to explore the extent to which history might have been repeating itself here. You know, Steven in the first case was arrested the very same day the victim was attacked - in just a matter of hours. He had, I would think, a pretty ironclad alibi. He was accounted for every minute of the day - before the victim was attacked, all the way through the time that, you know, law enforcement arrives at his house to arrest him. So there was an interesting parallel between the arc of the first case and the arc of the second case, and how law enforcement arguably handled both cases. And that got back to our original question of, has the system evolved? And if it has evolved, is anything now in place that wasn't in place 20 years prior to stop a wrongful conviction from occurring?
MONTAGNE: You found yourself filming twists and turns of new evidence showing up and also of suggestions of manipulation. How did you get that kind of access? It was so public. The press was all around. But you end up filming moments that are quite explosive.
RICCIARDI: You know, essentially the way we reached out to our potential subjects was to write letters to them - letters of introduction to tell them who we were, what we were about, why we thought they would have a valuable place in the story. And we were really interested in hearing people's first-hand accounts.
DEMOS: You know, we were graduate film students at the time that we started this, and we had no money. But what we did have was time. So we moved to Wisconsin. We lived there for nearly two years. So, you know, we were on the ground there to cover anything that was happening, but also there to do research and to build relationships.
MONTAGNE: Do you think Steven Avery's innocent?
RICCIARDI: Part of the reason - my opinion is we don't know. There were so many questions about the quality of the investigation itself here. There was a glaring conflict of interest in this particular case. As we talked about earlier, Steven Avery had $36 million lawsuit pending against local law enforcement - or the county, rather, but this county and former members of law enforcement. And here he was, back in the same system, charged with a serious crime.
DEMOS: One of the things I learned in making this film is - through all of this and all of these different points of view - the humility to accept that I don't know. And what seems more important to me is to be able to trust the process.
MONTAGNE: Filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. Their Netflix documentary series is called "Making A Murderer."
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The armed takeover of a wildlife reserve in Oregon has created an uncomfortable situation for federal authorities to say the least. They are reluctant to cause a confrontation, though President Obama says the government is closely monitoring the situation. So what is behind this occupation? Well, yesterday, the group's leader, Ammon Bundy, said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AMMON BUNDY: Our purpose as we have shown is to restore and defend the Constitution, that each person in this country can be protected by it and that prosperity can continue.
GREENE: Let's dig a little deeper here. We reached Les Zaitz, an investigative reporter for The Oregonian newspaper and also a rancher himself. He was in Burns, Ore., not far from the occupied land.
LES ZAITZ: This is really the heart of cattle country in the high desert of southeast Oregon. This is a very small population in a huge territory. We're talking about 7,000 people scattered over 10,000 square miles.
GREENE: So we're talking real rural America here.
ZAITZ: Yes, yes, we're a long way from anywhere.
GREENE: When this all erupted, did this surprise you?
ZAITZ: Yes, it did surprise me because the militia that were in town in recent days had several meetings with the members of the local community, and they vowed over and over and over again that while they were making their protest and they were asserting the constitutional rights that they intended to be peaceful, even though they kept showing up to the meetings with handguns strapped onto their hips. And then at the protest rally on Saturday, which was really the high point for them, it was well-organized. People were advised to obey the law. There was - the march of about 300 people went on for an hour. And it was largely just people quietly shuffling along the street. There was no sign of militancy at all.
GREENE: You know, certainly many of the people who were at that protest and, you know, were out there sort of letting their voices be heard, they are not occupying a building. But does this represent some larger sentiment? Like, where is this anger coming from?
ZAITZ: Well, there is a broader anger in rural Oregon and probably in rural America, where people feel they have been left behind by the economic recovery. I mean, the timber industry in Oregon is significantly diminished. The cattle industry is under significant pressure. Changing in the management of federal lands, well, there's the Bureau of Land Management, or U.S. Forest Service has impeded a lot of economic activity. People feel that the federal government doesn't listen to them, is overbearing and overreaching. You know, I talked to Steve Grasty, the county court judge here in Harney County, and he said, you know, I understand that message. A lot of us, even those of us who serve in government, believe the government is overreaching. And so there is a really broad undercurrent of unhappiness with government and in Oregon and probably across the country.
GREENE: People who are feeling this frustration as you're describing it, are they seeing this self-described militia as heroes, or how are they reacting to all this?
ZAITZ: Well, I don't know that they're being considered by locals as heroes. I think people make a distinction between their message and their tactics. Either they support the message that perhaps the federal government is not complying with the principles behind the Constitution, but they are not very supportive of this tactic of seizing a public building and, you know, making schools close and federal governments close. They have really disrupted life in this little town. And so again, it's a distinction between the message and the method.
GREENE: Do you see a connection here to kind of the broader political landscape? I mean, we've been asking as we've been covering this story whether there's a connection, say, to, you know, Obamacare and this sort of feeling that that law has been an overreach and is a reaction to big government in a way.
ZAITZ: Well, to be honest with you, Dave, I've been too busy trying to cover this, I haven't had time to sit around in cafes and choose a political fad.
GREENE: Understood, I understand.
ZAITZ: Well, I have asked people, is the ascendance of Donald Trump somehow capturing this sense? And it's interesting in this country. Here, people really quickly distance their views and their concerns here from the Trump candidacy.
GREENE: What might that tell us about that part of Oregon if people aren't feeling a connection, feeling like Trump is sort of carrying this message for them?
ZAITZ: Well, I mean, this is - Harney County is a deeply Republican community, very conservative. You know, these are hard-working people who want to take care of themselves, their families and their community. They are not people who spend a lot of time, I don't think, you know, examining grand national political strategies. That was one of the few surprises I've encountered is I - in what little political plumbing I've done out here in Harney County.
GREENE: Political plumbing, I like that term. As you said, I know you're too busy to have many political conversations. You're probably too busy to have many conversations with journalists because you have to do your job, so I'll let you go, Les Zaitz.
ZAITZ: OK, good deal. Thanks very much.
GREENE: Thank you very much.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And it's been a long time since Bill Clinton was president. Still today, he has higher likability ratings than his wife, Hillary Clinton, who is currently seeking the Democratic nomination. Her presidential campaign is hoping to capitalize on that goodwill by getting the former president out on the campaign trail. NPR's Tamara Keith followed him on two stops yesterday.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hillary Clinton was campaigning in Iowa, but, Bill Clinton was in New Hampshire. And that's where virtually every correspondent assigned to her campaign showed up.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Welcome back to New Hampshire, someone who needs no introduction, our 42nd president, Bill Clinton.
(APPLAUSE)
KEITH: At the Exeter Town Hall where Clinton spoke last night, the relatively small auditorium was packed to the rafters, standing room only with an overflow space filled as well. When it comes to campaign surrogates, it doesn't get much better than a former president, especially one who, as he pointed out, first fell in love with the candidate decades ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL CLINTON: You're entitled to say, what else is he going to say? They just celebrated their 40th anniversary.
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: You're entitled to discount it, but I do know her.
KEITH: Bill Clinton took audiences at both events on a guided tour of the former secretary of state's resume, emphasizing lesser-known moments in her career and achievements that many in attendance later said they were learning about for the first time. The point he came back to again and again is something her campaign wants to emphasize, that Hillary Clinton can get things done, across party lines or international borders.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CLINTON: When she was secretary of state, she spearheaded the development of the Iran sanctions and got China and Russia to sign off on them. I didn't think she could do that.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: During the 2008 campaign, there were real concerns that the former president would overshadow Hillary Clinton on the stump. Eight years later, Bill Clinton was subdued as he made the case for his wife's candidacy. Clinton declined to comment on remarks by Donald Trump and other Republicans who sought to bring back memories of sexual indiscretions from Clinton's time as Arkansas governor and later president. Instead, the former president stayed very much on topic, the topic being his wife's readiness for office.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CLINTON: She makes something good happened wherever she is, whatever she's doing. She just makes things happen.
KEITH: It's not clear whether Clinton changed any minds. Most of the people I spoke to at the events were already planning to vote for Hillary Clinton. Leigh Woods, a supporter, said she hadn't known about all of Clinton's work for children and the poor in Arkansas.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEIGH WOODS: So that was new news to me and was very meaningful to me.
KEITH: Woods came to the event with her daughter, Dakota Woods, who is in college studying political science.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WOODS: I am, like, a Bernie supporter. I am not going to lie. And this is, you know, event has been really informative for just the things she's done because I'm too young to have been there when it was happening, you know?
KEITH: Undecided voter Jim Kelly and his wife brought their 8-month-old daughter out to see the former president. Kelly says he was starstruck. But did Clinton make a strong case for his wife's candidacy, I asked?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JIM KELLY: I think he did. I think he's great. I think he could make a good case for anybody, though.
KEITH: Some things don't change. Bill Clinton will be making the case in Iowa on Thursday. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Manchester, N.H.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The U.S. Commerce Department yesterday acknowledged that it made a mistake with its math and has had to revise a full decade's worth of key economic data. As NPR's Chris Arnold reports, some economists think lawmakers should be paying attention to this.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: The data in question involves construction spending, and total annual construction spending in the U.S. is upwards of $1 trillion a year. So these are important numbers for gauging the health of the economy.
MARK ZANDI: They are important. The Commerce Department figured out that they were processing the data incorrectly.
ARNOLD: Mark Zandi is chief economist of Moody's Analytics. He says that the government basically admitted that it goofed on the way it was tabulating data on home-improvement spending. The revised numbers show that spending was stronger than we thought over the past several years, so that's good, but worse than we thought in the past few months.
ZANDI: If you kind of take a step back from all of that, it's pretty clear that the construction sector broadly is adding pretty solidly to economic growth.
ARNOLD: But Zandi says actually a much bigger mistake than this data snafu is the government's decision to spend less money gathering economic data in recent years. More economists are saying the government's current approach doesn't do a good enough job tracking newer industries, such as information technology.
ZANDI: This revision in the grand scheme of things, no big deal. But, you know, you put it together with the fact that we're spending less on collecting data in a time when it is more and more important - doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We have the largest economy on the planet. If we can't get good data, we can't make good decisions. So we should be investing more in our data, not less.
ARNOLD: Zandi says that's what private companies are doing these days - investing more because they understand the power of good data. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's look deeper into a mystery in Hong Kong. That former British colony is on edge following the disappearance of five people involved in selling books highly critical of China's Communist Party. Many suspect they were abducted by mainland Chinese agents, which has many in Hong Kong wondering, who could be next? For more, we turn to NPR's Frank Langfitt, who's following the story from Shanghai. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Tell us about the most recent case that has alarmed people.
LANGFITT: Yeah, this most recent one is a guy named Lee Bo. He works at a place called Causeway Bay Books. And they do a lot of salacious titles about the private lives of Communist Party leaders. Well, last week he disappeared. And he called his wife from the other side of the border in mainland China saying that he was assisting an investigation. But he'd left his travel permit at home. There's no record he actually crossed the border. So some newspapers in Hong Kong and some opposition lawmakers, they think Chinese agents abducted and smuggled him across the border. Even Hong Kong's chief executive - he's pro-mainland - he acknowledged this could be the case. And if it is, it violates Hong Kong's constitution.
MONTAGNE: Well, Frank, the Communist Party on the mainland jails critics all the time. Is this all getting so much attention because it is Hong Kong?
LANGFITT: Exactly. It's so different from the mainland. I mean, you know, Hong Kong is much more like New York City than it would be like Beijing. It's a former British colony, of course. There's free speech and rule of law there. Many people in Hong Kong are very critical of the Communist Party, very vocal about it. You could never do that in the mainland. And last year, as you remember, there were months of pro-democracy demonstrations that really made the party here in China really furious. So Hong Kongers are worried these disappearances may be a part of a crackdown to slowly strip away their freedoms. I was talking today to Lee Cheuk-yan - he's the Democratic legislator in Hong Kong - and he put it like this.
LEE CHEUK-YAN: This case shows that if they want to enforce their law, they can come over suddenly and grab the concerned person back to China. Then the whole security - personal security of the people of Hong Kong - is at stake.
MONTAGNE: That does sound a little scary.
LANGFITT: It does. I think for a lot of people in Hong Kong, it feels a bit sinister.
MONTAGNE: And how are Hong Kong police investigating?
LANGFITT: Well, they are looking into it. They've asked mainland authorities what's going on. They haven't gotten any answers yet. But the case is kind of getting weirder by the day. Yesterday, Lee, the guy who disappeared, he allegedly faxed a message to a colleague saying he was OK, in the mainland voluntarily. And then his wife also withdrew the missing persons complaint from the cops. So a lot of people in Hong Kong think that both of them - the couple - are under pressure from the Chinese government to kind of make this get a lot quieter because it's become such an international story.
MONTAGNE: Frank, thanks very much.
LANGFITT: You're very welcome, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Frank Langfitt speaking to us from Shanghai.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Income inequality - it has become one of the themes in this year's presidential election. New social science research suggests that the way you think about this issue might be shaped by some hidden factors in your brain - and also by whether you've been drinking. NPR's social science correspondent, Shankar Vedantam, is here to explain. Hey, Shankar.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: All right, income inequality, hidden biases and drinking - this is going to be good.
VEDANTAM: Well, it is going to be good. And I'm going to take you out in a second to a bar in Lawrence, Kan., David.
GREENE: Oh, good - I was hoping for that.
VEDANTAM: But first, I need to explain the context of the new research. A basic idea in human development is that the things we learn early on in life stick in the brain. Now, that's true whether you're talking about languages you learn or patterns and behavior.
GREENE: Or you learn to ski. And, I mean, people seem to learn to ski much better when they're younger.
VEDANTAM: Exactly. Now, new research applies this idea to our attitudes toward fairness. When you think about it, most of our early relationships - parent-child or student-teacher - these are hierarchical relationships. As we grow older, we learn to think of relationships in more egalitarian terms. But if you buy the idea that the things we learn first stick in the brain, that means that hierarchical ways of thinking are primary because we learn to think that way first. I was speaking with Laura Van Berkel. She's a graduate student in social psychology at the University of Kansas. Here's how she put it to me.
LAURA VAN BERKEL: We learn hierarchies and think about hierarchies for a long time before we really begin to develop egalitarian attitudes. So even though we might like egalitarianism more as we develop, we still have that initial preference for hierarchy.
GREENE: So it's not a democracy when you're young. You either have a parent or teacher literally giving you instructions, telling you what to do, and you're sort of mind gets used to that. And then those things stick there.
VEDANTAM: That's exactly right. And when you think about how this applies to public policy, if income inequality bothers you, it's really because you want a more egalitarian world. If it doesn't bother you, it's probably because you're OK with there being high-status and low-status people - with there being hierarchies. Van Berkel's theory is that for many of us, hierarchical thinking comes more easily and automatically, whereas egalitarian thinking requires more effort, so just like speaking your first language comes more naturally to you than speaking a second language.
GREENE: And so in a way, it would be more natural for you to not care if there's a lot of inequality. It takes effort for you to think about, like, I want there to be fairness. I think I get that. So how does drinking come into play here?
VEDANTAM: That's a good question, David. To test whether egalitarian thinking is secondary in the brain to hierarchical thinking, Van Berkel hit up on an ingenious idea. When people are drunk, they often reveal hidden attitudes because alcohol tends to make people feel disinhibited. That led Van Berkel and her colleagues to run an experiment.
VAN BERKEL: We stood outside bars in downtown Lawrence, Kan., and people that agreed to participate answered our survey questions about how much they liked hierarchy and equality. And they blew into a breathalyzer. The higher people's blood alcohol content - or the more drunk they were - the more they liked hierarchy and power.
VEDANTAM: One important thing to point out, David, is that people's ideologies did not affect the outcome. Both liberals and conservatives endorsed hierarchies when they were drunk. And the drunker they got, the more they stepped away from egalitarianism.
GREENE: OK, so you're drunk. You're not making as much effort because you can't, and you're also sort of resorting to kind of natural, child-like feelings.
VEDANTAM: That's exactly right. Now, it's also possible that for some reason, people who endorse hierarchical thinking are also more likely to get drunk. So this is a correlation that the researchers are finding. To further test that conclusion, they conducted several other experiments. When people are distracted or under time pressure, they also tend to fall back on primary ways of thinking. Again, in these experiments volunteers tend to support hierarchical systems. So when volunteers are asked to divide resources in a game, for example, people given less time to think about it are more likely to divide the money unfairly and to endorse existing hierarchies. So the bottom line, David - if you want people to endorse hierarchical thinking, put them under time pressure or just get them drunk.
GREENE: Shankar, thanks for coming in, as always.
VEDANTAM: Happy to be here, David.
GREENE: Shankar Vedantam is NPR's social science correspondent. He is also the host of the new podcast that explores the unseen patterns in human behavior. It is called Hidden Brain.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Green. A legal case in Key West became an argument about - what else? - Jimmy Buffett lyrics. The city refused to allow a new tattoo shop, and they cited "Margaritaville" - the line about a brand-new tattoo; how it got here, I haven't a clue.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MARGARITAVILLE")
JIMMY BUFFETT: (Singing) I haven't a clue.
GREENE: While officials thought the song might make a good point, boozy tourists could regret that ink. But an appeals court pointed out that the singer is not ashamed of his tattoo. In fact, he calls it a cutie. It's 5 o'clock somewhere, and it's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Federal immigration officials are in a major push right now. They are targeting Central American families for deportation. Now, these are people who crossed into the United States from Mexico last year during a surge in migration. They were detained then and told that they would be ordered to leave the country if they did not have legal options to stay. And so immigration officials say these sweeps should come as no surprise. So far, as least 120 people have been detained. But immigration advocates are very angry about these raids. And we have one of them on the line with us. Jonathan Ryan is executive director of RAICES, a San Antonio group that provides legal services to immigrants. Jonathan, good morning.
JONATHAN RYAN: Good morning.
GREENE: Jonathan, who exactly is being rounded up here?
RYAN: The people that are being targeted by Immigration Customs Enforcement and the administration for these immigration raids are women and children who fled the violent countries in Central America and sought protection here in the United States in the form of asylum.
GREENE: Now, you mention that many of these people have been fleeing violence. And that's obviously one reason that advocates like yourself say that the United States should be sympathetic and try to help. But what do you make of the argument from the Obama administration that these are people who were warned in 2014 that if they did not have clear legal options by this point, they - you know, they faced deportation?
RYAN: I think that it's not reasonable to think that a young woman and her child who have been victims of abuse for most of their lives would be able to do what it has taken me and other practitioners years to do, which is to be able to present an asylum case before a U.S. immigration judge. This is the kind of action that we would expect from a President Trump. But that this is happening under the Obama administration is confusing and maddening.
GREENE: You brought up Donald Trump there. He, it seems, is taking credit for all of this. He tweeted last week - and I'm just quoting here. He said, "Democrats and President Obama are now, because of me, starting to deport people who are here illegally."
RYAN: I think that Donald Trump has a lot of reason to take credit for this action. There is no crisis of people coming in at the border. What we are seeing here is the Obama administration arming itself against Republican or right-wing attacks. The problem is, is that it's building this suit of armor out of the souls of these women and children who sought protection here. And what they found instead was detention, police state, borderline tyranny - in some respects, the exact same treatment that they were fleeing from.
GREENE: I guess someone might hear tyranny and a comparison made between the United States and some of the countries that these families are coming from and might push back on you there a little bit.
RYAN: I think that... I'm not trying to throw that gauntlet out there. I mean, I...
GREENE: No, no, I understand. I think our listeners will find it very valuable to hear you kind of flesh this out, so - and...
RYAN: Those of us advocates who have been working along the border with refugee populations for many years have unfortunately witnessed that our own government often replicates the very harsh police tactics, the persecutory behavior that we hear about from refugees fleeing countries like Eritrea. It's the same sort of harsh interrogation, detention and enforcement that we hear about from police states.
GREENE: That's Jonathan Ryan. He's the executive director of the advocacy group RAICES. Thanks for talking with us, Jonathan.
RYAN: Thanks for your time.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And just days into 2016, the political news is focused on what's going on in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states where people get to vote for presidential candidates. But down in the Lone Star State, Texans know they are the real prize in this year's Republican primaries. From member station KUT in Austin, Ben Philpott explains why this is not just the usual Texas bragging.
BEN PHILPOTT, BYLINE: I mean, sure, it is Texas bragging. But this time, there's data behind the claim. Because no matter how you slice it, Texas comes up big.
TED DELISI: Texas has an outsized impact on the GOP nomination.
PHILPOTT: That's Republican strategist Ted Delisi, and he's going to help me to lay out the four-point case for Texas. We'll start with delegates. On March 1, Texas has 155 up for grabs. Is that a lot?
DELISI: That's an eighth, 12 and a half percent all the way toward the nomination. And if a campaign does really well in Texas, it is obviously the crown jewel of what's at stake on March 1.
PHILPOTT: There are 12 states voting on March 1. Win five of them - Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont - and you just might walk away with as many delegates as you get by winning big in Texas. Fine, you say, but doesn't Ted Cruz have a big advantage in his home state? That leads me to point number two. Texas is still a competitive race. Early polls have had Donald Trump in first or second. And sure, Cruz does have the advantage of representing Texas in the Senate, but former state Republican Party chairman Steve Munisteri says Cruz is far from the only local in the race.
STEVE MUNISTERI: You've got Gov. Huckabee, went to college here. You've got Rick Santorum who runs EchoLight Studios in DFW. You've got Carly who was born in Austin, Texas. You've got Jeb Bush who was born in Texas. You've got Rand Paul who was here since first grade.
PHILPOTT: That takes us to point number three. The strategic candidates already have an eye on Texas. Rand Paul opened a campaign office in Austin way back in March and brought former chairman Munisteri onto his campaign. Carly Fiorina recently hired Rick Perry's campaign manager. And of course, Jeb Bush's last name alone connects him to lots of wealthy donors. GOP strategist Ted Delisi says in a state this big and complicated, these are important connections.
DELISI: I think the campaigns that have momentum, have resources and can most exploit those places to pick up delegates have the potential to do very well.
PHILPOTT: Finally, point number four, Texas is the best place to talk about the GOP's top priorities. The economy, Texas has outpaced the rest of the country in terms of job growth. Abortion, Texas owns one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, a law that's heading to the Supreme Court in 2016. And candidates can talk about securing the border in Iowa, but it sounds and looks better when you're on the border, like when Donald Trump visited Laredo, Texas, this summer.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: There is a huge problem with the illegals coming through. And in this section, it's a problem. In some sections, it's a massive problem. You have to make the people that come in, they have to be legal.
PHILPOTT: I'll end with a bonus point. A major winnowing of presidential candidates usually happens after Iowa and New Hampshire vote. But with Texas looming just a month later, Delisi says more candidates than usual may hang on for a chance at a comeback here.
DELISI: They're still focused on Iowa and New Hampshire, but they understand that as the process gets going, they need to have infrastructure here. So when they catch their moment, they want to be ready for it here.
PHILPOTT: So enjoy the caucuses, have fun in New Hampshire, but pay attention to what happens in Texas. For NPR News, I'm Ben Philpott in Austin.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Another majority Sunni nation recalled its ambassador from Shiite Iran today. Kuwait joins Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan in the diplomatic standoff. Meanwhile, Iran's president accused Saudi Arabia of using the diplomatic back and forth as cover for its crime of executing a prominent Shiite cleric. Here with us in the studio this morning to talk about this crisis in the Gulf is Vali Nasr. He's dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Welcome back to the program.
VALI NASR: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Saudi Arabia executes the Shiite cleric. A mob in Iran then ransacks the Saudi Embassy. Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic ties. Other Gulf states follow. That's the surface. What's the subtext?
NASR: Well, the subtext is that these two countries are engaged in a intense rivalry for influence in the Middle East. This has been accelerated first by a palpable U.S. withdrawal from the region, secondly by the fact that the Arab Spring brought about the collapse of a number of Arab states - Iraq, Syria, Yemen - which, actually, provide an opportunity for these two to try to engage in a proxy war of domination, and those wars became very sectarian quickly. And thirdly, a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran suggests that Iran would have a very different future in the region, which would be much more engaged. And I think the Saudis are reacting to all of this and have decided to put down a marker of their own, both for Iran and the United States and also to tell the Sunni population in the region that they actually are going to draw a wall that would contain Iran's influence in the region.
MONTAGNE: So that's what Saudi Arabia hopes to gain by being tough on Iran. Iran, though, in the last day or so seems to be oddly conciliatory or acting as if what happened? What did we do?
NASR: Well, there are two voices in Iran. There are the conservatives and the security establishment, which were behind the attack on the Saudi Embassy, which are not quite reconciled to entering the world and engaging the United States on issues like Syria, Iraq or normalizing relations. Also they like to use every opportunity to embarrass and undermine President Rouhani ahead of the parliamentary elections that are coming up in a couple of months. There's domestic politics there. But, Iran as a whole has been gaining. Namely, they've been invited to the Vienna peace process on Syria. They are not talking to the United States. Iran doesn't benefit necessarily from a sectarian confrontation in the region because its sect of Islam is the minority sect. It likes to gain influence on the back of secular issues like opposition to Israel or opposition to the U.S. It is the Saudis who see emphasizing Sunni identity as a way of limiting Iran's ability to sway the Arab population in the region.
MONTAGNE: Now you just mentioned the peace talks around Syria. How might this flare up, which seems serious at the moment, affect international efforts to end that civil war because, of course, after much effort, both Saudi Arabia and Iran are expected to be at the table?
NASR: Well, I think the Saudi decision to execute this Shiite cleric was a direct challenge to U.S. policy in the region. In fact, it torpedoes America's approach, which has been that we should put other issues aside and focus on defeating ISIS and ending the war in Syria. And that requires Iran and Saudi Arabia to get on the same page, try to arrive at a lowest common denominator solution for Syria. The Saudis should support this Shiite government in Iraq as it fights Sunnis in Ramadi and Al Anbar. And by this execution and heightening the sectarian tensions, the Saudis have basically shredded American policy in the region to pieces.
MONTAGNE: Well, these proxy wars that we know about there, Syria being one of them, how does this all affect the whole region? There's also Yemen, Saudis behind the Sunni former government. Iran is behind these Houthi rebels. What is the end game here ultimately?
NASR: Well, what we are engaged in in this region is a great power rivalry. It's not very different from when the Germans and the French or the French and the British were fighting over influence over the continent. Because the region has these sectarian divisions within each of these countries and each sect now in this environment of polarization gravitates towards one of the big power patrons, Sunnis towards Saudi Arabia, Shiites towards Iran, this game is being played in every one of these countries. The end result is that each of these countries want to arrive at the solution where they have the upper hand or at least protect their minimal interest. So the Saudis are trying to arrive at the situation where the Sunnis would dominate in the region and the Iranians would like a much greater voice for Shia as if not Shia domination in the region. So we're going to have this proxy war go on for some time.
MONTAGNE: Longtime Middle East scholar Vali Nasr, he's dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Thanks very much.
NASR: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And this morning, we are also tracking the latest developments in that armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. There are still armed occupiers inside this refuge. It turns out this is really the latest confrontation in a re-emerging anti-federal government movement in the rural west. And let's talk about that with NPR's Kirk Siegler. He's been covering this for a long time, and he joins us now from eastern Oregon. Kirk, good morning.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Good morning, David.
GREENE: So just start with some of the basics, if you can. I mean, how did this become an armed occupation, I mean, what began as sort of the latest protest in a movement that we've seen for a while?
SIEGLER: That's right. It started as a protest in support of two local ranchers here who were convicted of federal arson charges. But at some point, it splintered, and some of these protesters, who include two sons of Nevada ranchers, Cliven Bundy, staged this takeover out at the wildlife refuge. The Bundys are leaders of what's often referred to as this sovereign citizens movement. These are people who want all control of federal land in the West turned over to the states with all law enforcement powers going to local sheriffs. And that's why you're seeing them at the refuge making direct pleas to the local sheriff here in Harney County to do things like stand up to the federal authorities or the oppressors as these people see federal land managers and any federal authority. And, you know, David at the same time, there is also a much broader push right now by some conservative Western state legislatures and governors to try to seize control of management of all federal lands in their states.
GREENE: And Kirk, you mention a name there, Cliven Bundy, this Nevada rancher. Sounds like he is very important to this whole movement we're talking about.
SIEGLER: That's right. So much of this comes back to Cliven Bundy, the defiant cattle rancher in southern Nevada who owes the federal government more than $1 million in unpaid fees for grazing leases and other fines. And when you go out to the area around his ranch down in Nevada, you can see the Bureau of Land Management has completely pulled out after the armed standoff there a year and a half ago, the separate incident. And, you know, for weeks leading up to this past weekend's protest, Cliven Bundy and his family have been all over social media, urging activists to come out here to Oregon. The last time I spoke with Bundy down at his ranch, he told me that the situation there in 2014, that's yet to be resolved but in his mind was a clear sign that his side had won because the BOM has pulled out. And, you know, David, that right there is what's concerning to a lot of retired federal land managers I've been talking to in recent months who think the BOM's reluctance to go after Bundy has really bolstered this land takeover movement and even legitimized it in some cases, which might help explain the latest drama unfolding right now here in Oregon.
GREENE: Well, and doesn't that sort of speak to the position the federal government is in, how to respond to something like this? Because so far, I mean, you have an armed takeover of a federal building, but the federal government has been pretty quiet. They haven't gone in there.
SIEGLER: Exactly, very quiet, and, you know, I think with something like this, we can infer in a situation that could turn violent in any minute, the federal government is going to tread lightly given the precedence here for these types of things going south very quick. You have Waco. You have the standoff with white separatists at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in the 1990s to name two. You know, the '90s were the last period in which we really saw this level of militia-type organizing and anti-federal government sentiment in the West as we're seeing today.
GREENE: What is at stake here broadly? I mean, if you were to describe what exactly has made people in rural America angry that might be driving a protest like this, I mean, how would you describe it?
SIEGLER: I want to be clear here, David. I mean, I've talked to many ranchers who in no way would support Cliven Bundy or those who would occupy federal property like this. But yet they've got plenty of frustrations with what they see as a federal government that makes decisions about the land from far away in offices in D.C. and without much local input. You know, there's this feeling out there that land managers at the top are out of touch with what it's really like to make a living out on the land. And you consider that all of these disputes that we have been tracking are occurring at a time when the economies of rural places like this are changing rapidly. Here in the Mountain West, you have economies that used to survive and thrive on timber, extractive industries and cattle grazing on public lands. And a lot of this has been slowly going away for a whole lot of complex economic reasons like low commodity prices and political ones such as tougher environmental laws.
GREENE: All right, that's NPR's Kirk Siegler who is in eastern Oregon covering that armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge that's still ongoing. Kirk, thanks a lot.
SIEGLER: Glad to be here.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There are a handful of historians who now advocate teaching an all-encompassing form of history known as big history. Everything about big history is outsized, from its backer, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, to its critics, who see big problems. Author Eric Weiner explains the controversy in our series, The Future of History.
ERIC WEINER, BYLINE: Sometimes, one phone call can change your life. Not that long ago, David Christian, a history professor at San Diego State, received just such a call.
DAVID CHRISTIAN: I think it was a Monday morning.
WEINER: Christian was in a foul mood.
CHRISTIAN: Because I had to do lots of tedious administrative things, and I was sort of gearing up for that.
WEINER: Then, the phone rings.
CHRISTIAN: And I say, yes, what do you want? And a very nice voice at the other end says, oh, I'm sorry, is this a bad time? And I say, no, no, no, no, it's not a bad time. What do you want? (Laughter). And she says, look, I'm so sorry. I can call back later. But I'm calling from Mr. Bill Gates' office. And I said, oh, yes?
WEINER: Gates was calling about big history. He'd seen Christian's video course on the subject and was intrigued. Like all big ideas, big history began with a what-if. What if you began teaching history not with the agricultural revolution, but earlier with the Paleolithic age? What if you ventured even further back?
CHRISTIAN: And then, once I went down that track, you can see where it's going to go (laughter). I started thinking, how do you, you know - we have to talk about the evolution of life. We have to talk about the evolution of the planet. And eventually, we have to talk about the evolution of the universe. And so that was my first idea was, could you teach a history of everything?
WEINER: Yes, you can.
(SOUNDBITE OF TED TALK)
CHRISTIAN: There's a huge release of energy, and - bam - we have our first stars.
WEINER: Christian's TED Talk has garnered more than 5 million views, and college courses on big history are extremely popular. Students like the way it weaves different disciplines, from cosmology to biology, into a coherent whole. A modern origin story, Christian calls it, told through the prism of science. Big history expands not only the scale of history but also the sort of questions historians and their students are encouraged to ask.
CHRISTIAN: I remember as a kid, I think there were lots of - lots of people who went to school expecting to ask the big questions about what's your place in the universe. How does everything fit together? And what your schoolteachers more or less have to tell you is, shut up about the meaning of life (laughter), you know, and get on with your history of the Industrial Revolution or whatever it is.
WEINER: Big history can change all that, Christian believes. And it was that phone call from Bill Gates and a subsequent donation of $10 million that enabled him to take the next step and bring big history into the high school classroom.
JEFFREY MALBROUGH: If we spent the majority of our time 13,000 years ago searching for food, how much time do we spend with our food today?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: Not a lot.
MALBROUGH: Not a lot, right? A few minutes, right? You can pop Easy Mac in the microwave and have it done in a minute.
WEINER: Kenwood High in Essex, Md. is one of some 700 schools across the country that now offers big history. Teacher Jeffrey Malbrough readily admits this is an experiment, a learning experience for all involved.
MALBROUGH: For the most part, I'm learning more than the kids are learning sometimes, I swear.
WEINER: His lectures are peppered with phrases such as Goldilocks conditions and smoothie state, plucked from the lexicon of big history. It's a dizzying pace, 14 billion years of history in a single semester. Humans do play a role, of course, but a relatively small one.
MALBROUGH: One of the first lessons that we did was taking them out and talking about scale, taking them out to a football field.
WEINER: Yes, a football field - one goal line represented the big bang, the other goal line, today.
MALBROUGH: And then, where do humans come in? It's between the one-yard line and the goal line. So I think getting them to understand that there's more than just us, there's more than just the world that we see today. There's so much out there that they can experience.
WEINER: Many of Malbrough's students struggle to maintain interest in other classes. But you wouldn't know it watching them gobble up big history. Timothy Frey and Kamal Shah (ph) say it's unlike any history class they've ever taken.
TIMOTHY FREY: It changes my way of how I think of humanity (laughter). Like, I used to just think that, oh, we - we're the top species. But really, we're not.
KAMAL SHAH: I took AP world history. And we learned, like, a lot of facts, like every little detail. But none of it actually connected. Like, in this class, everything connects. Like, we connected, like, the Opium Wars all the way back to the big bang. And I thought that was really interesting 'cause it actually made sense.
WEINER: Big history, though, has raised some unexpected big questions.
SAM WINEBURG: My primary question is, is it history?
WEINER: Sam Wineburg is a professor of education and history at Stanford. He's all for making history more compelling but doesn't believe big history, with its stratospheric perspective, is the answer.
WINEBURG: History is about human beings. History is about the decisions that people make that change the course of our time. And the kinds of questions of the big bang or did mammals evolve seem to be quite far and distant from the immediacy of the need to understand our present through the lens and the prism of the past.
WEINER: Wineburg and other critics are also concerned about big history's wealthy backer, Bill Gates. Philanthropists have long dipped their toes and sometimes more into the world of education. But this, says Wineburg, is different.
WINEBURG: Andrew Carnegie built libraries, but he didn't tell people what to read.
WEINER: Not so fast, say supporters of big history like David Christian. Sure, Bill Gates put up some money and lent his name to the project. But that's about it.
CHRISTIAN: This is not his history. He's not steered it or controlled it in any way. What he's done is he's enabled it.
WEINER: Enabled students who might otherwise have been turned off by musty history to actually, well, enjoy it and at the same time wrestle with some very big questions, not only about history but about the meaning of life. Moss Arnold is a 10th grader at Kenwood High and a budding existentialist.
MOSS ARNOLD: It made me think a lot more about just the whole universe itself because it all started from the big bang, of course. And when you think about it, he was saying that it would all come to an end soon. So when you really think about it, what are we doing here? It just makes you think that really everything will be meaningless soon.
WEINER: Big history promises big questions, not necessarily happy answers. For NPR News, I'm Eric Weiner.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Airplane seatmates can be the worst, chatty, hogging the armrest - or watching a pirated version of a film you star in. Kriti Sanon would know. The actress was flying to Delhi when her neighbor took out a portable projector and started watching her brand-new movie, "Dilwale." Sanon tweeted, so sad to see the hard work of so many people being watched in such pathetic quality. And she told her seatmate he'd enjoy it more in the theater. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
President Obama says without Congress, there's not much he can do about gun violence in America. But later today, Obama will announce a few steps the White House believes he can take on his own. By executive action, the president will redefine what it means to be a gun dealer subject to regulation. And that will mean background checks for some buyers who are now exempt. Republicans are likely to fight all of this. Presidential candidate Marco Rubio said he would repeal the president's actions his first day in office. We're joined on the line by Bill Bratton, commissioner of the nation's largest police force in the nation's largest city - New York City. Commissioner, welcome back to the program.
BILL BRATTON: Good morning. Good to be with you.
GREENE: Let me ask you first, you know, the president's plan - we'll get the fine print later today, but based on what we know at this point, I mean - what kind of impact do you think it could have?
BRATTON: Minimal. Let's face it, absent Congress returning to some degree of sanity, these actions are peripheral to the issue. But every little bit helps. If we can keep a gun out of the hand of a person who shouldn't have it, well then that's one less potential Newtown, San Bernardino. So I applaud the effort, but I wouldn't think that it's going to have a significant impact on the issue.
GREENE: It seems significant that someone in your position would say that because the president is going to make this major announcement. But, you know, for you to say that Americans should not expect much to change from this seems important.
BRATTON: Well, the President himself - there's not much he can do, absent Congress joining with him, within his executive powers - which, I understand this is an executive action. He is going seek to use those powers to the fullest. Republicans are already on the campaign trail. Senator Rubio indicates his first action, first day - you know, the usual baloney we get from him. But no, I applaud the president's efforts at gun control. It's not abolition. We're not going to abolish guns in this country. But we need some gun control, even of the amount that the president is offering in this initiative. All of it is helpful. Again, all of us would like to not have these mass murders occurring every day.
GREENE: Let me ask you, if I can, commissioner, new figures out yesterday for your city - sounds like gun arrests up in 2015, over all major crime down. And, you know, opponents of gun control often say, look, the key is not new gun control at the federal level. It's about police just needing to enforce the laws. I mean, is New York City proving their point in a way?
BRATTON: No, actually it's a - what New York is trying to do is a delicate balancing act of trying to find those who are committing the crimes - who are doing the shootings and the murders in this city - and at the same time not interrupt the normal lives of the millions of other residents of the city. I think we have found that balance over the last couple of years, that crime continues to go down - it's been going down now for over 25 straight years here. And that's the trend. While we're up slightly with murders and robberies, shootings are down. Gun seizures are up. Stop, question and frisk activity is down to about 25,000 from about 600,000 at its peak back in 2010. So we estimate close to 1 million fewer law enforcement encounters by the New York City police officers with residents of the city while the city continues to get safer. And at the same time, incidents of gun violence in the city are going down. Our officers are being assaulted less and making fewer arrests for resisting arrest.
GREENE: Well, commissioner, forgive me for interrupting since we don't have too much time. I guess I just wonder, why does that not bolster the argument of people who oppose new gun control if they say, look, here's the nation's largest city, they're doing a good job enforcing the laws, they're bringing violence down; we don't need the federal government to, you know, add more gun control.
BRATTON: Because we're like a doctor looking at our patient, and every American city, every state is different. In New York, we're very fortunate - in New York City we're very fortunate that we have very significant gun laws. There are only 4,000 people out of 8.5 million that are licensed to carry a concealed firearm in the city. We regulate it very closely. So it's - there is no panacea, but it's a matter of trying to find the right combination of laws and enforcement action. We will be announcing later this month an initiative sponsored by our citizens' crime commission which they want - the idea of creation of gun courts in each of the five boroughs of the city that will expedite the handling of gun cases so that we can more quickly identify and put in prison those who use guns. Again, it's a constant effort to try to find additional medicines to apply to the problem.
GREENE: All right, using the doctor metaphor there. Commissioner Bratton, thank you so much, as always.
BRATTON: Pleasure being with you.
GREENE: That's Bill Bratton, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And now let's hear about guns from a different perspective - some gun owners themselves. NPR's Eyder Peralta went to a gun shop in Virginia, where sales are up. Guns have been flying off the shelves of late as talk grows louder of new regulations.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Even on a Monday afternoon, dozens of customers file in and out of SharpShooters Indoor Range and Pro Shop. The gun racks are bare and the manager works hard to keep the magazines full of ammo. Sherry Shoske comes in with her 20-year-old son, who is eager to try out their brand-new .22-caliber Uzi.
SHERRY SHOSKE: So I actually just bought that gun because I thought that he was going to be making changes so I should buy any gun that I want to buy before he makes the changes.
PERALTA: The he she's referring to is President Obama, who is poised to announce a series of executive actions tightening access to guns. As you might expect, even a new hit of new regulations brings heated discussion at this shop. Jason Stevens, who just started shooting recently, says yes, this country has a problem with gun violence. But it's too complex an issue to fix with more regulation.
JASON STEVENS: I guess I don't see any solution. I don't know what to do. If I did, I would be writing to Congress right now instead of standing out here today.
PERALTA: He says now that he's a gun owner, he's come to appreciate military-style weapons like the AR-15. But he says he'd be willing to part with them.
STEVENS: If they were unavailable to me next week, I don't think I'd be too upset about it.
PERALTA: On the other side of the store, Chris Harto says that he didn't have an answer to widespread gun violence either.
CHRIS HARTO: It's easy to say if we didn't have guns, this wouldn't happen. But, you know, the reality is there's, you know, over 300 million guns in this country and they're not going to go away.
PERALTA: Even Shoske, the woman who bought the Uzi, ultimately expressed some nuance on the issue of gun control. She says buyers at gun shows should have to pass a background check. And she's disappointed that Obama and Congress haven't stopped mentally ill people from getting guns.
SHOSKE: Because I feel like you're punishing legal gun owners, and you're not doing anything about the mental health. I don't know why.
PERALTA: She wants a law requiring doctors to flag patients who shouldn't own guns. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Lorton, Va.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
All right, any jazz hall of fame should certainly include the man who made this music. It's Paul Bley. He was a Canadian pianist who played an important role in the jazz scenes in New York and Los Angeles from the early 1950s to the present. And just a measure of Bley's talent - well, consider this. Jazz greats Charles Mingus and Art Blakey backed him up on his debut recording. In a career that lasted nearly seven decades, Bley also helped launch the careers of other younger musicians who became far more famous. Paul Bley died Sunday from natural causes at his home in Florida. He was 83 years old. And NPR's Andrew Limbong has this appreciation.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Paul Bley was all about not repeating himself.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
PAUL BLEY: An audience stays awake only so long as you give it new material.
LIMBONG: As he told NPR's Piano Jazz in 1990. By that time, he was an established improviser playing free jazz.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BLEY: It's free only in the sense that you're not bringing written music to the table. I interpret the word free as the ability to play as far in as necessary every and as far out as possible, depending on what is needed at the moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: This particular moment is from 1958.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: The group playing with Bley would go on to become the groundbreaking Ornette Coleman Quartet, a group that changed the sound of jazz in the 1960s. But it was Bley who gave Coleman his first shot, just as he did for Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorious. Paul Bley was born in 1932 in Montreal. He played music as a kid and ended up going to Juilliard in New York. He was known for being at the front of waves in music, pushing its outer boundaries and exploring its inner ones with clarinetist Jimmy Guiffre and bassist Steve Swallow.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: In the early 1970s, Bley experimented with electronic music.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: But about 15 years ago, Bley returned to the acoustic piano.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: His playing was prodding, challenging because, said Bley...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BLEY: The whole point in making a performance, joining a band is that, at the end of the night, you've found something out you didn't know at the beginning of the night.
(SOUNDBITE OF PAUL BLEY SONG)
LIMBONG: And that's what Paul Bley was all about. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Baseball's Hall of Fame announces its 2016 inductions later today. Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., who played most of his career in Seattle, looks to be the only shoe-in this year. That got commentator Frank Deford thinking about who else should or should not get in.
FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: OK, we start 2016 with a command that the subject of Pete Rose and the hall of fame is over, finis, kaput forever and ever, as sure as we will no longer discuss whether Lindsey Graham or George Pataki can be president. The new commissioner has been even more adamant in dismissing Rose's pleadings, so it doesn't matter how passionately you feel. It is a dead issue - there. But OK, now that we have that settled, there's bound to be more attention devoted to the candidacies of the accused steroid users. Should they get into the Hall of Fame? Especially among those who worship at the altar of statistics, there is the argument that, well, so many players were using that the cheaters just proved that they were better than the other cheaters. Of course, this still cheats all the players who didn't cheat. But since nobody knows the accurate steroid census, the argument persists. More specifically is the contention that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens ought to have special dispensation because they already possessed the Hall of Fame credentials before all reasonable evidence suggests that they starting juicing. But just as sometimes there is a cap conundrum in which team's hat should a Hall of Famer be depicted on his plaque if he played for more than one team, this would create the curious dilemma whether Bonds' or Clemens' statistics on their plaques should include their total career numbers or just those when they were presumably as clean as a whistle. Of course, by this standard, we could get that great American general, Benedict Arnold, a spot in the honor roll of Noble Americans, before he had that little change of heart. I've always thought that it was unfortunate that the Hall of Fame was named thusly. I mean, the ball name - fame - suggests that it's just a repository for celebrities, like a tacky sidewalk in Hollywood with all the stars implanted on it. Actually, the baseball hall took its name from the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, which was created at New York University in 1900. At that time, the word fame also had the larger common meaning of renowned, which had a more distinguished definition that related to honor. And don't forget that integrity and character are indeed included in that catalog of properties that candidates to Cooperstown are supposed to be judged on. At the very least, it seems to me, if Bonds and Clemens are ever to be considered, they have to be interrogated by the commissioner, no less than Pete Rose has been. Uh oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Didn't somebody wise just say we weren't supposed to ever again mention Pete Rose and the Hall of Fame in the same breath?
MONTAGNE: Commentator Frank Deford. He joins us here most Wednesdays.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders traveled to the heart of America's financial sector yesterday to issue a scathing denunciation of Wall Street. Speaking in New York, Sanders repeated his calls to break up the nation's biggest banks, and he had some tough words for the Federal Reserve. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Sanders isn't one to mince words about the financial sector. And here, just a few blocks from some of the world's biggest banks, he let loose again.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BERNIE SANDERS: Greed, fraud, dishonesty and arrogance - these are some of the words that best describe the reality of Wall Street
ZARROLI: As an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred cheered him on, Sanders repeated a litany of promises about how he will deal with Wall Street - break up the big banks, send executives who are responsible for financial meltdowns to jail, place limits on credit card interest rates and ATM fees.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANDERS: Our goal must be to create a financial system and an economy that works for all of our people, not just a handful of billionaires.
ZARROLI: At one point, Sanders read headlines from press reports about financial scandals to make the point that no one involved had been sent to jail. He also took on the Federal Reserve, saying it needed major structural reform. After the financial crisis, he said, the Fed had acted urgently to rescue the big banks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANDERS: We need the Fed to act with that same boldness today, that fierce sense of urgency to combat unemployment and low wages.
ZARROLI: At another point, Sanders seemed to aim a dart at his rival, Hillary Clinton. She was asked at the last debate whether corporate America should love her, and she said everyone should.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANDERS: Will the folks on Wall Street like me? No. Will they begin to play by the rules if I am president? You better believe it.
ZARROLI: All of this was wildly popular with the crowd, which laughed and applauded and even, at one point, finished his sentence for him. Janice Wright (ph) of New York came to the speech and liked what she heard.
JANICE WRIGHT: You know, you look at him, you think grandfather. But by what he says, he means - he's no-nonsense. And he means what he says, and he'll follow through.
ZARROLI: Her friend, Janice Caban (ph), agreed. Did she think Sanders could accomplish everything he promised?
JANICE CABAN: I think people trust him, and he's very sincere. And I'm hoping that he can do what he says.
ZARROLI: At the end, a large crown waited for Sanders in subfreezing temperatures and then followed him through the streets of Manhattan while he did an interview. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
What started out as a report of an earthquake in North Korea quickly turned into a political earthquake when today, that country announced it had just tested a hydrogen bomb. When North Korea claimed last month that it had developed one, much of the world reacted with skepticism because if true, it would be a huge advance in the North's rudimentary nuclear weapons program. Joining us for more is Anna Fifield. She is Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post, and she's reported on North Korea's nuclear program for years. Thank you for joining us.
ANNA FIFIELD: You're welcome, nice to be here.
MONTAGNE: What is known so far about what did or did not happen at this North Korea test site?
FIFIELD: Well, we know that there was a nuclear test there at the site where it's conducted its three previous nuclear tests, up in the northeastern part of the country. The big question about whether - is whether this is a hydrogen bomb, like North Korea claimed today, or whether it's just an atomic test like it's carried out before. So North Korea claimed it has advanced its technology in this way. And if so, it would be, like, exponentially more powerful than what it has already. But the evidence so far doesn't seem to bear out North Korea's claim. The yield on the detonation seems to be more in line with the nuclear tests that its conducted in the past, and not with the a hydrogen bomb. So there is a lot of skepticism out there about its claim today. But clearly the fact that they even conducted the fourth nuclear test, the first in three years, is a big provocation from Pyongyang.
MONTAGNE: Well, there has been skepticism but also condemnation by the countries in the neighborhood.
FIFIELD: Right. Even if it is a nuclear test, it is, you know, a real throwing down the gauntlet to North Korea's neighbors. And it has been condemned, as you say, by everyone in the region today, including by China, which is the closest thing North Korea has to a friend, who have criticized it very severely. In Japan and in South Korea, we've had strong criticism from the leaders of both countries. They're both saying that they will take strong action to make sure North Korea pays a price for this.
MONTAGNE: Well, of course, always hard to know what leadership in North Korea is thinking. But what would seem to be the motivation behind either carrying out a test - but claiming it to be a hydrogen bomb?
FIFIELD: Well, I don't want to get into Kim Jong-un's head. I think that's kind of a scary place. But we can surmise that he's trying to bolster his legitimacy as North Korea's leader. He is going to turn 33 on Friday, so he's a very young leader in this communist dynasty. So we think that he's probably trying to present himself as a strong, tough leader in North Korea. And in particular, North Korea will hold a congress of its Working Party in May this year. That's the first time in 36 years that this big occasion will have happened. So chances are, he's trying to give a huge, you know, event to crow about, basically, during this congress and something to celebrate during that time.
MONTAGNE: A U.N. Security Council resolution does forbid North Korea from carrying out a nuclear test. The Security Council has scheduled a closed meeting for later this morning. What can the U.N. or any world power do, though, to change North Korea's behavior?
FIFIELD: Well, so far the evidence is pretty much nothing. I mean, since 2006, when North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, there have been four major resolutions come out of the U.N. Security Council, imposing sanctions on North Korea, trying to stop it from moving money, from using technology and equipment. And everything that the U.N. and the international community can do to try and stop them getting their hands on this kind of stuff. And clearly, it's amounted to very little, if anything at all. North Korea is continuing to work on its nuclear program. It's continuing to carry out all kinds of tests, including submarine ballistic missile tests. So so far, North Korea has proven to be pretty impervious to the kind of punishment that the international community can impose on it. Now, the big question here is China. China is the one that has the power to inflict some pain on North Korea. It's a main economic lifeline into North Korea. So the question now is how angry is China going to be about this - because China's biggest priority is stability in North Korea. It does not want the collapse of North Korea, hungry refugees coming over the border, American troops right (ph) up to a unified Korean born in with China. So China's actions here, you know, everybody's going to be watching to see just how angry they are.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
FIFIELD: Great to be here.
MONTAGNE: Anna Fifield is Tokyo bureau chief for The Washington Post.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And let's turn to a quieter side of the political process, beneath the headlines. Around the country, people are trying to become delegates, those who actually attend their party's convention and vote on the nominees. Nick Castele from member station WCPN takes us to one selection process as it unfolded last night in Cleveland.
NICK CASTELE, BYLINE: In Ohio's most heavily Democratic congressional district, a community college lobby is filling up with local politicians and activists. The atmosphere is chummy. Many people here serve together in elected office and have campaigned for and against one another. But there are some newcomers, like Bridget Finnegan.
BRIDGET FINNEGAN: I'm kind of a political nerd. So the DNC is like the Super Bowl of politics for me.
CASTELE: She's running as a delegate for Bernie Sanders and hopes attending the convention could send her off into a career in politics. But she says learning the delegate selection process was tough.
FINNEGAN: I researched it. I went to a meeting at a bar with some Bernie Sanders supporters. And we figured it out, filled out the forms, and here I am.
CASTELE: Clinton and Sanders will pick up delegates in the March primary. The delegates chosen in this caucus will find out then how many of them get to go to the convention. But that's months away. And in the meantime, prospective delegates have convinced supporters to show up on a cold night and vote for them. Janine Boyd is in her first term as a state representative. She and other officeholders teamed up to make a joint bid to serve as Clinton delegates.
JANINE BOYD: Everything from phone calls to texts to social media - everything possible to connect with people and communicate that I'm interested in representing our congressional district at the convention.
CASTELE: The crowd splits into two auditoriums, one for Clinton and one for Sanders. Martin O'Malley didn't make the ballot in Ohio. Inside, candidates each have 1 minute to deliver a speech. Then it's time to vote.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The ballot in the box. Thank you.
CASTELE: There could be easier ways to do this. After the primary, you could just award hypothetical delegates using pencil and paper. But that's not really the point for rising politicians trying to make contacts or for people who just want to see their candidate from the convention floor. For NPR News, I'm Nick Castele in Cleveland.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We are monitoring the ongoing tension between two rival Middle East powers. And we are reminded of how difficult it is to predict anything in this region these days. Things have been very tense between Saudi Arabia and Iran after the Saudi government executed a Shiite cleric. Both of these nations are big oil producers. And in the past, a simmering conflict like this would have led to a spike in oil prices. Instead, though, oil prices have fallen in recent days, actually sliding to an 11-year low. We asked NPR's John Ydstie to explain why.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Oil analyst Dan Katzenberg of R. W. Baird & Co. says the mild reaction of the oil market to more trouble in the Middle East is evidence of a big change.
DAN KATZENBERG: Historically, this would have absolutely caused crude prices to spike.
YDSTIE: Because of worries, the conflict might lead to a cut in oil exports from the region. But that hasn't happened this time because of a global glut of oil - a glut largely due to the huge rise in U.S. production, says Jack Gerard. He's president of the American Petroleum Institute, an industry research group.
JACK GERARD: The market's looking at that situation, that unrest, and they're saying, well, it could have an impact, obviously, within those significant producing nations. But there's alternatives today.
YDSTIE: And the main alternative is the U.S. American production soared in recent years, after the introduction of fracking technology allowed oil to be pumped from shale formations. U.S. production peaked recently at over 9 million barrels a day. That's eroded the dominance of Mid East oil producers.
GERARD: Those who had significant influence over global pricing - if you talk to analysts, we'll tell you that that dynamic has shifted and is changing.
YDSTIE: Gerard is referring to OPEC, the group of oil exporters led by Saudi Arabia who once could set a ceiling and floor for oil prices. But the Saudi's have been pumping freely, doing their best to drive prices lower and force U.S. producers out of business. On Tuesday, the Saudi's cut prices once again, this time for sales of oil to Europe. The move was largely interpreted as an effort to keep Iran, also an OPEC member, from regaining its traditional market in Europe as sanctions are lifted this year. Dan Katzenberg says that could weaken OPEC further and send prices even lower.
KATZENBERG: I think the expectation is that you're just going to see each of these countries looking out for their best interests. And by doing that, they're going to pump at full volume.
YDSTIE: Katzenberg says that could mean gasoline prices for U.S. consumers - now about $2 a gallon - could go even lower. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Over the weekend, U.S. immigration officers picked up scores of people in several states who have been ordered deported. They're mainly young mothers from Central America and their children, who entered the U.S. illegally last year. The raids have made a lot of immigrants and their advocates nervous, concerned that more raids are coming with little or no recourse for people facing deportation. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Here at Atlas: DIY, a Brooklyn advocacy group for young immigrants, the new year began with hours of phone calls to their clients.
J. J. MULLIGAN: (Speaking Spanish).
WANG: That's immigration attorney J. J. Mulligan.
How many calls have you made today?
MULLIGAN: Today, I've made about seven or eight. It kind of took over the day, really.
WANG: Mulligan's been calling people who have lost their immigration cases and are waiting to be deported. He's trying to prepare them for raids that may come, like last weekend's in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas.
MULLIGAN: The government's showing up in the middle of the night at your home, pounding on the door. I mean, that's terrifying. These are people that have lived in the shadows. And that's, like, their biggest fear realized.
WANG: Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson oversees U.S. immigrations and customs enforcement, or ICE. He said in a statement that all of the people ICE picked up during the recent raids have, quote, "exhausted appropriate legal remedies." And that's why Jessica Vaughn supports the raids, though with some reservations. She's the director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for more restrictive immigration policies.
JESSICA VAUGHN: It's appropriate for ICE to be going around and gathering up people and sending them home, but ICE shouldn't have to do that.
WANG: Vaughn argues that raids could be avoided if the U.S. immigration policy discouraged more people from entering the U.S. illegally in the first place and that relying on raids is one more sign of a broken system.[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: This story inaccurately characterizes Jessica Vaughn's opinion about the U.S. immigration system. In fact, Vaughn does not believe that the system is broken, but does think that current policies are not being enforced adequately.]
VAUGHN: They are expensive. They're potentially dangerous for ICE officers. And they're alarming to others in the community when they see people being removed from their homes - or what has become their home - and sent back to their home country.
WANG: Immigrant advocates offer another criticism of the raids, which is they don't work. Pablo Alvarado heads the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. He says raids are not an effective deterrent to the recent uptick of illegal crossings along the southern border. Over the past couple years, more than 100,000 families from Central American have entered the U.S. Alvarado says many have no choice but to flee from the violence and insecurity in their home countries.
PABLO ALVARADO: When families find out the risk of staying is bigger than the risk of leaving, they will definitely take the road. So that's not going to deter people.
WANG: And Alvarado and other immigrant advocates say there's another problem - people who have been through the courts and now face deportation may not have had adequate legal help to navigate the immigration system.
ALVARADO: It's an obsolete set of laws that must be modernized. And the reality is that the legal system has failed these people.
WANG: Thirty-eight-year-old Gloria Rivas of El Salvador crossed the border from Mexico illegally last May with her 12-year-old daughter. She says, last weekend, ICE officers first picked up her daughter, who then led them to the hotel where Rivas worked as a housekeeper.
GLORIA RIVAS: (Speaking Spanish).
WANG: "They treat us like criminals," Rivas says from a phone at a Texas detention center. "The truth is, we're not. We're just looking to save our lives and the lives of our kids." Rivas says she left El Salvador to escape gang violence and isn't sure what would happen if she returned.
RIVAS: (Speaking Spanish).
WANG: "The truth is I don't know," she says, "but the gangs have never been interested in anyone's life." Rivas' lawyers say the Board of Immigration Appeals has temporarily delayed her deportation to review her case, though NPR was not able to confirm that order with the board before broadcast. The Department of Homeland Security says it will enforce the law, and raids will continue this year as appropriate. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News, New York.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. The Cleveland Browns have enough problems - horrible season, another coach fired. Now this question - what do you do with Johnny Manziel, their party-loving quarterback? There are rumors that Manziel missed a meeting with team doctors Sunday because he went to Vegas. One ESPN report, not independently confirmed, says Johnny Football was in disguise in a blonde wig and fake mustache. The owner of the Cleveland Browns says what to do with Johnny is up to others in the organization. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
ISIS has a new mast spokesman with a British accent. A video features him taunting British Prime Minster David Cameron and threatening Britain. And this is followed by the purported execution of five men ISIS claims were spying for the U.K. U.S. sources say they've been told by British officials that the man is originally from London and his name is Siddhartha Dhar. To learn more about him and why he might've been selected as the newest ISIS figurehead, we turn to Erin Marie Saltman, who specializes in radicalization and violent extremism. She's a senior researcher for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London.
Good morning.
ERIN MARIE SALTMAN: Good morning.
GREENE: So what exactly do we know about this man Siddhartha Dhar?
SALTMAN: We know that he currently goes by the name Abu Rumaysah. He left for the territory to join Islamic State in September 2014, and he left actually two days after he was released on bail. He had already been arrested by U.K. authorities for, quote-unquote, "encouraging terrorism," as he was related to another band group called al-Muhajiroun who operates in the U.K. So it has been quite a shock that he was even able to make it out to the territory in the first place.
GREENE: Wow. And potentially, I guess, a real embarrassment for the British government if they let him go.
SALTMAN: Well, this has been an issue where he actually took a bus from London to Paris it is thought. And he took a plane from France.
GREENE: And you're saying made his way across the border into Syria or Iraq?
SALTMAN: Into, we think, Iraq. So it does also bring up questions of security information sharing between borders and how much we communicate with other countries about who is on our no-fly lists.
GREENE: Can you explain why ISIS might especially want a Western figure like him to become a star in these pretty horrific videos?
SALTMAN: When we look at the background of who Siddhartha Dhar actually is, it's less about him as a really important figure for Islamic State other than the fact that he is British, he is media savvy - he did media even before he went out to join Islamic State - and he has this British accent. So it really relates the message directly to Western audiences. We are much more willing to turn off from the message if we can't relate to the person. But the fact that this is a British citizen speaking to us condemning the U.K., condemning the West, we can't ignore it.
GREENE: It's scarier, you're saying, if you're a Westerner and you see someone with a familiar accent, you know, in a group like that.
SALTMAN: It brings the threat home, whereas perhaps we can ignore things if they seem far away. The fact that we have a face and a name that resonates at home to us, it means that all of a sudden the greater public feels less at ease. It forces us to pay attention to this threat.
GREENE: You know, I know the media have been making a point that this man was a former salesman from East London selling moon bounces for children. I mean, it's almost like they've been turning him into a buffoon in a way, which you wonder if that's what people think, you know, he's the kind of person who would be ISIS material.
SALTMAN: Well, ISIS has been working with everything that they have. Obviously the fact that in his former career he was selling bouncy castles or renting them out to parties, that's not something they would probably want to hype up internally. So I think that's something media has latched onto to almost discredit this figure, to make him less of a threat seeming to the greater public. But this sort of video is less about recruitment and propaganda. This sort of video really is aimed at causing a symmetrical threat, where in the face of them actually losing territory on the ground militaristically right now, one video like this makes us fear them more and makes us feel like they have more power than perhaps they do.
GREENE: So this could be a sign of ISIS feeling like it's losing ground and getting a little desperate?
SALTMAN: Well, we do know that they have lost quite a bit of territory in the last few months. We know they're currently on the back foot, strategically, on the ground with military forces and with the international airstrikes against them. And so videos like this really flip the coin. It makes the general public continue to fear them, especially with the addition of such a young child, a 5-year-old child, within that same video who's also conveying a threat. All of a sudden, it makes us remember what a brutal and horrific group this is.
GREENE: OK. We've been talking to Erin Marie Saltman who's with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, speaking to us from London.
Thanks very much.
SALTMAN: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's turn now to Chicago, where a group of African-American men have begun receiving checks for a hundred thousand dollars each. That money is compensation for the 57 men who survived torture at the hands of a Chicago police commander and his officers. But activists say that's not the final chapter in this story about race and police brutality. From member station WBEZ in Chicago, Natalie Moore reports.
NATALIE MOORE, BYLINE: In 1983, police shoved a shotgun in Darrell Cannon's mouth. He was tortured into confessing a crime he didn't commit. Cannon received life in prison but was exonerated in 2004. Since his release, he's advocated for reparations.
DARRELL CANNON: No black man has ever received reparations for having been tortured at the hands of white police officers.
MOORE: In May, the Chicago City Council approved a reparations package, and today the city says reparations are important to bring closure to families. Men like Darrell Cannon suffered because of Jon Burge, a police commander who directed his detectives to nearly suffocate, shock and otherwise abuse hundreds of black suspects arrested from 1972 until 1991. He was fired in the 1990s and in 2011 served four and a half years in prison - not for the torture, but for lying under oath about the torture. He was released last year. Cannon claims there are still men behind bars who Burge tortured.
CANNON: There's many steps yet to be taken in this matter before any of us can be happy.
MOORE: Activists have fought for justice for decades and even took their cause to the United Nations. Today, the legacy of torture survivors reverberates in Chicago as a new crop of young activists take on police violence with the same passion. As one of the lawyers who fought for reparations, Joey Mogul sees a connection between past and present.
JOEY MOGUL: Meanwhile in this moment, after the Laquan McDonald video has come out and we've seen both the video and the cover-up, people are traumatized in this city.
MOORE: The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating charges of abuse by Chicago police. The reparations package also calls for a public torture memorial in Chicago. Alice Kim is an organizer.
ALICE KIM: We need to make sure that this history is recorded and documented, that people know that it happened. People need to know about the struggle of the survivors.
MOORE: And as for Darrell Cannon, he received a check which he says is not enough for what he suffered. He says he'll celebrate though by riding his new motorcycle around City Hall in a victory lap. For NPR News, I'm Natalie Moore in Chicago.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well, the House of Representatives is now back to work. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has already decided on the first order of business, and it's a pretty big one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PAUL RYAN: The House will put an Obamacare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president's desk.
GREENE: Repealing Obamacare. Well, this sets the stage for a showdown with the White House over the president's namesake health care law, and NPR's Scott Horsley is here to talk about this.
Hey Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good to be with you David.
GREENE: So the House has already voted to repeal Obamacare dozens of times now. Is this vote special in some way?
HORSLEY: David, this is the first time the U.S. Senate has also voted for repeal.
GREENE: They've already voted to repeal it?
HORSLEY: For a long time, when Democrats controlled the Senate they were able to block Republican initiatives like this. And even though Democrats are now in the minority in the Senate they still have a filibuster. So usually it takes 60 votes for the Republicans to do anything, and they don't have that. In this case though, the Senate Republicans were able to use those special reconciliation rules to pass the Obamacare repeal measure with just a simple majority, and so instead of being bottled up like so many other efforts to repeal the ACA, this one has already cleared the Senate and that means today's House vote will send it, as Speaker Ryan promised, to the president's desk.
GREENE: OK so it is special. You've got both chambers that will likely have voted for this. Presumably, the president is not going to go along with this.
HORSLEY: He is not going to go along (laughter). The White House has been very clear that the president will veto this bill. The administration says, to repeal the Affordable Care Act would take health insurance away from some 17 million people who've gotten coverage under the law. They also say it would weaken protection for another 150 million people who still get insurance through their employers. So there's never been any doubt the president would use his veto pen to defend the health care law. In this case, he has an extra incentive to do so because the bill would also strip funding from Planned Parenthood. So two big targets for the president.
GREENE: So what happens after this? We've got this largely symbolic vote by Congress, veto by the president. I mean, does this debate get sort of put to rest at some point?
HORSLEY: Not at all. The Republicans plan to schedule a veto override vote in the weeks ahead. They do not have the two-thirds majority they need to overturn the president's veto, but that'll be another symbolic gesture by the GOP. And this will also help to frame the contrast for the 2016 presidential election. All of the Republican candidates running for the White House have promised to undo Obamacare. All the Democrats have promised to preserve it. So voters will have a chance to weigh in on this debate just as they did in 2012. You remember back then when the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, Mitt Romney said, if we want to get rid of Obamacare, we're going to have to put a Republican in the White House. Four years later, that's still the case.
GREENE: So it's going to remain in the political conversation obviously this year. But in terms of substance, process, the chances of this law actually ending - I mean, you've got a lot of Americans, polls show, who have very negative feelings about this health care law. But you've got a law that's been in place now for six years. I mean, could it be undone somehow?
HORSLEY: You know, David, there's been a school of thought for a long time among supporters of Obamacare that once the American people get accustomed to these protections they're going to be very hard to undo, that Republicans would actually be taking subsidies away from people, denying coverage to millions and that that would just be politically untenable. We're seeing right now something of a test case in Kentucky, where the newly elected Republican governor campaigned against Obamacare, but he has softened his rhetoric somewhat since he's actually taken office. At first he wanted to roll back the state's expansion of Medicaid, which was very widespread in Kentucky. Now he's talking about modifying it instead. However, there's been no such softening of the rhetoric in Congress or on the White House campaign trail. So Republicans insist they still want to get rid of this law root and branch.
GREENE: All right. NPR's Scott Horsley talking to us about the vote in the House today to repeal Obamacare. It follows on the heels of a vote in the Senate and expected presidential veto at some point too. Thanks Scott.
HORSLEY: My pleasure David.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
New Year's Eve in Cologne, Germany can be a raucous affair with plenty of fireworks. This year, it took a dark turn. Young men are said to have assaulted dozens of women in a city square. And police say the attackers appeared to be Arab or North African. That's an incendiary thing to say at a time Germany is debating how to integrate more than a million recent migrants. NPR's Berlin correspondent, Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, joined us for more. Good morning.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Take us through what happened that night.
NELSON: The largest number of attacks happened in Cologne. And as you mentioned, it was a crowd of about 1,000 young men between the ages of 18 and 35. They gathered in the small square between the famous cathedral in Cologne and the city's main train station on New Year's Eve. Cell phone videos were circulating, like this one on YouTube.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO)
NELSON: They showed the crowd engaging in hooliganism one sees in many German cities on New Year's Eve, with inebriated young men launching fireworks in all possible directions. Except, in this case, many of these men weren't speaking German and were dark complected. The police chief in Cologne was saying they looked Arab or North African. And he says that police cleared the crowd from the square around midnight but that his offices didn't learn of the sexual assaults until the next day.
MONTAGNE: And the next day, of course, was January 1, which was days ago. So why did it take so long for police to figure out that there had been these massive numbers of sexual assaults and even of rape?
NELSON: Yeah, and in fact, it took more than even one day. It took several days in some cases. And the police chief says that's because victims took their time coming forward to file complaints, even though some of the victims actually dispute that. So far, there have been 90 victims who filed complaints. One woman reported being raped. But most of the victims say they were groped by groups of men who also stole their cell phones, wallets and purses. Some of the victims on German TV accused Cologne police of not taking their assault claims seriously for days anyway, even if they did file them. The delay also really bothered the German interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GERMANY THOMAS DE AIZIERE: (Speaking German).
NELSON: He told German ARD public television late last night that he was flabbergasted police cleared the square where assaults were happening and then sat back and waited until victims came forward to file criminal complaints. Police shouldn't work this way, he says.
MONTAGNE: And Soraya, what about suspects?
NELSON: Well, there aren't any. The police chief says that many victims can't identify their attackers and don't think they'll be able to, even if they were arrested. And of the various pick-pocket gangs that the police had been investigating in the square for months, at this stage, the police can't say whether they were involved or not. And so police are also asking witnesses with videos to come forward that night, videos of the square where this happened.
MONTAGNE: And possibly predictably, Soraya, there now seems to be something of a backlash brewing against refugees.
NELSON: That certainly seems to be happening. And it's something that refugee advocates are worried about. Politicians are calling for migrants who commit serious crimes to be deported, even though we don't know for a fact that migrants were involved in this crime. And the Cologne mayor is also pretty adamant that just because these people may have looked North African, that one not assume they are connected to refugees who are staying in the city. At the same time, Chancellor Angela Merkel is saying that she's outraged at these attacks and that no matter what the perpetrators' ethnic origin or background, that they swiftly be brought to justice.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson speaking to us from Berlin. Thanks very much.
NELSON: You're welcome, Renee.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
President Obama has announced a new effort to curb gun violence. And on the program yesterday, New York City police commissioner Bill Bratton said he liked the proposals. But I asked what impact they would have, and he said minimal. So what's the president actually proposing? Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Anybody in the business of selling firearms must get a license and conduct background checks or be subject to criminal prosecutions.
(APPLAUSE)
GREENE: One thing Obama is doing is expanding background checks to include more guns bought or sold online. And gun control advocates say online sales have given buyers a major loophole. Here's NPR's Joel Rose.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: On any given day, there are tens of thousands of guns for sale online. No one knows exactly how many, but gun-control advocates say this is the big way that guns change hands without background checks.
LANAE ERICKSON HATALSKY: You have to go meet them, like you would buy a dresser on Craigslist, and exchange the money.
ROSE: I mean, it's basically Craigslist for guns.
HATALSKY: It is Craigslist for guns.
ROSE: Lanae Erickson Hatalsky is with Third Way, a Washington, D. C. think tank. The group studied the online gun market armslist.com during the summer of 2013. Hatalsky says there are some licensed gun dealers on the site who are required to perform background checks for any guns they sell. But Hatalsky says those commercial dealers are far outnumbered by private sellers. And in most states, those sellers are not obligated to run background checks.
HATALSKY: There were people who were selling 20 guns at one particular moment in a state or people who were selling five guns and then the next day would list more. There were a lot of folks who were clearly using this as a source of income and a way to connect frequently with people they wanted to sell guns to.
ROSE: The president says he wants to close that loophole by clarifying the existing federal law about who exactly is in the business of selling firearms.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: It doesn't matter whether you're doing it over the Internet or at a gun show. It's not where you do it but what you do.
ROSE: The president's order may have limited impact in states that already require background checks for nearly all gun sales. That's the case in New York. But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance says the White House's actions could help curb the flow of illegal guns into states like his.
CYRUS VANCE: In New York state, for example, they are not going to have direct impact in any big sense. But the lax gun control and background checks from other states enables people to buy guns and then bring them to New York. Nine out of 10 guns that are involved in crimes of violence in New York come from out of state.
ROSE: Still, gun rights advocates question whether expanded background checks would stop criminals from getting guns. Kim Stolfer is president of the group Firearms Owners Against Crime in Western Pennsylvania. He says the president's order is more likely to hurt law-abiding gun owners.
KIM STOLFER: The average person that commits an unofficial violation who decides to buy a gun or to sell a firearm and somebody says to him, oh, yeah, man, you can sell it online. He goes over, and he does it. And it's a sting operation.
ROSE: In a statement, the cofounder of armslist.com called the president's action, quote, "well-meaning but ultimately ineffective," unquote. But at least one of the site's users, 26-year-old Kyle Eklund (ph) of Ohio, says he's OK with more background checks.
KYLE EKLUND: I think it's crazy that a criminal can reply to an ad on Armslist and say, hey, I'm interested in your gun. And they can walk away with a gun.
ROSE: Eklund says Armslist is great. He's bought and sold several guns on the site, always legally, to another Ohio resident face-to-face, but without a background check.
EKLUND: I think that there should be a background check on every firearm transfer. And I'm willing to compromise, you know, with people who want more gun control. I'm willing to compromise with them and say, OK, I agree that we should have that.
ROSE: The question is whether Washington is willing to make the same compromise. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We're calling our series the Future of History - and this morning, how modern times are changing how you explore your personal history. Tracing family roots has always been time-consuming - digging through census records and yellowing photos, hitting dead ends. There is a possible shortcut. DNA tests that trace your roots are dropping in price and attracting millions of customers, but they are not foolproof and not always a shortcut. Here again, author Eric Weiner.
ERIC WEINER, BYLINE: I've always been mildly curious about my roots, but majorly lazy. So I was excited to learn of this possible shortcut, which arrived at my house one day tucked inside a FedEx box. Inside, I find a small plastic vial and a placard with detailed instructions.
Fill the tube with saliva. Do not overfill.
OK, here it goes. OK. Next, place the sample inside the collection bag provided in your DNA kit. Mail in your sample. And hopefully, in just a few weeks, I will find out who I am and where I came from.
KEN CHAHINE: Yeah, spitting in a tube is a great way to get started.
WEINER: That's Ken Chahine, executive vice president of ancestry.com, the company that will be testing my DNA sample at their laboratory in Provo, Utah. It's a relatively new test called autosomal DNA.
CHAHINE: And what that means is that we've interrogated your entire genome at over 700,000 markers. And those are markers in your genetic code. And what that does is it gives us sort of a unique genetic fingerprint that only you have.
WEINER: By matching my genetic fingerprint with more than 1 million others in its database, the company can reveal much about my heritage. As the database grows, so does the usefulness of the test. But this is still very much pioneering work, says Chahine, filled with surprises in nearly every saliva sample.
CHAHINE: Our biggest surprise was how connected and how related we are as a species.
WEINER: In other words, we really are one big family. And thanks to the growing popularity of DNA testing, family secrets aren't what they used to be.
MEGAN SMOLENYAK: It is hard to take your secrets to the grave these days.
WEINER: That's Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist and early proponent of DNA testing. When she first heard about it, she thought it was magical. But being a scientist and a skeptic, she decided to test the tester. She cross checked 15 of her relatives to see if the genetic tests matched the paper records.
SMOLENYAK: And all the results were spot on, except for one.
WEINER: An uncle, her father's brother - he was turning up only half as related as he should have been.
SMOLENYAK: And I had to think about it for a while. And it finally dawned on me, oh my gosh, he's my half uncle. And it was kind of startling, and I had to wrestle with that - sharing that with my father because I did not see it coming, even though I've been researching for decades.
WEINER: Smolenyak now uses this story as a sort of warning to her clients. DNA testing - in fact, all of genealogy is an exercise in confronting the unexpected.
HEATHER QUINLAN: I thought I'd find a few Irishmen (laughter). That was it.
WEINER: That's Heather Quinn, a New York filmmaker. Growing up, she wanted to be a detective. She obsessively watched episodes of "Columbo" and "The Rockford Files." She never did get her badge, but tracing her family roots, she says, requires the same sleuthing skills. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In this story, author Eric Weiner incorrectly identifies filmmaker Heather Quinlan as Heather Quinn. The name identifiers in the transcript have been corrected.]
QUINLAN: It's really a matter of having to kind of almost put your own emotions aside for while and really just look at the facts.
WEINER: Which is not always so easy to do, not when you keep bumping up against thorny branches of your family tree. Through DNA testing, Quinn discovered she is part Native American, at least partly related to Finnish reindeer herders and 3 percent Neanderthal, a slightly higher percentage than is typical. Her biggest surprise, though, came not from a DNA test, but by following the old-fashioned paper trail. Her great-great-grandfather, one Thomas Fagan of Altoona, Pa., had a nasty temper.
QUINLAN: And he got into a bar fight with his boss. His boss came into the bar one day and accused him of stealing tools. And they got in a fight, and I believe Thomas Fagan hit him over the head with a chair and killed him.
WEINER: Shortly after learning about the murderer in the family, she receives an e-mail from a descendant of the victim who had managed to track her down.
QUINLAN: And his e-mail to me was basically, like, what do you have to say for yourself?
WEINER: What did you have to say for yourself?
QUINLAN: I apologized on behalf of the Fagan family and my own. But, you know, there wasn't certainly anything else I could do about it.
WEINER: At first, all of this ancestral baggage came as a shock, but now, she says, she takes it in stride.
QUINLAN: If you go back far enough, I mean, you're bound to find criminals, as well as kings and queens. We descended from rebels, you know, for both good and bad, for withstanding, you know, a brand-new country and for maybe hitting their boss over the head with a chair.
WEINER: Finally, my DNA results land in my inbox. I click, and I have to admit, I'm nervous. What family secrets might they reveal? Not much, it turns out - a handful of distant cousins, a chart showing that I'm 93 percent Ashkenazi Jewish - no great surprise there. Ken Chahine of ancestry.com did find one particularly strong geographic thread.
CHAHINE: There seemed to be a predominantly high number of your recent sort of genetic cousins - and I'm talking about, like, third cousins and fourth cousins - that all seem to have family in Russia.
WEINER: This is a surprise, but Russia is a huge country. Which part of Russia? For that, he says, I'll have to wait. The autosomal test is not yet sophisticated enough, but it may be soon. Chahine explains how, using a still-experimental technique, scientists at ancestry.com com were able to zero in on his mother's birthplace in Cuba.
CHAHINE: This was without a family tree. They came to me and said, hey, are we in the ballpark? I said, (laughter) you almost hit the bull's-eye. I mean, it was that close. So that - again, that gives an example of where the technology is headed.
WEINER: Might DNA testing one day replace the paper trail entirely? Not likely, but it is one more tool, and a powerful one. As for me, I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed I didn't find any murderers or swashbucklers or other colorful characters in my family tree, but I'll keep digging. There's bound to be one in there somewhere. For NPR News, I'm Eric Weiner.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. A cat cafe in Vancouver no sooner opened its doors than it had to close them because of a shortage of cats. As its note to customers puts it - due to the overwhelming success of adoptions in our first few weeks, we have run out of cats. Catfe said they were unable to get new kitties in this week because of bad weather. There are still plenty of cats our there in need of a home, and it says it will be soon open for business again. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
New Hampshire has a special place in presidential politics, and it's not just that that state hosts the first primary. Candidates often spend time addressing issues that state residents care deeply about. And the result of that - New Hampshire residents can put an issue important to them at the forefront of the national conversation. This year, that issue is addiction. There's an overdose epidemic in the state, and five Republican candidates participated in a forum yesterday to talk about it. NPR's Tamara Keith was there, and she joins us on the line. Good morning, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So you've been covering this issue for nearly a year now, and I imagine really watching close-up as - it's really risen in prominence.
KEITH: Yeah. I think that there's been a change in the way that people talk about heroin and opioid addiction. People aren't just brushing it under the rug or suffering silently anymore. And in New Hampshire, there's a movement of parents who have lost their children to overdoses who are publicly talking about their struggles. Listen to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush who said he heard about the crisis on one of his first trips to the campaign in the state.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEB BUSH: It hit me like a brick wall. At the hotel that we normally stay in, two people had loved ones that died of an overdose in the last six months. And I met two other people that had a similar experience in that same day.
KEITH: And Bush is now regularly talking about his daughter who was addicted to prescription pills. And really almost every candidate is finding a way to talk about addiction in a very personal way.
GREENE: Essentially saying to New Hampshire voters that we really feel personally what you're going through.
KEITH: Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, talks about a good friend from law school who had it all and then lost it all and ended up dying because of addiction. Carly Fiorina, who was at the forum yesterday, talked passionately about her stepdaughter Lori. She talked about the sparkle leaving her eyes as the addiction took hold and talked about how she and her husband found out how her stepdaughter died when two police officers knocked on their door.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CARLY FIORINA: And virtually every minute of every day after those two police officers stood in our living room and told Frank and I about the death of our daughter, we both have wondered what signs we missed, what we could have done differently.
KEITH: Candidates really on both sides of the aisle in New Hampshire - and Iowa too - are finding that this is a way to connect with voters. But one question is when the race moves on, does this conversation continue?
GREENE: I guess that's one question we'll have to answer as things go on. But, Tam, tell me this. I mean, drugs - it's not a new issue in politics, but this feels different.
KEITH: Absolutely. They're talking about it in different ways. It isn't the war on drugs anymore. They're now talking about addiction as a disease. And the reality is that far more Americans are dying of overdoses, in particular heroin and other opioids, now than just a few years ago. And it's gone from being someone else's problem to being everyone's problem. Some are referring to this as the so-called gentrification of the drug crisis. Ohio Governor John Kasich alluded to this yesterday at the forum.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN KASICH: This disease knows no bounds, knows no income, knows no neighborhood, it's everywhere. And sometimes I wonder how African-Americans must have felt when drugs were awash in their community and nobody watched. Now it's in our communities, and now all of a sudden we've got forums, and God bless us, but think about the struggles that other people had.
GREENE: Well - and, Tamara Keith, that makes me wonder. I mean, are some suggesting that while this issue - suddenly now it's something that candidates are talking about because it's a so-called gentrified problem that they're feeling and not just other communities.
KEITH: That is the charge that I hear very regularly. When I talk about this with people or when I tweet about the issue, a lot comes back saying, wow, you just tweeted a picture of a lot of white people raising their hands, for instance. The candidates are unapologetic about talking about this issue, and they say that is very important, that now this shouldn't be treated simply as an incarceration issue but also as a public health problem.
GREENE: All right, NPR's Tamara Keith talking to us about a forum on addiction yesterday in New Hampshire. Tam, thanks a lot.
KEITH: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And a prestigious boarding school in Rhode Island is apologizing for sexual assaults on students that occurred there decades ago. Attorneys for the students say dozens of individuals have come forward with credible claims of assault. The allegations are directed at seven former staff members at the school and several students. From member station WBUR in Boston, Fred Thys reports.
FRED THYS, BYLINE: Three former students traveled to Boston to talk at a news conference about their alleged sexual abuse. Anne Scott graduated in 1980. She says she was repeatedly raped over two years by an athletic trainer who threatened that he would come after her if she told.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CONFERENCE)
ANNE SCOTT: I stopped talking or communicating with people, interacting with people, for long periods of time after that. My parents did get me into therapy when I was in college, and through that, I was hospitalized four times, one time for a prolonged period during my early 20s. My parents did bring a lawsuit which I - my name was on the lawsuit when I was 27 years old.
THYS: Scott says she dropped the lawsuit because of the distress it was causing her family. St. George's issued a statement yesterday saying it deeply apologizes for the harm done to alumni by former employees and former students. It says it's authorized reimbursement of counseling for survivors with no set limit on the number of counseling sessions. Harry Groome graduated in 1982. He says he was publicly raped by a fellow student as a freshman. He says he did not file a complaint at the time but in 2002, he did write to Headmaster Chuck Hamblett.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CONFERENCE)
HARRY GROOME: I received an acknowledgement of the letter, but I never got the meeting I was looking for.
THYS: Headmaster Hamblett died in 2010. Katie Wales would've graduated in 1980. She used to go see athletic trainer Al Gibbs, now dead, because she's injured her back riding a horse. She says he would lead her through the boys' locker room and would lock her inside the training room. She recalls one time when she says Gibbs photographed her naked without her permission.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS CONFERENCE)
KATIE WALES: Within days of that, I guess he had shown it to the boys in the varsity locker room, and that's when the taunting started and it was absolutely horrible. I became known as the slut of the school, that I would show my body to anybody. I was pinned down by the same perpetrator that assaulted Harry - tickled and, let me see, let me see. And I went to see Tony Zane.
THYS: Zane was the school's headmaster. Wales says Zane called her mentally unstable and did not believe her. He's not returned a voice message left at his home. Wales says she was kicked out two weeks before graduation, she says for alcohol and drug abuse she blames on the sexual assaults. The Rhode Island State Police says it's investigating the allegations. There's no statute of limitations for rape in Rhode Island. For NPR News, I'm Fred Thys in Boston.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The new year brought a major milestone for the military services. All front-line combat jobs in the infantry, special operations units and elsewhere are now open to women. But just because that policy has changed does not mean the makeup of those units is going to change quickly. NPR's Tom Bowman joined us to talk about when the promise of admitting women to combat might actually be fulfilled.
Good morning.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Even though the Pentagon is admitting women to every job across the military - in theory. I mean, they're allowed in, door's open - how many female troops are there in these combat roles so far?
BOWMAN: Well, there are no women in these ground combat jobs right now, Renee. Women, of course, have been flying combat missions in fighter jets, attack helicopters, for more than 20 years, but beginning this week, those ground combat jobs in infantry, artillery and armor will be open to women. Officials don't expect a rush of women interested. The Marines estimate that roughly a hundred or 200 women will be interested in going into these jobs - roughly 2 percent of those jobs. Still, this is historic. It's a biggest cultural change in the military maybe ever, probably bigger than integrating the force back in 1948 when African-Americans were no longer segregated in separate units.
MONTAGNE: Are the military services predicting, putting a number on how long it will be before there are in fact women in actual combat units?
BOWMAN: Well, the services - we're really talking about the Army and Marine Corps here for almost all these ground combat jobs. They want to move in a careful, deliberate manner. I'm told what the services want to do first is have a female sergeants, female junior officers like lieutenants and staff jobs in these combat units before the recruits come in. Now, some of these more experienced women of course have not served in ground combat units 'cause they're just opening them, but Marine and Army women have deployed with infantry units in Iraq and Afghanistan in what's called female engagement teams, going into villages, talking with women and sometimes coming under fire. So look for the services to kind of reach out to these kinds of women, tested women, to serve as mentors.
Now, I'm told the Army is also looking at the next graduating class from West Point. They're going to go out there and say, listen, do any of you women want to serve in ground combat jobs? And at that way, starting in May or June, they can start putting them through infantry training, maybe have some of them to go through ranger training - the premier infantry course in the Army. And, as we know, three women have already made it through ranger training. So that's kind of the way ahead - have some of these female mentors first before the recruits come in.
MONTAGNE: And Tom, you mentioned the Marine Corps. That was the service, in its past commandant opposed integrating women, and their argument was they were not up to it physically. So how are they handling that?
BOWMAN: Well, right now women and men will have to go through the same physical test before they get into these ground combat jobs, and the test will increase over time for again both Marine Corps and the Army just to make sure everyone is physically fit enough to go through these jobs, to get through this training. And the Marines already have started putting women through infantry training. They've done it for the past couple of years. And it's tough. Roughly one-third of women have made it through that infantry training. So you're not going to see a lot of women actually make it through this.
MONTAGNE: NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, thanks very much.
BOWMAN: You're welcome Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
News comes this morning that North Korea claims to have detonated a nuclear weapon. According to that country's state television, it was a hydrogen bomb. People who know North Korea well are skeptical. Daniel Pinkston spent nearly two decades in South Korea, most recently with the International Crisis Group. And he's been following North Korea's nuclear program for years. Welcome to the program.
DANIEL PINKSTON: It's a pleasure to be here.
MONTAGNE: What do we really know about what happened in North Korea this morning?
PINKSTON: Well, we do know there was a seismic event, and North Korea claims it was an experimental hydrogen bomb device that they tested to verify a design for a miniaturized H-bomb. They said it was successful, so they've put their claims out in state media. We also know that the South Korean authorities' initial reaction is very skeptical, and the military authorities say that this is probably unlikely. And they believe, initially, that it may have been about six kilotons in yield, which would not suggest a hydrogen bomb. So we'll have to wait and see what the analysts conclude after they gather all the forensic evidence. We also know that a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft took off about 10 minutes before the blast from Okinawa, from Kadena Air Base. And that's probably about two-and-a-half, three hours away from North Korea. And they could collect atmospheric data if there are any nuclear particles that are vented after the blast.
MONTAGNE: Now, this is the fourth nuclear test by North Korea in the last decade. The others have been atomic bombs. If this really was an H-bomb, how big a deal is this?
PINKSTON: Well, I'm not sure. We have - in the past, their initial tests - I don't think North Korea had any reason to misrepresent or lie or exaggerate their claims. But recently, I'm not so sure. It's clear that in May, when they conducted a submarine-launched ballistic missile ejection test, they tried to fabricate and portray the test as an actual flight test, but it's different. So they didn't misrepresent in that case. So if, in fact, they did misrepresent - to go through three possibilities here - one, it was not H-bomb test, but they claimed that it is. And if that is the case, we will have to ask why they would misrepresent and why they make this exaggeration. Is this for a domestic audience? Is this for the external international audience? And the political analysts will have to look at that question. A second possibility is that was not an H-bomb test, but that the leadership believes it was. I think this is quite unlikely, but it's not impossible. If you look at Kim Jong-un and how he manages a dictatorship, he runs a very intense, tight regime there that's very demanding. And there are political demands to deliver certain weapons systems. And maybe the scientists and engineers claimed that it was an H-bomb, but it actually was not.
MONTAGNE: Third possibility, in 10 seconds?
PINKSTON: Third possibility is that it was an actual hydrogen bomb test. And, of course, that has different consequences for the policy responses and how we array our deterrence and containment policy against North Korea.
MONTAGNE: All right. Well, thank you very much for joining us.
PINKSTON: My pleasure.
MONTAGNE: Daniel Pinkston, recently with the International Crisis Group. He now teaches international relations at Troy University, Seoul.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
For the restaurant chain Chipotle, the bad news just keeps coming. The company said yesterday that sales have plunged following several outbreaks of foodborne illness. And now, as NPR's Jim Zarroli, reports, Chipotle says U.S. officials have a criminal investigation going into an outbreak of norovirus at one of its California restaurants.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: The outbreak occurred last August at a Chipotle restaurant in Simi Valley, Calif. Ventura County health officials say by the time it ended, 189 people who had visited the restaurant had become sick, and so had 18 employees. Bill Marler is a Seattle attorney who has sued the chain on behalf of some of its customers.
BILL MARLER: All of the people who had been sickened that I'm representing are somewhat typical norovirus cases. They ate at the restaurant, and they were sick within 24 to 48 hours.
ZARROLI: The victims had several days of nausea and vomiting, and a few went to the hospital for dehydration, but no one died. The outbreak seemed like a fairly standard case of norovirus, which sickens millions of Americans each year. Then this week, the company revealed that it had received a federal grand jury subpoena in connection with a criminal investigation. It's not clear why U.S. officials are looking into the outbreak, which typically would be handled by the state. Bill Marler says it appears to have something to do with the way store management communicated news of the outbreak to corporate officials in Colorado. What is beyond doubt is that the subpoena has ratcheted up Chipotle's already sizable legal problems. Again, Bill Marler...
MARLER: I have never seen a one-restaurant chain have six foodborne illness outbreaks over six months in 20 years of doing this. It's either incredibly bad luck, or it's a systemic food safety problem.
ZARROLI: Since last summer, hundreds of Chipotle customers have been sickened by salmonella, norovirus and two separate outbreaks of E. coli. The company has closed stores, apologized and promised to overhaul its food safety programs. The federal investigation makes the challenges facing the company even more acute. Eden Gillott Bowe runs a public relations firm specializing in crisis management.
EDEN GILLOTT BOWE: The best thing that they can do is really reassure their customers, you know, that they're doing everything in their power and being as transparent as possible. I know that when they're being investigated, there's only so many things that they can say, so their hands are kind of tied.
ZARROLI: For its part, Chipotle declined an interview request, saying it doesn't comment on ongoing legal matters. It did say it will fully cooperate with the investigation. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's that time of year when lots of us are resolving to eat healthier. I know I am. And this morning, there is new dietary guidance out from the federal government. The U.S. dietary guidelines are updated every five years and are considered the government's official advice on what Americans should be eating. NPR's Allison Aubrey joins us now to talk about them. Good morning.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So tell us what has changed in these new guidelines? What's different than five years ago?
AUBREY: Well, a key issue is right here in front of me. It's sugar. Americans eat way too much of it. I've got...
MONTAGNE: Wait. Wait. You're holding yogurt there.
AUBREY: Yes, right. I've got this little tub.
MONTAGNE: That's healthy.
AUBREY: Right, we consider yogurt a healthy food. But I'm looking at the label here. This has nearly 20 grams of sugar, which is five teaspoons - about five teaspoons. So a key recommendation out today in these new guidelines is to eat less. Now, this may not seem new. We've already been given this advice to, you know, cut back. But many Americans are eating, by some estimates, an average of about 22 teaspoons a day. And over the last five years, there's been a lot of new scientific evidence showing that this amount increases the risk not only of type 2 diabetes but also of heart disease, even among people who are not overweight or obese.
MONTAGNE: And how much - or really, how little sugar should we be eating?
AUBREY: Right, how little is the key. The new guideline calls for limiting sugar to no more than 10 percent of our daily calories. So that translates, depending on how many calories you eat a day, to about 10 to 12 teaspoons a day. So this means for many Americans cutting sugar consumption in half. Now, I should be clear here that we're not talking about intrinsic sugars, those that are found naturally in fruits and milk and vegetables. It's all the sugar that gets added to foods.
MONTAGNE: OK, less sugar.
AUBREY: That's right.
MONTAGNE: What else from these new and presumably different guidelines?
AUBREY: That's right. Well, one noticeable change is that these new guidelines really focus on healthy patterns of eating and emphasize getting more variety into your diet. So for instance, instead of coming out and saying, eat less red meat, the message now in these new guidelines is to make small shifts. They use that phrase a lot, to make small shifts to alternative sources of protein, for instance, seafood, beans, nuts. Now, I have to say, this is a bit controversial because last year, the advisory committee of nutrition experts that was tasked with sort of making recommendations on what to include in these guidelines, this committee came out and said, Americans should be told to eat less red meat. But this is not what the guidelines say. There's no specific recommendation to cut back on red or processed meats. Now, of course, the meat industry is pleased with this. Their reaction this morning is that these new dietary guidelines are, quote, "affirming that meat is part of a healthy diet." But on the other hand, I've already heard from two researchers this morning who are disappointed. They say the guidelines should have included specific limits on red and processed meats.
MONTAGNE: Well, how likely are Americans, do you think, to pay attention to any of this advice?
AUBREY: Well, you know, if past is prologue, I don't think that too many Americans are going to be paying a lot of attention. If you look, for instance, at the recommendations on fruit and vegetable consumption, which is to eat, you know, several cups' worth every day, the percentage of Americans following this advice is very low. For some age groups - for instance, teenagers - it's in the single digits. Americans also way over-eat refined carbs or refined grains but don't get enough of the whole grains. So as a culture, you know, we have a long way to go. But I think that this doesn't mean that the dietary guidelines are not important. The guidelines help shape federal programs, such as the school lunch program and the WIC program that helps feed at-risk mothers and their children. And I should point out that these guidelines are only a small part of a much bigger public health effort to get people to eat healthier.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Allison Aubrey. Thanks very much.
AUBREY: Thanks, Renee.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Viruses out in nature are constantly mutating, and there's always the threat that one will change enough to start a deadly pandemic in humans. Some researchers want to stay ahead of nature, anticipating what will come by tinkering with viruses in the lab. But for over a year, the U.S. government has put a hold on experiments that might result in more dangerous forms of viruses like influenza. This is because scientists are divided over the potential risks and benefits of this work. There will be more debate on this today at the National Institutes of Health. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce says that this time, everyone will be arguing over a long-awaited report from an independent expert.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: The report is a risk-benefit analysis done by a guy called Rocco Casagrande. He's got gray hair, glasses and a consulting company called Gryphon Scientific. His office is in a suburb of Washington, D.C. On the wall over his desk, there's a big picture of a tarot card known as the hanged man.
Are you into tarot? It doesn't seem like your sort of thing.
ROCCO CASAGRANDE: I'm not into it. I like what it symbolizes, but I don't believe in any of the tarot.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He is a scientist, after all, with a Ph.D. in biology from MIT. But he says this particular tarot card illustrates something important.
CASAGRANDE: So the story is the fool who's the hanged man needed to solve some puzzle, and so he hanged himself upside down from a tree for seven days and figured it out from that change of perspective.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Now federal officials have spent the last four years grappling with a really tough puzzle, and trying to get a change of perspective is why they recently hired Casagrande. Back in 2011, scientists altered a deadly bird flu virus in ways that might make it capable of causing a pandemic in people. The goal was to see what this virus was capable of so public health workers could get ready. Critics said the work was too dangerous. What if there was a lab accident that caused a global outbreak? Scientists split into two camps that duked it out in meetings, in op-eds and in public debates. Eventually, the research continued with more oversight. Then, two years ago, some unrelated lab mishaps involving smallpox, anthrax and bird flu made officials think again. In October of 2014, the White House put a temporary stop to experiments that might create more dangerous forms of flu plus two other respiratory viruses.
CASAGRANDE: There are very few examples where the government has ceased funding of research because of safety concerns. And that is an extremely momentous decision that was made.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Soon after, when Casagrande saw the government wanted to someone to do an independent review of the risks and benefits, he applied for the job.
CASAGRANDE: I knew that this was one of the more important scientific policy questions in the life sciences probably in my lifetime.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He also knew what he was getting into.
CASAGRANDE: We knew it would be contentious, the debate would be passionate. We knew there would be stark criticisms no matter what we found. But we figured the analysis had to be done is rigorously as possible and that we could do it.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: His team's report is over a 1,000 pages long, and all the major players in this debate will fight over what it means today and tomorrow at a meeting organized by the National Institutes of Health. Ron Fouchier is a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. It was his bird flu study, done with U.S. funding, that started this whole controversy. He thinks the report overstates the risks. He says labs like his have enhanced safety features that weren't fully considered.
RON FOUCHIER: And therefore, any risk that is being calculated is off by a few orders of magnitude from what it must be in my opinion.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Still, he liked how the report laid out the potential benefits. For the exact opposite view, talk to Marc Lipsitch. He's an epidemiologist at Harvard School of Public Health who thinks these experiments should not be done. He finds the report's discussion of potential benefits unconvincing, and he thinks it downplays the risks.
MARC LIPSITCH: Even given their very optimistic assumptions in some cases and erroneous assumptions in other cases which all lead them to think the risk is smaller than it is, they still come out with a level of risk that is unacceptable.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: These reactions do not surprise Rocco Casagrande. He says in a situation like this, when you try to be impartial -
CASAGRANDE: You expect to be damned by both sides.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says his job was not to decide what changes to these viruses should be allowed, but to gather all the relevant information.
CASAGRANDE: If anyone's worried about any particular manipulation, they can use our report to find out exactly how risky it is compared to an unmodified strain and then go to the benefits section and say OK, what are the benefits of doing that type of work? And then make their own conclusions.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: It'll be months, probably, before government officials make any conclusions. Of course, it's not all up to the U.S. government. Scientific research happens around the world, and other nations may weigh the risks and benefits differently. At Ron Fouchier's lab in the Netherlands, he says this kind of experiment is on hold but he wants to restart this research. And if the U.S. eventually decides it can't support it, he'll go ahead with other sources of funding. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The first presidential primaries are almost here, but let's step back for a moment. Remember last spring - the start of campaign season? The buzz was all about super PACs - how they would be more involved - for example, picking up the hefty tab for some TV advertising. Well, here we are today, and the leading Republican candidate doesn't even have a super PAC. So, NPR's Peter Overby, what happened?
PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: That leading candidate, of course, is Donald Trump. Here he is last month at Hilton Head, S.C.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
DONALD TRUMP: You can't turn on this television without these commercials on Fox. Every two minutes, it's a commercial on Trump.
OVERBY: Trump just recently started buying TV himself. All of the other candidates have been on the air for months, and mostly the ads are coming from supposedly independent super PACs.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
TED CRUZ: And we need to take power out of Washington and back to we, the people.
OVERBY: Ted Cruz...
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
CHRIS CHRISTIE: No one in this race has been more tested than I've been.
OVERBY: ...Chris Christie...
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Jeb will destroy ISIS and keep America safe.
OVERBY: ...And Jeb Bush, who's super PAC leads them all. Right to Rise accounts for 97 percent of Bush's TV spending and more than a third of all the TV spending by all the candidates in both parties. That's according to the media firm SMG Delta and NBC News. Super PACs are so super because they take unlimited contributions from wealthy donors - money the candidate's campaign cannot accept. But John Feehery, a veteran Republican adviser, cited Bush as an example of how super PACs don't always work.
JOHN FEEHERY: If you put all of your most creative thinkers at the super PAC - you know, Mike Murphy, for example, is at the Bush super PAC.
OVERBY: Mike Murphy is one of the Bush family's favorite strategists.
FEEHERY: That has actually kept him out of the day-to-day decision making of the campaign, which I think has hurt the Bush campaign. They really do miss his creative thinking.
OVERBY: This is just the second presidential election since super PACs became legal. In 2012, they were attack dogs. The Mitt Romney super PAC tore down Newt Gingrich in the Republican primaries. Now super PACs also do positive messages about their own candidates, but Republicans with the biggest outside spending - Bush, Christie and John Kasich - are all stuck low in the polls. Super PACs can even keep candidates afloat when the campaign money runs low, although that can't go on indefinitely.
DIANA DWYRE: It might help us understand why there's still so many people in the Republican primary.
OVERBY: Diana Dwyre is a political scientist at California State University, Chico. She said super PAC donors aren't always in sync with the voters.
DWYRE: I mean, if they were picking horses at the track, you know, they'd probably be more strategic about it than the way the some of them are picking where to throw their dollars.
OVERBY: And here's another thing. Nobody's figured out what else a super PAC can do that really helps a presidential hopeful. Bobby Jindal and Carly Fiorina had super PACs running their campaign events. The candidate was essentially a guest. Jindal dropped out in November. Fiorina's barely hanging on. The most unlikely super PAC success of 2016 may turn out to be a Democratic group from 2013 and 2014. Ready for Hillary built an email list of nearly 4 million Clinton supporters. The Clinton campaign now has that list. Democratic consultant Phil Singer said it's a big deal.
PHIL SINGER: The Ready for Hillary operation created a significant amount of data. And it might prove to be a classic model for how to go about using an outside group to propel a candidacy.
OVERBY: But Dwyre, the political scientist, said super PACs can only do so much.
DWYRE: If you're not a good candidate, if you don't have the other ingredients there, it's not going to matter whether you have a big super PAC behind you.
OVERBY: A factor that won't likely deter any White House hopeful from setting one up. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And for some fun business news, let's talk about the robots that were popular this holiday season on the big screen.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "STAR WARS: EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE")
ANTHONY DANIELS: (As C-3PO) Wait, over here.
MONTAGNE: Right now, that kind of robot is only found in "Star Wars" - too bed. NPR's Laura Sydell is at the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas the CES, where she went to see how close we are to a real-life C-3PO.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Meet Pepper. She's got humanoid features like eyes, arms, mouth and well, I'll let her speak for herself.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (As Pepper) I'm just about 4-feet-tall and a little under 62 pounds. Speaking of height, according to my calculations, I am .6 times the height of Michael Jordan.
SYDELL: Pepper rolls around on wheels and has censors so that she doesn't hit anything.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (As Pepper) Just think what a robot like me can do for you.
SYDELL: Well, what can a robot like Pepper do for me?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (As Pepper) I can dance. OK, well, let's go.
SYDELL: But the truth is it's not that clear what Pepper can really do for me. As far as I can tell, she doesn't even twerk.
RODOLPHE GELIN: Today, if you want to have Pepper, it's because it's fun.
SYDELL: This is Rodolphe Gelin, the chief scientific officer at Aldebaran, the French company that makes Pepper. Aldebarren has been in robotics for over a decade. A lot of its robots are used by researchers and educators. And more recently, shops in Europe and Asia have used them to greet customers.
GELIN: And today, we think that the robot is ready for this kind of application - welcoming people, having a simple dialogue, giving some information.
SYDELL: Gelin says Pepper has helped draw customers into shops, but she'll cost you. This year, she'll be available in the U.S. for $20,000. Yet the amount of space given to personal robots at CES is growing every year. Most are like Pepper - cute but a little unsatisfying. Take BOCCO. She looks humanoid but is only about half-a-foot tall. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: We report, based on an interview with Aldebaran Chief Scientific Officer Rodolphe Gelin, that Pepper will be available in the U.S. for $20,000. The company now says the actual cost of Pepper when the robot enters the U.S. market will be closer to $25,000 and that it will be available only to businesses.]
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (As BOCCO) I hope mom and dad stay in touch with the children and hear their voices while busy at work.
SYDELL: BOCCO helps them stay in touch because parents and children can record messages on their smartphone and send them to BOCCO, who plays them back. She also can alert parents when the door of a child's room opens by sending a signal. The other robots on the floor could also do a few tasks. One washed windows, another one folded clothes, though not very well. And there was, of course, a vacuum-cleaner robot. Maryanna Saenko, an analyst with Lux Research, says what's happening is that engineers are solving one problem at a time at many different companies.
MARYANNA SAENKO: The challenge is that as people solve these, they immediately want to create a market out of them. So we get these little stepwise solution in the robotic space where each little robot completes a little task.
SYDELL: Saenko says the big problem is battery life.
SAENKO: They're constantly computing what's going on in their space, who am I looking at, what am I trying to interact with? And so that's actually really energy intensive.
SYDELL: We are slowly getting closer to making it all work, says Saenko. But buying a robot at this point is more like buying one of the early Apple computers. It's great for people who want to get in early. For the time being, the best personal robots are going to remain in a galaxy far, far away. Laura Sydell, NPR News, Las Vegas.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We've been listening to voices this week of people reacting to President Obama and his call for more gun control. Among other things, the president announced a regulatory change to force more sellers to do background checks. We hear this morning from a man who runs gun shows across the American West. Bob Templeton is founder of Crossroads of the West Gun Shows. He's been in the gun business for over four decades. We reached him at his home in Chandler, Ariz.
You know, I have been to gun shows. And they strike me as real family affairs. I mean, for people who aren't familiar, can you just describe the scene for me?
BOB TEMPLETON: Yeah. A gun show is a place where people get together, families frequently. They come to buy or sell or trade as well as to share views with others who share their political persuasions.
GREENE: So everyone says, like, at the dinner table, you don't want to bring up religion or politics. But it sounds like a gun show, it's OK to bring up politics.
TEMPLETON: (Laughter) Yeah, it's OK. It's OK at the gun show I guess.
GREENE: Well, and I understand that business has been picking up for you recently.
TEMPLETON: Well, it has. I think it's due to a couple of factors. I think people are concerned about their gun rights with efforts at the national level to restrict those rights. And I think people are genuinely concerned that as good as our law enforcement personnel are in doing their jobs, they can't be all places at all times. So ever since the terrorist incident in San Bernardino, people are starting to think about taking responsibility for their own personal safety as well as the safety of their family members. And so we're seeing a lot of first-time gun buyers, both in stores and at the gun shows.
GREENE: It's such an amazing thing to think about the range of reactions in this country, I mean, to hear you describing people who sort of want to feel more protected themselves and protect their families. And then you have people who want to reduce sort of the legal ways that people can get guns after they see an attack like that.
TEMPLETON: Yeah, there's probably no more polarizing issue where people feel as emotional. I mean, we've seen that as members of families of victims of gun violence field every strongly that we should restrict access to firearms - and valid feelings. We certainly empathize with those folks. But people who own and use guns lawfully are feeling like they're being blamed for the acts of mentally deranged people or religious fanatics. So the challenge for the president and for everyone, I guess, is to try to find a middle ground. And there isn't - it's not obvious that there is any middle ground, really.
GREENE: What about your gun shows? Will anything change for you with these expanded background checks? Or are these background checks that your sellers are already doing?
TEMPLETON: Well, the individuals, the few collectors that sell at the shows, don't have any way to access the system. So that part will not likely change.
GREENE: The way the White House was talking about it, it sounded like they were thinking this change would affect collectors. But it sounds like there might - that might not be definitive yet in the minds of some of the collectors and others.
TEMPLETON: Yeah, that's right. There is confusion. The general consensus among those who have looked at what President Obama said is that basically, there'll probably be increased surveillance to - at the shows to determine who is selling repetitively for profit and is engaged in the business. But I don't think the occasional collectors and the occasional sellers will be affected by this change.
GREENE: You know, you said something that really struck me because this issue has been polarizing for so long. But you said there are, you know, really valid arguments on both sides. And I wonder, as we think about San Bernardino, do you blame people who react to that by saying, you know, let's limit how people can get their hands on guns legally so we prevent a tragedy like that?
TEMPLETON: Well, I think that those of us in the pro-gun community feel like when folks like that, who are bent on destruction and terrorism and have those kinds of convictions and commitments to violence, they're going to figure out a way to get their hands on guns legally or illegally. And so I don't know that the guns themselves can be blamed. But I understand that - the legitimate public safety concerns that people have with regard to access to firearms. I understand that, and I'm - try to relate to that and try to achieve a balance in my mind between that and not restricting the access of law-abiding citizens to firearms. And it's a difficult dance.
GREENE: We were speaking to Bob Templeton, founder of Crossroads of the West Gun Shows. We were talking about President Obama's executive action on guns.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino did renew the debate on gun control. And now the man prosecutors say bought some of the guns used in that assault is pleading not guilty to charges of assisting terrorism. Matt Guilhem of member station KVCR was at yesterday's arraignment and has this report.
MATT GUILHEM, BYLINE: Unlike his last court appearance in mid-December, Enrique Marquez wasn't smiling broadly this time. His demeanor was more serious and his voice confident as he entered his not guilty plea. Wednesday's arraignment lasted all of about five minutes and went by the book.
LAURIE LEVENSON: Nothing surprising about this, they're just going to get him along the road on the way to trial.
GUILHEM: Laurie Levenson is a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School. While the magistrate judge set a trial date of February 23, Levenson sees a host of strategies the defense could take to push the trial back. One delay could be getting access to documents.
LEVENSON: There might be an opportunity for the defense to try to get a look at classified information. And then that will be a big battle with what the prosecutors will or will not turn over in terms of national security.
GUILHEM: Depending on what happens in the pretrial phase, the tentative February 23 trial date could be more like late 2016. But Levenson says this case may not go to trial.
LEVENSON: I always think it's a viable option that a plea deal could be reached, even in a case that has the label, terrorism.
GUILHEM: As a former federal prosecutor herself, Levenson has her doubts the government will be in a dealing mood given the charges. However, if a reasonable prison sentence could be agreed upon by both sides, Levenson says a plea deal isn't out of the question. Earlier this week, the FBI began reaching out to the public to fill in a hole in its timeline of the day of the shooting. The bureau has accounted for shooters Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, for nearly four hours between the rampage and the pursuit by law enforcement. But there's an 18-minute blank space. Investigators want to know where the pair went and who, if anybody, they may have been in contact with in the missing 18-minute window. While the broader terrorism investigation continues, Marquez is slated to be back in court for a status hearing in early February. For NPR News, I'm Matt Guilhem in San Bernardino.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
2015 saw the deadliest attacks on French soil since World War II. And they began one year ago today, when gunmen stormed the Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and began a three-day killing spree that would claim 17 lives. Just 10 months later, armed Islamist radicals struck the city again, killing scores of people at cafes and at a concert hall. President Francois Hollande says France is again at war. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports on how a country that's long stood for individual freedom is trying to balance liberty with a need for security.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: In his traditional New Year's Eve address, President Francois Hollande told the French they aren't finished with terrorism. The threat is still there, he said, and it's at its highest level ever. We are regularly thwarting new attacks. To fight terrorism, Hollande said the French government would seek to amend the country's constitution to make it easier for the president to impose states of emergency in the future. The state of emergency allows police to conduct searches and seizures and detain people at any time, without a warrant. Hollande also wants to modify the constitution to enshrine a proposal long associated with the far right, stripping convicted terrorists with dual citizenship of their French nationality. The proposals have caused a political uproar. But in today's France facing terror in its streets, the lines between left and right have blurred. Constitutional law professor Didier Maus says the debate is similar to that in the U.S. over the Patriot Act.
DIDIER MAUS: (Through interpreter) So we must find a middle place between what is acceptable in the name of fighting terrorism and what is impossible in the name of defending liberty.
BEARDSLEY: All week, French TV has aired riveting documentaries detailing the attacks. They show some stunning security failures. When police arrived at Charlie Hebdo, the killing had not yet started. But officers were unaware that the controversial newspaper was located in the building, even though it had been firebombed four years earlier for republishing Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. And one of the two Charlie Hebdo attackers was supposed to be under police surveillance, but authorities lost his trail when he left Paris for another French city.
JEAN DE MAILLARD: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Former terrorism judge Jean de Maillard says France has good intelligence but doesn't have the manpower to keep track of individuals once they're identified as potential threats. Hollande has promised more police and judges, and Charlie Hebdo's new editor now has five bodyguards. On Tuesday, a plaque to the victims was unveiled near the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Train driver Gilbert Oudinet (ph) came to see it. He says France is grasping for ways to deal with a new reality of jihad and terrorism.
GILBERT OUDINET: (Through interpreter) I think people are pushed to extremism because of a lack of jobs and misery. Taking away their nationality won't solve the problem. We have to offer jobs and hope for people to live on.
BEARDSLEY: Oudinet says that would cost a lot less than paying all these soldiers and police to protect us. NPR News, Paris.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK, Renee, can I just hand you a picture here to take a look at? Tell me what you see.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Yeah, sure. OK. Two men kind of hidden behind some cars, one seeming to be handing an envelope to the other man.
GREENE: Yeah, looks kind of shady - doesn't it? - in the parking lot there.
MONTAGNE: Yeah.
GREENE: Well, one thing you can't see in the photo, but that we know about is this envelope is stuffed with $100 bills. And it's actually pretty rare that we even see this because it's a photo of a crime we hear about a lot, but don't often see. And it captures insider trading in action. Here's Jacob Goldstein from our Planet Money team.
JACOB GOLDSTEIN, BYLINE: Often in insider trading cases, the person who commits the crime does not want to talk about it. This case is different.
So you're the guy in the photo.
SCOTT LONDON: I am the guy in the photo. Yeah (laughter).
GOLDSTEIN: This is Scott London, the man photographed taking that envelope full of cash.
LONDON: I've been - well, I was a CPA.
GOLDSTEIN: A CPA - a certified public accountant - and he was good at it. He worked at a big accounting firm and rose through the ranks until he was managing hundreds of people. As part of his job, he oversaw corporate audits, which gave him access to information that would be worth a lot of money to people outside those companies. And Scott had this one friend - a friend named Bryan Shaw.
LONDON: We went out for dinner, and we played golf, and we occasionally traveled together.
GOLDSTEIN: Bryan Shaw ran a jewelry business, and right after the financial crisis, that business was in bad shape. One day, Bryan made this proposal to Scott.
LONDON: He goes, hey, I know a way that we can both make a little bit of money.
GOLDSTEIN: According to Scott, his friend said, you give me some information about things like profits and mergers before the rest of the world knows about it. Then I'll trade on it, make some easy money and kick some of it back to you.
LONDON: My initial reaction was that, you know, he's joking. I just - you know, I said, like, you know we can't do that.
GOLDSTEIN: But Bryan kept asking, and Scott started to consider it. He definitely did not need the money. He was earning over $500,000 a year.
What was going through your head at the time?
LONDON: A battle - the simple version of one side is that I knew it was wrong. It was stupid. And then the other side is all right, well, he's a good friend. I trust him.
GOLDSTEIN: So Scott did it, and he says Bryan would always want to pay him back somehow. Sometimes it was jewelry. Sometimes it was cash. One time, Bryan called and asked to meet in person.
LONDON: He absolutely wanted me to get this money in my hand. Is there any way he could meet me?
GOLDSTEIN: They met at a Starbucks parking lot. Nearby there was a camera, hence that photo that would later be all over the press of Scott taking that envelope stuffed with money.
LONDON: Five thousand dollars in cash - 50 $100 bills.
GOLDSTEIN: What do you do with 50 $100 bills?
LONDON: To be specific, I put it in my underwear drawer in my closet.
GOLDSTEIN: To be clear, it's probably always a bad idea to meet someone in a parking lot to get an envelope stuffed with hundreds. In this case, the handoff is what makes this such a clear-cut insider trading case. If Scott had just given his friend insider information, if he hadn't taken anything in return, he probably would have got in some trouble, but he would not have been guilty of insider trading because under insider trading law, the person providing the information has to benefit in some clear away. And so when the FBI showed up at his house not long after that, Scott immediately knew what it meant.
LONDON: It was like, OK, what's my wife going to say? What are my friends going to say? Oh, [expletive], I'm going to lose my job. Oh, [expletive] I'm going to go to prison.
GOLDSTEIN: Scott pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Bryan Shaw, who declined to comment for this story, also pleaded guilty and was given a shorter sentence.
There is one last question that Scott still asks himself. Why did he do it? Was it for the thrill?
LONDON: No, wasn't exciting at all. More than anything, it was a nuisance.
GOLDSTEIN: Was he trying to get his friend to like him more? Was that it?
LONDON: No, that didn't ever pass through my mind.
GOLDSTEIN: As dumb as it seems, as best as he can reconstruct, he says he did it to help out a friend. But he says crossing over the line, doing the wrong thing was somehow much easier than it should have been. Jacob Goldstein, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. This week, scientists tasted a bottle of beer that had languished at the bottom of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia for 125 years. A treasure hunter brought the pale ale to Andrew MacIntosh, who specializes in fermentation research. The professor examined the color, the pH levels and offered this review to CTV News - an odd meaty flavor with lighter fruit notes, a distinct bitterness and a very bad odor. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well, it happened again this morning in China. The markets opened, stocks plummeted, and a so-called circuit breaker put an end to trading for the day after only 29 minutes. To help us make sense of what's happening in China, we spoke with Fraser Howie. He is an analyst and co-author of the book "Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation Of China's Extraordinary Rise." We've reached him in Singapore. Fraser, good morning.
FRASER HOWIE: Good morning to you.
GREENE: I think about the title of your book. Things seem as fragile as ever right now with these (laughter) - with stocks plummeting. What is - what's happening?
HOWIE: That's a good question. It's a new year, but an old problem. I'm sure last year, you would have covered the booms and busts of the stock market over the summer.
GREENE: Yeah.
HOWIE: The circuit breakers that were only introduced this Monday were brought in as a direct consequence of the volatility of last summer. And the regulator basically wanted a mechanism that would, you know, stop these violent moves, and they've got one. Whether the circuit breaker's helping or hindering, the bottom line problem is there was a huge stock market bubble last year. It burst. They tried to re-inflate it. The government put restrictions on investor selling. They basically poured in about $200 billion to buy up stocks. Those problems are still with us. You had poor economic data out of China. You had - today, you had the central bank of China devaluing the currency again and basically sending a very worrying sign to the market. And the feeling is that the policymakers have lost the plot, as it were.
GREENE: So, Fraser, just listening to you describe this here, I mean, it sounds like what you're suggesting is, you know, that the Chinese economy has sort of been weakening - maybe you might see falls in stocks - but that the government's response actually is making things worse.
HOWIE: I think that's basically true. We've known for a number of years that the economy is weak. We've seen that affect things globally. We've seen the commodity sectors - Brazil, Australia - all being affected by the commodity slowdown. That's largely driven by weakness in the Chinese economy.
It's not helped, as well, that the same Chinese policymakers who for the past 20 years were said to be able to, you know, manage the economy well, set long-term policies, could manage slowdown, et cetera - their response has been wanting. And it's basically today the People's Bank of China, which is the central bank of China - they devalued their currency by only 50 basis points - half of 1 percent - but that was a big move for China. And that sent an already weak market basically tumbling today, so very mixed messages coming out from all the policymakers from China. And it's this loss of confidence in the government and how they're responding to economic weakness which I think is the real worrying story at the moment.
GREENE: Fraser, you mentioned this is not that new. I mean, this past summer, the markets in China dropped. A lot of the world seemed to sort of keep cool heads, but now you're seeing European and U.S. markets really follow China's lead here. Why is that happening?
HOWIE: Well, obviously, it's a globalized world, an interconnected world, so there are knock-on effects globally. I don't think they should be overplayed. I don't think China's collapsing. I don't think there's a financial crisis coming in China anytime soon. The government does have policy tools still to manage this, to work their way through, but it's very much a muddling through. What I think the world is slowly waking up to is that China is very much no longer the miracle economy. The growth in China is very anemic. And anyone who was pinning their global recovery hopes on a China turnaround - they're basically fooling themselves. That's not coming. China is now an economic problem for our world, not a solution.
GREENE: All right. We've been speaking to Fraser Howie. He is the co-author of a book called "Red Capitalism" and also an economic analyst. He spoke to us from Singapore. Fraser, thanks so much.
HOWIE: Thank you very much.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
People in Denmark got a shock this week. For the first time in 50 years, Danes crossing the main bridge leading to Sweden had to show a picture ID at the border. That's because the bridge has also carried thousands of migrants into Sweden, a welcoming country that now wants to slow things down.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And controlling Sweden's border is having a ripple effect. Denmark is tightening its own border with Germany. That's in order to turn away migrants coming through Denmark and headed for Sweden without proper documents.
MONTAGNE: Lars Lose is Denmark's ambassador to the U.S. He joined us to explain why his country is temporarily spot checking people at its border.
LARS LOSE: The thing is when all these countries introduce border controls - and especially Sweden introduced the border controls -we'll have to do the same in Denmark. Otherwise, we will have a situation which is mainly security concern that all the legal immigrants who are not allowed going into Sweden will be stuck in Copenhagen.
The fact is that we'll actually probably see that more people will seek asylum in Denmark after we introduce border controls than before because when you approach refugees and migrants at the border between Germany and Denmark, telling them, you cannot go to Sweden, perhaps, if you don't have the papers necessary to go to Sweden or Finland or Norway, but do you want to seek asylum in Denmark? Some of them will probably say yes.
You have a heated discussion in the U.S. about how to do a vetting procedure for refugees from Syria, for an example. Imagine that in Europe and Denmark, we have no vetting procedure at all before they turn up in our country. It's a huge challenge, and it is a security challenge, as well.
MONTAGNE: You know, I gather that the Danish government put an ad or ads in Lebanese newspapers aiming to tell people - don't think that this is a paradise.
LOSE: Exactly. What we saw back then when the ads were put in, which was actually decided before the refugee and migrant crisis started in September, was we need to do this - other countries have done the same - because we saw that human traffickers actually put in advertisements saying that you should go to Denmark because, well, this is heaven on earth. You will get these and these benefits. You will have a cruise ship going to Denmark. We saw that on Facebook, all over social media. We had to correct that, so they put in the ads to clarify - what can you expect if you go to Denmark?
MONTAGNE: And pretty much what was Denmark telling people to expect?
LOSE: They told people that there was a cut in benefit. But, of course, they'll still have the access to health, schooling system - educational system - like everybody else, but that there was a cut in 50 percent in the benefits you could receive in Denmark.
MONTAGNE: Now that Sweden has tightened up its border control, it turns out that the main bridge into Sweden from Denmark - you know, it includes everybody who goes across that bridge into Sweden. How our Danes feeling about that - the fact that they now are stopped at the border?
LOSE: You cannot overestimate the magnitude of this decision that we have to show identity papers when going to Sweden or going to Denmark from Sweden because the principle of free movement of people in Europe is a cornerstone of the European Union, the European cooperation (ph). We should be very careful not to destroy that because it's the foundation of the European cooperation, or it is one of the founding pillars of the European cooperation. This is a big, big decision, not only between Denmark, Sweden, but also between the Nordic countries and EU, as such.
MONTAGNE: Well, Ambassador, thank you very much for joining us.
LOSE: Thank you for having me.
MONTAGNE: Lars Lose is Denmark's ambassador to the U.S.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It's a week into 2016 and perhaps time to see how these New Year's resolutions are coming. If your resolutions included decluttering, a book out this week hopes to capitalize on that. NPR's Lauren Migaki has more.
LAUREN MIGAKI, BYLINE: Millions of people bought Marie Kondo's first book, "The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up." The young author has celebrity clients. She's spoken at Google.
MARIE KONDO: My Marie Kondo. Call me KonMari. I am a Japanese organizing consultant.
MIGAKI: She's been called the Beyonce of organizing.
KONDO: (Speaking Japanese).
MIGAKI: An Internet video of her folding socks has more than 1.5 million views. So what is it about Marie Kondo that's got everyone so eager to tackle their closets?
BARRY YOURGRAU: Her message is simply to retain things that spark joy and get rid of everything else.
MIGAKI: That's Barry Yourgrau, author of a book about clutter. He recently profiled Marie Kondo for The New Yorker. He says part of the allure is her method -- the KonMari method. It involves holding an object and asking, does this bring me joy?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Ask yourself, does this really bring me...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I'm not asking myself anything.
MIGAKI: That's just one of the many online videos uploaded by KonMari followers.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: And keeping those. My chomplas (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Honey.
MIGAKI: But it's not straight to the garbage if there's no joy.
YOURGRAU: She has a whole little ceremonial of saying goodbye to things that you throw out. This little au revoir is kiss your socks goodbye because one of the huge issues in people decluttering is the inability to let go.
MIGAKI: Yourgrau points out Marie Kondo's ideas aren't groundbreaking. She just sells it really well.
YOURGRAU: She's deeply charming in a charismatic way. One of the things the editor thought when he first encountered her was, this person is going to be sensational on television. And she was. She makes a tremendously compelling presence.
MIGAKI: Compelling enough for MORNING EDITION producer Emily Ochsenschlager to try KonMari-ing (ph) her home for the new year.
JOSH FURMAN: All of them?
MIGAKI: Emily, her dog and her fiance Josh Furman share a 550-square-foot home.
EMILY OCHSENSCHLAGER: I've never liked this coat.
FURMAN: Here is another winter dress coat that I have.
MIGAKI: They're KonMari-ing (ph) their jacket collection...
OCHSENSCHLAGER: Does this bring joy?
FURMAN: It really should.
MIGAKI: ...And having a little trouble defining joy.
OCHSENSCHLAGER: I mean, I feel like I could find joy in anything I own.
MIGAKI: And the KonMari method isn't without its critics. Author Barry Yourgrau calls the suggestion to get rid of unread books barbaric.
YOURGRAU: She said, if you haven't read it yet, you're not going to read it, which is just rubbish. I mean, there are many books I've had that I've looked at for five, 10 years, and then one day I open them, and I fall in love with them.
MIGAKI: And, of course, there are a couple items that just might not pass the KonMari joy-sparking test but should probably be held onto anyways. Tax documents, unpaid parking tickets, divorce papers - all come to mind. Marie Kondo's new book is called "Spark Joy." Lauren Migaki, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
I'm just thinking about my cluttered office right now and really, very sad about it.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
South Korea today took a step sure to irritate its communist neighbor. In response to North Korea's nuclear test, South Korea says it will resume blasting loudspeaker propaganda across the border. South Korea stopped doing that last summer after the two countries fired artillery shells at each other across that border. As for the nuclear test, there's still a lot of uncertainty about exactly what took place at North Korea's nuclear test site yesterday. On the phone with us now is Victor Cha. He is a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Good morning.
VICTOR CHA: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: It's of course now the day after North Korea claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb. What can we say about what actually happened?
CHA: Well, Renee, we still don't know for sure. People are basing their assessments on the seismic readings which seem to suggest it was not a hydrogen bomb. It's not - the readings are not large enough for it to be a hydrogen bomb. Nevertheless, this is the fourth nuclear test by North Korea. It was more powerful than the three previous tests, and they're clearly advancing their program with each test that they do.
MONTAGNE: Well, whatever was tested - and clearly, as you say, something was tested - it would seem to send a message to the people of the world that would be the message of Kim Jong Un. What would that be?
CHA: Well, I think probably the main message is that they are - both domestically and internationally, they're trying to show with this test that this leader who has just come to power about four years ago is fully in control. They have a major gathering of the Communist Party in the spring, only the seventh one in the history of the country, in which I think they're going to try to celebrate the coronation of this young fellow as the leader. And so this is both a sign of strength outwardly, as well as domestically, to show that this is the man who's in control.
MONTAGNE: Well, of course North Korea has approximately one important ally, and that's China. And yet, even China has criticized it about this test. What influence does China have over North Korea?
CHA: Well, on paper China has a great deal of influence because they're really the only country today that does a large amount of trade and assistance with North Korea. But the Chinese say publicly that they don't have a lot of influence because they're largely unwilling to use that assistance as leverage to get the regime to do what we want it to do. The reason they don't want to do that is they're afraid that they're going to collapse the regime or destabilize it. And for China, a destabilized North Korea on their border is as scary as a nuclear North Korea that's doing nuclear tests, if not more scary.
MONTAGNE: Well, just briefly - we just have a few seconds, but what impact have sanctions had on North Korea?
CHA: The - North Korea's been under sanctions for a long time. Clearly, they have not had an impact on North Korea's nuclear program, the development of the program. But there's still more sanctioning that can be done. If you compare North Korea to Iran, the level of sanctioning in North Korea is a fraction of what was done to Iran. So I think there's still some space there that the U.N. and that the United States and its allies will look at going forward.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
CHA: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Victor Cha was director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council under President George W. Bush.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Yesterday on the show, we told you about recent accusations of sexual abuse by former students of St. George's, a prestigious prep school in Rhode Island. The former students allege they were abused, beginning as early as the 1970s, by members of the school staff. The school has since apologized to the former students and said it will pay for counseling.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Among several former students coming forward to make the accusations is Katie Wales. She says she was abused by a staff member, Al Gibbs, who is now dead. Katie Wales says Gibbs abused her repeatedly in 1979, and that she told the head of school at the time, a man by the name of Tony Zane.
MONTAGNE: Katie Wells says Zane did not believe her and called her mentally unstable. Our reporter left a message for Zane seeking a response, and we now have that response, which contradicts Wales' account.
GREENE: Zane's written statement says, quote, "the very first time I learned of allegations regarding Al Gibbs was around the first of the year in 1980. I fired Gibbs on February 5, 1980. At no time did I ever tell any student that she was mentally unstable."
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
In Oregon, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward's patience is beginning to wear thin. This rural county was thrust into the national spotlight when a protest in support of two local ranchers convicted of federal arson charges splintered, and a group of armed militants took over a federal wildlife refuge. Last night, Sheriff Ward urged locals to distance themselves from the militants. NPR's Kirk Siegler has the latest from Burns, Ore.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Several hundred folks crowded into a barn at the Harney County Fairgrounds, and before Sheriff Dave Ward could even take the microphone, this emotional crowd erupted into a standing ovation.
(APPLAUSE)
SIEGLER: There were chants in support of Ward and his calls for the occupiers to go home, and plenty of fired-up people - like 64-year-old rancher Georgia Marshall, who has grazing leases out on the refuge.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
GEORGIA MARSHALL: And my boots are shaken, but I'm proud of who I am. I'm proud to be a rancher. And I'm not going to let some other people be my face.
SIEGLER: Now, make no mistake - Sheriff Ward is also tired and frustrated as the armed occupation now enters its sixth day.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
DAVE WARD: I, too, have a lot of concerns about the direction our country is going. But I intend to handle those by going to the ballot box.
SIEGLER: The sheriff, who has received death threats and whose family has been harassed, says the armed occupiers are creating anxiety in this rural county of about 7,000 people.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
WARD: You don't come here and intimidate people. You're not invited to come here and bother with our citizens.
SIEGLER: Now, some here even volunteered to form an improvised brigade and drive out to the refuge to plead with the occupiers personally. The question no one has an answer to is how much longer this drama is going to last. The sheriff has said he expects federal charges will be filed against several of the armed militants. But the FBI so far isn't commenting.
Out at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, the fog cleared to reveal a stunning view of the snowy Oregon high desert, and Ammon Bundy, the leader here, suggested the occupation will go on as long as the two local ranchers now serving federal time for arson are in prison.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AMMON BUNDY: There is a time to go home. We recognize that. We don't feel it's quite time yet.
SIEGLER: If nothing else, Bundy and his group have re-opened a fierce debate over how massive amounts of public lands in the American West are managed. Now, the tensions between the federal government and ranchers in Harney County, which is roughly three-quarters federally-owned, go way back.
JAKE DAVIS: Well, the more and more I watch these guys, the more and more I'm supporting them.
SIEGLER: Jake Davis and his wife, Ellie, stop by to have a look at the occupation. They raise cattle a few miles from the refuge, which is critical habitat for migrating birds on the West Coast. But Jake Davis says as the refuge expanded over the years, ranchers were forced out, and there's less and less land for grazing.
J. DAVIS: This refuge right here, the employees here are good employees. And the BLM employees, they're good employees too. But they're just getting dictated from a higher-up. Those people calling the shots on the refuge ain't even been here to see what's going on.
SIEGLER: Like a lot of the rural West, remote Harney County, Ore. has struggled as the economy has shifted away from natural resources, and folks like Ellie Davis can't help but have mixed feelings about the occupation.
ELLIE DAVIS: I think they're out here for a good cause. I'm not sure that this is going to go anywhere beneficial for any of us.
SIEGLER: For now, Davis is just hoping it doesn't end in violence. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Burns, Ore.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Journalists like us will often say we never want to be part of the story. Our job is to cover it. But you can excuse the staff at ABC7, an affiliate in Washington, D.C. They had a crew covering a press conference. The mayor was there, so was the police chief. They were talking about a new effort in the city to prevent robberies, and that is when about a hundred feet away, ABC7's car was robbed. According to the station, someone broke a window and stole some of their equipment. And you're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
A year ago, on the morning of January 7, gunmen burst into the offices of a satirical magazine in Paris, France, and began shooting. The siege lasted for three days, with more killings on the street and in a kosher supermarket. It seemed like Paris' own 9/11 - that is, until last November, when attackers linked to ISIS killed 130 people in Paris. We reached out to Sylvie Kauffmann, the editorial director for the French newspaper Le Monde. She told me the mood in Paris is somber these days.
SYLVIE KAUFFMANN: It's the kind of life we have now in Paris. And at the same time, people know that they have to continue living normally. So we're in this, you know, strange mood that we know the danger is there, but we don't want to be defeated.
GREENE: You say it's the kind of life that you have to live now. And I'm really struck. You know, the French government is trying to make constitutional changes, something similar to the USA Patriot Act that was passed after 9/11 in this country. And there has been some criticism from politicians saying it's an overreach by the government, and individual rights might be threatened. But it sounds like a majority of people in France are very supportive of this kind of move.
KAUFFMANN: Yes. Politically, there's a very big debate. It's not a kind of debate you had just after September 11. After September 11, if I remember correctly, there was really a very strong political unity.
GREENE: Yeah.
KAUFFMANN: In the U.S. We don't have that. But the public opinion is supportive of increased security measures. I wouldn't compare it to the Patriot Act. You know, we don't have Guantanamo. We don't have special presidential powers.
GREENE: But able to arrest people much more freely, I mean, under suspicion of terrorism or anything.
KAUFFMANN: And legal instruments, exactly. Exactly, and that's what is at the heart of the controversy, particularly in the ruling Socialist party. A lot of people are really wary about increasing police powers.
GREENE: But what does it tell us that the French people seem to be very supportive of these kinds of changes?
KAUFFMANN: Well, I think first, a lot of people are afraid. And second, a lot of people resent the fact that there have been so many casualties. Some of those men were known to the police or to the intelligence services. And a lot of people think if the police had had more powers, maybe the attacks of November could have been avoided.
GREENE: Is there a moment that you as a Parisian look back to, you know, that really stands out over the last year?
KAUFFMANN: Yes, I think for me, what was really important was that rally of January 11. It was an incredible experience to stand there and realize that there were so many of us, so diverse. I think unfortunately, that moment was lost. Leaders didn't grab the magic of that moment to try to change the country. And I think an opportunity was lost.
GREENE: Do you see a day when - you know, when the state of emergency sort of calms down and the situation feels safer, that you might see a rally that big kind of bringing the country together?
KAUFFMANN: Yes, it could happen again. Yes, I think so. The state of emergency's planned to stay for three months. So, I mean, politically, the situation should normalize. But there are a lot of questions unanswered, including questions regarding the way we live together as a society, as a diverse society. And these questions have to be examined and answered.
GREENE: Sylvie Kauffmann is the editorial director and a columnist for Le Monde, a newspaper in Paris. Thanks so much for talking to us.
KAUFFMANN: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The much-talked-about Iowa caucus are looming - really now - just - we're really talking pretty soon. And on the Republican side, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are in a heated battle for first place. But some of the candidates who don't have a great shot at winning Iowa are still fighting hard in that state. NPR's Susan Davis went there to find out why.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: Two sharp-elbowed candidates are trying to knock each other out of contention, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. Here's a taste of the Iowa airwaves this week, courtesy of a super PAC supporting Bush.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Over the last three years, Rubio has missed important national security hearings and missed more total votes than any other senator. Politics first, that's the Rubio away.
DAVIS: And a super PAC for Rubio is pushing right back.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Desperate candidates say desperate things. And Jeb Bush is desperate. His attacks on Marco Rubio have been dismissed and debunked by our own Senator Grassley. The fact, Rubio's attended more classified national security briefings this year than any other candidate.
DAVIS: So why are two Republicans who are nearly certain to lose Iowa battling it out here? One man who has an answer is Ken Anderson. He's retired and a lifelong Republican and still undecided. Anderson was at a Marco Rubio town hall in Marshalltown yesterday. It makes sense to him why Bush and Rubio are going at it even though they're both running way behind.
KEN ANDERSON: If you come strong through Iowa in the top three or four, I think you really do have some momentum going on.
DAVIS: That's it. A strong third-place showing for a candidate like Bush or Rubio could change the momentum going into New Hampshire, another critical early state with a primary just one week after Iowa. Even locked-in Trump supporters like Larry Warnell say a third-place victory could be a good thing in Iowa.
LARRY WARNELL: It could be because in the last couple elections, number ones have never finished, I don't think.
DAVIS: Warnell's right. The last Republican candidate to win the Iowa caucuses and the nomination was George W. Bush in 2000. And while candidates like Trump and Cruz have established themselves as outsiders in this race, the remaining candidates are still jockeying for support for more traditional Republican voters in Iowa, like Justin Chappell. He's a small business owner, and he describes himself as a moderate. Chappell's still deciding between Bush, Rubio, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie or Ohio Governor John Kasich.
JUSTIN CHAPPELL: It'll be interesting to see of all of the so-called moderates, you know, which one gets the most votes.
DAVIS: Ann Selzer is the most respected pollster in Iowa.
ANN SELZER: The most important thing a candidate can do is when. And Iowa's the first place that you can win something.
DAVIS: If Cruz and Trump take first and second place, Selzer says the third-place finisher can still be meaningful if the rest of the pack is far behind.
SELZER: Who can be a substantial third-place? Because if you're just one point ahead of the next person or the next person and the next person, then nobody gets that third ticket. There is no third ticket. It's a virtual tie.
DAVIS: And while no candidate would claim to be running for third place, it may explain why candidates like Bush and Rubio have spent millions on the airwaves and why they plan to be back in Iowa next week. Susan Davis, NPR News, Des Moines.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
One year ago today, gunmen stormed the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and began a three-day killing spree that would claim 17 lives. French President Francois Hollande marked the day by speaking to French security forces. He told them France's war with terror has not ended. And an incident this morning in Paris has added to the gravity of the day. Much is still unclear about what happened. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley is in Paris on the line with us now. Good morning.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: A man - this much we know - a man has been killed by police outside a police station in the city. Tell us what else we know.
BEARDSLEY: Well, this man ran - tried to run into the police precinct. He was carrying a hatchet. Witnesses said he may have yelled Allahu akbar in Arabic, which means God is great, and that he may have been wearing an explosive belt. But now the bomb squads have come in, the man has been killed, and that explosive belt was fake. But what is ironic, Renee, is as you said - it happened at about the same time that the French president was at another police precinct, you know, honoring the police who have served this country for the last year, you know, tirelessly, and the victims of that attack on January 7 a year ago. And, you know, just on the same anniversary, someone storms into another police precinct. It just shows how jittery people are and how worried everyone is about follow-on attacks. And everything is being taken seriously right now. This whole neighborhood is in lockdown. Children are being kept in schools and traffic's off the streets. And they don't know if this is one lone crazy guy, or maybe he was part of a group, but we'll wait to find out.
MONTAGNE: And just once again, this is the anniversary of those Charlie Hebdo attacks. And add in last month's much more deadly attack in Paris - many have said that 2015 was the deadliest year there since World War II. So, you know, beyond people being hunkered down, what else are they saying today.
BEARDSLEY: Yeah, absolutely, Renee. Well, France is facing some serious issues now. People are saying the country has changed - I don't know if for good, but for many years to come - about security. The government wants to change, modify the French constitution to sort of write in a clause that can let the president impose the state of emergency when it's needed. There's a serious threat. There's been blood on French streets. And so as France faces these serious issues - how to, you know, increase security while keeping, you know, liberties and freedoms because France is known for that - you've got - now they have to take every little incident seriously. So everything is changed. Now, some incident like this a couple of years ago might've been nothing - a man with a hatchet, one crazy guy. But now everything is being taken seriously. So people are exhausted. The police are exhausted. The French government wants to give police new powers. I mean, everything seems to be changing in France right now.
MONTAGNE: Well, yeah, just briefly, President Hollande - you mentioned he wants to increase his powers. Check off just a couple of things he'd like to do, if he could.
BEARDSLEY: Well, the police cannot fire unless they're being fired upon. Hollande wants them to be able to use their weapons in other cases aside from self-defense, and also to be able to keep their weapons at home when they're off-duty. So things that have never happened before are now being considered, and what was, you know, right-wing political domains and left-wing are now blurring as the whole country comes together to increase security.
MONTAGNE: Well, Eleanor, thank you very much.
BEARDSLEY: Good to be with you, Renee. That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley, speaking to us from Paris.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And this has been another tumultuous day in the financial markets. Stock prices plunged as soon as trading began here in the United States with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down by triple digits. And this comes after a big selloff in Asia and Europe. And once again, all this turmoil seems to have begun in China. We're joined from New York by NPR's Jim Zarroli. Hey, Jim.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So tell us what is happening in China. It sounds like things got so bad so quickly, the government actually had to suspend trading there.
ZARROLI: Yeah, well, this week China's stock markets started using these circuit breakers which is something that we have in the U.S. stock markets, too. They're meant to curb volatility. So the way they work is that when stocks fall enough, trading is suspended for 15 minutes. And then if they fall even more, trading is suspended for the rest of the day. Now that happened this morning after just 29 minutes. Stocks had fallen so much that the markets shut down trading altogether. Now, these circuit breakers have only been in place this week, but they've already had to be activated twice. They were supposed to be sort of rarely used, but they've already been used twice. So after the markets close today, the Chinese stock market officials announced that they would stop using them.
GREENE: Well, is that an indication that the government feels like using those circuit breakers actually was having the opposite effect and making people more nervous?
ZARROLI: Well, I think it was certainly making a lot of investors angry because, as you can imagine, they were trying to, you know, sell their positions, and they were trying to trade. And after just a short time, they were told they couldn't do that. The Chinese stock market is trying very hard to be seen as respectable - to be, you know, on par with the other major stock markets in the world. And this is one of the reasons they're trying to cut down on volatility. But this just seemed to have the opposite effect, and there was a backlash.
GREENE: What's going on in China? I mean, for so many years, the government seemed to be guiding that economy so ably. And, I mean, what's going wrong?
ZARROLI: Well, I think that's what a lot of people are asking. I mean, China has been trying to change its economy so that it's less of an investment - you know, a capital-driven economy and more of a consumer-driven one. But I think there's a broad problem right now in that the leadership in Beijing is sort of losing credibility. I mean, China has - as you say, it's always been a top-down economy. The government has been steering things very well for a long time. But I think lately their efforts haven't succeeded as well. And I think a lot of investors are asking, you know, does Beijing really have a grip on this? What's - and what does it mean for the rest of the world? China is so big that its actions have consequences all over the place, and we're feeling that now.
GREENE: Well, let me ask you about those consequences. What is the view from New York in terms of how bad this could get for the U.S. markets?
ZARROLI: Well, I think the - I think one of the questions that's being raised is what it means for the Federal Reserve. You know, the markets are seeing less of a likelihood, I think, that interest rates are going to keep going up. In December, you had the Fed raise rates by a quarter point because the economy - the U.S. economy is improving. Everybody was predicting there would be more rate increases this year. But now a lot of people are wondering whether that's going to happen. They're looking at what's happening overseas and saying, you know, what does this mean for the U.S. economy?
GREENE: All right, we're speaking to NPR's Jim Zarroli about what has already been a tumultuous day in the financial markets, both in the United States and across the world, all linked, it seems, to a big fall in stocks in China. Jim, thanks a lot.
ZARROLI: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
There's been a debate over guns all this week. The topic came up again last night as President Obama held a town hall meeting. This follows the president's executive action to curb gun violence. The White House wants to spur investment in so-called smart guns - firearms that only work in the hands of their owners. But gun rights advocates see this technology as a backdoor to tighter gun controls. Here's NPR's Joel Rose.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: The debate around smart guns has been going on for decades - longer than Kai Kloepfer has been alive. Kloepfer is a lanky 18-year-old from Boulder, Colo. Last year, he posted an online video about his attempt to build a smart gun.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KAI KLOEPFER: Smart firearms can only be fired by specific people. So that means that if a child finds a firearm, or if a police officer's disarmed, that firearm is completely useless.
ROSE: That video has been viewed more than 20 million times. Kloepfer started trying to build a smart gun after the shootings in Aurora, Colo. Now he's taking a year off before college to work on his idea.
KLOEPFER: The biggest challenge is not the engineering. It's not designing something reliable. It's talking with people - getting over those misconceptions about what smart-gun technology is. And the president is one of the most widely-heard voices in the world.
ROSE: Which is why Kloepfer and other smart-gun supporters were glad to hear President Obama talk about gun safety technology earlier this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOWN HALL MEETING)
BARACK OBAMA: If a child can't open a bottle of aspirin, we should make sure that they can't pull a trigger on a gun.
ROSE: But there's also a history of presidents and other elected officials trying to help get smart guns to market, and some of those efforts have backfired spectacularly - for example, the deal signed back in 2000 between President Bill Clinton and one of the nation's largest gunmakers.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL CLINTON: Earlier today, Smith & Wesson signed a landmark agreement.
ROSE: Smith & Wesson agreed, among other things, to put more effort into building a smart gun. But that deal was rejected by the gun lobby and millions of gun owners, who boycotted Smith & Wesson and nearly drove the company out of business.
RICHARD FELDMAN: The feeling was that rather than being promoted by gun owners, this was promoted by the anti-gun community.
ROSE: Richard Feldman is president of the Independent Firearm Owners Association. Feldman says a lot of gun owners don't like smart guns for two main reasons. One is technical - they don't believe these guns will work when they're needed most, despite the fact that a working smart gun is already on sale in Europe. But Feldman says the real problem is in technology, or even economics.
FELDMAN: The market, I think, has always been there, but because of the politics of this issue, it hasn't been about supply and demand. It's been about politics.
ROSE: Feldman says many gun owners think of smart guns as gun control by other means. They believe the real goal is to make all other kinds guns of illegal. And there is some evidence for that. A law on the books in New Jersey mandates that once a smart gun goes on sale anywhere in the U.S., all gun stores in the state have to sell only smart guns within three years. The result of all this mistrust is that no American gunmaker or dealer will touch smart guns. Still, President Obama's executive action this week has smart gun advocates feeling encouraged.
STEPHEN TERET: I'm extraordinarily optimistic that this will break through the logjam and we'll be able to now bring these guns to the marketplace.
ROSE: Stephen Teret teaches public health at Johns Hopkins University. And he's optimistic because the president directed three big agencies to look at how they could spend money on safer gun technology.
TERET: That's the purchase order that people who have been thinking about creating these guns have been waiting for.
ROSE: Smart gun advocates are hoping that a European company could fill that potential order, or maybe a startup, because no one expects an existing American gunmaker to take the risk. Joel Rose, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Olivia Block is a Chicago composer who bought an old tape recorder on eBay. It came with an unlabeled cassette with voices on it. And that inspired her to become an avid collector of microcassettes - those tiny tapes used in old answering machines. The eBay sellers say the tapes are blank, but often, they are not blank at all. Yesterday, we heard some of Olivia Block's sounds of the city. Now we'll hear some quieter and stranger sounds - the remains of conversations past.
OLIVIA BLOCK: Let's see what's on here.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: On my way home.
BLOCK: There's something about these little tapes, these microcassette tapes, that people really used them for these, like, really personal uses. So I have all of these, like, old answering machine recordings that I just cut off at certain times.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Good afternoon.
BLOCK: I'm just kind of interested in, like, the noises around the events, you know? And I like the sound of tapes stopping and starting.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: OK.
BLOCK: Yeah, just a lot of recordings of basically just, like, the noise of the machine itself because I like to work with these sounds and kind of bring out the tones. And there's just something about the tape noise that's just different from any other kind of noise. It's just - I find it really beautiful. And this one has good clicks on it. But all of these sounds - just, like, the whirring sounds and the clicks and the sort of fan-like sounds - I really like those sounds. I have entire tapes and tapes of - oh yeah, that's a creepy one. That's, like, somebody whispering on an answering machine.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: ... Cell phone number, so if you'd like to call that, it's...
BLOCK: I find it slightly nostalgic. I definitely feel, like, nostalgic about the noise. I mean, if you listen, this is somebody that just recorded themselves in a room, just kind of, like, shuffling around. And it just reminds me of my childhood. When I had...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: On my way home.
BLOCK: (Laughter) So it just reminds me of, like, how I used to use recorders when I was little - recording the room I was in, just arbitrary kind of scenes. So you get a lot of those kind of shuffling sounds. And I just feel like that - you don't hear sounds like that anymore. With digital technology, it doesn't...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: OK, I'll talk to you in a little while. Bye.
BLOCK: The technology itself doesn't reveal itself in that kind of awkward way which...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Good afternoon.
BLOCK: ...Which I find really charming.
MONTAGNE: That was Chicago composer and sound artist Olivia Block with excerpts from her collection of microcassettes. That piece came to us from independent producer David Schulman. It's part of the series Musicians In Their Own Words. Olivia Block's recent compositions are a mix of music and found voices often taken from those microcassettes. Here's how that sounds in a project she calls "City Map."
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIO PROJECT, "CITY MAP")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: A, P, R, O, M, S and W, E, I, S, Z attorneys at law. 7610 Magna Technical Services.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: 232.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: 7614 American Currency Association.
MONTAGNE: You can hear more from Olivia Block at npr.org.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
That music mean it is time for StoryCorps. Today is the fifth anniversary of a deadly shooting in Tucson, Ariz. Six people were killed, 13 were wounded - including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This happened in a grocery store parking lot were Giffords was holding an event. Emma McMahon was a high school senior at the time. She had previously volunteered for Giffords, and she was at the event with her mother, Mary Reed.
MARY REED: We pulled up right at 10 o'clock.
EMMA MCMAHON: The line was headed towards the Safeway where Gabrielle Giffords was with her staff.
REED: You had a clipboard because you were still doing college applications.
MCMAHON: I was doing college applications. And there were probably 15 people in line in front of us. And then I heard popping noises. And I realized there was a shooter going down the line, shooting people in the head.
REED: I tasted gunpowder, and I covered you by slamming you against the wall.
MCMAHON: I don't really remember much after that. I think I crouched down.
REED: He tried to shoot your head through me.
MCMAHON: Yeah.
REED: But he shot me on my left arm. So I just turned around, and I thought, little man, you better be looking me in the eye if you're going to shoot me again. And what was astonishing is that he had no facial expression. It was like he was asleep. He had nothing. He dropped the gun from my head and shot me in the back. And then one man ran past me, and one man almost jumped over me and tackled this young man.
MCMAHON: I hadn't fully comprehended what had happened. I didn't understand that so many people had been shot. I remember seeing a lot of blood, and people from the butcher shop came out with all of their butchers' cloths. And I remember getting some of those for you to hold against your back. They were very worried that you were going to be paralyzed.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Are people surprised that you survived this thing?
MCMAHON: People don't really talk to me about it.
REED: You kept saying you felt like everybody treated you like a glass doll.
MCMAHON: People were acting like they couldn't joke with me, they couldn't say anything - like I was so breakable. But I felt like that was the time that I was the strongest, was right after the shooting. I was organizing who was going to bring us dinner on what day. And I was figuring out what to do with all the journalists standing outside of our house, badgering us. I think that was the first time that I felt like a grown-up.
REED: Yeah, I'm so glad we made it through.
MCMAHON: I am too.
GREENE: Emma McMahon with her mother, Mary Reed, at StoryCorps, remembering shootings in Tucson, Ariz., five years ago. Reed was shot three times. She is now able to walk, but she still has a bullet lodged near her spine. Emma graduates from college in May. Their conversation will be archived at the Library of Congress with the rest of the StoryCorps collection. You can hear more on the StoryCorps podcast. You can get it on iTunes and at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Personal finance is one of those complicated subjects most folks avoid talking about, even though everything you need to know about it can fit on a single index card. A blog post went viral showing just how. Now that blog is a book. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: A couple of years ago, a University of Chicago professor did an online video chat. He was talking with a personal-finance writer. The topic was how regular people can get steered into bad investments by financial advisors. And the professor, Harold Pollack, said this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HAROLD POLLACK: The really good advice can fit on a three-by-five index card and is available for free in the library. So if you're paying someone for advice, almost by definition you're probably getting the wrong advice because the correct advice is so straightforward.
HELAINE OLEN: I would say that's true about 90 percent of the time.
ARNOLD: Pollack was talking to Helaine Olen, the finance writer. And after they posted the video...
POLLACK: ...I started getting emails saying, OK, where's the index card?
ARNOLD: People wanted to know, what is this super great yet simple advice for managing money?
POLLACK: I just took one of my daughter's index cards, and I scribbled a bunch of principles, and I took a picture with my iPhone. And I posted it on the web.
OLEN: So I start getting these Google alerts for an index card, right? Then it started going all over Twitter.
POLLACK: And it got picked up by the Washington Post.
ARNOLD: OK, so the index card went viral, even though the ideas weren't particularly new - pay off your credit cards, invest in low-fee index funds. But there was clearly an appetite for this simple, good financial advice. So Pollack and Olen have now written a book about it, which they've named...
OLEN: ..."The Index Card."
ARNOLD: But wait a minute. If the whole original point was that this stuff is so simple you can fit it on an index card, why write a book about it?
OLEN: Do you want to go ahead, Harold?
POLLACK: Well, I would just say that, why do we need an entire Bible, really? We have the 10 Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, depending on your theological orientation - if you're Jewish or Christian. We need some backup material.
ARNOLD: You're elevating your book to some very lofty heights here.
POLLACK: Yeah, fair enough. No, I would not say that our book is scriptural in...
OLEN: Oh, come on.
POLLACK: But I think the idea that - we all know, for example, in tennis, you know, how do you win a tennis match? You hit the ball low. I could tell you that, but I haven't told you how to do that.
ARNOLD: And this actually gets at what many economists say is the reality with financial advice. Most of it is pretty simple. The 10 rules on the index card start with save 10 to 20 percent of your income, max out your 401(k), never buy or sell individual stocks. But then, some of them are more subtle. And a big one of those is who you bring on to help advise you.
POLLACK: I'm struck by the number of my friends and relatives who believe that their financial advisor is free and say things like, oh, the funds pay for that. I don't know about you, but I generally don't work for free. So you want to understand, you know, how is this person being paid?
ARNOLD: Rule number six is make your financial advisor commit to the fiduciary standard - that means they'll put your interests ahead of their own - but the regulations around that can be mushy. Some economists say an easier approach is to use what's called a fee-only advisor. They cannot take commissions for steering you into overpriced mutual funds, which can be a big problem. If you have an advisor, though, Pollack and Olen say you need to talk about this stuff.
POLLACK: It's sort of an awkward conversation. I think you need to be direct and cordial about it.
OLEN: I would say one other thing - it shouldn't be awkward. If somebody is making you feel guilty for asking questions, you shouldn't be there - period, full stop.
ARNOLD: That said, both Pollock and Olen say a good, reasonably-priced financial advisor can sometimes be helpful - especially when life gets too complicated to fit on an index card. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And you can check out NPR's personal finance Facebook group at npr.org/moneyandlife.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, I am often jealous of my colleague, Geoff Brumfiel. He's a science correspondent - does these awesome stories about missions to space. I'm not so jealous today. He is reporting on the stomach of a frozen mummy. In the Iceman, researchers found a frozen dinner and also an ancient species of bacteria.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Five thousand three hundred years ago, a man was hiking across the Alps when somebody shot him in the back with an arrow. He collapsed onto a rock and stayed there until 1991, when some hikers spotted his body. The so-called Iceman made headlines around the world. And today, he's in an Italian laboratory.
ALBERT ZINK: He's very well preserved. You can see that all of his tissues and also his skin is still preserved.
BRUMFIEL: Albert Zink heads the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman. Years of study have revealed his age...
ZINK: He was around 40 to 50 years old.
BRUMFIEL: ...His diseases, including arthritis.
ZINK: ...Probably from walking a lot in this mountain environment; also, maybe, from carrying some heavy loads.
BRUMFIEL: But there was one place where researchers had yet to probe - the Iceman's stomach. For a long time, they couldn't find it. It had shriveled up over the centuries. Then, about five years ago, a researcher finally spotted it.
ZINK: And then he saw that the stomach is preserved, and the stomach is completely filled with material.
BRUMFIEL: The scientists wanted a sample, so they went in. Zink says there were so many doctors in the room, it actually felt like surgery on a living person.
ZINK: We had one who was a gastroenterologist - an expert for stomach and intestines. We had a forensic doctor. We had our pathologist with us, who is also responsible for the conservation of the mummy. We have another person who were then taking the samples, who was making notes.
BRUMFIEL: Inside, they found the Iceman's last supper. The menu appears this week in the journal Science. It includes meat from a deer and an alpine mountain goat.
ZINK: He obviously had a big meal before he died.
BRUMFIEL: But even more interesting, the researchers found DNA from a type of bacteria that lived in his guts. It's called Helicobacter pylori.
MARTIN BLASER: Helicobacter pylori is part of the normal organisms that live in the human body.
BRUMFIEL: Martin Blaser is a physician and microbiologist at New York University. This bacteria lives in about half of all modern humans. Researchers have found it causes ulcers and stomach cancer. But more recent work by Blaser and others has also shown it seems to provide protection against some common diseases, like acid reflux and asthma.
BLASER: The story is complicated. And that actually fits in very nicely with this paper because it's consistent with an organism that's been around for a very long time in humans.
BRUMFIEL: Based on genetic evidence, Blaser believes this bacteria has been helping and hindering humans since way before the Iceman, passing from generation to generation for hundreds of thousands of years. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There were high fives this week from Detroit to Washington, D.C. as carmakers celebrated record auto sales. Americans bought 17-and-a-half million cars and trucks last year. That's a big turnaround from 2009, and the Obama administration cheered the rebound as vindication of the president's decision that year to rescue General Motors and Chrysler from bankruptcy. There is, however, another element of the president's auto agenda that's not looking so good, and NPR's Scott Horsley joins us to talk about that. Good morning.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: What's the problem with all these new car sales? What's the downside?
HORSLEY: Well, Renee, just to give the high-fivers their due, it is encouraging that people have been flocking to auto dealerships. It means they've got money in their pockets, they're feeling good about the economy. It's certainly good for the 640,000 people who got jobs in the auto industry in the last five or six years. But the drawback is in 2011, the president struck a deal with automakers that was supposed to more than double the average fuel economy by 2025. That would help consumers go twice as far on every gallon of gas, and it was also a key ingredient in the president's recipe for battling climate change. Now, for a couple of years after that deal was struck, we did see gains in the average miles per gallon, but those improvements, Renee, have now stalled. Brandon Schoettle and Michael Sivak track this every month at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. And this week, they reported that the average miles per gallon of new vehicles sold in 2015 was down from the year before. In fact, it's been falling month by month, and in December, the average fell below 25 miles to the gallon.
MONTAGNE: And why are the numbers slumping?
HORSLEY: Two words - cheap gasoline. As gas prices have tumbled this year, more and more consumers are opting for bigger, less fuel-efficient trucks and SUVs. And the University of Michigan's Brandon Schoettle says even though the typical pickup gets better mileage today than it did a few years ago, that changing mix - away from cars, towards light trucks - is pulling the overall average fuel economy down.
BRANDON SCHOETTLE: There's kind of two competing forces here. The automakers are doing what they can to improve the technology in the vehicles and make the fuel economy for these better and better each year. And they really have been doing that. But on the other hand, you've also got the consumer behavior - what drivers want to purchase and drive around.
HORSLEY: Now, automakers aren't too bothered by this, since they generally make more money on the bigger, heavier vehicles. But it does mean we're a long way from that goal of more than doubling fuel economy by 2025.
MONTAGNE: And what does this then mean for the president's climate agenda?
HORSLEY: Well, fuel economy standards were just one part of the broader climate plan - not as significant, for example, as the rules governing power plants pollution. But what this does illustrate is just how important price signals are in getting consumers to knock down their carbon footprint. And it looks like we're going to have cheap gas with us for a little while, at least. The price of crude oil continues to slump. One thing, though, I know, Renee, from following the energy markets for a long time - they are volatile. What goes down does go up. And it's worth keeping in mind that the average car on the road today is 11 years old. So before you head out to the dealership, you might want to think not only about where gas prices are now, but just how confident are you that we're going to have two-dollar-a-gallon gas two years, five years, 10 years down the road?
MONTAGNE: Scott, thanks so much.
HORSLEY: My pleasure.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Scott Horsley.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's turn now to a woman who's taken on one of the toughest jobs around. Monique Pressley is the lead attorney for beleaguered comedian Bill Cosby. And as NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, Pressley has projected poise under the glare of public scrutiny.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: To watch Monique Pressley on TV, you'd never know this is her first time defending a celebrity this big against charges of this magnitude. Here she is on MSNBC talking about Cosby's defamation lawsuit against former model Beverly Johnson.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MSNBC")
MONIQUE PRESSLEY: What we're doing now, in a court of law, is requiring people like Ms. Johnson to actually prove what they've said. And I would assert to you today, as we did in the complaint, it cannot be done.
BLAIR: When attorney Gloria Allred, who's representing several alleged Cosby victims went on NBC and said...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "NBC NEWS")
GLORIA ALLRED: When are you going to debate me, Monique, on MSNBC, on the Thomas Roberts show? Let's have it out.
BLAIR: Monique Pressley responded...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MSNBC")
PRESSLEY: We, as attorneys, do what attorneys do. We're not in high school. We don't debate. We're not politicians running for office.
BLAIR: Not long after she was hired by Cosby, Pressley talked to Tom Joyner on his top-rated urban morning radio show.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW")
TOM JOYNER: You know, Monique Pressley, I'd never heard of you before this. But just listening to you just now, I think Bill Cosby (laughter) has chosen a very good attorney because you broke that down.
BLAIR: Monique Pressley is from Galveston, Texas. In high school, she won honors on the debate team. Her bio lists a law degree from Howard University, where she later went on to help make history.
In 2005, she coached a team of law students for a mock trial competition. They won, beating 18 law schools, including the reigning champions from Harvard. This was a first for an historically black law school.
CHRIS STEWART: She was tough (laughter).
BLAIR: Chris Stewart was on that team. Today, he's an attorney in Atlanta.
STEWART: Who you are seeing on television is exactly who she is. She will talk to you the way she talks in those interviews - firm. She's not going to play around. She's not going to let somebody, you know, misquote her or misquote her client. And you better memorize everything because she already has.
BLAIR: Pressley was a public defender and an assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia. Today, she runs her own firm. Her website says she's also an ordained minister. In 2013, she founded Monique Pressley Ministries. On her radio show, "Breathe Through It," one guest was the prominent religious figure Bishop T.D. Jakes.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "BREATHE THROUGH IT")
PRESSLEY: His new book "Instinct: The Power To Unleash Your Inborn Drive" is topping lists and taking this world by storm.
BLAIR: TV legal analyst Roland Martin, who's known Pressley for 30 years, says her faith is deeply important to her.
ROLAND MARTIN: She comes from a strong faith background. Her godfather was a prominent Catholic priest and so it plays a tremendous role.
BLAIR: Pressley is a regular guest on Roland Martin's weekly segment on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show." As Pressley tells it, one of Cosby's loyal supporters heard her talking about his case and suggested he hire her. Former prosecutor and Cleveland State University law professor Lolita Buckner Inniss thinks Pressley's gender and race were key credentials.
BUCKNER INNISS: Her gender and her race matter because Bill Cosby is being charged with sexual assault of several women. A large number of those women are white women. I think there's a certain extent to which the idea of racial solidarity plays in here, the idea that if an intelligent, well-spoken black woman stands with Bill Cosby on this, then perhaps some of those people who accuse Bill Cosby are lying.
BLAIR: Monique Pressley declined to be interviewed for this profile. Buckner Inniss says there will be an epic demonstration of theatrics and legal performances from both sides and advises those watching to be skeptical.
This week, Pressley and her client, Bill Cosby, had some good news. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declined to file criminal charges against Cosby, though he still faces a criminal charge in Pennsylvania and multiple civil suits.
Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's turn now to Chicago where it has been a rough time for the mayor, Rahm Emanuel. He is known so well for his political savvy. But right now, people are calling for him to resign. If he won't, some people say there should be a recall law that would allow voters to oust him. At the moment, there is no sign that Rahm Emanuel is going anywhere, as NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: On the defensive is not a phrase often associated with the mayor of Chicago, but ever since the city released a videotape of a fatal police shooting, that's the best way to describe Rahm Emanuel.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Rahm must go.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Rahm must go. Rahm must go.
CORLEY: There have been protests in Chicago for weeks. Demonstrators have gathered downtown and even in front of the mayor's house. The protests began after a judge ordered the city to release a 2014 dashcam video showing a Chicago police officer firing 16 shots and killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. McDonald was holding a knife while walking away from police.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Sixteen shots and it's covered up. Sixteen shots and it's covered up.
CORLEY: Demonstrators like 16-year-old Lamon Reccord charge Emanuel withheld the video until his re-election, a charge the mayor denies. But Reccord says Emanuel badly mishandled the McDonald case.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LAMON RECCORD: You failed the people behind me. You failed the people in front of me. You failed the people around me throughout the city of Chicago. We need you to step down.
LAURA WASHINGTON: The outcry that you're seeing against this mayor is like nothing I've seen before. It's broad-based. It's intense. And it doesn't seem to be going away.
CORLEY: That's political analysts and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington, who says even though Emanuel may seem vulnerable right now, there's nobody lobbying to take over his job.
WASHINGTON: I've talked to a lot of people who were saying, you know - who don't like Rahm, who thinks he's failed the city in many ways - but who say he's the best we've got right now. And they're afraid of what the alternative might be.
CORLEY: Ask Rahm Emanuel, though, if he'd ever consider considered not finishing his four-year term, and his response is a short no. He recently told reporters that he's working every day to rebuild the public's trust in him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RAHM EMANUEL: First of all, my actions will be a piece of that. My words and the follow-through on my words to make sure those actions are essential. And the primary work is to make sure that when it relates to public safety that there is trust between the community and our police department.
CORLEY: Any vacancy in the mayor's office before the next election, three years from now, would mean Chicago aldermen would elect one of their own to fill the spot. But most city aldermen largely march in lockstep with the mayor. But a Democratic state lawmaker Representative La Shawn Ford is working to develop a recall measure.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LA SHAWN FORD: No one - and I don't think voters in a democracy - should have to wait for the next election or be stuck with an elected official that they don't want.
CORLEY: And the state's Republican governor Bruce Rauner supports the idea.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRUCE RAUNER: I would sign that bill.
CORLEY: But few Democrats here back it. And it's not likely to go far since two Chicago aldermen would also have to support it. Even so, support for Emanuel is dwindling, especially among African-Americans upset over record school closings and police shootings. So, at a fever pitch, Emanuel's trying to repair the damage, forcing the resignation of the police superintendent and initiating police reforms. At a press conference this week, he touted the expansions of a job training program for ex-offenders.
Illinois Congressman Danny Davis says the politically astute Emanuel will determine what he has to do to regain the confidence of the community.
DANNY DAVIS: I think he's working at it. He's going places that perhaps he didn't go, talking to people that he didn't talk with, coming up with ideas and thoughts.
CORLEY: All changes, Davis says, that will serve the mayor well. But there is still an angry mood here. On Chicago's West Side, police shot and killed a 19-year-old man the day after Christmas and accidentally shot his neighbor, 55-year-old Betty Jones. At Jones's funeral this week, the family thanked Mayor Emanuel and other dignitaries for their support. But as people left the church, a prayer turned into a protest with a chant blasting the CPD, the Chicago Police Department.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Who killed Betty Jones?
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: CPD.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Who killed Betty Jones?
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: CPD.
CORLEY: For Chicago, it's a troubling time. And the city's mayor, Rahm Emanuel, remains in a mode he may be less familiar with, survival.
Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Burlington, Vt., is Bernie Sanders' home. He was mayor there. But another presidential candidate came through town last night, and things got pretty raucous. It was Donald Trump. Vermont Public Radio's Peter Hirschfeld was there.
PETER HIRSCHFELD, BYLINE: It was a political three-ring circus that came to town last night. The Trump campaign handed out 20,000 tickets for an event space that had just 1,400 seats. Supporters lined up hours ahead of time to get in.
JIM BILLADO: I think he's a very intelligent guy. And running a country's like running a business, and he knows how to run a business.
HIRSCHFELD: Jim Billado owns a commercial roofing business and was wearing work boots, jeans, a flannel shirt and a well-worn green John Deere cap as he waited for Trump to speak.
BILLADO: This state, they're taxing us right out of this state. It's crazy, you know?
HIRSCHFELD: But why did Trump even stop in deep-blue Vermont? One reason may be that voters here will send 16 delegates to the Republican National Convention in the Super Tuesday primaries on March 1. And it's a state that other Republican candidates have barely paid attention to.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go.
HIRSCHFELD: In a snow-covered park not far from where Billado was standing, local Albert Petrarca held anti-Trump signs in his hands.
ALBERT PETRARCA: Here's a man who represents a rising racist and fascist movement across the country. And it's the responsibility, in my opinion, of citizens to rise up and meet that challenge.
HIRSCHFELD: To weed out protesters, the Trump campaign asked everyone entering the theater to pledge support to the billionaire TV star and businessman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: Thank you, everybody. Thank you.
HIRSCHFELD: Inside, the scene was rowdy.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Beautiful. We're in Vermont. That air is so nice and clean. I'm breathing so much of that air.
HIRSCHFELD: While Vermont may be 2,000 miles from Mexico, the crowd went wild when Trump repeated his vow to build a wall on the southern border.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: And who's going to pay for the wall?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Mexico.
TRUMP: Who's going to pay for the wall?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Mexico.
TRUMP: Who's going to pay for the wall?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Mexico.
TRUMP: I've never done that before. That's actually cute.
HIRSCHFELD: Despite the campaign's best efforts, dozens of protesters made it past security. Each time, Trump took pleasure in instructing the local police to usher them out.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Yeah, don't give him his coat. Don't give him his coat. Keep his coat. Confiscate his coat. You know, it's about 10 degrees below zero outside.
HIRSCHFELD: Throughout the speech, Trump took shots at pretty much every other politician of note, including other Republican candidates, President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Burlington resident Bernie Sanders.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Oh, would I love to run against Bernie. I would love - that would be a dream come true.
HIRSCHFELD: In a statement afterwards, Sanders said he and Trump finally agree on something - they should run against each other. Sanders said it would be an extraordinary campaign if the two of them square off in the general election. For NPR News, I'm Peter Hirschfeld in Burlington, Vt.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Not much of the world has been spared this week. Stock markets in China, Europe and the United States have had it very rough. U.S. stocks are off to one of the worst starts to any year in memory. So what is happening, and what does all this new turmoil tell us about the health of the U.S. economy? To find out, we turn, as we often do, to David Wessel. He's director of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution, a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street Journal and also a frequent guest on this program.
David, good to have you back.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
GREENE: Let's begin with China, if we can, and the plunging stock market there. What is behind this slide?
WESSEL: Sure. Well, it's important and helpful that China's stock market's steady today. It actually was up 2 percent, probably because some state-owned vestment (ph) funds were buying, but it's still down 10 percent for the week.
GREENE: So maybe - a little reason for optimism that this...
WESSEL: Right. And stocks in Europe responded a little bit, too.
But basically, China's stock market is far from an unfettered market. It's as much theater is economics. After it plunged last summer, the government pumped a lot of money in. It barred companies from selling stock.
This week, it tried something called circuit breakers, suspending trading - it's supposed to have a cooling off period. They totally backfired. Trading was suspended 29 minutes into the day on Thursday. Now the government's given up on that. So I think there's ever less confidence that the Chinese market is a safe place for money, and it's going to be volatile going forward.
GREENE: So in the United States, we're used to a stock market that's actually determined by the economy, investors and everything. I mean, you describe it as theater, like the Chinese government is sort of a theater director, sort of running the show in a way?
WESSEL: They're trying, but they're not doing a very good job.
GREENE: (Laughter) Not doing a good job.
WESSEL: I mean, look. Look, the economy in China is huge. The stock market is not. So the question really is - why is this turmoil in China spreading around the world to London, Frankfurt and New York? And I think there are three reasons.
One is the Chinese leadership has been pretty klutzy. And that's undermining global confidence that they can steer their economy through a period of slower growth, a transition to an economy that relies less on exports and more on domestic demand.
Secondly, they've been letting their currency fall, presumably to help boost exports because they're worried about the economy. This has created a lot of confusion about what they had said they were going to do, which is let markets determine the exchange rate. And when their currency falls, that really hurts its trading neighbors, the Asian countries. Yesterday, the Mexican finance minister accused China of starting a currency war. Kind of ironic - the last round, people were accusing the U.S. of that.
And then there's a lot of psychology in markets. And I think this turmoil and other indicators are fueling fears that China's economy is really in trouble. It's really slowing a lot, and that means less appetite for imported commodities with effects in Africa and Latin America and Australia. And basically, it's leading people to think that maybe the world economy is going to be in for a rough patch.
GREENE: OK, so we have, in the United States, people worried about the behavior of the Chinese government, worried about the health of the Chinese economy. Is that all what's really driving this big drop on the U.S. stock market?
WESSEL: I don't think so. I think there's a tendency when markets fall for people to look at what happened five minutes before and that must be the cause. There are a couple of other things that are going on.
One is oil prices keep coming down. Now, that's good for SUV sales. It's good for people who heat their houses with oil this winter. It's bad for energy companies. There's been a lot of layoffs in that sector. Some of this is an increase in supply. The U.S. produces a lot more oil than it used to. Saudis are pumping a lot of oil, maybe to punish Iran and Russia, keep prices down. But the persistent weakness of oil and other commodities may be a symptom, again, that weakening demand all around the world. So it may be - that's, I think, weighing on markets.
And then secondly, you know, the world isn't looking any safer day by day. Terrorism; tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia; North Korea, whatever they're doing with their nuclear things - this has to have some depressing effect on the outlook that investors have for what the year's going to be like.
GREENE: All right, David. Thanks as always.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
GREENE: That's David Wessel. He's director of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution and a contributing correspondent to The Wall Street Journal.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK. This morning, we have some good news for a sea creature who seemed in really big trouble. 2015, things looked up for the green sea turtle. These 300-pound vegetarians have been on the endangered species list for decades.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Today, they are a little less endangered.
LOU EARHART: I think it's one of the really great stories in the history of the North American Wildlife Conservation.
MONTAGNE: There are more than 14,000 - conservation. That's Lou Earhart (ph). He's professor emeritus at the University of Central Florida.
EARHART: And I've been working with sea turtles for more than 40 years.
MONTAGNE: He's been seeing a lot more turtle nests on the beach at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida now. There were more than 14,000 nests last year, way more than the 200 counted some 15 years ago.
GREENE: A combination of fishing, human development and predators had threatened this population.
EARHART: By all rights and what we know about extinction vortex, they should have just slid into oblivion. But they didn't.
GREENE: Earhart says that is because conservation efforts that started decades ago are finally taking hold, clearing the way for these female turtles that can lay up to 1,000 eggs in a season.
EARHART: Here's one example where we took action soon enough and the species responded.
GREENE: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services is responding as well. It is considering an upgrade for the green sea turtle from endangered to just threatened.
And we appreciate you hearing that news and all the other news from us here on MORNING EDITION this morning. Later today, on "All Things Considered," we're going to learn why kindergarten is becoming the new first grade. Think about it. It's more math and reading and less finger-paint.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We talk a lot about the Iowa caucuses and look ahead to what's going to happen because voters there will be first up in choosing who they want to be president. The Iowa caucuses have been first since 1972.
NPR's Sam Sanders tried to find out why and to figure out why they're called caucuses.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: Simple question - why are the Iowa caucuses first? I asked that all across the state of Iowa recently, including at Duncan's Cafe in Council Bluffs.
Do you know why Iowa caucuses are the first in the nation?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: No, I do not.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I don't know myself why they're number one really (laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I'm not really entirely sure how it came to be that way.
SANDERS: Have you ever caucused?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: I don't think so.
SANDERS: You don't think so?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't know anything about this. I'm sorry.
SANDERS: So you don't even know if you've caucused?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't even know what a caucus is to tell you the truth.
SANDERS: Clearly, this calls for an expert - or several.
So first things first, tell me your full name and your title.
DAVID YEPSEN: OK. I'm David Yepsen. For 35 years, I was a political writer for the Des Moines Register.
SANDERS: Yepsen is the Iowa politics writer of record. He helped answer a few questions. First of them being - what exactly is a caucus?
YEPSEN: And a caucus - it's a neighborhood meeting. In fact, the term caucus is thought to be a Native American term - an Algonquin term for meeting of tribal leaders.
SANDERS: It's more than just a vote. People gather and talk about why they're supporting the candidate, and they try to convince other people to support their guy - or gal. The process can sometimes take hours.
I also chatted with Kathy O'Bradovich.
KATHY O'BRADOVICH: Political columnist for the Des Moines Register.
SANDERS: She acknowledges that Iowa didn't really happen on purpose.
O'BRADOVICH: The really important thing to remember about Iowa is not that it's first because it's important. Iowa is important because it's first.
SANDERS: It started in 1968.
O'BRADOVICH: It happened after the 1968 national convention - Democratic National Convention, which was marred by violence over the Vietnam War and racial tension. And the Democratic Party nationally and in Iowa decided they wanted to change their process to make it more inclusive.
SANDERS: Part of that meant spreading the schedule out in each state. Because Iowa has one of the more complex processes, they had to start really early.
YEPSEN: And precinct caucuses would have to be in, my gosh, February.
O'BRADOVICH: And it turned out that they were going to be first in the nation.
SANDERS: Settled that one. Next question - is it fair? Just a warning, there's probably no consensus for this. But Jim Jacobson (ph), at a diner in Iowa City, he said this.
JIM JACOBSON: Is it fair that Iowa goes first? What's fair in politics? I mean, seriously. Yeah, Ok, we're like 97 percent white, and we're really rural, and we don't look like a microcosm of America. But so what?
SANDERS: Let's take that first thing he points out, Iowa's whiteness.
JACOBSON: We're, like, 97 percent white.
SANDERS: Officially, non-Hispanic whites make up 87.1 percent of Iowa's population according to the most recent census data.
But J. Ann Selzer, she says that's actually kind of OK.
J. ANN SELZER: The idea that because Iowans are white and older, they're going to vote for older white people is not borne out. In both parties, candidates of color have often done quite well in Iowa.
SANDERS: Selzer is the top pollster in the state.
SELZER: Well, look at Barack Obama. Jesse Jackson did well. Alan Keyes did well on the Republican side.
SANDERS: Even Jeff Kaufmann, the head of the Iowa Republican Party, he kind of says the same thing.
JEFF KAUFMANN: This is going to be awfully odd, to have a Republican chair suggest you look at what Barack Obama has to say about Iowa. But I'm guessing Barack Obama has no problem with the diversity that we reflect. And I'm guessing if you talk to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, my guess is that they're not going to have a problem.
SANDERS: But there's another issue of race, not just who Iowans are voting for, but which Iowans are voting. Both parties say they're reaching out more to Latinos, Iowa's fastest-growing racial group. But in West Liberty, Iowa, a town that is majority Latino, I met a guy who had actually never even heard of the word.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: I don't even understand that word caucus. What does that mean - a cactus or what?
SANDERS: Down the street, same kind of answer.
So you've never heard of the caucuses?
MARIA LUNA: No (laughter).
JACKIE GUZMAN: It's new.
SANDERS: It's new?
GUZMAN: It's new to us, yeah.
SANDERS: Why is it new to you?
GUZMAN: I never heard it, never heard the word.
SANDERS: Until right now?
GUZMAN: Yeah.
SANDERS: Wait, I was the first person to tell you the word caucus?
GUZMAN: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: That's Maria Luna (ph) and her daughter Jackie Guzman (ph). Maria owns a shop in West Liberty.
LUNA: Right now, we're in Mangolandia (ph).
SANDERS: Mangolandia?
LUNA: Yes.
SANDERS: I like that. What does that mean?
They sell frozen fruit snacks and other stuff with a lot of mangoes. Luna, the store owner, isn't an American citizen yet, so she couldn't vote in the caucuses, even if she wanted to. But her daughter Jackie Guzman says she can caucus. But she told me that no one has ever come to West Liberty to tell her how. Jackie and her mother Maria think that's wrong.
LUNA: Nobody says anything, and nobody talks about it. And we see no -nothing, then we're not going to be nothing - and do nothing.
SANDERS: Another thing with Iowa, the state has a relatively small population, 3 million in the whole state. And it's very rural. A lot of American voters these days live in big, urban areas.
DANTE CHINNI: When we get to general election next November, about 45 percent of the vote is going to come from places that I call big cities or urban suburbs. That's a lot of the vote. There are none of those in Iowa.
SANDERS: That's Dante Chinni. He's a director of the American Communities Project at American University. I asked him - given those numbers, what state would be ideal?
CHINNI: Georgia, maybe.
SANDERS: For two big reasons...
CHINNI: First of all, you have diversity, a much more diverse state. The other thing that Georgia has is - it has Atlanta.
SANDERS: And when you look at states that have that mix - more racial diversity and a mix of rural and urban, there are actually a few options.
CHINNI: Pennsylvania is a very good option. Colorado is an interesting state. My home state of Michigan - Ohio's a really good one.
SANDERS: But here's a thing - if you look to bigger states for more diversity, you could end up with a caucus state that's actually too big. With Iowa, it's small enough for every candidate to make their way all across the state and advertise on the cheap. Small candidates can compete with the big dogs in Iowa from day one. And there's another thing.
ANDY MCGUIRE: The real reason we're first in the nation now is because of what we do. We take this real seriously.
SANDERS: This is Andy McGuire, head of the Iowa state Democratic Party.
She says Iowans contest a candidate like no one else.
MCGUIRE: You know, we ask really good questions. We ask follow-up questions. We look them in the eye like I am you right now. It's real. It's one- on-one vetting of candidates. Are you for real? Not a TV spot, not money - what's in your heart?
SANDERS: Whether you believe that Iowa voters are better at this, that they deserve the privilege more, it probably doesn't even matter. David Yepsen says we're stuck with Iowa.
YEPSEN: Iowa's first because of inertia (laughter). Most people in the country don't like this process. But the country finds it difficult to agree on an alternative way to do this.
SANDERS: And Iowa really doesn't want to let it go.
Sam Sanders, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. The French have long turned up their noses at the American custom of taking home food after eating out. But as of January 1, a new law requires restaurants there serving more than 150 meals a day to reduce food waste. And French restaurantgoers are seeing something appear at their tables they've never seen before - le doggie bag. So far, few French diners are saying oui. But for all those willing to walk out with leftovers, bon appétit. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Young black men are being murdered every day in Baltimore. Last year, that city suffered a record 344 homicide, almost all of them black men shot to death.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And for its end-of-year New Year's Day edition, the Baltimore Sun wanted to bring that number home with an infographic boldly showing who the victims were.
MONTAGNE: Editor Adam Marton was working on the design when he came across a name of one victim - Thelonious Monk. The unusual name, shared with the famous jazz musician, sparked a painful memory and prompted Adam Marton to write about it on his Facebook page. It was about a decade ago that this Thelonious Monk had stolen Marton's car.
ADAM MARTON: I had dropped it off one evening and someone had fished the key out of a night drop at the auto body shop. My wife and I were supposed to go on vacation. Of course, we were worried at the time about the car and the insurance. We ended up getting a loaner car from the insurance and going on our vacation anyway. Then a few weeks later, I received a call letting me know that my car was - had been found, and it was at the Baltimore City impound lot, and I should go pick it up.
MONTAGNE: And why don't you pick up reading what you wrote about that?
MARTON: Sure.
(Reading) When I got my car back a few weeks later, Thelonious had installed a baby seat and a subwoofer, and the car was strewn with job applications. It was, and remains, one of the most heartbreaking scenes of my life. Our lives crossed, however oddly and briefly, and I can't help but think that Thelonious never had a chance - a chance to escape, a chance to succeed. I feel like maybe he was trying to use my car to make a break for it. I wish he had made it. Rest in peace, young man. I will never forget you.
MONTAGNE: After you saw that baby seat, and that he'd kind of made a world in your car, and he was apparently looking for jobs, did you think about him?
MARTON: I did a lot. I'm a journalist, and I'm really interested in stories and people and their relationships in the world. And I'm always trying to understand. And what I saw in the car told me a story about this man's life. It seemed at the time, and still seems today, that he took this car, but he was kind of trying to make it his own car, right - I have this car now, now I can have a new life. I can go get a job and drive my baby around. I can listen to music. You know, I expected to see a crime scene, and what I saw instead was inside somebody's life.
MONTAGNE: So he's 28 - you now know - when he was killed.
MARTON: Right.
MONTAGNE: What do you know about how he was killed?
MARTON: I know very little. He was shot in the chest in southwest Baltimore. It's likely he was shot multiple times. And he died at the hospital.
MONTAGNE: When you put this out in the world, what kind of reaction have you gotten from this post?
MARTON: I've gotten a lot of reaction. It's been overwhelmingly positive. It's been shared a couple thousand times. And one interesting thing that's happened since I put the post out is how many people I've heard from that actually knew Thelonious. I've heard from several family members. They say that he had a lifestyle that most people think is wrong, but, you know, they considered him a really good person. And he was always trying to turn his life around. And they talk about the great loss that they feel now that Thelonious is gone. And I think that's just really telling, especially when all you have to look at is a criminal record. This was a loved person who was trying to make his life better. I've also heard from people in the system who knew Thelonius, including a Baltimore city public defender, where she told me that she personally has lost 15 or 16 young men that she's worked with to homicide over the years and how much that affects her and the other public defenders in Baltimore City. And I just find that to be such a profound statement. We always talk about systematic failures and how these young men are failed by the system, but here we have people in the system who clearly care and are also deeply affected by these murders.
MONTAGNE: That was Baltimore Sun editor Adam Marton talking about the death of a young Baltimore man named Thelonious Monk. He was killed in that city - one of 344 homicides in Baltimore in 2015.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Force is awakening in China. "Star Wars" - the new "Star Wars" movie opens in that country this weekend. China is the world's second-largest movie market after the U.S., and theater owners hope for huge ticket sales. But here's a question. How do you market a film franchise to Chinese, many of whom never grew up with the original films? Well, to answer that question we turn to NPR's Frank Langfitt, who was outside the Shanghai Grand Theater a few days ago. Hi, Frank. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Good morning, David. How are you doing?
GREENE: I'm good. So how excited are people, and how much do people in China know about the "Star Wars" movies?
LANGFITT: Well, until recently they didn't know that much. You've got to remember, when you and I were growing up - 1977 when it came out - Mao had just died a year earlier. The Cultural Revolution had just ended here. And that was a time when everything foreign was pretty much banned. Then the first "Star Wars" prequel, that came here in 2005, and it went nowhere. So recently, I was talking to a guy named T.J. Green. He's an American expat. He's been in theaters here for a long time in China. And he kind of remembers what it was like back then in 2005. Here's how he put it.
T.J. GREEN: At the beginning, a lot of people were confusing "Star Wars" with "Star Trek." So there really wasn't the type of following that you would have in the West or in other Asian countries.
GREENE: Oh my God, confusing those two franchises would offend a lot of people who love those two different movies.
LANGFITT: Right, but people here, of course, didn't know 'cause they just hadn't grown up with it.
GREENE: How are people marketing this movie planning to fix this problem to make sure that people get excited?
LANGFITT: Well, Disney's really going all out because this is such a huge market. So they're doing a big education campaign. When I was coming over in the back of the cab, on the screen I was watching a "Star Wars" trailer. Recently, they put about 500 models of "Star Wars" stormtroopers on the Great Wall. They've even got a guy named Lu Han - he's sort of a Chinese version of kind of an early Justin Bieber. He's actually working as an ambassador to kind of promote the movie with people here.
GREENE: Well, Frank, you're at this movie theater. I mean, I'm imagining a place where there are, you know, the posters for the movies that are playing outside. Does it look like it does in the United States? And what do the posters look like?
LANGFITT: It's interesting. I'm looking at the poster right now, and there's a really big difference from what you'd see in the States. One of the main stars, John Boyega, a British actor, he plays Finn. And he's actually been shrunk down, and he's to the side. And this actually created a bit of a controversy here because he's black. And people wondered if there was some racism involved. Africans who live in China routinely complain about racism. And there was a concern that that might be going on here.
GREENE: You're saying he's like - it's a shrunken version of him on these posters?
LANGFITT: It is. And he's actually - of all the actors, he's the smallest one.
GREENE: Are we seeing the other usual characters - Chewbacca, Harrison Ford?
LANGFITT: Actually, Harrison Ford is very prominent. But Chewbacca is completely missing.
GREENE: What?
LANGFITT: There's no sign of him. Yeah, he's not here. I think the idea is most Chinese would just have no idea what a Wookie was. And so why would they go to a movie to see this giant hairy creature?
GREENE: I guess after they see this movie, though, maybe in the next movie, there will be a lot more Chewbacca because you can't get enough Chewbacca.
LANGFITT: I agree.
GREENE: Thanks, Frank.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, David.
GREENE: That was NPR's Frank Langfitt who, like me, grew up on "Star Wars." And he was speaking to us from Shanghai, where "The Force Awakens" is opening this week.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It has been an unnerving week in China, where the world's second-largest economy watched its markets plunge by double digits. Prices fell so sharply on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that trade was halted twice.
Meanwhile, the value of China's currency, the yuan, fell to its lowest level in nearly five years. All of that pushed markets down around the globe and here in the U.S.
We're fortunate to have NPR Shanghai correspondent Frank Langfitt here in the studio, having just arrived from China. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: First off - has the market slide stopped for now?
LANGFITT: It has for now. It's much better. Actually, Shanghai was up 2 percent. The European markets and U.S. futures are slightly up as well, so things are calmer. What happened was the government stepped in. They tightened the band that the currency was trading on - that it fluctuates on. And they also stopped using these things called circuit breakers that were designed to shut off trading when there was a real steep drop. And what's actually happening is people were actually dumping their stocks before the circuit breaker kicked in because they were worried. And so it actually ended up having the opposite effect.
MONTAGNE: Sort of counterproductive?
LANGFITT: Very much so.
MONTAGNE: At least China's government thinks so. This is, though, the second market plunge in six months. It was down last summer. It's been up since then. Now it's back down again. So what really, in the big picture, is going?
LANGFITT: What happened is the government jumped in last summer when we had these problems, and they bought up a lot of stocks and stabilized it. But that doesn't change the fact that the industrial economy in China continues to slow.
I spent part of the fall actually visiting closed cement factories, struggling coal mines. And what we saw on Monday is data showing that manufacturing was continuing to shrink. That drove a plunge on Monday. We had another one on Thursday when the People's Bank of China allowed the currency to drop a lot more.
Now, in the short term, that can mean more money flown out of the economy away from the yuan. And, of course, that's less money to prop up stocks.
MONTAGNE: Well, China had suddenly devalued its currency last summer, which really rattled the markets at that time. What's going on with the currency this time?
LANGFITT: Well, they've allow the currency now to fall to about 6.5 yuan to the dollar. And that's making the yuan cheaper, so it's easier for China to sell things overseas. And that can maybe help the manufacturing economy a little bit. Of course, it makes it more expensive for China to buy foreign products, and so that's less demand for global growth.
So when you look at some big - some economies like, say, Australia, Mongolia - they rely a lot on China buying minerals and energy, and so it can be a big shock to other economies when China isn't buying.
MONTAGNE: What is the positive in all of this? - because there can be a positive when a country's currency goes down.
LANGFITT: Well, one positive for folks like us and people outside of this economy who are not using the yuan. But you can buy Chinese products cheaper. So that's actually good for Americans.
And I'll give you just a personal example. I live in Shanghai, as you were mentioning. It's really expensive there. Recently, I was changing money before I left. And I saw the exchange rate, and I was just thrilled because now I'm actually saving several hundred dollars in rent every month because the currency's fallen that much.
MONTAGNE: Well, that's nice - for you. But what does this tell us about the overall health of China's economy? And that, of course, has implications for the rest of the world.
LANGFITT: I think it's important to remember here that there's always a big reaction to China because it is such a big economy. It's such a big country. But we're not looking at a collapse. The economy's still growing, but I think we're in for a hard slog.
The industrial economy is slowing faster than, say, consumer spending can pick up that slack. Growth will probably continue, almost certainly continue to slow this year. The government has to make a big transition in this economy. They have to make it more efficient. They have to create more value. But they're also fighting vested interest. They're state monopolies and energies and telecoms that just don't want to see competition. So the world's going to continue to watch this very closely, and markets are going to continue to react to, really, almost whatever they see happening in China.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Shanghai correspondent Frank Langfitt, in our studio though this morning. Thank you.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
OK. There is turmoil in the world markets and, of course, China. But when it comes to job growth in the U.S., there is good news this morning. Data released today show the U.S. economy added 292,000 jobs last months. That's right, nearly 300,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent.
As NPR's John Ydstie reports, the strength in the job market was surprising to many.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Slowing growth in China and weak December data in U.S. manufacturing and exports had lots of economists revising down their forecasts for U.S. growth. And survey showed they were expecting just over 200,000 new jobs to be added in December. Instead, the economy generated nearly 300,000.
Economist Rob Martin of Barclays Investment Bank says that reaffirms his belief that the U.S. economy remains strong.
ROB MARTIN: We feel confident that the economy is in a great spot and is very likely to withstand any kind of headwinds coming from abroad, and kind of headwinds coming from turbulence in the Chinese economy.
YDSTIE: Job growth was solid across industries, except for mining, which continued to suffer from layoffs in the oil and gas sectors. Even manufacturing added 8,000 jobs. But wage growth continued to be weak. It was essentially flat in December. Martin thinks wages will begin to move up faster in 2016.
MARTIN: We think we are at the point in the cycle where we should start seeing some real boost to wages. These job numbers are very consistent with that expectation.
YDSTIE: Martin says this strong jobs report is also likely to keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise its benchmark interest rate to just over 1 percent by the end of this year. He expects that will come in four increments, starting at the Fed's March meeting.
YDSTIE: John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene with a story of a puddle - not an extraordinary puddle. But it's blocking a walking path in Newcastle, England, and now it is a popular puddle because Richard Rippon decided to live stream it. He saw it from an office close by and became fascinated by the way people were navigating it. He told the BBC people ran, jumped, even acted like they were Jesus walking on water. More than 20,000 people have watched the puddle cam. Some of the water is now even selling on eBay. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
After 9/11, the New York Police Department overhauled its intelligence unit - brought in a CIA veteran to help run it and began spying on the city's Muslim residents. For years, police there infiltrated Muslim community meetings and took down license plate numbers in mosque parking lots. Now the NYPD and the American Civil Liberties Union have reached a settlement on a long-running lawsuit the ACLU filed on behalf of six Muslims in New York. Joining us now is one of the lead attorneys in that case, Hina Shamsi of the ACLU. Thanks very much for joining us.
HINA SHAMSI: Thank you for having me.
MONTAGNE: Tell us the basics. What have the parties agreed to?
SHAMSI: Well, the parties have agreed to reforms that are designed to protect New York Muslims and others from discriminatory and unjustified surveillance. So there are now a robust anti-discrimination policy, safeguards to constrain intrusive investigatory practices such as limitations on the use of undercovers and informants and the appointment of an outside civilian representative to ensure that all of these safeguards are followed and enforced.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, one of the striking things about the NYPD surveillance program is that many in the department didn't like it either - complained for example, about starting an investigation just because someone was a Muslim. And then in fact, William Bratton - Bill Bratton - returned as commissioner a couple of years ago - one of the first things he did was shut much of it down. So it's not just you all at the ACLU - right? - it sounds like the city wanted to do this, too.
SHAMSI: I think that the city recognized that, you know, what had been happening was quite simply untenable. But it took a fair amount of negotiation in our lawsuit and in another lawsuit in which there has been a long-standing consent decree regulating the NYPD's investigations of New York's political and religious activities to arrive at these reforms which, if approved by the courts, will be enforceable. And I think that's really important because I think part of what happened is that there were interpretations of the rules governing NYPD surveillance that quite simply violated those rules. And the oversight mechanisms had been weakened or done away with, and what we've got now, I think, is a settlement which, if approved by the courts, is going to show that effective policing can and must be achieved without discriminatory profiling of Muslims or any other communities.
MONTAGNE: Well, just briefly though - did the NYPD fight you very hard on any particular thing?
SHAMSI: Well, we fought very hard before the settlement negotiations on litigation back and forth. And then we had some pretty intensive discussions over the course of the settlement process. But I think what's important now is the commitment to these reforms especially, Renee, at a time of rampant anti-Muslim hysteria and discrimination nationwide. And this agreement that we have with the country's largest police force sends a forceful message that bias-based policing is unlawful, it's harmful and it's unnecessary.
MONTAGNE: Well, just again briefly, the NYPD has made a lot of changes. It doesn't launch investigations because of someone's religion or ethnicity, so are you happy with that? I mean, that's not even something that needs to be changed.
SHAMSI: Well, I think the provisions of the settlement all need to be read together in order to ensure that these safeguards continue going forward to prevent the abuses that took place.
MONTAGNE: Hina Shamsi is the director of the ACLU's Security Project - thank you very much for joining us.
SHAMSI: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Much of the world has been spared this week as markets have taken a tumble in Asia, Europe and here in the United States. Though early signs today suggest markets abroad could be stabilizing here at weekâs end. The root of all of this appears to be China. And a big question is whether the tumult there will make 2016 a bad economic year. Letâs bring in economist Mohamed El-Erian. Heâs chief economic adviser for the financial services company Allianz and chair of President Obamaâs Global Development Council. Heâs on the line. Good morning to you, sir.
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN: Morning, David.
GREENE: You know, could we start by just looking â taking the long view of China. For so long weâve seen it as such a world economic powerhouse. Weâve been reporting, in recent years, on the economy weakening. I mean, how big a moment is this?
EL-ERIAN: Well, first, China is still a very significant economy. But itâs one going to work developing economists called the Middle-Income Transition. Think of it as going from being a teenager to being an adult.
GREENE: OK.
EL-ERIAN: Things change and you have to adapt. So they have a set of very important structure reforms and theyâre trying to deliver that without sacrificing too much growth. And itâs tricky. And the result of that is that theyâll all spill over to the rest of the world.
GREENE: So in keeping with this metaphor, I mean, is the Chinese government sort of the parents who are trying to manage this teenager growing up and how are they doing?
EL-ERIAN: So think of a teenager who has been relying on his or her parents and now has to stand up on their own. That is what Chinaâs trying to do. Theyâve been relying on selling to external markets, selling to the U.S., selling to other countries, and now they have to rely more on their domestic consumption. That is a major shift. Itâs a very important one. Itâs one that I think the Chinese will successfully navigate. But itâs full of potholes and it requires a lot of agility in the policymaking. And unfortunately, the Chinese have made a few missteps in the last few weeks.
GREENE: But why is it so important that they shift to this more domestic consumption-based economy?
EL-ERIAN: Because theyâve become too big. They can no longer sell to the rest of the world in a manner that generate enough economic growth and enough income for their population. So theyâve become too big for the world. Theyâre too big for the neighborhood. So now they have to rely much more on their own internal drivers of growth. And thatâs a very clear transition that lots of countries go through. No one as big as China and as complicated as China has attempted it recently.
GREENE: Let me ask you this. It seems like investors in other parts of the world are very concerned. I mean, are they concerned specifically about markets that are falling or is there sort of a broad concern that this economic powerhouse might be in trouble, that the government - or the parents, to keep with the metaphor - not, you know, raising this child so well. Is that where, you know, the lack of confidence that weâre seeing the other markets kind of react in this way?
EL-ERIAN: So thatâs a critical question because if you look at what happens in China, it doesnât justify the way the global markets have reacted. Yes, growth is slowing down. Yes, they are weakening the currency which means theyâre trying to take growth from other countries. And yes, they have boosted their own stock market too high, just like we did with housing. However, whatâs fundamentally going on, David, is something else. Markets are realizing that we are exiting the world in which central banks were both willing and able to suppress volatility. If you like, central banks were viewed as marketsâ BFFs - best friends forever. Anything goes wrong, they will come in and they will flood the system with liquidity and they will calm things down. Now that the Fed is starting to hike rates, the markets are getting used to this notion that the Fed no longer has their back. And therefore, any small thing around the world will cause outsized moves in the financial markets. And thatâs what we're seeing today.
GREENE: All right, weâll have to stop there. Mohamed El-Erian is author of the upcoming book, âThe Only Game In Town: Central Banks Instability And Avoiding The Next Collapse.â Thanks so much for joining us on the program this morning. We appreciate it.
EL-ERIAN: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
At last, a sport that you and I can relate to - which brings us to a story we have coming up, right?
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: (Laughter) Boy, can we relate to this one.
This is a pickup game of basketball, tough in its own right. In fact, Scott, it's a game I once played in and dominated, if you will.
SIMON: (Laughter).
GOLDMAN: Although your old producer pal Peter Breslow might dispute that. Peter started this pickup game, now in its 33rd season. And, Scott, even though now Peter is a bit vertically challenged, shall we say, he still plays a mean horizontal game. And he's helping keep the NPR hardwood traditional alive. Here he is with a play-by-play.
PETER BRESLOW, BYLINE: Thanks, Tom. And by the way, Tom had a very sweet shot from the corner. Over the years, he was one of an array of NPR staffers who were part of the game. And yes, that's right. It's been going on since 1982, when I washed up on NPR's doorstep looking for a job. That makes me too old to still be playing, and yet somehow, I still am.
Everyone Wednesday night over the decades, a group of guys has come together to run fullcourt in a rented gym. We've had journalists, carpenters, doctors, locksmiths, IT guys, military guys, lawyers and at least one top White House staffer. This is DC, after all. Often, we know little about each other's personal lives and would never recognize each other with long pants on.
BERNARD OHANIAN: You know, when it's really clicking, it's like a jazz symphony. And most of the time, it's like a bad garage band.
BRESLOW: That's Bernard Ohanian. He's one of the almost-originals and among the few graybeards left in our group. He says the game endures because everyone's friendly, plays hard and...
OHANIAN: There's no jerks in the game. I mean, anybody's who's ever played pickup basketball knows that that's not always the case. And, you know, the friendships and the relationships that you build up over a number of years, it just feels right. It feels like part of my life, you know, so...
BRESLOW: NPR economics correspondent John Ydstie, an all-state player in high school, has been part of my on-court life for a long, long time.
JOHN YDSTIE: So I know every move you've got.
BRESLOW: You know that I can't go left.
YDSTIE: I know you can't go left. I know when you go right, you go hard, and you can make that hook shot - that little running hook shot at the basket.
BRESLOW: Occasionally. But John is a consistent threat from the outside and along the baseline. And it's those moves that keep him in the game.
YDSTIE: Every now and then, I do something that feels like it felt when I was 20 years old, and it just feels so great. And you realize you were once really good at this thing, and I'm not very good at it anymore, I mean. But it's still fun. It's just great fun.
BRESLOW: For Bernard Ohanian, long-running games run in the family. His dad played with a group of friends from the time they were 15 until well into their golden years. And there was this one guy named Bob who had been fouling everyone since World War II, but he'd never admit it. Well, during one game in the mid-1980s, he hacked his buddy Joe one time too many.
OHANIAN: And Joe says foul. And Bob just looks incredulous. And he looks at him, says Joe, I didn't foul you. And you can see this stuff simmering in Joe like he'd been holding it in all these years, right? And he slams the ball down on the floor and he says, damn it, Bob. It was a foul in 1945, and it's a foul today.
BRESLOW: When we started, almost everyone was in their early 30s. But over the years, the original cast of characters dwindled down. Some left town. Some were felled by torn ligament. Others were pulled away by marriage and kids. Some just got too old and creaky, and most often, young guys took their place.
So what year were you born?
DAN BLANK: 1983.
BRESLOW: Yes, Dan Blank was born the year after this game started. I'm pretty sure I'm older than his parents.
BLANK: A lot of guys out here have some very sneaky speed. Every now and then, I think I can just jog back down and keep pace and then they zoom right past me, so it's kept me on my toes.
BRESLOW: So some old guy might surprise you here and again.
BLANK: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't take anything for granted the way I did the first game.
BRESLOW: He's just being nice. But that's kind of a hallmark of this intergenerational game. Again, Bernard Ohanian.
OHANIAN: When any of us, like, really older guys, you know, dives for a ball and we're on the ground or we fall, I mean, the guys are, like, standing over us - you all right, you all right, you all right? I think they're afraid we're going to die on the court.
BRESLOW: At least he died doing what he loved. For John Ydstie, retirement is not an option - not yet.
YDSTIE: You know, I keep thinking, I suppose there's a time will come (laughter) when we'll have to hang it up, but it's not next week. And I don't think it's next year. Yeah, I don't know. Just keep going till I can't go anymore. Oh, I think I have to go. I'm in.
BRESLOW: All right. Good luck.
Over the years, I've broken my nose, cracked my ribs, torn muscles and sprained ankles. My jump shot percentage is approaching that of low-fat milk. And my reflexes have gone from catlike to semi-catatonic. And yet, I keep playing because the game I've practiced since I was 9 years old keeps toying with me. Just when it seems like I can't raise the embarrassment bar any higher, I'll have a great night - or at least a great game. I'll hit most of my shots, maybe even a game-winner. And then I know I'll be back next Wednesday night.
Peter Breslow, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THAT'S HOW I BEAT SHAQ")
AARON CARTER: (Singing) It's like boom, boom. I put in the hoop like slam, slam. I heard the crowd screaming out jam, jam. I swear that I'm telling you the facts 'cause that's how I beat Shaq.
Boom, boom - I put it in the hoop like slam, slam. I heard the crowd screaming out jam, jam. I swear that I'm telling you the facts 'cause that's how I beat Shaq.
So check it out. I thought I had the lead, but then he started scoring mad points on me. I was throwing bricks. Was he hitting all the shots? I knew there was a way that I could make it stop.
I had a plan. I could change the pace...
SIMON: Aaron Carter. You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Turkey is often in the news for the conflicts that roil its borders, the fighting in Iraq and Syria. However, there's also fighting inside the country between the government and Kurdish militants who have declared autonomy in some majority Kurdish towns. Turkish forces are imposing curfews and launching sweeping military operations. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Istanbul.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Late last month, Abdul Aziz Yural raced from his house in the southeast town of Cizre to help a neighbor in distress. Yural was a nurse, so he didn't think twice about it, but while he was treating her he was cut down by a sniper's bullet. Fadime Kavak, with the Turkish medical chamber, says in parts of southeast Turkey these days, medical workers are targets.
FADIME KAVAK: (Through interpreter) The nurse Eyup Ergen was killed by a sniper while trying to get home. An ambulance driver, Seyhmuz Dursan, was killed, also by a sniper, while out on an emergency call.
KENYON: The chamber blames government troops for the deaths, but Turkish officials deny that their forces targeted health care workers or civilians. With much of the conflict zone under curfew, independent confirmation is difficult. Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who once backed peace talks with the militants, the fighting wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, is now using some of his harshest rhetoric in years. He recently dismissed Kurdish demands for greater rights in autonomy as nonissues.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN: (Through interpreter) Turkey doesn't have a Kurdish problem. Turkey has a terrorism problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
KENYON: For civilians, daily life is a problem, with thousands displaced and those who remain at risk. This online video from Cizre shows militant neighborhoods riddled with PKK trenches. Turkish security forces use helicopters, armored vehicles and heavier weapons to pursue Erdogan's mandate to completely root out the PKK fighters. It's a promise Turkish leaders have been making for more than 30 years.
This spring, Turks had some hope that an emerging political group would bring momentum to the push for successful peace talks. But now, the leader of that pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas, is threatened with prosecution for supporting autonomy for Kurdish towns. And there are calls to close the party down. The situation seems especially bleak now, says Nigar Goksel with the International Crisis Group because both sides think time is on their side.
NIGAR GOKSEL: They both argue that their hand is getting stronger and the other side is getting weaker by virtue of the escalation in the southeast. This also is connected to developments in Syria.
KENYON: There are also Kurds in northern Syria, including fighters loosely tied to the PKK who are battling the Islamic State and gaining ground. Turkey wants those fighters branded as terrorists, but Kurds in Turkey are proud to see Kurdish battlefield success against ISIS winning international praise. Caught in this depressing scenario, says Crisis Group researcher Berkay Mandiraci, are ordinary Kurds.
BERKAY MANDIRACI: The two and a half year cease-fire really gave people hope. You can really see this and people are expressing the wish to go back to those times. This is probably also something which, you know, both sides can still build upon.
KENYON: But even has he says it, Mandiraci knows that now is not the time for optimism. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
It's the end of an era in Charleston, S.C. Mayor Joe Riley is retiring after 40 years in office. His tenure has seen the transformation of downtown Charleston from a decaying urban center into a top cultural and tourist destination. NPR's Debbie Elliot has this profile of the nation's longest-serving mayor. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: We incorrectly identify Joseph Riley as the longest-serving mayor in America. In fact, multiple people have served as mayors of American cities longer than Riley's 40-year stint as mayor of Charleston.]
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: In most cities you find buildings named for mayors. But in downtown Charleston, look for the driveway brick.
JOE RILEY: That's Riley Red. It's not because my hard head. That's just the color.
ELLIOTT: Joe Riley's hard head does come into play because run-of-the-mill brick wouldn't do. He had this brick made in just the right hue to compliment the historic city's palette, and harken back to brick carriageways.
RILEY: But we can walk - this way is good.
ELLIOTT: On a tour, you see Riley's imprint all over the Charleston landscape - from the paint color at City Hall to the gravel mix for park paths. Then there's Charleston Place, a retail and hotel complex once dubbed Riley's Folly when he first proposed incentives for redeveloping a vacant lot in the heart of downtown.
RILEY: King Street, our main street, which in the '70s was almost gone, is now on the list as one of the 10 best shopping streets in America.
RILEY: This one redevelopment did it.
ELLIOTT: Wearing his signature horn-rimmed glasses, the 72-year-old Riley is clearly passionate about the way his city looks and feels. He is known among the nation's mayors as an urban design guru.
RILEY: A city is an ecosystem. And if your ecosystem is not healthy then you work to restore it.
ELLIOTT: Charleston was not healthy when Joseph P. Riley, Jr. was first elected in 1975. Downtown was lifeless. And in the first decade after the civil rights movement, racial divisions were laid bare. He was a 32-year-old state lawmaker at the time. Back at City Hall, Riley recalls the election as a turning point.
RILEY: Either there would be a bridge builder running for mayor or there would be a bitter election that probably pitted an African-American against a white conservative.
ELLIOTT: He won, and for the first time included African-Americans in city administration. Riley earned a nickname for his efforts - LBJ.
RILEY: People said that behind my back. It stood for Little Black Joe. And, you know, I never worried about that because what I knew I needed to do was substantially be communicating to the African-American community that this city was theirs.
ELLIOTT: Riley is a Democrat with staying power even as Republicans have come to dominate South Carolina politics. He first gained national attention in 1989 dealing with the destruction wrought by Hurricane Hugo. His crisis leadership was again in the spotlight last year when a gunman killed nine people and Emmanuel AME Church in what authorities described as a racially motivated attack. Riley says that was his most challenging time as mayor. But he says he was proud to see Charleston respond to an act of hate with love and forgiveness.
RILEY: What the families did and what the citizens of Charleston did was in our saddest, most heartbreaking time, they made it the city's finest hour.
ELLIOTT: Riley has a reputation for being personable and accessible to average citizens. He exudes the southern charm his city is known for. Charleston is enjoying a modern cultural renaissance with its noted art and food scene and a booming tourism trade.
Rebecca Darwin is the founder and CEO of Garden and Gun magazine, which is headquartered in Charleston.
REBECCA DARWIN: Companies are growing here. It's really become kind of a creative town.
ELLIOTT: Darwin credits the mayor for making it a livable yet vibrant city.
DARWIN: Because of Joe Riley, this is an incredible place for people to live. And so when it came time for me to recruit the best talent in the world to come here and work for Garden and Gun, a little struggling magazine at the time that could not pay New York salaries, and we were able to get those people to come here because of the quality of life in this place and the excitement that was surrounding Charleston.
ELLIOTT: There's a new $140 million performing arts center, an expansive waterfront park and a minor-league baseball stadium named for the mayor. It's called The Joe. But Riley has had to carefully navigate preserving the nearly 350-year-old port city with progress. Some are critical of what they called the Riley machine. He's used a strong-mayor form of government to push his vision of Charleston. He's been up against preservationists, developers and most recently old-line residents who don't want to see a cruise ship dock in the Charleston Harbor. Others say he's overseen a revitalization that didn't benefit everyone.
BARNEY BLAKENEY: Charleston is, like a lot of places unfortunately, is a tale of two cities.
ELLIOTT: Barney Blakeney writes for the city's African-American newspaper, The Charleston Chronicle.
BLAKENEY: In one aspect, Joe Riley has been the person who revitalized Charleston at a time of crisis.
ELLIOTT: But for African-Americans, Blakeney says, there's a bigger picture. The city's overall population has grown, but the share of black residents has shrunk dramatically from 45 percent in 1970 to about 25 percent now.
BLAKENEY: Today, as he leaves office, the city is 70 percent white. Joe Riley totally flipped the racial demographics in Charleston during his 40-year tenure.
ELLIOTT: Mayor Riley acknowledges gentrification has been a concern but says maintaining affordable housing has been a priority. His latest initiative is aimed at recognizing the role that race has played in Charleston's story. The city has acquired this site along the Cooper River where Gadsden's Wharf once stood, dating to the late 1700s.
RILEY: It was huge. And it was the primary wharf to which enslaved Africans were brought.
ELLIOTT: He calls it a sacred place.
RILEY: Right where we're standing, in the last three years, 70,000 enslaved Africans were brought right here to be sold. Population of the city was only 20,000 then.
ELLIOTT: In his retirement, Riley plans to help raise money to build the African-American Museum. Charleston's first new mayor in four decades will be sworn in on Monday. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Charleston, S.C.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have spent most of the presidential race avoiding direct confrontations with each other. But the men are in first and second place in the polls and that'll strain even the most loving relationship. And this week, as NPR's website put it, Trump went birther on his rival, questioning whether Senator Cruz is even eligible to run for president because he was born in Canada. With the two in the lead, both establishment and some anti-establishment Republicans have expressed concern that either man could win. Well, here's one of them, Matt Kibbe. He's the former head of the tea party group FreedomWorks and he's now part of the superPAC that supports Rand Paul's campaign. He joins us in our studios. Mr. Kibbe, thanks so much for being with us.
MATT KIBBE: Thanks for having me.
SIMON: How do you see the differences between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz if it got to the point where you felt you had to make a decision?
KIBBE: Obviously, when I was at FreedomWorks, we weighed in in supported of Ted Cruz very early in his primary challenge in Texas. So I'm a big Ted Cruz fan. But I think the fundamental differences between what I would call Donald Trump's authoritarian tendencies - he's all about what he would do as president. And you never hear him talk about the Constitution, you never hear him talk about the Bill of Rights, you never hear about him and the rule of law. Whereas Ted Cruz wears that stuff on his sleeve.
SIMON: How do you analyze Mr. Trump's rise? What do you think he's tapping into?
KIBBE: Well, there's two things going on. One is a clear sense of economic anxiety and the feeling amongst a lot of voters that the country's headed in the wrong direction combined with a sense that Washington doesn't really give a damn. The other thing that's going on, which I think is more fundamental and I think both Republicans and Democrats are struggling to understand this, is a transformational moment in politics. It's more disintermediated. The party bosses no longer get to decide who the choice is. And with the ability to drive your own message and organize your own get-out-the-vote machine without the party's blessing, all sorts of candidates have become competitive. Donald Trump is definitely part of that, although he's sort of the odd man out because he's more of a cult of personality.
SIMON: Is he though, at the same time, tapping into some of the sentiment that you and the tea party began to raise?
KIBBE: He's definitely tapping into the anxiety that Washington is broken and that the economy's headed in the wrong direction. But the fundamental difference between the way I think about the tea party - and I'm a card-carrying member of the tea party - is that we talked a lot about the rule of law and we worried that President Obama was very much overstepping the powers of the presidency. And Donald Trump clearly doesn't care about that stuff. He makes it very clear that as president he would do what's necessary to get the job done.
SIMON: If Donald Trump nevertheless were to become the Republican nominee, what do you do?
KIBBE: If Donald Trump becomes the nominee, you're almost guaranteed a third-party challenge, perhaps both from the Republican side and the Democratic side. And it might also lead to the death of the Republican Party. I think they're sort of walking on eggshells right now. And it goes back to this question about disintermediation. The two-party system has very much been dependent on the ability of party bosses to control the message, to control the money, and the party that best understands that that world is no longer there is going to flourish in this new environment. I think, in some ways, Donald Trump is a creation of the Republican establishment's unwillingness to accept this new world.
SIMON: Is Mr. Trump also the creation, in a sense, of the beneficiary of the creation of the tea party?
KIBBE: You know, I've looked at the data on this, and it depends on how you define the tea party. He definitely - I mean, I talk to tea partiers every day and he definitely has support from some of them. And he also has - some of the strongest opposition comes from the tea party. I think it gets to this question of executive power. But I also think that he's drawing from a lot of Democrats, a lot of independents, a lot of people that have not been participating in the political process before. And I should say - we should mention that the same dynamic is happening on the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders is in large part tapping into some of those same anxieties. He has, oddly enough, some of the same positions as Donald Trump on some key issues.
SIMON: Oh, for foreign policy, they sound very similar.
KIBBE: On foreign policy, on immigration. Bernie Sanders has a history of being opposed to new immigration. It's sort of that closed-system view that, you know, our best days are behind us. And, of course, Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary fits in New Hampshire and Iowa.
SIMON: Matt Kibbe is a senior adviser at Concerned American Voters. Thanks so much for being with us.
KIBBE: Good to be with you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
"Mein Kampf" has been published in Germany for the first time in 70 years. What does a limited new publication of a repugnant old book say about modern Germany? "Mein Kampf" - "My Struggle" - sold at least 10 million copies from the first time it appeared in 1925 to the time the Nazis were defeated in 1945. The book sold as many copies as "The Joy Of Sex" or "The Gospel According To Peanuts," not because it's inspiring, bawdy, witty or moving. It's turgid, incoherent and hateful. "Mein Kampf" became a bestseller because Adolf Hitler bullied his way to power, which made the book become a compulsory possession in German households. The Reich gave it as a wedding gift to couples, instead of a spice rack, I suppose, and the sales made Adolf Hitler a wealthy man.
The Bavarian state government has held the copyright to "Mein Kampf" and never reissued the book. The symbols of Nazism, including swastikas, are still prohibited in Germany, except for scholarly and artistic purposes. Yet, when the musical "The Producers" opened in Berlin, they turned the swastikas into pretzels. But it may be impossible these days to prohibit any words or symbols when they are so freely available on the World Wide Web. And modern Germany has a free press and diversity of people and opinions.
This new "Mein Kampf" is a door stopper, nearly 2,000 pages long with 3,700 critical annotations by scholars from Munich's Institute of Contemporary History. We are like a bomb disposal unit, rendering relics from the Nazi era useless, Christian Hartman, one of the historians, told Germany's ZDF. Ron Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, is among those opposed to "Mein Kampf" being republished. Not because he believes a bloated book of rants punctuated with modern scholarly retorts will lead to a neo-Nazi revival, but because "Mein Kampf" is just a really rotten book. Unlike other works that truly deserve to be republished as annotated editions, "Mein Kampf" does not, he told a French news agency.
Germany took in about one million refugees from around the world in 2015. A number of Germans protested, and over New Year's, there was a particularly ugly episode at the Cologne train station in which women accused crowds of migrants of sexual assault. But modern Germany has faced up to its history and become a free and merciful country that fleeing refugees want to reach. I wonder how many Germans might hear there's a new publication of "Mein Kampf" and just think, oh, yeah, I saw the movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF BROADWAY MUSICAL, "THE PRODUCERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) And now it's springtime for Hitler and Germany. Deutschland is happy...
SIMON: And you're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Jamie Masefield is a Vermont musician who's been improvising jazz on the mandolin for decades. He's recorded six albums, including one for Blue Note records, and brings everything from folk and funk to the literature of Leo Tolstoy to the stage - although, so far, not the stylings of BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Anyway, a while back, Mr. Masefield's eclectic creativity brought him an unexpected second career, and it involves some heavy lifting. Vermont Public Radio's Angela Evancie explains.
ANGELA EVANCIE, BYLINE: Sometimes Jamie Masefield does this.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
EVANCIE: And sometimes he does this.
(SOUNDBITE OF A HAMMER HITTING STONE)
JAMIE MASEFIELD: In the industry we call it rainbow stone. And it's very nice to work with.
EVANCIE: Masefield is chipping away at pinkish stone with a small hammer. When he's not making music, he's a professional dry stone mason. This means he builds walls and foundations and sculptures that support themselves without any concrete smushed between the cracks. Today he's building a retaining wall.
MASEFIELD: The first concern is longevity. We want to build something that lasts a long time, that has real functionality, that's not just there to please a homeowner for 15 years.
EVANCIE: Another word for this is stability, which is exactly what Masefield was looking for when he got into masonry. He had been living on the road with his band, the Jazz Mandolin Project.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
EVANCIE: Some of their stuff actually sounds like the musical equivalent of life on tour.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
MASEFIELD: Driving around the country in a van playing over a hundred shows a year.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
MASEFIELD: Sleeping in funky motels alongside the roaring highway.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
MASEFIELD: Bands in trailers, and tour managers, full-time employees, booking agents, publicity people.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
EVANCIE: He was ready for a change.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
MASEFIELD: I was feeling more of a need to have a vegetable garden and eat good food and be healthy and be outside. And so I contacted an old friend of mine who had a well-established landscaping company in the area. And the first day I went to work for him, he had me building the corner of a stone wall. And I loved it.
ANDREW LOUDEN: It draws weirdos and strange types of people.
EVANCIE: Andrew Louden is a master craftsman with the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain and a pretty big deal in the world of stone.
LOUDEN: And so I think it's more perhaps a lifestyle choice. But I think anybody who comes into dry stone walling, it's helpful if you've got some sort of artistic leaning or background. Because unlike building in any other medium, the stone's completely irregular.
EVANCIE: It takes creativity and discipline. Louden's association runs a series of tests to certify professional builders at different levels. He judged Masefield's intermediate test. It ran seven hours.
LOUDEN: It's more difficult test. There's more involved. For me, the timed element's one of the most important parts of the test because the craftsman has to prove that he's economically viable.
EVANCIE: Masefield passed. But because he also wants to stay musically viable, when he's on the job site, he's compulsive about protecting his hands.
MASEFIELD: I wear gloves all the time when I'm working. Sometimes, like going to the bank or something, and saying, yeah, this is on my business account. I'm a stone mason. And sometimes I walk away thinking, that guy didn't believe me. He doesn't think I'm a stone mason.
EVANCIE: Because your hands are too soft?
MASEFIELD: My hands are too soft because I'm wearing these gloves all the time.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
JON FISHMAN: You know, he puts himself into whatever it is he's doing pretty sincerely.
EVANCIE: Jon Fishman is the drummer with the band Phish. He's been playing with Masefield off and on since they were in college. From the beginning, Fishman says he recognized a kindred spirit.
FISHMAN: Jamie was one of those people like, oh, this guy's, you know, he's pretty dedicated. This is another human who's - it's not just a hobby for. And to be perfectly honest, when he started to go down the stone building route, I actually was a little jealous.
EVANCIE: It's tempting to think that Masefield inhabits two totally different creative worlds. But he says jazz and masonry have something fundamental in common.
MASEFIELD: In jazz we have a phrase called playing changes. When we're playing changes, we're soloing over those harmonic changes in that particular tune. And so you are very quickly making decisions about what you're going to play. And so when I'm doing stone work, I often feel like we're in the midst of playing changes because every stone you place needs some consideration, but you can't dwell on it all day long.
EVANCIE: Like improvisation. But there's also the pursuit of timelessness.
MASEFIELD: At the end of every day of doing stone work, I can look back and say - hopefully say - that looks good, and that's what we've done today, and that's going to last a really long time. And it's similar in music. If you're lucky enough to play some great music one day, you can look back and say, well, we've got that. That's recorded, or the audience has heard that. Hopefully that's had an effect on them in some way that they're taking home with them.
EVANCIE: The task is monumental, so to speak. Make something for this moment. Make something for the ages - for everyone. How many of us are trying to do that? For NPR News, I'm Angela Evancie.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT SONG)
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Yiddish music - you're sitting forward now? You usually don't find it on Billboard's Top 40. Folkways Records released an album of Yiddish music that sold so poorly royalties over more than half a century amounted to less than a $1,000. That recording, though, inspired several generations of musicians and writers. And now an ensemble of klezmer musicians from 3 continents has recreated the album that was originally recorded by a man known as Prince Nazaroff. Jon Kalish has more.
JON KALISH, BYLINE: Playing Yiddish music in public was once so common among Jewish immigrants who lived near the beaches in New York and Los Angeles that it came to be known as boardwalk music.
And that's where I found The Brothers Nazaroff on the boardwalk at Coney Island.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE BROTHERS NAZAROFF SONG)
KALISH: The Brothers Nazaroff are being filmed by a Hungarian director making a documentary about them and their namesake, though the band's accordion player Daniel Kahn isn't sure there'll be much of an audience.
DANIEL KAHN, BYLINE: Not everybody loves this, you know. And I don't expect everybody to love it. This is for people who are willing to have a good time, people who understand that it's subversive to be joyous in public.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE BROTHERS NAZAROFF SONG)
THE BROTHERS NAZAROFF: (Singing in Yiddish).
KALISH: The Brothers Nazaroff are a bit more polished than their inspiration.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE NAZAROFF SONG)
PRINCE NAZAROFF: (Singing in Yiddish).
MICHAEL WEX: When I first heard the record, which was many years ago, my initial reaction to it was, like - how the hell did this get recorded?
KALISH: Michael Wex is the author of the best-selling book "Born To Kvetch."
WEX: It sounds like the Yiddish speaking janitor and a bunch of his friends at Folkways broke in one night and just sort of seized the equipment and started playing songs.
NAZAROFF: (Singing in Yiddish).
KALISH: Wex points out that Folkways Records head Moe Asch was the son Sholem Asch, the most important Yiddish writer in America in the early 20th century. So his son was certainly plugged in to the Yiddish art scene. But Wex thinks there may be another reason Asch put out the Nazaroff 10-inch.
WEX: The Nazaroff stuff was recorded right after Asch had released Harry Smith's "Anthology Of American Folk Music." It's almost as if Asch wanted to do a kind of Yiddish pendant to Harry Smith's anthology.
BOB COHEN: It was a fluke that he was recorded.
KALISH: Bob Cohen is the Budapest-based mandolinist of The Brothers Nazaroff.
COHEN: That was not what people recorded. People recorded what would elevate the culture. They didn't record what Jewish drunks did in the back room of a bar, you know. But why were we in the back room of a bar (laughter)?
KALISH: Because that's where this music was often played - in Yiddish bars.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE NAZAROFF SONG)
KALISH: Daniel Kahn says his bandmates think of Prince Nazaroff as the wild grandfather they never met.
KAHN: His mandolin - it's out of tune. The accordion's out of tune, but nobody cares. They're just playing as hard and as wild as possible. It's - the way he spits out his Yiddish lyrics has a kind of raw energy. And frankly, it's the same raw energy that I hear in early punk rock.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ICH A MAZELDICKER YID")
NAZAROFF: (Singing) Oy bin ich a mazeldicker, mazeldicker yid. Oy bin ich a mazeldicker, mazeldicker yid. Vie ich gei, vie ich shtay, heb ich nur un ein geshrei. Oy bin ich a mazeldicker, mazeldicker yid.
KALISH: Prince Nazaroff's sole album of Yiddish music led some of the biggest names in klezmer music today back into a studio. In addition to Cohen and Kahn, The Brothers Nazaroff includes the fiddler Jake Shulman-Ment; vocalist and guitarist Michael Alpert, who was named an NEA National Heritage Fellow last year; and Russian singer Psoy Korolenko.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ICH A MAZELDICKER YID")
THE BROTHERS NAZAROFF: (Singing) Papa buy some shoes for me. Pop, I want a penny. Shmildick wants a bicycle. A blouse I need, cried Fanny. Quietly my wife does weep, and her tears she's drying for she doesn't like to hear the children always crying.
Oy bin ich a mazeldicker, mazeldicker yid.
KALISH: As exuberant as the music is, many of the details of Prince Nazaroff's life remain less clear. We do know that he was born in Russia in 1892 and that a man named Nicholas Nazaroff is listed in U.S. Census records as having two children. But Daniel Kahn says members of The Brothers Nazaroff haven't been able to track them down.
KAHN: We have yet to hear from any of his relatives, not have the people at Smithsonian. He was buried in countless bargain record crates at the back room of many used record stores. That's the only grave of his that we know of.
KALISH: But Kahn and the rest of The Brothers Nazaroff have managed a kind of closure. Their new CD is out on the same label as their namesake's vinyl record more than 60 years ago.
For NPR News, I'm Jon Kalish in New York.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Writing has never been a particularly good way to get rich, except for the Stephen Kings of the world. But the Authors Guild, a group which represents the interests of scribblers everywhere, has filed a petition on New Year's Eve asking the Supreme Court to review the latest decision in the Google Books case. It's become harder and harder for writers to earn a living. A lower court has upheld Google's right to add whole volumes to its database without paying fees or getting permission. A few days later, the Guild released an open letter to publishers demanding better contract terms for authors. NPR's Lynn Neary has more on the group's fight to raise the writers' wage.
LYNN NEARY, BYLINE: Since 2009, the mean income for writers has gone down 30 percent, says Authors Guild Executive Director Mary Rasenberger. And that, she says, is huge.
MARY RASENBERGER: So it's alarming. And incomes are now down to unsustainable levels. And that means that even longtime author, authors who have been writing books for decades, are now being forced to seek other work. So we are looking at this in a holistic way. You know, why is this happening? And what can we do about it?
NEARY: The Google Books case, says Rasenberger, addresses the issue of copyright protection. The letter to the publishers takes on standard author contracts. Among other things, the Guild says, its writers should get a higher share of ebook income. And authors should have an option to retain the rights to their own books. The standard contracts the guild is protesting have been part of the business for decades.
RASENBERGER: These are the agreements that the un-agented authors see - or those without powerful agents - where the terms tend to be much, much worse.
NEARY: Much worse, that is, than the best-selling authors who can set their own terms. And that, says Porter Anderson, is part of the problem the Guild will face in dealing with publishers. Anderson, who writes about the industry for The Bookseller, an online British publication, says writers are not an easy group to organize.
PORTER ANDERSON: They're all at very different levels. They have different professional experience. They have different reasons for writing. They have different types of writing. There are factions within factions inside the author cap.
NEARY: Writers are also known for working in isolation. But, says Anderson, social media is changing all of that.
ANDERSON: Not only are authors able to talk to each other continually in real time, but they're also in touch with their readers. This is new.
NEARY: Anderson believes it significant that international writers organizations from Europe, Africa, Australia and Canada signed on to the Authors Guild letter to publishers.
ANDERSON: If an international coalition can start communicating to readers all over the world, look what your authors are going through. Did you know this is the experience and the condition in which your favorite author is working? Something has changed. The publishers then are facing a new world in which a lot of questions can be asked in a lot of places in very loud voices.
NEARY: The Authors Guild plans to meet with individual publishing companies to discuss their demands. And Mary Rasenberger says...
RASENBERGER: Do we expect them to turn around tomorrow and create new agreements that meet all of our - all of our requests? Probably not.
NEARY: But, she says, they're hopeful. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. We've just seen the worst first week of the year in stock market history. Fears over economic trouble in China sent stocks plunging around the world, but we also got a surprisingly good employment report yesterday in the United States. So the economy here might be stronger than we thought. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: This past week has not been dull for anyone trading stocks. Weak economic data in China sent shares there lower. That's not so unusual. But this time, the Chinese government had instituted what are called circuit breakers to suspend trading after a sharp decline. That was supposed to calm investors, but it backfired. This was some of the coverage on CNBC.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We've hit what they call circuit breaker...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Number one...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: This is crazy...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yeah, it's very disconcerting for the markets. They're learning by doing...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: It is...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We got Shenzhen markets basically falling through 2,000 down 6.7 percent.
ARNOLD: Later in the week, China got rid of the circuit breakers and stocks stopped free-falling. Still, even the major U.S. stock indexes over the past week fell between 6 and 7 percent. Matthew Kaufler is with Federated Clover Investment Advisors. He says actually the China trouble itself isn't so terrible.
MATTHEW KAUFLER: It's perfectly normal for growing economies like China or India to go through growing pains, but it will sort itself out.
ARNOLD: Kaufler says though on top of China, there's plenty of geopolitical uncertainty. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, terrorist attacks and...
KAUFLER: You had North Korea apparently testing the hydrogen bomb. That's not a good development. And we can call it saber-rattling all we want. It's not a good development.
ARNOLD: There's skepticism about whether that really was a hydrogen bomb. But Kaufler says all these things together have taken a toll on investor confidence. Finally, by Friday morning, markets got some good news. The Labor Department reported nearly 300,000 job gains in the U.S. in December, and the previous two months were revised higher by another 50,000 jobs.
DAIVD KOTOK: The U.S. economy is recovering.
ARNOLD: David Kotok is chief economist at Cumberland Advisors. He says he was encouraged by the jobs report. He also thinks cheaper gasoline is going to give the economy more of a boost going forward. And he says he's bullish on the outlook for the U.S., for the rest of the decade, for a bunch of reasons.
KOTOK: Low interest rates, gradually improving growth, gradually improving labor markets in the United States, and the U.S. stock market will flourish in such an environment, maybe dramatically higher.
ARNOLD: Still, the jobs report had a weak spot in it - wage growth. Lindsay Piegza is chief economist at Stifel Nicolaus. She says wage growth was flat in this latest report, and it's been too anemic throughout the recovery.
LINDSAY PIEGZA: That's exactly right. And that's how we know that this current average pace of around 250,000 jobs is insufficient to absorb all the slack in the labor market. If that was sufficient, we would be talking about 3, 4 percent wage growth. But instead we're still bouncing around 2, 2.5 percent.
ARNOLD: So Piegza says this recovery has a ways to go before she'll feel really good about the health of the U.S. economy. Many investors may actually be thinking the same thing. Even after the better-than-expected jobs report, the Dow and the S&P both closed down another 1 percent yesterday. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
World's most-wanted drug trafficker has been captured - again. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was arrested yesterday after a spectacular chase through the Pacific coast city - through the Pacific coast city of Los Mochis, Mexico. The cartel leader has been on the run since last summer when he made a brazen escape from the country's maximum security prison. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports from Mexico City.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: It was just after noon local time when a tweet from the president's official Twitter account went out. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong interrupted a mid-day public appearance to read it out loud.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MIGUEL ANGEL OSORIO CHONG: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Mission accomplished. We have him.
(APPLAUSE)
KAHN: The crowd applauded wildly then spontaneously began singing Mexico's national anthem. It was the news the government had been hoping to give since Joaquin Guzman, known by his nickname El Chapo or Shorty, escaped from the country's maximum security prison through a sophisticated nearly mile-long tunnel. It was an elite group of Marines that stormed a home in the Pacific coast town of Los Mochis early Friday morning. A shootout ensued and five people were killed, but Guzman and another cartel leader managed to escape the home through a sewer tunnel, said Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez at the late-night press conference.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
ARELY GOMEZ GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Marines then followed the kingpin, says Gomez, who ultimately popped out of the sewer system to a waiting car. The car was stopped by police a short while later, and Guzman was taken to a nearby motel until backup arrived. Photos of the kingpin at the motel were widely circulated. The man who once made Forbes list of the richest in the world was shown stone-faced in handcuffs sitting on the bed in the $50-a-night motel room. He wore a dirty sleeveless T-shirt. A poster of a bikini-clad pinup girl hung behind him. In a brief live address to the nation yesterday, President Pena Nieto repeatedly touted his government's success in bringing Guzman to justice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PENA NIETO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Today our institutions have demonstrated once again that the citizenry can have confidence in them, said the president. Guzman's arrest comes at a critical time for Pena Nieto. His popularity is the lowest of any president in recent history. In addition to a series of scandals and embarrassments - the biggest being Guzman's escape - Pena Nieto received much criticism for not extraditing the cartel leader immediately to the U.S. This time around, many believe the president won't make the same mistake. The U.S. has already officially petitioned for Guzman's extradition. And in recent months, the Mexican government has resumed sending wanted criminals to the U.S., says Andrew Selee, a Mexican expert with the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.
ANDREW SELEE: Since he escaped almost six months ago we've seen a wave of extraditions for the first time in a number of years. And it seems that there's a shift in policy towards deciding that it's better to let the U.S. keep these folks.
KAHN: Lawyers for Guzman are expected to use all legal maneuvers to halt an extradition. Mexico's attorney general said Guzman would be taken back to the same maximum security prison he escaped from six months ago, presumably not to a cell on the ground floor. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Mexico City.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were cut from similar political cloth - youngish leaders, articulate in the long forum, will move their parties to the center. They also seem to be pretty good friends, according to transcripts of conversations just released under the Freedom of Information Act. The president calls the prime minister bud. The prime minister calls the president mate. They share shock and grief over the death of Princess Diana and worry that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destruction. He was not. President Clinton recounts a lunch with Russia's Boris Yeltsin. Twenty-four courses including moose lips, he says. And then the president, who served two terms, tells the prime minister, who served 10 years, the longer you hang around this business it becomes apparent that very few people make it this far by accident. They don't just give these jobs away.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
All eyes in Louisiana are on the Mississippi River. Floods that swept the Midwest are headed south, and that will test the levee system in Louisiana. Tegan Wendland at member station WWNO reports that the Army Corps of Engineers has amped up its flood-fighting efforts to protect the city of New Orleans.
TEGAN WENDLAND, BYLINE: Nearly half of New Orleans is at or below sea level, so flooding isn't unusual. That's what the city is lined with flood walls and levees. Army Corps engineer Adam Brimer drives his truck along a bike path on top of a levee. He scans for seeping water, or anything that threatens the levy, as the Mississippi River nears flood stage. To the right, a busy road and quiet residential area. To the left, the roiling river, with tree trunks and debris bobbing up and down in the fast-moving water.
ADAM BRIMER: So we're riding along here, and we're doing inspections in conjunction with the levee district. And this is actually the East Jefferson Levee District right here.
Hey, how's it going? You all doing levee inspections?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yeah, coming out, checking the logs, making sure they...
WENDLAND: They tell Brimer they found logs in one area, so they used poles to send them down the river, avoiding a pileup that could crumble the concrete side of the levee.
Can we get out here?
BRIMER: Yes.
WENDLAND: What are you looking for out here?
BRIMER: Basically I'm looking for anything that's not permitted. Right in front of us are some barges that are moored.
WENDLAND: Those barges could crash against the levee or get loose and float away.
Rick Hansen is the district commander of the Army Corps in New Orleans.
RICK HANSEN: We're confident this system, as it stands today, could safely pass this high-water event.
WENDLAND: The levee inspections will continue around the clock until the river levels drop. And it probably won't happen until the Corps diverts the water. That's what the Bonnet Carre Spillway, just west of New Orleans, is designed to do - let Mississippi River water flow into Lake Pontchartrain. The solution has been used since the 1930s, and it works.
John Lopez with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation says it's also a missed opportunity. The river water carries silt. Let it flow into the marsh, not the lake, and it could restore wetlands. He looks out at the lake from a windy lighthouse.
JOHN LOPEZ: We're not using the river. We don't have alternatives to direct the water into our wetlands. River diversions - we could help rebuild our coast.
WENDLAND: The Corps also plans to open the Morganza Spillway, near Baton Rouge, in coming days. The levees and the spillway were built to protect New Orleans from the river. And Lopez says they do a great job. But failing to rebuild the coast leaves the city much more vulnerable to other water threats, like hurricanes. For NPR News, I'm Tegan Wendland in New Orleans.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now a story for a very particular group of hobbyists - stamp and record collectors in perfect harmony. In 1972, the country of Bhutan issued a set of postage stamps that you could peel off and play on a turntable...
(SOUNDBITE OF BHUTAN NATIONAL ANTHEM)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Singing in foreign language).
SIMON: ...Like this recording of their national anthem. Chris May is a journalist who's written about the stamps for thevinylfactory.com. He says they were the creation of an American adventurer named Burt Todd who fell in love with Bhutan, befriended its king and tried to help the government raise money by issuing postage stamps.
CHRIS MAY: He produced arranges that are typically exotic flora and fauna-type stamps, which were pretty enough but not sensational enough to make any impact on the international stamp collecting market. So he realized he would need to do something which was going to get more attention. And he started producing really quite wacky ideas. He did a series of Buddhist banners printed on silk, a range of scented stamps, some dye stamp, plastic three-dimensional stamps representing traditional Bhutanese sculptures. And then the crowning glory really - in 1972 he had the idea of doing these talking stamps.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BURT TODD: The kingdom of Bhutan, Druk Yul, or Land of Dragons, is a landlocked country of 18,000 square miles.
SIMON: And so there's Burt Todd's voice on a stamp?
MAY: Yes. One of the stamps - most of them did Bhutanese folksongs, but two of them did plotted thumbnail histories of the country. One of them in Dzongkha, which is the local language. And the other one which was narrated by Todd in English.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TODD: The Bhutanese people, numbering approximately 1 million, are a strong and well-built race whose religion is Buddhism.
SIMON: A very effective narrator.
MAY: Indeed, wasn't he? And really good audio quality too when you consider.
SIMON: That it's a stamp (laughter).
MAY: Right.
SIMON: Yes.
MAY: Yeah (laughter).
SIMON: Were the stamps successful as a fundraising idea?
MAY: Yes, they were. And they didn't reprint them. It was a one-off. But I believe they sold about 300,000 sets.
SIMON: And today as a - if I might put it this way - a mere collectible, how much are these stamps worth?
MAY: Well, about 300 pounds in English money
SIMON: Three hundred pounds is worth about 430 U.S. dollars right about now.
MAY: Right, right. And they're going up. You know, I mean, five years ago they were worth a fraction of that. And the reason they've gone up so much in price I think is you not only got stamp collectors appreciating them now but - the angle from which I was originally interested in - people who were collecting vinyl, as well, because...
SIMON: Oh.
MAY: And so you got this perfect Venn diagram of obsessive stamp collectors and obsessive vinyl collectors and driving the price up.
SIMON: Can you play them?
MAY: Yes, you can if they're in - you know, if they're in good nick. If they're in good condition, you can absolutely still play them. And if - actually I'm told you can still use them if you find yourself in Bhutan. I need to send an airmail letter and have one of these stamps. They will honor it.
SIMON: That's a lot of money to say wish you were here.
MAY: (Laughter) Sure.
SIMON: Chris May is a journalist who's written about Bhutan's playable postage stamps for thevinylfactory.com. Thanks so much for being with us.
MAY: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Joey Evans was a lowlife heel who bragged, charmed, cheated and lied his way into low-watt stardom. But as characters go, he sure lasted. It's been 75 years since Pal Joey, as he signed his letters, wrote to his pal Ted from Chicago, quote, "I am singing for coffee and cakes at a crib on Cottage Grove Avenue here. It isn't much of a spot, but they say it is lucky, as four or five singers and musicians who worked here went from here to big thing and I am hoping." He always did. Joey's letters were chapters in John O'Hara's novel "Pal Joey," which also became a Rodgers and Hart musical.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "PAL JOEY")
VIVIENNE SEGAL: (As Vera Simpson, singing) I'm wild again, beguiled again, a simpering, whimpering child again, bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I...
SIMON: Vivienne Segal, of course, from the original stage version. Penguin Classics has published a 75th anniversary presentation of the O'Hara novel and the libretto and lyrics of the musical. The book's foreword is by Thomas Mallon, the novelist and critic who joins us in our studios. Tom, thanks so much of being with us.
THOMAS MALLON: Thanks for having me.
SIMON: Tell us about Joey. I was going to call him a cad, and then I realized in many ways he's mostly an aspiring cad. He's not successful enough to be a cad.
MALLON: Yeah. In this introduction, I compare him to other figures of, you know, films and books at the time, like Sammy Glick or Sidney Falco, the press agent in "Sweet Smell Of Success." And he's actually - he's a lot softer. He's an operator, but there's a kind of softness to him, which is I think why he doesn't get any further than he does.
SIMON: Is part of his charm - if I might use that word - the way he fractures the language?
MALLON: Yes, and O'Hara is an absolute genius at this. O'Hara was probably the most gifted writer of dialogue in mid-20th century American fiction. And when he gets around to fracturing dialogue the way people do in real life, he's very funny. He doesn't overdo it. It bounces right up from the page at you. If you read the sentences out loud - and of course what he did was adapt his book for the stage so they could be read out loud - they just land on a dime, all of them.
SIMON: As you read through the book, which, by the way, I never had, so thank you for introducing me to it - certainly was familiar with the play and the film. His pal Ted is a band leader. His career is taking off. Joey seems to be stuck in middle gear in Chicago. Now, John O'Hara, by many standards, including sales, is one of the most successful writers in the English language. He wrote more stories, in fact, for The New Yorker than anyone else, including John Updike. But a little bit like Joey, did he yearn...
MALLON: Oh, sure, yeah. I mean, O'Hara came out of Pottsville, Penn., which turns up as Gibbsville in his books. He had not gotten the Ivy League education that he could have, but he was obsessively attracted to things like Brooks Brothers clothes. I said in an essay I wrote many years ago about him that he mentions Brooks Brothers so often that he should've been on commission all of those years. And he had a tremendous chip on his shoulder. He didn't think he was sufficiently appreciated by critics and so forth. So yes, he definitely identifies with the aspirational side of Joey.
SIMON: Yeah. And why don't we mention O'Hara in the same breath of some other novelists who are remembered from that time? Or maybe we should. You do.
MALLON: I describe him, I think, somewhere as being, you know, one of the light heavyweights of American fiction. Writers like him, writers like Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, they don't quite get up to that top rung of Parnassus with Hemingway and Faulkner and Fitzgerald.
He had tremendous flaws. He had much too much reverence for the idea of the great American novel, so his later books were enormously long, too long. And "Pal Joey" is modern in the sense that it's what we would call today a book of linked stories. It started as a single short story. He'd been on a bender for a few days. He was feeling, as he says, like the worst person, and he was in a hotel trying to write, feeling guilty toward his wife. And he sort of did penance by coming up with somebody he felt was as big a heel as he was. And he wrote this story and it was popular, and they asked for more. And so they became a kind of, you know, sequential series of stories, but it's not even strictly speaking a novel.
SIMON: Do you think we're poised to rediscover John O'Hara?
MALLON: You know, I thought about this writing this introduction 25 years after I wrote that essay. And that essay contains a quote from a friend of mine, Fran Kiernan, who was the editor at The New Yorker for many years, and she said in 1990, or around that time, that O'Hara was not ripe for revival because all that information in him that art craved, it was too dated to be useful but not old enough to be exotic, so she thought, you know, enough time had to pass. But I think maybe by now it has. I mean, I thought of all the things when I was writing this little intro for "Pal Joey." I thought of all the things that would require footnotes for some modern readers. You know, do they really know even what a stenographer is? Do they know the names of columnists? All of these things have receded far into the past, so maybe it's his time.
SIMON: Yeah. I made a note from Larry Hart's lyrics - he's a fool and don't I know it, but a fool can have his charms.
MALLON: And he did. He kind of was a writer who could overstay his welcome, but in small doses I think he is absolutely top-notch.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED")
ELLA FITZGERALD: (Singing) He's a fool and don't I know it, but a fool can have his charms. I'm in love and don't I show it...
SIMON: Thomas Mallon, whose latest novel is "Finale: A Novel Of The Reagan Years." He's written the foreword to a special Penguin Classics edition of John's O'Hara's novel "Pal Joey" and the Rodgers and Hart musical it became. Tom, thanks so much.
MALLON: Thanks very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED")
FITZGERALD: (Singing) Since this half-pint in imitation put me on the blink. I've sinned. I mean a lot. But I'm like sweet 17 a lot, bewitched...
SIMON: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News with Ella Fitzgerald and I'm Scott Simon.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. This Tuesday, President Obama will speak to Congress and the American people in his final State of the Union address. Mr. Obama is expected to focus on the progress he believes he's made in domestic and international policy. Of course, what the president calls progress is often called disaster by his opponents. What accomplishments the president may point to on Tuesday could be undone by Congress or a successor in the White House. We're joined now by NPR's White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks very much for being with us.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: My pleasure.
SIMON: And will Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, continue to be the law of the land regardless of what happens in the next election?
HORSLEY: Well, what we saw this week, Scott, is that the only thing standing in the way of repealing Obamacare is the president's veto pen. The GOP lawmakers have shown they can pass a repeal measure even in the Senate with a simple majority using procedural rules to overcome a Democratic filibuster. So if there were a Republican in the White House next year and if they were to try this again they could certainly unwind the law.
Now, there are questions about whether that would be politically tenable. You'd be talking about taking insurance away from more than 17 million people. But Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail say they want to get rid of Obamacare, and if you had a Republican in the White House you could certainly do so.
SIMON: Let me ask about the executive action that President Obama took in 2014 on immigration to try and shield millions of people from deportation, even, as we must note, thousands of deportations have continued. There have been legal battles over that executive action. Could that order be overturned by a new president?
HORSLEY: Yes. Remember, this was actually the second time the president tried to use his executive power to help immigrants who were in the country illegally. Two years earlier he tried to block deportation for the so-called dreamers, that is young people who were smuggled in the country with their parents. This action might not even need a Republican president to overturn it. It's been challenged already by more than two dozen states, and it's been blocked at least for the moment by a federal appeals court. We expect this case to be heard by the Supreme Court, and we might know its fate by this summer. The administration, though, says it's just exercising its prosecutorial discretion. So if you had a new president with different priorities, he or she could certainly decide to go in a different direction. And that wouldn't necessarily mean deporting millions of people. Obviously, there'd be practical problems with that. But it could mean millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally have to say in the shadows.
SIMON: Scott, stay with us because we want to bring in Christopher Joyce, a correspondent of course in our science desk, and how convenient you should be here for this conversation, Chris, thanks.
CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE: I'm always glad to be here for this conversation.
SIMON: Thanks very much. There was an agreement on climate change deal this past month and the president argued that it could be ratified by executive action. Could this be rolled back?
JOYCE: The White House is betting no. The legal argument is this - there's a treaty existing already. It was signed in 1992, ratified by the Senate, signed by George H. W. Bush. That was about climate, and they were nonspecific promises by the U.S. to lower greenhouse gases. The argument is Paris is simply implementing that treaty. Paris is not a new treaty. The U.S. delegation also did some padding in this Paris treaty to insulate it from attack. The Paris treaty has two parts. One part is legally binding - rather mundane stuff about record-keeping, that sort of thing. The second part is not legally binding, and that's where the heavy-duty stuff is - the promise to put money into a $100 billion a year fund to help developing countries and the targets that the U.S. is promising to lower its emissions. That's, they say, not legally binding, so no necessity for ratification or approval by Congress. The flaw here, or the fly in the ointment if you will, is that the $100 billion promise requires money. And Congress writes the checks. So that's where the fight is likely to happen. One other thing is that a subsequent president of course could pull out of the whole thing. President Obama says not likely the whole world will sign onto this. That would look pretty bad.
SIMON: The president also announced an aggressive plan over the summer to cut coal plant emissions. Is that here to stay?
JOYCE: That's going to end up - but it's already in the courts, in fact. I mean, the ink wasn't even dry on this last year when 27 states sued to overturn it and as well as many industry groups. Now, the argument in defense of it is that the Supreme Court has already heard a case involving the right of the EPA to limit greenhouse gases, and the EPA won that case. So there are some legal precedent that says that the EPA and the government can do this through regulation. Again, a new president could rescind those regulations or simply decide not to enforce them.
SIMON: Chris Joyce, thanks so much, and also conveniently, Michele Kelemen, our State Department correspondent's in the studio. Thanks so much for being with us, Michele.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Nice to be here.
SIMON: Let me ask about Iran and Cuba. Diplomatic ties have been restored by the Obama administration between the U.S. and Cuba. Embassies have reopened. Any going back on this?
KELEMEN: You know, even critics have told me they think the train has left the station on Cuba because of those restored diplomatic ties. President Obama's likely to spend a lot of this year further easing travel and trade restrictions in hopes that, you know, if more Americans go there, if more American companies are invested in Cuba, there will be a strong constituency to stay the course. Of course, that depends on Cuba allowing U.S. companies in, and it's been slow on that front. And Cuba's continuing poor human rights record is also quite a challenge. And I expect the next president could come in and be much tougher on Cuba on those issues.
SIMON: And the Iran deal - we're coming up on what's called implementation day, which means...
KELEMEN: That's the day that international inspectors decide that Iran's done enough to curb its nuclear program to deserve a lot of promised sanctions relief. Secretary of State John Kerry said this week that this could be days away. It doesn't mean that American businesses are going to rush into Iran, but it does mean that Europeans and many others can and will. So it's going to be tough for the next U.S. president to dramatically change course unless Iran really breaks the deal, goes back on its promises to curb its nuclear program. The next president could, though, try to build up pressure again on Iran on other issues, such as the ballistic missile tests that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. In fact, we're already seeing Republicans and even some Democrats on Capitol Hill moving on that.
SIMON: Michele Kelemen, thanks so much. And, Scott Horsley, let me turn to you. Finally, President Obama this week outlined executive actions he wanted to take about guns. Obviously, this puts him on a direct collision course with a number of people in Congress, not to mention the NRA. Would his executive action stand in a new administration?
HORSLEY: Not necessarily. The president says he's simply offering guidance on how to interpret existing law. A different president could offer a very different interpretation if he or she wanted to. As with all these issues, Scott, and the president himself said soon after taking office, elections have consequences.
SIMON: Thanks so much, NPR's Scott Horsley.
HORSLEY: My pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The armed situation at the federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon has dragged on now for more than a week. To try to understand what's going on in Oregon, we're going to take a look now at the connection between the armed antigovernment occupiers and Cliven Bundy. Cliven Bundy is the Nevada rancher who owes the federal government more than a million dollars in unpaid grazing fees and other fines. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports from Burns, Ore.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Cliven Bundy's son Ammon has emerged as the occupiers de facto leader. Most days, the soft-spoken Bundy steps to a bank of microphones and speaks passionately about the plight of local cattle ranchers who he says are being forced off this refuge.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
AMMON BUNDY: What are we to do? Are we to just go home and allow these things to become the normal? Or do we stand because we love our neighbors, because we love this country?
SIEGLER: There's a parallel here to the armed standoff at the Bundy family ranch east of Las Vegas in 2014. Then, Cliven Buncy took to the microphones daily, espousing his antigovernment views and declaring victory after an armed standoff led the government to scrap its plans to round up his cattle. A year and half later, there still have been no charges filed against Bundy by either the Department of Justice or the Bureau of Land Management. In fact, much of the environmentally sensitive federal land around his ranch is still largely going unmanaged and unpatrolled.
RICK SMITH: It probably has exacerbated the situation.
SIEGLER: Rick Smith spent most of his career with the National Park Service, including a 15-year stint in law enforcement. He says the inaction by the federal government against Bundy is helping bolster the cause of antigovernment militants elsewhere in the West, namely Harney County, Ore.
SMITH: As a former government employee, they're talking about overthrowing me.
SIEGLER: Smith is the only one making this assertion. A 2014 report by the Department of Homeland Security warned that the BLM's inaction would lead to more armed confrontations like we've seen this past week, not to mention several previous ones in Oregon, Montana and Utah. On Bundy, the BLM continues to say only that the agency is pursuing justice.
RICK POCKER: Sometimes the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they still grind. And under these circumstances, perhaps the government, Department of Justice and BLM is being more cautious about how they proceed.
SIEGLER: Rick Pocker was U.S. attorney for Nevada in the 1980s and early '90s during the last spike in anti-federal government activity in the West. While many of the frustrations about land management are similar today, Pocker says there's a big difference.
POCKER: The groups have a certain sophistication to them that was missing back then. It isn't as in your face and extremist as some of the folks I dealt with in the late '80s.
SIEGLER: For instance, the occupiers here in Oregon are active on social media, and they often sound prepped. But the antigovernment message is the same, and they're heavily armed. Pocker says it would be a huge miscalculation on their part to feel emboldened.
POCKER: If their feeling is that because the government is more willing to talk to them now than maybe in the past that that gives them leverage - got to think that through carefully.
SIEGLER: This week, Ammon Bundy met with Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward briefly. Like a lot of people here, Ward has said he too has frustrations about how the federal government is treating ranchers. But he sharply condemned the occupiers. He offered to escort them out of the county. A defiant Ammon Bundy has so far declined.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BUNDY: We will take the offer, but not yet. And we will go out of this state and out of this county as free men.
SIEGLER: That remains to be seen. In the meantime, Rick Smith, the retired National Park Service law enforcement officer, wonders why the federal government hasn't started doing some little things.
SMITH: If I were the manager there, I'd turn off the heat and power and everything else and let them sit there in the cold and dark.
SIEGLER: There's no indication that has happened yet either. Yesterday, the garbage truck did arrive for its regularly scheduled Friday pickup. Still, not exactly business as usual at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Burns, Ore.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now it's time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: The NFL playoffs kick off - get it? - with the wildcard round this afternoon. The Kansas City Chiefs play the Texans in Houston. NPR's Tom Goldman joins us.
Tom, thanks for being with us.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: It's a pleasure, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine. Thank you.
Every time, one team or another seemed to be preeminent this season, they lost, though Cam Newton and the (laughter) Carolina Panthers managed to do that just once. Are these playoffs going to be unpredictable?
GOLDMAN: Yeah. Welcome to the NFL, remember? You know, the NFL is unpredictable. What's up one weekend often is down the next. But, Scott, this postseason in particular you really can't find a team in the playoff field that's a prohibitive favorite. I mean, during most of the season, New England was it, right?
SIMON: Yep.
GOLDMAN: But then a rash of injuries and the Pats have looked quite mortal in recent weeks, as have the Carolina Panthers as you mentioned. The Seattle...
SIMON: Bill Belichick looked mortal.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter) He looked kind of angry, but that's Bill Belichick, so...
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: But, you know, the Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks had confounding losses late in the season.
And then you've got Denver, the number one playoff seed in the AFC having a shaky quarterback situation. The great Peyton Manning has been named starter. After sitting out a number of weeks with injury, he's back. But, as you well know, there are questions about his arm strength and whether or not he's a once great quarterback in rapid decline. That's your number one seed.
SIMON: He came from behind, brought his team from behind the other day. Came in off the bench - I thought it was a brilliant moment. And...
GOLDMAN: (Laughter) It was.
SIMON: ...He was declared the Al Jazeera player of the game.
I saw that on Twitter.
GOLDMAN: (Laughter).
SIMON: We will explain totally unsubstantiated, as far as I'm concerned, allegations in an Al Jazeera documentary that he'd received human growth hormones, right?
GOLDMAN: That's right. That's right. And we are - yes, and moving on from that to the playoffs. Yes.
SIMON: The Seahawks play the Vikings in Minnesota tomorrow. The high temperatures expected to get up to four degrees. So what do the guys do, just have a cup of hot cocoa and go out and start banging into each other?
GOLDMAN: You know what? They actually do. Two tips for staying warm I actually thought were kind of interesting from former NFL defensive back Matt Bowen wrote a column in ESPN. Drink cocoa before the game to keep the body temperature up. Bowen did not...
SIMON: I was kidding. Really?
GOLDMAN: I know. I know. Yeah, but Bowen did not say whether marshmallows are required.
SIMON: (Laughter).
GOLDMAN: And then slather Vaseline on your bare arms to block the wind, something I know you often do before you host the show.
SIMON: I so that just when I come into the studio. I put Vaseline on my arms, yeah. That way, our technical director can't get hold of me as easily. He's (laughter), just slips...
GOLDMAN: One might ask why football players' arms are bare when it's 4 degrees above zero - because they want to show their opponents they don't mind the weather, right?
SIMON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: No one ever said football was logical.
SIMON: However, you're in Santa Cruz, Calif., aren't you?
GOLDMAN: Yes, without Vaseline. I'm here with my colleague Uri Berliner at the NBA's development league showcase event.
The D-league is the NBA's minor league, and the showcase is an annual event where all of the D-leaguers show up, play in front of tons of scouts and try to get noticed.
Uri are following one team the Canton Charge from Canton, Ohio, the entire year. And we're learning all about them, and we're going to tell some stories about them, their unifying dream of taking that last step to the NBA. So they're at the showcase. We talked to one of the most well-known NBA general managers Daryl Morey of the Houston Rockets. And he noted how basically unfair it was that the start of the showcase, more than 200 players, many of them really good - NBA good, Scott - but they were vying for eight open spots on NBA rosters.
DARYL MOREY: There's so many ways you can rule a player out. There's so many good basketball players. Our sport's the hardest to make, by far, relative to football or baseball.
SIMON: What do players earn in the D-league?
GOLDMAN: Players earn about 20 - it tops out at about $25,000.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And if you think the presidential candidates take themselves just a little too seriously, there's some folks in Iowa who agree with you. And they've come up with an alternative look at the Iowa caucuses. It's a show called "Caucus! The Musical." Now, this is way off-Broadway. But NPR's Don Gonyea was there to watch them rehearse this week.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Opening night is exactly two weeks away.
ROBERT JOHN FORD: What we're going to do, I think, is we're going to start with when the campaign managers are singing, so it's when the...
GONYEA: And the cast of amateur thespians, each with a day job, is working on one of the big numbers of the first act.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CAUCUS! THE MUSICAL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (Singing) When the rivers and cease to flow, that's when you know it's time to go Iowa. It's the premier destination for the savvy presidential wannabe.
GONYEA: Here's the basic plot of "Caucus! The Musical." A national political reporter, not me, identifies an Iowa farm family as the perfect example of the typical Iowa family. They soon become the object of affection from candidates willing to do just about anything for a vote. Of course, it's always been that way in Iowa, right?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CAUCUS! THE MUSICAL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Anything for a vote.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, singing) John Kerry cleaned my vents.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Anything for a vote.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) Ricky Perry built my fence.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Iowans know well that a candidate will sell his soul to earn one measly caucus vote.
GONYEA: This musical was first performed in Des Moines in 2004. Every four years since at caucus time, it's run as a revival with updates to keep it current. The candidates in the show are fictional, says writer, composer, lyricist and producer Robert John Ford.
FORD: It's always been a composite of current and previous candidates. It isn't - we're not representing any one current candidate in particular. Although this year we've added one that's pretty close to someone you might know. So that's all I want to say about that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CAUCUS! THE MUSICAL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Ronald Blunt) Hello, Iowa. This crowd is huge.
GONYEA: In the show, that candidate is named Ronald Blunt.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Ronald Blunt, singing) I can make this country very healthy. I can make this country great again.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: Yeah, you can.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As Ronald Blunt, singing) I am very, very, very wealthy. That's why I'm superior to all the other men. And that is why I've never had a wife who's not a 10.
GONYEA: The candidates all get skewered and the news media.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "CAUCUS! THE MUSICAL")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Because we've got 24 hours to fill, 24 hours to fill. The sound of us speaking is always a thrill when there's 24 hours to fill.
GONYEA: There's even a reporter who moves in with that perfect Iowa family to produce a 10-part podcast called "Breakfast Cereal." It's all played for laughs, but this year, Ford added moments that get to the anger that permeates so much political discussion including fights within that family.
FORD: The process, in my mind, has gotten less civil. And it's influenced the way we look at candidates and the way we communicate with candidates and how candidates are communicating with us.
GONYEA: Ultimately though, he says, "Caucus! The Musical" is a love letter to the role Iowa plays in the nominating process, absurd as it sometimes seems.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Better make a list or two 'cause those candidates will do anything for a vote.
GONYEA: Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Consumer Electronics Show has been the place where consumers and the media get a glimpse of the future - or at least what's cool. For almost 50 years, tech companies have rolled out their latest toys and more at the event, which wraps today in Las Vegas. But this year, nothing much seems all that new. They've got drones, wearables, robots, connected cars - stuff that's already out there. So how relevant is the show today? NPR's digital culture correspondent Laura Sydell has been covering the Consumer Electronics Show and joins us now. Laura, thanks so much for being with us.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: It's my pleasure.
SIMON: When Apple wants to dazzle us, they hold their own event. So what keeps a convention like this going?
SYDELL: (Laughter) Good question. I think part of it is just that people keep going and showing off products, and it's a place to network. So I think for a lot of the people who go - entrepreneurs and so forth - it's a place they can finally see somebody they've been communicating with overseas. I talked with a CEO of a company that makes cameras for mobile devices, Lee Hen Chen (ph), and she said, you know, when she comes, sometimes she bumps into somebody. They come look at her product, and they say maybe we can have a partnership. So you see a lot of that going on. It's also become a much more important place for cars, which are becoming increasingly computerized.
SIMON: What makes news for companies if they don't have a gadget to launch
SYDELL: Well, the car companies had some news. For example, Ford has a partnership with Amazon that they announced where they're trying to do voice activation. Toyota was there and announced a billion dollars they're putting into self-driving cars, and they're opening up an office in Silicon Valley and near MIT in Boston. So you hear that kind of announcement, but not the big news that you heard in previous years where companies really told you about a new product.
SIMON: You covered the beat. What keeps you going there?
SYDELL: It's an opportunity to get a hands-on experience with an awful lot of stuff, you know? And, really, you see hints of what the future will be sometimes there. There are incremental changes. You can see where things are going, or it's the first opportunity to get to try a gadget you know is coming out. For example, the Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset, is going to be coming out on the market. They finally have a consumer version of it. So that's a lot of why I like to go because it's the only place I can try it all in one place, from robots to wearables to everything.
SIMON: What did you see this year that bowled you over?
SYDELL: A $9 computer. I don't want to say it bowled me over so much as it just showed how cheap computing is getting. But at $9, you can buy this device and it will allow you to hook up to a keyboard and to your television. It has Wi-Fi. It has Bluetooth. And it's open-sourced. It only has a four-gigabyte hard drive, but if you can connect to the Internet, there's still a lot of things you can do on it. I did visit with some robots.
(LAUGHTER)
SYDELL: And actually a robot danced for me this year. How's that? A dancing robot. It had arms and it could talk to me and say, look, I can dance (laughter).
SIMON: Oh, my word, the Fred Astaire of robots - and well?
SYDELL: I think its sense of rhythm was a little off, Scott, but it was cute. It looked good. It just didn't do that much other than dance and give you some nice statistics. It still couldn't bring my breakfast to me, you know what I'm saying?
SIMON: Oh, oh, yeah. That's the mark of a great robot, right?
SYDELL: (Laughter) Yeah.
SIMON: NPR's Laura Sydell, thanks so much.
SYDELL: You're welcome.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
American newspapers once stood for something more than a marketing plan. The Chicago Defender was founded in the early 20th century to fight segregation in the South, build strong and lively African-American communities in the North and to root for the Chicago American Giants. It would become in many ways one of the most influential newspapers in the United States. The Defender could claim partial credit for the Great Migration north, the end of segregation in the U.S. military, the election of presidents, including Warren Harding, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy and encouraging the career of a young South Side legislator named Barack Obama. Ethan Michaeli, who was once a reporter for The Chicago Defender in the 1990s, has written a book "The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America." Mr. Michaeli joins us now from Chicago. Thanks so much for being with us.
ETHAN MICHAELI: Oh, thank you, Scott.
SIMON: Did The Defender have a role in making Chicago the center of what was called the Great African-American Migration?
MICHAELI: The publisher of The Defender, Robert Abbott, was himself a migrant. He knew that it was extremely difficult for African-Americans to make a living, to find jobs in the North, largely because unions in Chicago discriminated. But with the beginning of World War I, the unions lowered their barriers and African-Americans were allowed to work in a lot of professions in which they'd previously been restricted. And Robert Abbott saw that this was actually hurting the economy of the South, which was of course based on discriminating against African-Americans and keeping them in a lower state of wage dependency. So as African-Americans left and the South's economy began to suffer, Abbott encouraged them to leave and to find better opportunities and a more liberated lifestyle in the North, in northern cities especially.
SIMON: And could he be a little idealized about what African-American life was like, at least in the pages of The Defender?
MICHAELI: Well, The Defender was really organized as a newspaper that was counter propaganda to the newspapers of the South, which at that time were supporting segregation, supporting Jim Crow. So The Defender would do things like publish articles that would compare the schools of the South that were segregated schools for African-Americans against the schools of the North, which were not exactly integrated or not exactly as integrated as The Defender might have suggested, but certainly offered a lot more opportunity than was available in the South and a much better quality of education with better quality institutions. So maybe some exaggeration, but I would say compared to their competition for the hearts and minds of the African-American community, they were the accurate source of news.
SIMON: A lot of people might be surprised to learn The Defender began as more or less a Republican newspaper.
MICHAELI: Well, at that time, of course African-Americans voted almost unanimously for the Republican Party, which was the party of Abraham Lincoln. And that loyalty persisted up through the middle of the 20th century when Franklin Roosevelt really led the wholesale shift.
SIMON: So people might not be surprised to know that The Defender considered itself instrumental in the election and later years of the likes of John F. Kennedy, but Warren G. Harding.
MICHAELI: Well, that's right. African-American votes were critical votes in a number of states depending on the election cycle, especially as the migration happened. These shifts in population gave African-Americans a lot of leverage. And Democrats in Chicago, especially Mayor Ed Kelly, was absolutely determined to bring African-Americans into the Democratic fold. Of course, the history of the Democratic Party was a history of Southern segregation and racism, and that was something that took quite a bit of effort to overcome with the African-American electorate.
SIMON: I was interested to read in here that when Barack Obama ran for Congress, The Defender didn't necessarily think that this was the greatest (laughter) step forward in electoral democracy.
MICHAELI: Well, when Barack Obama ran for Congress, he was up against Bobby Rush, who was an icon of the community who had come up as a leader of public housing residents on the South Side. So it was certainly an audacious move for the young Barack Obama to take on Bobby Rush at that time. The Defender, however, did recognize the talent that was there and saw that there were something special about Barack Obama if it was something that still needed to be cultivated before it was ready for a bigger stage.
SIMON: Mr. Michaeli, The Defender began as a weekly, became a daily, now it's back to being a weekly and a website. Can a weekly or a website do for a community what a daily newspaper used to represent in the life of a great city?
MICHAELI: Scott, I had to think about how to end the book. And what I had to conclude was that institutions like The Defender are still needed. We do still see of course the issue of race in the United States and the issue of racism, of targeting African-Americans. The Defender will retain a role as a truth teller in that situation as long as the conditions require it to.
SIMON: Ethan Michaeli, author of "The Defender: How The Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America," thanks so much for being with us.
MICHAELI: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
New York's Public Theater opened its doors this month to Under the Radar. It's a festival that features cutting edge theater from around the world. Occasionally, these shows have moved onto the radar, like the musical "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," which eventually moved to Broadway. Jeff Lunden has this story. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio version of this story, as in a previous Web version, we say that "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" was part of the Under the Radar festival. It was not.]
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Every year, Meiyin Wang and Mark Russell, co-artistic directors of Under the Radar, crisscross the globe trying to answer a single question.
MARK RUSSELL: In this day when there's all sorts of great ways of telling stories and everyone's got a camera, everyone's telling stories and there's so many other cheaper ways to do it, we're looking at why do theater now.
LUNDEN: For 12 days, Russell and Wang present the answer to this question in something kind of like a film festival, where audiences can see three, four or five shows in a single day.
RUSSELL: I'm trying to demystify this downtown thing. This is for everybody. All these stories have an integrity of purpose. Everybody should be able to approach them without having to know anything about the history of avant-garde art.
LUNDEN: This year, Under the Radar is presenting work from Chile, Japan, France, Canada, Rwanda and Brooklyn.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #1: People with lots of suitcases, like it's everything they've got. And this is my...
MICHAEL SILVERSTONE: Good, good, good. (Unintelligible) Go back to the top.
LUNDEN: In a rehearsal studio in Park Slope, Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, artistic directors of a company called 600 Highwaymen, are rehearsing their new show, "Employee Of The Year."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #2: I'm running. And the streets are dark. I'm grabbing a bike from a lawn - a child's bike, too small for me.
LUNDEN: The cast members are five young girls. But the tale they're telling is far beyond their years. It's the life story of a single woman, says Abigail Browde.
ABIGAIL BROWDE: It's like a contemporary journey myth. So it starts when she's 3 years old, and it ends in her 80s.
LUNDEN: And Browde says the disconnect between the adult content and who's delivering it is what makes the show work.
BROWDE: It's like you get snapped back to reality. And it's like, oh, wait, I forgot. She was 10. So there's actually a friction and a collision between where the story goes and who the messenger is.
LUNDEN: The messenger in another work is also a preteen. But she's portrayed by 30-something Dorothee Munyaneza. "Samedi Detente" is about her 12-year-old self trying to survive the Rwandan genocide in 1994. In a phone conversation from her home in France, Munyaneza says she started to work on the piece two years ago.
DOROTHEE MUNYANEZA: Somehow, symbolically it meant a lot to me to address my memory, my history, 20 years afterwards. And I chose to write and to create this choreographic musical, historical storytelling piece.
LUNDEN: She begins the piece in a blue dress inspired by her school uniform, crouched on top of a table, singing a song to the accompaniment of a man who is sharpening his machete.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MUNYANEZA: (As herself, singing in foreign language).
This object, which was normally used as a tool for cutting wood, suddenly became this tool for killing and killing massively and killing people cruelly.
LUNDEN: The song was written by Munyaneza based on a story her cousin told her about her aunt dying in a refugee camp. Munyaneza says through the work, she's trying to find some kind of peace.
MUNYANEZA: I'm trying to share this story. I'm trying to leave something in the minds and hearts of people who will carry it. And it's something I can only do through art.
LUNDEN: And that's just what Under the Radar's artistic directors want, to present work that is urgent and relevant, stories told in a surprising yet accessible way. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The West Bank city of Hebron has long been a flashpoint in the conflict between Israeli forces and settlers and Palestinians. And in the ongoing wave of attacks by Palestinians on Israelis, often by teenagers with knives, about a third have been in Hebron. That's according to the Israeli army. Reporter Daniel Estrin now brings us the story of one Palestinian's attempt to break the cycle of violence.
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Downtown Hebron is where Palestinians and Israeli settlers are located within yards of each other, separated by Israeli barricades and soldiers. It's here where many of the attacks have occurred and where Palestinian activist Issa Amro is trying to preach nonviolence.
ISSA AMRO: I studied all the international history of nonviolence - Mandela to Martin Luther King to Gandhi - all of them.
ESTRIN: His activism started in 2002, when Israeli troops closed his college campus. He organized a sit-in in protest that he says pressured them to reopen classes.
AMRO: From that time, I'm working hard to educate more and more Palestinians about how to have a massive nonviolence revolution in Palestine and reach civil disobedience against the occupation.
ESTRIN: He runs a youth center out of his home, organizes English and Hebrew courses, and even started a kindergarten nearby, where an Israeli teaches Palestinian kids yoga. But nonviolence is hard to promote these days. When young Palestinians open their Facebook accounts, they see praise for their peers who attempted attacks and were killed by Israeli soldiers. Political factions put posters of them on the streets. A few months ago, Amro got an urgent phone call from a neighbor. He said he found an 18-year-old Palestinian girl in a doorway, holding a knife, poised to stab the first Israeli who walked by. Amro went over to talk the girl out of it, saying she would just get killed.
AMRO: You know, I told her, why do you want to kill yourself first, you know? She said, this is the way I defend, I resist. Settlers are getting wild because nobody is make them accountable. I told her, listen, you know, we can make them accountable. We can work hard, you know. Come, we give you lessons and training about, you know, nonviolence resistance.
ESTRIN: He says after more than an hour, he convinced her not to go through with it. And Palestinian security officials took her into custody. Amro wouldn't provide the girl's name, but the neighbor backed up the story. And though Amro considers it a success, it's a story he hesitated to share. It would not be viewed favorably by many Palestinians.
SAMIRA HALAYKA: (Foreign language spoken).
ESTRIN: Samira Halayka, a Palestinian parliamentarian in Hebron, says she likes Amro's group but thinks people should focus on stopping the occupation, not stopping attacks. She says the attacks are, quote, "national acts with broad Palestinian support," something also found in a recent poll. Amro faces other obstacles from the Israelis. They see him as provocative for often rallying protesters in areas closed to Palestinians. He argues with soldiers and settlers. The army recently arrested him as he held a discussion group that included a teenage boy the Israelis accused of having thrown a knife at soldiers. Amro and the boy were released, but the army added his home to a restricted area where only residents are allowed to enter, keeping his youth out. Israel says it's to prevent attacks. Amro says all these restrictions will do the opposite.
AMRO: If they continue like that, violence will be 10 times more than what is it now.
ESTRIN: Now that his youth center is closed off, his activities are on hold. Amro says reaching out to the youth has gotten even tougher. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Estrin, Hebron.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Aristotle, Einstein, Michelangelo - the names have become synonymous with genius. But could each of these men come up with the ideas that change the world if they had been isolated from it? Or is genius a product of the time, and even more importantly, the place where it takes root? This is the central question in Eric Weiner's new book. It's called "The Geography Of Genius." Eric joins me now in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us and welcome home.
ERIC WEINER: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: Many of our listeners will remember your name because you were a longtime correspondent for NPR.
WEINER: I was.
MARTIN: And we're happy to have you here. Your previous book was about your search for the happiest places on earth. You are now looking for where genius takes root and grows. I imagine you had to start off by defining it.
WEINER: Yeah...
MARTIN: So how did you?
WEINER: ...I did. And that's, you know, not as easy as it sounds. I have a slightly unusual definition for genius. And my definition is that a genius is someone that we all agree on is a genius. It's a social verdict.
MARTIN: We just decide.
WEINER: We decide.
MARTIN: You traveled all over the world to research your book - Greece, Italy, Scotland - even Silicon Valley, we'll talk about that a little later. And in doing so, you raised a whole host of big, provocative questions. And with your permission, I'd just like to kind of muddle through a few of these with you.
WEINER: Let's muddle.
MARTIN: Let's muddle.
Is genius born or made?
WEINER: Neither. Genius is grown, I believe. And I think we really are hung up on those first two theories. And we have really become to believe that. We really believe that if you look at, say, a Mozart, who shows his prodigious talent at a young age, clearly, there must be something genetic. It must be all genetic. And I really don't think that's true. And increasingly, the evidence shows that genetics makes up a relatively small part of the genius puzzle.
Geniuses are made. Yes, hard work matters. And I don't deny that some sweat is involved, but it doesn't explain why you see genius clusters. Why would you see places like Renaissance Florence or classical Athens or Silicon Valley today having such a concentration of geniuses? Are they all extra hard workers? I don't think that explains it. I think there's something in the soil.
MARTIN: So let's talk a little bit more about that. How important is a sense of competition in the cultivation of genius?
WEINER: I think it's important with the proviso that it has to be healthy competition. If you look at a place like Renaissance Florence, there was fierce competition. Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci despised one another. They really couldn't stand one another, but that brought out the best in both of them.
And it turns out that the modern social science sort of backs up what I found on the ground. For instance, one study found that we tend to cooperate better with those with whom we once competed. And you see that time and again, competitors turned into teammates.
MARTIN: You wrote about Sigmund Freud...
WEINER: Yes.
MARTIN: ...And his relationship.
WEINER: Yes, yes. Freud was an outsider. He was a Jew. He was an immigrant. And there was real tension in Freud's Vienna. His ideas were considered, quote, unquote, "fairytales," and he had to really push against the system. But that's almost always the case. In these genius clusters, there's friction. The genius fits, but it's not a perfect fit. It's an imperfect fit. In that sweet spot of friction, the right amount of friction is, I believe, what produces genius.
MARTIN: It's interesting because you talk about the need for community, right? There has to be this kind of crucible of creativity to generate the genius. But there is something important about being an outsider, being apart from that community.
WEINER: Absolutely. I think someone who is fully invested in the status quo is not going to be a genius. I think that's fair to say because they're not going to rock the boat. They're almost always an outsider. But I want to say they're not fully outsiders. They're what I call insider outsiders. Freud is a good example. He was not fully accepted. But he was accepted enough that people did listen to his ideas, or we wouldn't know the name Sigmund Freud today.
MARTIN: We started out talking about how we collectively decide when someone's a genius, or we could spot it when we all see it. Let's talk about Silicon Valley because, apparently, the jury's out on Steve Jobs.
WEINER: Yeah.
MARTIN: You write about some kind of - there's ambivalence there. We haven't quite all decided whether or not Steve Jobs was a genius.
WEINER: So while I was researching this book, my sort of cocktail party question was to go into a room and say - so was Steve Jobs a genius? And in my experience in this very unscientific survey, it was almost always split right down the middle, 50-50.
Some people would say oh, yes, absolutely. He was a genius. And they would usually whip out their iPhone 6S or whatever and say look at this thing. It's amazing. It's changed the world.
And other people would say no, he wasn't a genius. He didn't really invent anything. He stole ideas from others. And he really doesn't belong on the same pedestal with Aristotle and Einstein and Freud.
You know, I have to say - I don't know what your opinion about it is.
MARTIN: I'm undecided.
WEINER: You're undecided. It's tough.
MARTIN: It's hard not to look at him and his legacy and say he didn't change the world. The products he created or helped bring to bear changed the world.
WEINER: Right, right.
And I think if you go by what I call the fashionista theory of genius, which is what we're talking about - this idea that if genius is a consensus, you know, almost like fashion is a consensus - it's like there's no good fashion, bad fashion - there's just what's fashionable -then you'd have to say that Steve Jobs is a genius because a lot of us, perhaps a majority, think that he was a genius. You know, we get the geniuses that we want and that we deserve. And this is what we care about. We care about technology.
MARTIN: It's a reflection...
WEINER: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Of who we are in any given moment in our...
WEINER: Absolutely. I mean, think about it. Why are there no classical composers, the likes of Beethoven and Mozart out there today? There are very good ones, but we don't think that there's a Beethoven or a Mozart.
It's not that the talent pool has dried up or there's been some weird genetic fluke that's diminished the talent pool. It's because, if you're a young, ambitious person, you're more likely to head to Silicon Valley than to Vienna to study classical music.
And don't take this the wrong way, Rachel. I would say you're partly to blame for that (laughter) because during Mozart's time, you know, in Vienna, 18th century, he had an extremely receptive audience. He had a demanding audience. And his audience was almost a co-genius with him. We tend to think that, you know, the genius produces this magnificence, and we, the audience, just passively receive it. I don't think it works that way. Mozart was acutely aware of his audience and the demands that they had. And the audience appreciated his music, demanded better music from him. If more of us were like that today, vis-a-vis classical music, I would argue we'd have more Mozarts.
MARTIN: Eric Weiner - his new book is called "The Geography Of Genius."
Thanks so much for talking with us.
WEINER: Thank you. I hope you feel a little more genius-y because of the conversation.
MARTIN: Not quite sure, but I'll take what I can get. Thank you.
WEINER: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And this is For the Record. In 10 months, Americans will go to the polls to pick the next president of the United States. As a way of digging into the issues facing a lot of Americans this year, we're focus on one community that's been going through a lot of change, Charlotte, N.C. It's in Mecklenburg County, and that whole region has been enjoying an economic boom. It's a major center for banking. There's a growing tech sector. At the same time, a recent study by Berkeley University and Harvard ranked Charlotte dead last when it comes to economic mobility compared to other major U.S. cities. That hasn't stopped an influx of immigrants. In fact, in the 1990s, the number of Hispanics in Mecklenburg County increased by 400 percent. And it's still growing. These changes in the county have led to debates over government overreach, income inequality and immigration. There are some of the same issues front and center in the presidential race, which makes it an interesting place to spend some time in the coming months. For the Record today, Mecklenburg County, N.C. Let's start with that economic boom.
DAN ROSELLI: The only thing you need to run a good entrepreneurship center is coffee, beer and fast Internet. That's really all you need. It's not a complicated formula.
MARTIN: This is Dan Roselli. He's the founder of Packard Place. And he's showing us around his offices in the center of Charlotte. It's an old automobile showroom that's now part startup incubator, part community center. I ask Roselli, as a businessman, as an entrepreneur, who he likes in the presidential race.
ROSELLI: It would be Bernie, then Hillary, and then Kasich, and then Cruz, something like that.
MARTIN: As indicated by his list of presidential preferences, Roselli is a registered independent. He says he doesn't vote on social issues. His top priority is economic growth.
ROSELLI: Whenever I talk to political fishers, the first thing I tell them is there should be a political Hippocratic oath, which is your first job as a politician, when it comes to business, is do no harm.
MARTIN: Roselli is one of the entrepreneurs who are redefining the downtown area. Other parts of the city are changing too.
DAMIAN JOHNSON: I'm gradually taking the hair down. I'm at a three now, was at a four.
MARTIN: This is No Grease barbershop on the west side of Charlotte. All the barbers here wear bowties. The place is decked out in mid-century modern furniture. It's throwback and cutting edge at the same time.
JOHNSON: You've got a little spiffy work, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yeah, yeah, my razzle-dazzle they call it.
MARTIN: Damian Johnson and his brother opened their first barbershop in Charlotte in 1997. He also owns the cafe next door, and that's where we go to talk.
JOHNSON: From my experience, West End is the new frontier of Charlotte. And so when we say the West End, it's like we're rooting for the West End to kind of take its rightful place in the development of Charlotte.
MARTIN: Barbershops have long been a place for political talk, especially in the black community. And it's important to Johnson to keep that tradition alive. I ask him who he likes in the presidential race.
JOHNSON: I've taken none of them really seriously. I've been listening closely to what Hillary is saying. But all the other candidates, it's like courting and dating. I have to listen to you more.
MARTIN: That was the case with most of the Democrats we spoke with in Charlotte. They're just not animated by the primary race. And that isn't completely surprising considering there are just three Democratic candidates compared to the 12 on the Republican side. Take, for example, the former mayor of Charlotte, Democrat Dan Clodfelter, who just left office recently.
You paying attention much to the presidential election right now?
DAN CLODFELTER: Not a great deal, actually.
MARTIN: Why?
CLODFELTER: (Laughter) Well, I'm already - I already have my candidate. I don't really need to be sold.
MARTIN: Who's your candidate?
CLODFELTER: Hillary Clinton.
MARTIN: Why?
CLODFELTER: Always has been.
MARTIN: Meanwhile, on the other side of Charlotte's political spectrum, there is an impassioned debate happening about the very soul of the Republican Party and one issue in particular.
MAUDIA MELENDEZ: The word of God says, be anger but do not sin. I am angry, very angry with the debate on immigration.
MARTIN: This is Maudia Melendez. Her family is originally from Nicaragua. She's a local minister and has lived in Charlotte since 1987. Recently, she's been fighting the Republican-controlled state government to give illegal immigrants special driving permits. And it's personal because it's her own party.
MELENDEZ: Yes, I am a Republican. But I'm very sad how the Republicans are treating my people.
MARTIN: She doesn't like to brandish her party affiliation because she works with a bipartisan nonprofit that tries to increase the low voter turnout rates among Hispanics here.
MELENDEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTIN: We continued our conversation at a Salvadoran restaurant where Melendez gathered a small group of community leaders and friends.
MELENDEZ: (Laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: How are you?
MARTIN: Joining us at the table, Astrid Chrinos, Amelia Kennedy, Rafael Prieto, and Ron Cox. Before we sat down to devour a plate of pupusas, Maudia Melendez offered up a prayer.
MELENDEZ: And now we bless this food. And we ask you, Lord, to be for the nurturement (ph) of our bodies and remember those who are hungry at this time. And they don't have food at their table. And in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
MELENDEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yes.
MARTIN: So let me ask a question. As we think about where we are right now, having this conversation in 2016, looking down the pike at the presidential election, where does immigration reform stack up in your personal list of issues?
ASTRID CHRINOS: Oh, for me, number one because that's...
RAFAEL PRIETO: For me, number one.
MARTIN: Really?
CHRINOS: That's part of the economic opportunity. If you don't have that, you are not going to have progress. I mean, we're going to go backwards.
MARTIN: That was Astrid Chrinos, and Rafael Prieto.
Is it as important to you?
RON COX: Yes, yes. Think of it from a security standpoint.
MARTIN: And this is Ron Cox. He's the only non-Hispanic in the group, born and raised in Charlotte. He owns a landscaping company and has employed Hispanic immigrants for years.
COX: I began to see so many of the injustices and got to see a lot of them being taken advantage of. And it reached my core and my angst.
MARTIN: Cox says immigration reform is also a top issue for him. But he doesn't see any of the presidential candidates from either party proposing a real solution because he says their motivations are different.
COX: It's not about what's actually good for the state. It's not what's good about for the country. It's about what keeps my party in office.
MARTIN: Also at the table, Amelia Kennedy, who's part of the Republican Party leadership in the neighboring county. She and Maudia Melendez have been reaching out directly to some Republican candidates to talk about immigration reform.
MELENDEZ: We sat down with Cruz.
MARTIN: You did?
MELENDEZ: In a conversation with Cruz.
MARTIN: When?
MELENDEZ: When was it?
AMELIA KENNEDY: It was like...
MELENDEZ: Two, three months ago.
KENNEDY: Three months ago.
MARTIN: And did you feel like he heard you and your issues?
MELENDEZ: No. (Laughter) No, he wants to be president so bad that he has the same speech. We have to secure the border. But - and we ask, how is it that you're going to secure the border? You have to have a plan. We spent, like, 40 minutes with him, and we didn't get anything.
MARTIN: The next morning, we had a very different conversation with another group of voters at the Skyland Family Restaurant.
DON REID: You are at the headquarters of the conservative movement in Charlotte and North Carolina.
MARTIN: Don Reid has been hosting this conservative breakfast for years. There are about 50 people in the back area of the restaurant. It's overwhelmingly white and male. They're finishing up plates of bacon and eggs while Don Reid introduces some big-picture questions about the future of their party. And for him, it's very clear.
REID: And the Republicans are - have been so concerned in the past about appealing to minorities, to Latinos and others, that they've forgotten their own principles. And now they are out here saying again, we must have the big tent. No, that will not work. For the most part, minorities are not going to vote for a Republican. You can count on that.
MARTIN: Some people nod their heads in agreement, although John Powell puts out a different opinion to the room.
JOHN POWELL: From my experience, they've felt they're being ignored. And I think if we go out and actually offer our hand and welcome them and be able to supply with them a message of who we are, that's going to educate and have a better understanding of what the Republican Party is all about and what we can do to encourage everybody to be a part of the process.
MARTIN: Don Reid likes Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And in general, he's a Trump supporter. It's clear the majority in the room are sick and tired of establishment candidates.
REID: Who knows who's going to win? Would I or this crowd be happy with Cruz? Yep, I think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Absolutely.
REID: We'd be happy with Cruz. Would we be happy with Jeb Bush? Nope. For the first time in my life, if it's Jeb Bush or Hillary, I don't vote. That's it. I'm not voting.
ELTON: That'd be a vote for Hillary.
MARTIN: And that's the central tension in the room, establishment candidates versus the outsiders.
ELTON: If Trump is a nominee, he'll lose 35 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Well, if...
ELTON: If Trump is the Republican nominee, he will lose 35 states.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: An establishment Republican will not win.
REID: That's what you and Krauthemer think.
ELTON: No, no, facts are facts.
LARRY SHAHEEN: This is extremely productive. Change only comes through pain. And I like to - I actually - I have to admit, I think Donald Trump's great for our party.
MARTIN: How?
SHAHEEN: Because he is forcing us to have this conversation.
MARTIN: This is Larry Shaheen. He's a Charlotte native, a Republican political strategist with a big smile. Shaheen is technically a millennial. But he says he's not nearly hip enough to qualify. Shaheen tells me the Republican Party has to broaden its base, and that means changing the way it talks about immigration reform.
SHAHEEN: At some point, we have to get over this we-were-here-first idea because we weren't. And we're better as a society when we are able to find a way for rising tides to lift all boats, not just the boats that look like us. And we have to move from the party of opportunity for just a few to opportunity for all.
MARTIN: Opportunity for all is what Charlotte is all about. We heard that from Democrats, Republicans and from independents. People here want to ride this economic wave as far as it'll take them. And for many, that means welcoming anyone who wants to come and help make that happen. We'll be returning to Charlotte later in the year to check back in with some of the people you heard from today, to see how their views on the election are evolving.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When I say Santa Cruz, Calif., you'll likely think surf, sun, the Beach Boys maybe. Traditional Balkan vocal music? Probably not so much. Well, meet Santa Cruz native Eva Salina.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOZA LIMUNADA")
EVA SALINA: (Singing in foreign language).
MARTIN: That's a song called "Boza Limunada" off the new album "Lema Lema: Eva Salina Sings Saban Bajramovic." Eva Salina joins us from our studios in New York. Thanks so much for being with us, Eva.
SALINA: Thank you so much, Rachel. It's my pleasure.
MARTIN: How did this happen to you? How did the nice girl from Santa Cruz, with a Latina-sounding name no less, end up immersed in Balkan music?
SALINA: (Laughter) Well, it would be my Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, I'm sure, that would lead me...
MARTIN: (Laughter) That led you there.
SALINA: Every country surrounding the region certainly shows up in my ancestry.
But it was chance, actually. I was interested, always, in other cultures, and someone gave me a tape of some Yiddish songs when I was 7 years old. And I taught myself all of those songs.
My parents, in their desire to encourage my interest, looked around in the community for someone who might be able to teach me. And when the search for a Yiddish singing teacher came up dry, they stumbled upon a young woman who grew up in Hawaii and (laughter) had been singing Balkan music for 15 years at that point.
MARTIN: This new album, you are performing works by a musician named Saban Bajramovic. I hope I said that right that time.
SALINA: That's perfect.
MARTIN: He died a few years ago, in 2008. Can you tell us about him?
SALINA: Yeah. He was kind of like this archetypal outlaw figure. He operated so far outside of convention that the legends about him are - you know, the urban legends of him - someone told me once that he insisted on being paid in gold, which I have to say, in the modern economy, doesn't seem like a bad idea.
(LAUGHTER)
SALINA: But, you know, he was a gambler. I think he lived, to a large extent, the huge spectrum of life experience that shows in his songs - songs about being a drunk and losing all your money, of your wife cheating on you, of your children being hungry because you failed to provide for them.
MARTIN: These are like American country songs.
SALINA: They really are. I tell people often it's country music. And I think, you know, people respond even without understanding the language, which is Romaneste, which is Indo-European. People pick up on the tension between the tragedy and the happy dance feeling of the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOZA LIMUNADA")
SALINA: (Singing in foreign language).
MARTIN: What was most challenging for you, tactically, when you were learning how to sing this music?
SALINA: It was really lyrics. I could pick up - I could osmose melodies. But I, for a long time, struggled to be able to find the lyrics, which truly were the barrier between me and the songs because I always knew, instinctively, that language is how you show respect in terms of when you are taking somebody else's music and trying to make it your own, trying to interpret it. I feel like language is something that can't really be compromised. You know, if somebody comes and they hear you singing a phonetic imagination of their language, it can be quite offensive. And it was always really important for me to sing them with respectful - with respect to the language.
MARTIN: We played a little bit of a cut off the album called "Boza Limunada," and that's your take on the original that was done by Bajramovic. Let's listen to his version, though, first. And then we can talk about what you connect with in it.
SALINA: Oh, great.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOZA LIMUNADA")
SABAN BAJRAMOVIC: (Singing in foreign language).
MARTIN: What do you hear in that voice?
SALINA: Oh, there's more life lived in his life than I could, I think, ever hope to live (laughter) and fewer teeth, probably, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOZA LIMUNADA")
BAJRAMOVIC: (Singing in foreign language).
SALINA: You know, I mean, the thing about Saban is he was so iconic that when I sat in a Vietnamese restaurant with The Trumpeter and Jewish Music, and I said, you know, the thing about Saban is that he's so different from me that I'm going to have to change those songs in order to sing them.
And so once I started recording the songs, I kind of had to stop listening to him. I had to let the songs change in me and hope that they would be informed by my hours and hours and hours of listening to him.
MARTIN: Speaking of making it your own, let's listen to one more track off the album. This is the last cut on the CD. And, you know, most of his work has this kind of gentle, acoustic quality. There is something different happening on your version of this last song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I BARVAL PUDELA")
SALINA: (Singing in foreign language).
MARTIN: I'm going to wager a guess that that is not how the original sounded.
SALINA: (Laughter) And it's a good thing.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: How did that happen?
SALINA: (Laughter).
MARTIN: How did this come to be, this version?
SALINA: Well, I have to say I loved the original of Saban. It was so distorted, and it kind of had this, like - this very spaghetti Western feeling. And I thought, OK, we have to take it somewhere. And we just said, let's let it rock.
I mean, there's this fascination all over the world with American rock. And for someone like me, being across the ocean, being fascinated with Balkan culture - I realized the gaze goes both ways. Plus, I also just felt like let's make something epic out of this song. Let's make it our funeral procession for Saban.
MARTIN: Eva Salina's new album is called "Lema Lema." She spoke to us from our studios in New York.
Eva, it's been so fun to talk with you. Thanks so much.
SALINA: Thank you so much, Rachel. Enjoy the day.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I BARVAL PUDELA")
SALINA: (Singing in foreign language).
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. There are a few of you out there who hear this music and think oh, no, not this. The anagrams are not my jam.
But I am here to tell you, even the skeptics, if you grab a pencil, engage your brain in a different way and just play, you will be a happier person. I promise. Let's play the puzzle.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master.
Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: So, 2016 - off to a bang. The last of couple of weeks, anything happening in your life? Year's starting out OK?
SHORTZ: Everything is good, yeah. I'll tell you a cool thing happening this week. I am playing in a ping-pong tournament for charity at Grand Central Terminal on Thursday night.
MARTIN: Oh, that's awesome. Inside the terminal?
SHORTZ: Inside the terminal. Anybody wandering through on Thursday, check us out.
MARTIN: Very cool. OK, remind us - what was last week's puzzle?
SHORTZ: Yes. It was a variation on the old word ladder puzzle. The object was to change whole, W-H-O-L-E, to heart by either adding or subtracting one letter at a time, making a new, common uncapitalized word at each step.
Well, I won't bore you with my 16-step answer, which was very elegant, but it could be shortened to just six steps. Starting with whole, you can go to hole, H-O-L-E; then hoe, H-O-E, then hoer, H-O-E-R, to her, to hear and finally to heart. Just six steps, very nice.
MARTIN: OK, so around 800 of you gave the puzzle a shot this week. Our randomly selected winner is Melissa Goodwin of Munster, Ind. She joins us on the line now. Melissa, congratulations.
MELISSA GOODWIN: Thank you.
MARTIN: How'd you figure this one out?
GOODWIN: Well, it was sort of a group effort. Our family has been playing puzzles on the way to church since the '80s when it started. And this one, our youngest son and my husband and I sat around Sunday morning and did it and thought and thought. And I worked on it a couple more days and finally, about 12:30, I came up with hoer, and that's what made the link.
MARTIN: Cool. OK, so are you ready to play the puzzle, Melissa?
GOODWIN: I am very ready.
MARTIN: She sounds ready, Will. Let's do it.
SHORTZ: Melissa, I think you're going to be great at this. And Rachel, every answer today is the name of an article of apparel, something to wear. Name the items from their anagrams. For example, if I said loop, L-O-O-P, you would say polo, as in a polo shirt.
GOODWIN: You had to give me anagrams.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SHORTZ: Anagrams, here we go (laughter).
Number one is pace, P-A-C-E.
GOODWIN: Cape.
MARTIN: Good.
SHORTZ: That is right.
Number two is wong, W-O-N-G.
GOODWIN: Wong. Gown.
MARTIN: Good.
SHORTZ: Gown is right.
Goat, G-O-A-T.
GOODWIN: Oh, goat.
SHORTZ: If you went to a fraternity party, you might wear this.
GOODWIN: Oh, toga.
MARTIN: Good.
SHORTZ: Toga, there you go.
Hose, H-O-S-E.
GOODWIN: Shoe.
SHORTZ: That's it.
Fibers, F-I-B-E-R-S. This is something I wouldn't see if you were wearing these.
GOODWIN: OK. Boxers? Briefs.
MARTIN: Briefs. Good.
SHORTZ: Briefs. There you go.
GOODWIN: (Laughter) Boxers or briefs.
SHORTZ: (Laughter) Nice.
Haunts, H-A-U-N-T-S. And this is sometimes spelled as two words, sometimes as one.
GOODWIN: Sun hat?
SHORTZ: Sun hat is it.
MARTIN: Oh, great.
SHORTZ: How about repaid? R-E-P-A-I-D.
MARTIN: I know what this is.
SHORTZ: Oh, good.
MARTIN: Because they are in my life a lot.
GOODWIN: Diaper?
MARTIN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: Diaper, yes.
GOODWIN: You're right. I'm way past those days, thankfully.
(LAUGHTER)
SHORTZ: Here's your last one.
Ungreased, U-N-G-R-E-A-S-E-D, something you'd wear on the lower half of your body.
GOODWIN: (Laughter) I'm going back to my mother's days and thinking they were called - not cropped pants.
MARTIN: I don't even really know what these are. I know the answer, but I can't - I couldn't tell you what they looked like to save my life.
SHORTZ: They haven't been in fashion for a long time.
GOODWIN: Dungarees.
MARTIN: Yeah. Wow, you got it.
SHORTZ: Dungarees.
GOODWIN: Man, oh, man. You really stumped me bad towards the end.
MARTIN: You did great.
SHORTZ: I thought you did great.
MARTIN: You did excellent. For someone who is fearful of the anagram, I thought you rocked it.
GOODWIN: Oh, yeah. That's always my worst.
MARTIN: Well done. For playing the puzzle today, Melissa, you know because you listen all the time that you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and puzzle books and games. You can read about your prizes at our website npr.org/puzzle. And where do you hear us, Melissa?
GOODWIN: We are members of WBEZ in Chicago.
MARTIN: Melissa Goodwin of Munster, Ind. Thanks so much for playing the puzzle, Melissa. It was fun.
GOODWIN: Thank you.
MARTIN: OK, Will. What's up for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes. The challenge comes from listener Sandy Weisz of Chicago, who runs puzzle hunts there under the name The Mystery League, and this challenge isn't too hard.
Name a unit of measurement. Remove two consecutive letters, and the letters that remain can be rearranged to name what this measurement measures. What is it?
So again, a unit of measurement, remove two consecutive letters. The letters that remain can be rearranged to name what this measurement measures. What is it?
MARTIN: When you've got the answer, go to npr.org/puzzle. Click on that submit your answer link - just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for those entries is Thursday, January 14, at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
Don't forget to include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And it goes like this. If you're the winner then we give you a call, and then you get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
First, there was the news Friday that the Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, known El Chapo, had been recaptured. Now, another dramatic twist to the story has come to light.
Last night, Rolling Stone published an interview conducted by Sean Penn with El Chapo during his time on the run. The actor and one of the world's most wanted fugitives met for the first time in October in an undisclosed jungle location in Mexico.
Joining me now to talk about how this bizarre get together came to be with NPR's Carrie Kahn in Mexico and NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. Welcome to you both.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Thank you.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Thanks, Rachel.
MARTIN: First, Carrie, walk us through this. What do we know about how this meeting was arranged?
KAHN: Well, Penn's contact with Guzman was initiated and went through Mexican actress Kate del Castillo. She's a well-known actress here and in the U.S. She actually starred in a TV series a few years back, where she played a female drug capo. About four years ago, she posted on social media as what seemed to be an admiring note about the drug trafficker. And then he reportedly contacted her about that post through his lawyers. After his spectacular prison escape through that mile-long tunnel, the contact between the two intensified, and Guzman determined that he wanted del Castillo to make a movie about his life.
And in his article in Rolling Stone, Penn says he met del Castillo through a mutual friend, and in October of last year, about three months after Guzman's escape, Penn and del Castillo made that trek into the mountains outside Guzman's home state of Sinaloa and had their sit-down with him.
Authorities here said that that meeting and subsequent contacts with del Castillo helped them locate Guzman's whereabouts. And shortly after Penn's visit to Guzman, the Mexican marines closed in on him and raided that compound. Guzman got away at that time but was finally captured on Friday.
MARTIN: El Chapo hadn't given an interview in decades. So did Sean Penn's interview reveal anything new about him?
KAHN: I'd say not much. This is the first interview Guzman has given since the 1990s. He did boast that he was a major trafficker of cocaine, marijuana and heroin in the world before he claimed to be just a poor farmer.
I think what's new here is that just days after Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto was celebrating this victory of Guzman's capture and possible restoration of his reputation that'd been so damaged by Guzman's escape, we learn that two Hollywood actors were able to find Guzman before the Mexican authorities were.
And, you know, once Penn actually gets down to questioning Guzman, the questions just lack substance. Guzman doesn't have interest in engaging in philosophical interactions with Penn. And remember, Guzman has caused incalculable violence and murder in this country. He's been a major player in the drug war that's claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people and subverted the rule of law here.
MARTIN: And David, I'm going to turn to you. The Mexican government is moving toward extraditing El Chapo to the U.S. where he'll face drug and murder charges. What are we to make of Sean Penn's involvement in this legally and journalistically?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you have to think about it from a couple standpoints. You know, he's an activist. He's done reporting of a sort before, these kind of bromance pieces involving Hugo Chavez or the Castro brothers, very much left of center politically. So it's not that he's never done this. You know, people have raised a lot of questions. You know, has he been involved in harboring a fugitive? And certainly he acknowledges in the course of his meandering story - really, a voyage to try to get to Guzman - that he took a lot of steps to conceal his location and make sure the feds couldn't eavesdrop on that.
It's not clear to me whether this falls into something that federal authorities would actually want to prosecute. But that said, he certainly, in a sense, was complicit in keeping Guzman's whereabouts unknown to pursue what was, you know, in essence, a journalistic effort.
MARTIN: And David, what does this mean for Rolling Stone? I mean, making a decision like this - to publish a piece - an interview with a convicted drug lord on the lam, conducted by a Hollywood superstar, not a journalist?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, it's hard not to look at this as a stunt. I mean, certainly, it's the publication that posts - that - you know, publishes Matt Taibbi and Hunter S. Thompson and people who have done a lot of funny pieces. It was a purple story, singularly unedifying, and they had to make a real compromise. I mean, they acknowledged they made an understanding with Guzman that the piece would be, as they put it, submitted for the subject's approval before publication. That is, he could, in a sense edit, censor, excise information. They said he did nothing to the article, but that - at least they acknowledged that agreement. But that agreement means they are in league with him. Now let's also say Rolling Stone right now is reeling from this rape story they had to retract about the University of Virginia. It's a nice way to change the subject for them.
MARTIN: NPR's David Folkenflik and Carrie Kahn, thanks to you both.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
KAHN: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Revelations that refugees in Germany took part in sexually assaulting and robbing hundreds of women on New Year's Eve in Cologne sparked violent protests in that western German city yesterday. In response to the growing public outcry, German officials announced they will scale back what has been an open arms policy towards refugees. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Berlin joins us now for the latest.
Soraya, there are now 379 victim complaints from that night in Cologne, I understand, many of them alleging molestation or worse. Have there been any arrests?
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Not a single one. But police are saying that at least 22 migrants seeking asylum are being sought as suspects. Some of these were identified by video. Others were actually stopped by police on that night in the square in Cologne and then they were questioned and let go. Police say that the foreign suspects were mainly from Algeria and Morocco and that they have yet to identify 44 other assailants.
MARTIN: There also appears to be a German connection to an assault last week by a man carrying a knife - wielding a knife around a Paris police station. This happened on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. What can you tell us about that?
NELSON: Yes, that man, who was shot dead - he was also wearing a fake explosives vest. Turns out that he had an apartment in a building that houses asylum-seekers in a western German city called Recklinghausen. Police raided that apartment yesterday, and French officials say that he also had a phone with a German SIM card. But there doesn't seem to be any connection at this point - or any threat of further attacks, at least at this stage, according to German police.
MARTIN: All of this has fueled debate about Germany's relatively liberal policy when it comes to welcoming migrants into the country. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel's has tried to tighten the asylum laws in response to these attacks. What's her plan?
NELSON: Well, she wants to see asylum-seekers who are convicted of a crime, who are on probation or in prison be booted out of Germany. Right now, only foreigners who are convicted and sentenced to at least three years or more than three years are actually deported - and only then if their expulsion doesn't endanger their lives. But under this new law, all of them would go.
The problem is it's not just that it has to still be approved by the Parliament, which will - may or may not go along with this. But even if they do - how do they actually get rid of these people? - because a lot of them don't have documents or they're coming from countries that they can't be deported to because of war and other things. And there aren't a whole lot of countries who are willing to take back any asylum-seekers as-is, if they're not citizens of their own country.
MARTIN: NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson talking to us from Berlin. Thanks so much, Soraya.
NELSON: You're welcome, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Republicans have been trying to figure out how to reach new groups of voters since their defeat in the presidential election four years ago. Now some party leaders are saying the GOP should do a better job of addressing the concerns of low-income Americans.
As NPR's Sarah McCammon reports from Columbia, S.C., several presidential candidates made that point in a forum on poverty yesterday.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: House Speaker Paul Ryan began the day with a traditional Republican message about the American dream.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PAUL RYAN: You work hard. You play by the rules. You can get ahead.
MCCAMMON: But Ryan said it's not that simple.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RYAN: Here's the problem. If it is not true for everybody (laughter) - and there are a lot of people who do not believe it's there for them - then it's really not true at all, is it?
MCCAMMON: Ryan said making that true for everyone should be a priority for the GOP. He co-moderated the event at a packed convention center in Columbia with South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate. Scott said there's a perception that Republicans don't understand poverty, but he grew up poor with a single mom.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TIM SCOTT: And what I hear in the neighborhoods - and I go see my grandfather every week - is not requests for more government assistance - it's a leg up.
MCCAMMON: Scott and Ryan were joined on stage by six Republican presidential hopefuls who shared their personal stories, designed to send the message that they get it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BEN CARSON: I hated poverty.
MARCO RUBIO: And my father, who was a bartender...
CHRIS CHRISTIE: The first time I've learned about poverty was from both my parents.
MCCAMMON: That was Dr. Ben Carson, Florida senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey governor Chris Christie. The candidates said they have solutions that don't involve bigger government, like reforming education, adjusting the tax code and getting the private sector more involved.
Hearing Republicans speak of poverty as a priority felt like a turning point to Reverend David Beckmann. He's with the anti-hunger group Bread for the World.
DAVID BECKMANN: We've come a long way.
MCCAMMON: Beckmann's group spoke out against cuts to federal anti-poverty programs proposed by Ryan when he was chairman of the House Budget Committee.
BECKMANN: I think there's still a lot of uncertainty about whether the Republican Party is really going to push to reduce poverty. The people who are here have got to fight other elements in the party that are not that interested in poor people.
MCCAMMON: There's a lot at stake in this for the GOP. Since 2012, Republicans have been talking about how to reach more young people and minorities. Christie said Republicans should campaign outside their comfort zone.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHRISTIE: Fact is - we need to be going into African-American churches. We need to be going into the Hispanic communities and the barrios to make sure that - you go there first to listen. Don't go there first with some, like, 10-point plan because they don't want to hear it.
MCCAMMON: But polls show that reaching those groups is a challenge for the Republican Party. Not present at the poverty forum were two candidates known for their tough rhetoric on immigration, Donald Trump and Texas senator Ted Cruz. Both were busy campaigning in Iowa, where they've been neck and neck at the top of the pack.
Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Columbia, S.C.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's been a good month for gun sales. Even before President Obama announced actions aimed at tightening controls on gun purchases, sales were up, partly in reaction to terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Gun dealers say the president's initiatives have spurred sales. At the same time, polling shows more than two thirds of Americans support the president's proposals, including a majority of gun owners.
NPR's Greg Allen visited a gun show in Miami this past weekend and has this report.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Hundreds of people were lined up when the gun show opened yesterday at the fairgrounds in Miami. It was mostly men, but there were quite a few women and even some kids. Winter is a busy time for gun sales in Florida, but this gun show was busier than usual.
WILL REYNOLDS: You have to be quick, man. I have 30 seconds because look at all the people we have here.
ALLEN: Will Reynolds owns LeadFeather Guns & Archery. He had several tables in the middle of the exhibition hall with an array of expensive-looking handguns.
REYNOLDS: We primarily just specialize in firearms. We love SIG Sauer. We carry a lot of those. We have the FNX Tacticals, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Walther - all the high-quality stuff.
ALLEN: Reynolds says he hasn't read through the president's proposals, but he's leery some of the rules may put new burdens on federally licensed dealers like him. But Obama, he says, is good for business.
REYNOLDS: Any time he seems like he talks about firearms, attendance goes up. Any time that there is a mishap or an accident or something like San Bernardino, people are scared, petrified. And they want to protect themselves. At the same time, they feel like they don't want to lose their rights.
ALLEN: Among President Obama's proposals this week were some aimed at closing what he called the gun show loophole. Right now at gun shows, federally licensed firearms dealers like Reynolds conduct background checks on all sales. But looking around the hall, Reynolds says there are many here selling guns with few questions asked.
REYNOLDS: There are people that are walking around here that can come in and pay the entry fee and sell three, five, six, 10 guns if they want to. And they're not getting background checks. It happens right here. If you stand around long enough, you'll see people doing cash transactions on this floor today.
ALLEN: The president is proposing requiring many more people who sell guns to get federal licenses and conduct background checks. The rules still have to be written. The White House says they're not aimed at collectors but notes that even a few transactions combined with other evidence may qualify someone as a dealer. Alfredo del Portillo is a gun owner and collector who was walking around the hall with three semi-automatic rifles.
ALFREDO DEL PORTILLO: I'm selling a couple and always looking.
ALLEN: Del Portillo said the president's comments had created uncertainty now about how informal sales and trading can be conducted.
DEL PORTILLO: Some people are telling me that I have to go through a dealer right now. Other people are saying no, not yet. Nobody seems to know. Who says who's a casual occasional seller?
ALLEN: That's a question even more important to the hobbyists and collectors who pay $100 to rent a table and buy, sell and trade at weekend gun shows, people like William McDowell.
WILLIAM MCDOWELL: Well, I have an archery shop, but I do gun shows on the weekends. If we do sell a gun, by law right now, it's not required that we do a background check.
ALLEN: McDowell says his customers looking to buy, sell or trade vintage firearms aren't the ones likely to cause trouble. But if required to do background checks, he says, he'll do them.
MCDOWELL: I don't have a problem with that.
ALLEN: Another collector Ron Wires said he's worried new federal regulations will make his hobby, trading and selling old guns and knives, a lot more expensive.
RON WIRES: You take a private collector like me - I'm retired. I'm on Social Security, trying to make a couple of bucks. If I have to get licensed, how do I do a background check? Then it's cost-prohibitive. I can't even collect anymore.
ALLEN: With the high volume of sales at Miami's gun show yesterday, customers were lined up waiting for clerks on computers to complete their background checks. Checks that should take a few minutes were taking an hour or more, but it didn't seem to be hurting business.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The drought in California has been going on for five years now. But if you've turned on the TV recently, or, for that matter, if you live in California, you may have noticed it's raining there - a lot.
The storms this past week are fueled by an El Nino, which is essentially a temperature change in the Pacific that has brought unseasonably warm temperatures to much of the country and a whole lot of precipitation, especially in Southern and central California. The question is - what difference does any of this rain make to California's historic drought?
Alice Walton is a reporter with the LA Times, and she's been writing about all of this. She joins us from our studios at NPR West.
Hi, Alice. Thanks for being with us.
ALICE WALTON: Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Time for some very basic questions. Where is this rain going? And is all of this precipitation enough to make a dent in the empty reservoirs and aquifers?
WALTON: Well, it will make a dent, but it certainly won't end the drought. As you said, we've had a drought for about five years now, which means we're really at a deficit. Weather forecasters say you'd have to have many times the average amount of rain to make up all that difference, and that's just not realistic.
MARTIN: This weather has been predicted. People have been talking about an El Nino for the past few months. Is this a silly question, but...
WALTON: (Laughter).
MARTIN: ...If you know that a big storms are going to come and your state is in the middle of a really serious and damaging drought, couldn't California do anything to try to capture that water?
WALTON: They've done some stuff over the years. They have tried to improve what they call stormwater capture, which is basically taking all that rain, collecting it and then saving it for future use.
But having just a couple of months heads up is not really enough time to start building whole new reservoirs and dams and really big infrastructure projects.
So a lot of the preparation has been focusing on what people can do - protecting areas that have been impacted by wildfires and therefore might be vulnerable to mudslides or to floods, telling people to have emergency preparedness kits. That's been more where the preparedness has been and not so much on what's going to happen with all the water just because there's not that many options.
MARTIN: So Californians are focusing, not necessarily on all this rain and what good it could do in terms of the drought, but instead they're focusing on all the risks that come with this rain.
WALTON: Well, at least in Southern California because Southern California is not really set up to collect this water. You know, tens of billions of gallons of water are going to rush out to the Pacific Ocean. Some of it will be absorbed by the ground, but most of it will not be. So what people are hoping for is that the rain doesn't just come to kind of the LA area but really that we see it in Northern California. And that's where it could really make a difference for the drought.
MARTIN: Alice Walton from the LA Times talking to us about California's drought and the rainstorms as of late. Thanks so much for talking with us, Alice.
WALTON: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Something smells rotten in the La Jolla area of San Diego. Bird and sea lion droppings have accumulated on ocean bluffs for years there, creating a powerful stench in the wealthy seaside town. Residents and business owners are so sick of the smell they have now sued the city.
But as Claire Trageser from member station KPBS reports, clearing the air is not so simple.
CLAIRE TRAGESER, BYLINE: When he arrived at La Jolla Cove, tourist Bruce Just was greeted with more than just a view of sparkling ocean water below.
BRUCE JUST: The second I stepped out of the door of the car, I says wow, that's a pungent smell.
TRAGESER: Most locals know the smell is the droppings of sea lions and birds, but the Omaha, Neb., native was unaware.
JUST: Sea lions, really? Well, I'd like to see a sea lion while I'm here.
TRAGESER: That shouldn't be a problem. Dozens can usually be found at the water's edge.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEA LION BARKING)
TRAGESER: Three years ago, then-mayor Bob Filner stepped in to fix the problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BOB FILNER: You've heard of Independence Day? Well, this is end-the-poop day.
TRAGESER: It turned out it wasn't. Filner couldn't fix the problem because government regulations say cleaning the rocks can't send runoff into the ocean. That means no power washing the bluffs, spraying cleaners on them or scraping the droppings into the water.
Restaurants and hotels line the bluffs, and their owners say the smell is scaring away tourists. So they sued to force the city to find another option.
NORM BLUMENTHAL: The city has a duty to remove the cause of the odor from the rocks.
TRAGESER: Lawyer Norm Blumenthal represents the group called Citizens for Odor Nuisance Abatement. They came up with solutions, including carting the waste off of the bluffs.
BLUMENTHAL: A slogan was scoop the poop. That's what we called it (laughter) - #ScoopThePoop.
TRAGESER: They also pitched more creative ideas.
BLUMENTHAL: Hire a guru that would be able to talk to the sea lions and convince them to make the rocks not an attractive place to lay on.
TRAGESER: Instead, the city decided to spray a special bacteria that eats the animal waste without creating runoff. So, problem solved, right?
RAY ELLIS: That's not a long-term solution. It's kind of a short-term situation.
TRAGESER: Local resident Ray Ellis has been working on the stench situation. It's a crisp winter morning, and he's out checking on the bluffs. They definitely still smell.
ELLIS: When you boil it all down, though, it really is a quality-of-life issue.
TRAGESER: Ellis says the bacteria isn't sprayed often enough. Plus, spraying costs the city $7,200 a month, a payment that will continue as long as there are sea lions. So Ellis has some other ideas.
ELLIS: Sea lions do not like to be wet when they're out of the water, so we've talked about a misting system.
TRAGESER: Another option comes from the piers in San Francisco.
ELLIS: A line which has PVC pipe on it, so when the sea lions try to haul out, that pipe will spin on a cable.
TRAGESER: ...Sending the sea lions back into the water. But Norm Blumenthal, who's suing the city, says no matter what solution the city chooses, it needs to fix the problem.
BLUMENTHAL: The slogan is, you know, go to La Jolla the most beautiful place in the world, and it stinks.
TRAGESER: That's not a very good slogan, so he will continue his lawsuit until the air over La Jolla is as clear as the view.
For NPR News, I'm Claire Trageser in San Diego.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The sixth season of "Game Of Thrones" returns this April. Winter is coming. But not coming, at least not anytime soon, is the next book in George R.R. Martin's series "A Song Of Ice And Fire," from which the show is adapted.
Martin wrote on his blog that "The Winds Of Winter" won't be finished before "Game Of Thrones" returns this spring. It will be done when it's done, he wrote. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it.
Here to talk about it are two members of The Atlantic's "Game Of Thrones" roundtable, Amy Sullivan and Spencer Kornhaber. Thanks for coming in, you guys.
SPENCER KORNHABER: Hi.
AMY SULLIVAN: Of course.
MARTIN: At the end of season five, we saw the show finally catch up to the books. But now the show seems like it's in a position to pull ahead. Has this ever happened before, where a show has moved faster than its source material?
SULLIVAN: I can't think of another example of when that's happened. We've certainly seen examples of cases where, whether it's "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" or some of the comic book universes, you've had the canon and then you've had offshoots. But this is the first time I can think of that the material overtakes the original and that they're developing on parallel tracks because it's not like he's not still working on another book.
MARTIN: Do you think not having a book to refer to makes it harder for the show creators? Or will it sort of free them up?
KORNHABER: Well, one thing about "Game Of Thrones" from the start that's been so extraordinary is that it's fantasy show, but it feels real in these weird ways. It's like there's a cause-and-effect universe. And I kind of think that can only happen if you have an author who's really paying a lot of attention and working in a methodical way, which, you know, would explain why George R.R. Martin takes so long to write these books.
So I have a little bit of nervousness about the idea of it being totally taken over by a TV show. My understanding is that the earlier seasons adhered pretty closely to the books and later ones have gone off a little bit. And I think you see more kind of typical TV writing in these later season, and you see more coincidences happening that you wouldn't see in the earlier seasons. So I'm a little bit nervous about what happens when they don't have a kind of rock solid story to build on.
MARTIN: Do you think that's going to happen more, Amy, the more of a divergence from the book?
SULLIVAN: I think there will also be more of a temptation for them to create storylines in response to people that the audience likes as characters and people that they like as actors.
When there's a character who's not slated to die and yet isn't really part of the action, on the shows, they have tended to create a new storyline just to keep those characters around. I'm thinking of Brienne and Podrick. And then last season, Sir Jaime and Bronn went off on this completely nonsensical road trip because the fans love them, but it wasn't really useful to the story. And as Spencer says, the books and the world are so meticulously plotted by Martin that it can be frustrating when the showrunners kind of give in to that temptation.
MARTIN: Spencer Kornhaber and Amy Sullivan of The Atlantic's "Game Of Thrones" roundtable.
Thanks much for talking to us.
KORNHABER: Thank you.
SULLIVAN: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Imagine it. You're going about your life, and then - bam - you win the jackpot. Yesterday's Powerball drawing reached almost $950 million. Now, of course, taxes can eat up about half of that. But come on, that's still a whole lot of money. This record lottery made me think back to a conversation I had a couple years ago with Brad Duke. He won a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005. Brad Duke is a former exercise instructor from Star, Idaho. And in our conversation, he remembered that moment when he won.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BRAD DUKE: I had the ticket in a visor of a rental car at the time, and I had to stop and get fuel. I thought it would be a good time to check the tickets. So, I took the ticket in, let the gals behind the counter run the ticket through. And the machine made a bunch of weird noises, and they started jumping up and down and jumping in circles. And I was trying to actually pluck the ticket out of their hand 'cause my first instinct was just to kind of get out of there.
MARTIN: Here's what happened next.
DUKE: I thought maybe that I had won 10 or 20 thousand, but I didn't confirm it. I went on with my day just daydreaming of what I could do with five, 10, 15, 20 thousand, whatever it may be.
MARTIN: So, that's day one, and it's confirmed that you win. What happens a couple days later when you wake up and the reality of this really starts to sink in?
DUKE: You know, it didn't sink in for a couple of days, you know, probably a couple of weeks. I knew the first thing that I wanted to do was decide what I wanted to do with the money and where I wanted to go with this whole thing. So I didn't tell anybody. I kept working. I continued with my daily routines. I had made one phone call to my father. And I told him - it's a funny story. I said, dad, sit down and prepare for some life-changing news. And he says, oh, you're getting married. And I said, nope. And he goes, oh, well, then you're the guy that won the lottery.
MARTIN: No way.
DUKE: Yeah, true story, absolutely true story. And I said yeah. And he goes, far out. I'll be right down. So, you know, he came down. And then over the course of that couple of weeks, we kind of talked about what to do. I kept it under wraps for close to four or five weeks.
MARTIN: Wow. Wasn't that hard? I mean, didn't you kind of just want to tell everyone?
DUKE: Oh, it was fun. Oh, it was fun. It was fun fantasizing about being the guy and then realizing that you're the guy. And you have that reality-fantasy combination starting to come together. Turned out, it was really important that I did do that because that did give me time to put together a team of people around me that were going to help me do what I wanted to do.
MARTIN: Yeah. Who were they? What did you need them to do for you?
DUKE: Well, in the process of setting goals, I wanted to grow the wealth, so obviously needed to have a really good tax attorney and a corporate business attorney. I knew that we were going to do some publicity to try and generate more opportunity, so I needed a publicist and a banker. And I still have that same team around me today.
MARTIN: So, you said you had done some daydreaming. You'd let yourself kind of fantasize about what it would be like to win 10,000, $20,000. What did those dreams look like, and then how did they change when all of the sudden you were handed a check for millions of dollars?
DUKE: The thing that I was thinking about was what kind of new bike I can buy. I'm into cycling, and one of my fantasies is just getting a really high-end road bike and a really high-end mountain bike.
MARTIN: Yeah, $220 million would do it.
DUKE: Yeah. And that really was the first thing that I did. I stayed in my house, drove a used car for, you know, up to three years afterwards. The more I started to fantasize about what I could do with the money, the more I felt like I should try and keep my feet on the ground and change as little as I could.
MARTIN: Why did that occur to you?
DUKE: You know, I'm not sure. I'm a goal-oriented person. One of the goals that I had put out there for myself after this was try and make the most of this opportunity and not squander the gift that's been given to me and try to grow into something I can leave behind, leave a legacy behind. And once I started to believe in that goal that I set for myself, it kind of dictated some of my decisions.
MARTIN: So did you quit your job?
DUKE: I did not. I continued on as long as I could. It was crazy. Everybody had the greatest ideas since sliced bread. I got proposals for time machines, flying cars, and eventually I had to quit 'cause it was disrupting the business. I continued to stay on and teach my morning spin class for about two and a half years after.
MARTIN: Did anyone in your life start treating you differently?
DUKE: Oh sure, yeah. Yeah, there's definitely a preconceived notion, whether it's good or bad, and that does change your surroundings. And, you know, for sure, it - something like that amplifies everything around you.
MARTIN: Did you have to end any relationships because of how your life changed with this money?
DUKE: You know, I'm pretty fortunate that way. I never had to end a relationship. I had some dating trouble, but that was expected. But (laughter) as far as...
MARTIN: You'd think it would be a boon for your dating life.
DUKE: Yeah, too much of a boon. But as far as loved ones and people that were in my life at the time, I have been pretty fortunate.
MARTIN: There has been, as you probably know, some terribly tragic stories over the years of lottery winners who kind of detached from reality and lose their friends, go bankrupt. How did you avoid all of that, and what is your advice for future lottery winners?
DUKE: I knew the statistics. I knew 6 out of 10 people that won 10 million or less were bankrupt in less than five years. And that's one thing that I really wanted to not become. The biggest piece of advice I can give somebody that gets put into that, you really have to define what's important to you, and develop a plan around it. And then get people to help you do what you're not so good at doing as part of that plan.
MARTIN: Do you still have that mountain bike that you bought?
DUKE: Yeah. I have that mountain bike plus about another 10.
MARTIN: (Laughter) Good for you.
That's Brad Duke of Star, Idaho. He won $220 million in the Powerball lottery back in 2005. So we checked back in with him this past week, when the Powerball reached nearly a billion dollars. He's now in a long-term relationship. He still loves cycling and still travels economy class. He's kept his circle of friends and the team of advisers he hired after winning. And he's building up the nonprofit he created to donate money to charitable groups in Idaho. Now, about that ridiculously huge Powerball lottery jackpot. Americans gathered around their televisions last night to watch the official drawing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Next number down is 19. That's followed by 57. And we're going to wind it up for you tonight with the number 34.
MARTIN: Hours after the drawing, the lottery officials announced there was no winner. And you know what that means. The pot gets richer. There will be another drawing Wednesday, and the prize is now $1.3 billion, which is a ridiculous amount of money. But the odds are crazy low. Reuters quoted a statistics professor at the University of Buffalo who said an American is roughly 25 times more likely to become the next president of the United States than to win at Powerball. But hey, a girl can dream.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Until a few years ago, not many people paid much attention to the extreme sport of free diving. That's where a swimmer packs as much air as they can into their lungs and plunges as deep as they possibly can into the sea - no oxygen tank, just that one breath to keep them going. But in November of 2013, a tragedy brought free diving into the spotlight when Nicholas Mevoli from Brooklyn died while attempting a record-breaking plunge in the Bahamas. Writer Adam Skolnick was there to cover that event, and Mevoli's death brought him inside this sport in a way he never expected. His new book is called "One Breath: Freediving, Death, And The Quest To Shatter Human Limits." Adam Skolnick joins us from our studios at NPR West. Welcome to the show, Adam.
ADAM SKOLNICK: Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Let's start off by just explaining how free diving works. It seems almost impossible that a human being could survive two to 300 feet down in the sea for more than three minutes without supplemental oxygen. Technically, physiologically, how does this work?
SKOLNICK: When an athlete prepares to dive, the first thing they'll do is they'll do a breathe-up. And they'll make sure that they're as relaxed as possible. So their heart rate gets as low as possible. And that way, they become more efficient with the oxygen they do take with them. And then they'll do a peak inhalation. They'll breathe their lungs to the absolute maximum. In fact, they'll pack their lungs up and above what their total lung volume would be.
MARTIN: Wow.
SKOLNICK: And so when they take that breath, that is their oxygen tank. They - their body goes through all these changes. Their veins and arteries and arms and legs constrict. That blood gets shifted to their core. Their heart rate drops to half their resting limit. And that's something called a mammalian dive reflex. And it's the same things dolphins and seals and sea lions go through when they go as deep as they can.
MARTIN: Before Nick Mevoli died, how did people who are in this sport at the elite levels, how did they perceive the risks?
SKOLNICK: Well, I think that, you know, because Nick was the first to die in over 35,000 competitive free dives, they were really comfortable that they were doing something that was safe. It might have appeared extreme from the outside looking in. But to them, it was safe, you know. But what was happening that people weren't talking about as much is people were having lung industries. And that's called a lung squeeze, which means the blood vessels in your lungs, which are engorged with that blood that has shifted to your core, might leak fluid into your alveoli, or your air sacs, and cause micro-tears. And you might end up spitting blood for days, weeks afterwards. And so there was this misperception that kind of grew over a couple or three years where people got comfortable with this spitting of blood. And Nick was one of them.
MARTIN: Tell us about Nick Mevoli. What was he like? You spent a lot of time talking with people who knew him. He was someone who took to the water really early.
SKOLNICK: I mean, Nick was just a one-of-a-kind soul. You know, he was - when he was 1 and a half years old, the family dog pushed him into the pool. His grandmother was out by the pool kind of hanging laundry and lost track of him. By the time she figured out what happened, she looked down. And there he was with these big, brown eyes looking back at her and just so comfortable underwater. And by the time he was 10 years old, he's holding his breath for almost three minutes.
MARTIN: He rose really quickly in the sport of free diving and traveled all over the world in these competitions. He eventually found himself in the Bahamas for this important competition. And he hadn't been feeling well.
SKOLNICK: Yeah. So in the weeks leading up to the dive, he was pushing really hard. And so he had a series of lung squeezes. And the lung squeezes for him started from his very first competition. And they continued through his two years competing. He was kind of depressed from overtraining. He wasn't right in his mind. And he was physically hurt, but he went for it anyway. And on the dive itself, he - it took a minute longer than planned because it didn't go smoothly. But he still came up under his own power, broke the surface. And he was - looked like to be breathing on his own for about a minute after the dive. And that's when he fell back and blacked out. And it's one thing if he'd blacked out right away. But what they saw was an athlete who seemed to be breathing for almost a minute and then fell back. And so that was something they'd never seen before. And so it was important to find out what happened. He was also the first death. And so one diver in particular, Dr. Kerry Hollowell, happened to be a doctor and was friends with Nick. She kind of took it upon herself to look into what happened to him and how his lung injuries were related to what happened that day.
MARTIN: What's it like? You've gotten into this now. You've done some free diving. What does it feel like?
SKOLNICK: What I like to say to people is, when they ask me how I learned to free dive, I like to go to my favorite joke, which is how many athletes does it take to teach a journalist how to free dive?
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Lots.
SKOLNICK: Lots. I think it was like 19 or something like that. I don't know. But, you know, it's funny because I am an ocean person. Like, I go to a quarter-mile, a half-mile offshore. And I'll swim a mile or two miles at a time. And I'll do that in Malibu. And where I go, there's a reef. And we do some dives along the reef, the group of us that go do that - and to about 40, 50 feet maximum there. So I was - I'm comfortable in the ocean. And I thought free diving wouldn't be too hard for me. I'm an experienced scuba diver, a tech diver. But, you know, it's different when you go - when you're diving on a line, you're free diving. It's just - you have to do things differently. And so it took me a long time to get comfortable with the pressure, as I went down, on my lungs, with just the whole idea of feeling like you have to breathe and then still going down anyway.
MARTIN: And not panicking.
SKOLNICK: Not panicky. So even for me, who's really comfortable in the water, it took a lot - a long time. Maybe I'm more neurotic than most. But it took a long time for me to get comfy. But then I had this one moment where it clicked for me. And I was down at about 20 meters, about 66 feet. And I didn't have any urge to breathe. And all around me was this beautiful blue world. And I came up, and I felt so relaxed. And for that whole day, like, I'd close my eyes and I would just see that blue world. It was just something that was in my head. And I woke up the next morning just wanting to do it again. And I eventually got to a hundred feet, or 30 meters, during that course. And - but that's something that stays with you. And that's just me, an entry-level - that's a level 2 free diver. I think that the effects are even greater. I know that they are even greater for these athletes that go to 100 meters. I mean, I can't even imagine that. But they get to a place - it's like part athletic, part spiritual. And it's definitely addictive 'cause it's so beautiful.
MARTIN: Adam Skolnick is the author of "One Breath: Freediving, Death, And The Quest To Shatter Human Limits." Adam, thanks so much.
SKOLNICK: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Armchair detectives are having high time right now. True crime stories are as old as Ben Franklin. But these days, they're popping up in new places - podcasts, high-end miniseries. The success of the podcast "Serial," HBO's "The Jinx" and the recent Netflix series, "Making A Murderer" have spawned endless Reddit threads and a thousand think pieces. But have they changed what happens in the criminal justice system? Attorney Deirdre Enright has been doing the actual work of these cases. Those of you who listened to "Serial" may know her name. She was one of the people who helped Sarah Koenig investigate the conviction of Adnan Syed. She's director of investigation for the UVA Innocence Project. She joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.
DEIRDRE ENRIGHT: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: As someone who does this work, do you think all this new journalism/entertainment about true crime is a good thing?
ENRIGHT: So my knee-jerk reaction is that of course it's a good thing in that it calls attention to the plight of our clients, who every day we're doing these cases, like "Serial," like "Jinx," like "Making A Murderer." That's what all of our cases are like. That said, there's the downside, which is once those stories are out there in the public on that level, everyone else becomes an armchair detective as well. And they begin becoming part of the investigation, which of course destroys our ability to control it.
MARTIN: So these kinds of shows, you're saying, can actually do damage to a case?
ENRIGHT: Sure. We could be talking to witnesses and gathering information to draft affidavits to include with our petitions or our writ of actual innocence. And once it's out there, everyone in the world could call them, go by, post a message on their Facebook page, scare them - right? And we can't control when all of the information becomes public. So if people wanted to go and try and shut them down as witnesses in our case, we have no control of that. So in the criminal justice world, it's ideal for us for our information not to be in the public sphere until we file and make it public.
MARTIN: I imagine media has always been a kind of a tool for defenders to some degree. How has that changed?
ENRIGHT: So the media and the media alone is what has generated this interest in the work that we've been doing for years and decades. And I think the public has long believed that our criminal justice system was off in the shadows somewhere doing its job and, you know, spitting out justice where it needed to. And it seems to me that these kind of stories and these kind of cases have created some doubt about the accuracy and the reliability of that system. And that makes people more sympathetic to the work that we're doing and to the - and to our clients stories.
MARTIN: What do you think are the goals of the defender versus the goals of the journalists? Where do they converge, and where do they diverge?
ENRIGHT: There's very different requirements, both legally and ethically. And I think at some points, they can dovetail. So Sarah Koenig was very committed to finding out the truth. And so was I. But my obligations as a lawyer would have been not to reveal that which harmed Adnan if I had just been his criminal defense lawyer. But I was in it for the piece of, can we find physical evidence that could prove his innocence. And whether or not that's Sarah's goal, you know, Sarah was there to tell a story, a truthful story.
MARTIN: Going forward, will you seek out other opportunities like the one that you had with "Serial"?
ENRIGHT: (Laughter) Well, I wouldn't have to seek it out.
MARTIN: People are calling.
ENRIGHT: They won't stop calling. And - and there are clients for whom we are now in a position to say, sure, come look at this. And go talk to him because he can tell you his story as well as I can. And we've got nothing to hide. And now there's no shortage of interest. One thing too - and I should add this because it's another - it's important that people understand this - is that if we -we can file on somebody's behalf. And we can have their convictions vacated. And we can even have them exonerated. And - but without the story being out there in some ways, our exonerations aren't what the client needs because when they leave prison or jail and go off and try and find a job or a wife or whatever they're trying to find, nobody's going to hand somebody an 80-page opinion from the federal district court and say, read this; I'm innocent. What they carry around - and this is all our clients that are out - is the newspaper articles or the, you know, flash drives with the stories to hand to people and say, I didn't do what I was convicted of. And it gets them jobs and friends and relationships. And that's the exoneration in a lot of ways. It's what you all do, not what we do.
MARTIN: Deirdre Enright is a professor of law at the University of Virginia. She's also the director of investigation for the law school's Innocence Project Clinic. Deirdre, thanks so much for talking with us.
ENRIGHT: No, thank you for having me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The first line of Helen Ellis' book of short stories is a kind of call to arms for the American housewife. Quote, "inspired by Beyonce, I stallion walk to the toaster." Ellis is a self-described housewife. She's the kind of Southern lady that deals a mean hand of cards and once played at the World Series of Poker. And that Beyonce line, part of the story in the collection called "What I Do All Day," it started as a quip from Ellis' Twitter account, until it caught fire online and spurred an idea to write a series of stories from the perspective of various housewives. I asked her how much of that story reflected who she was in her early days, when she was a married lady living at home.
HELEN ELLIS: Ninety-six percent (laughter).
MARTIN: OK, a lot.
ELLIS: That story in particular is composed entirely - I would say 96 percent - of tweets that I tweeted over the course of two years. You can get your Twitter history. So I got the tweets and started cobbling it together and realized there was a party, and I was the hostess. And that's how that story came about.
MARTIN: I just want to read a few lines of this because they're just great in isolation and in their totality. This is just chronicling your day.
(Reading) I take a break and drink Dr Pepper through a Twizzler. I watch 10 minutes of my favorite movie on TV and lip-sync Molly Ringwald, I loathe the bus. I know every word. "Sixteen Candles" is my "Star Wars." I hop in the shower and assure myself that behind every good woman is a little back fat.
I could go on there. It's a lovely...
ELLIS: Well, you read it better than I do. (Laughter). I love it when someone quotes me to me.
MARTIN: (Laughter) So let's get a little big-picture here. This was a reflection of where you were at in your life. But if you continue to read through these stories, yes, they're really funny and snarky. But there is - there is, like, a very true and authentic darkness in...
ELLIS: Thank you.
MARTIN: In these stories.
ELLIS: I enjoy the macabre.
MARTIN: Tell me where that comes from. This is definitely a darker look at domesticity.
ELLIS: I think it comes from the fact that, A, I will always be a Southern lady, even though I've been in New York over 20 years. And we Southerners enjoy the gothic. So I grew up with ghost stories and scary stories and a lot of tall tales. And it's just very natural to me. So the other thing is that housewives, me included, have a lot of time on their hands. They're alone in their apartments - at least I am - a lot of the day. And nobody knows what kind of mischief you can get up to when you're alone in your apartment.
MARTIN: You are a proud Southerner. But you have made your home on the Upper East Side.
ELLIS: Yes.
MARTIN: For a long time.
ELLIS: Yes.
MARTIN: How do those two parts of you reside in yourself?
ELLIS: (Laughter) How do they reside in myself?
MARTIN: Are they in conflict? Do they complement one another?
ELLIS: They're a little bit in conflict. But I'm very happy. I'm very happy on the Upper East Side - once I settled in and realized that I'm not going anywhere unless I go out of the apartment feet-first. So I think it's a mix of manners and mayhem. I - I'm continually surprised by what's important to some people and what's important to me.
MARTIN: What is important to you? And what did you want to imbue your characters with that reflected that?
ELLIS: What's important to me is friendship. I had someone say to me recently, do any of the women in the book have friends? I see them as great friends. There's a loyalty. There's a sense of manners. There's a sense of good behavior that I value. And there's a sense of privacy. And that is what I, I think, as a Southern lady in New York, value. Lots of interesting things go on inside my home. But they only go on inside my home, as opposed to bravo.
MARTIN: Let's talk about poker.
ELLIS: OK. I feel like I'm sidled up to the poker table in this booth right now. I'm in my - my pose.
MARTIN: Not everyone plays poker.
ELLIS: They don't?
MARTIN: No, it's true.
ELLIS: (Laughter).
MARTIN: And it's still - you tell me. But isn't it still kind of exceptional and - to be a woman who's at the top of that game? Because you're really good.
ELLIS: I would not say I'm at the top. I am a very capable, respected amateur (laughter). But in the tournament circuit, it is, I believe, 4 percent women. So I get my nerve up, whether anybody sees it or not, every time I walk into a tournament room.
MARTIN: Is there a connection between poker and writing?
ELLIS: Yes, absolutely.
MARTIN: Tell me.
ELLIS: I think that it's the two places in my life where I lose time. I can sit at a tournament poker table for 15 hours and never know what time it is. I can sit in front of my computer, maybe not for 15 hours, but for four hours, and never know what time it is. And the fact is, I walk into a tournament poker room filled with thousands of men and think, I'm going to outlast them all. And I sit down at the computer and I think, I'm going to write a story. And somebody's going to read it. It's that same kind of gamble. It's that same kind of nerve.
MARTIN: Helen Ellis' new collection of short stories is called "American Housewife." Thanks so much for talking with us, Helen.
ELLIS: It was my pleasure. Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Addiction to painkillers, opioids, has become one of the country's most pressing public health problems. But no matter how Congress, health care providers and families approach this problem, recovery will not come easy. I'm joined on the line by New Hampshire Public Radio's Jack Rodolico to talk about why quitting is so difficult. And, Jack, welcome to the program.
JACK RODOLICO, BYLINE: Thanks, David.
GREENE: So two and half million Americans are addicted to opioids. And you sat down with one of them.
RODOLICO: That's right. His name is Jack O'Connor. He's at a recovery center here in New Hampshire. And O'Connor is an opioid addict and an alcoholic. And four years ago, he was just so desperate to beat his addictions that he took a really rash step. He joined the Marine Corps. And this is what he was thinking as he went to boot camp.
JACK O'CONNOR: This will fix me. I'm going to get cured by doing this - 13 weeks. It better fix me or I'm screwed.
GREENE: My god, he joined the Marines to try and get off alcohol and opioids. Did it work?
RODOLICO: Well, he was sober through boot camp. But as soon as he left, he started using again.
O'CONNOR: Same thing - Percocets, like, off-the-street pills.
RODOLICO: Over three years, he detoxed more than 20 times.
GREENE: So is it any different for, say, a cocaine addict than for someone addicted to opioids?
RODOLICO: Yes and no. Experts describe addiction - and that's all addiction - as hijacking the brain. But with these prescription painkillers and heroine, the hijacking can be particularly aggressive. And as I really dug into O'Connor's story, I talked with Dr. Seddon Savage, an addiction specialist at Dartmouth.
SEDDON SAVAGE: The first recording of opioid use was 5,000 years ago. And ironically it was two words - a picture of the opium poppy and the words the joy plant.
RODOLICO: So, David, let's return to Jack O'Connor's story now because he discovered that joy. He was an alcoholic during his freshman year of college. And he went home that summer desperate to replace alcohol with something else. And that was easy to do. In 2012, prescribers handed out enough painkillers for every American to have a bottle of opioids. O'Connor got his hands on some 30-milligram Percocet pills.
O'CONNOR: And I ended up sniffing a whole one. And I, like, blacked out, puking everywhere. I don't remember anything. It ruined me that time. But I loved it.
RODOLICO: Opioids got him higher faster than any drug he'd tried. And even though different drugs produce different highs, all drugs have the same pathway in the brain, says Dr. Savage.
SAVAGE: Ultimately, the released dopamine, which causes intense pleasure in a part of the brain that's called the limbic reward system. This is a very ancient part of the human brain that's necessary for survival.
RODOLICO: The intense pleasure of eating, drinking, sex - that's all driven by the limbic reward system.
SAVAGE: So all drugs that people use to get high tickle this part of the brain.
RODOLICO: But opioids are so addictive you become physically dependent on them very quickly. And breaking that physical dependence, that's called detox. Jeffrey Ferguson is a detox specialist at Serenity Place in Manchester, N.H.
JEFFREY FERGUSON: It is an amazing thing to see someone basically vibrating in their chair, feeling nauseated, looking like hell.
RODOLICO: This is the thing Jack O'Connor put himself through 20 times. It's a five-day physical nightmare. But when detox is over, addiction is still there. Dr. Savage says that's because in the addicted brain, the limbic reward system - that drive for pleasure - has hijacked other brain systems.
SAVAGE: Memory systems, motivational systems, judgment.
RODOLICO: The more Percocet O'Connor sniffed, the more getting high became his only coping skill in life. Everything drove him to get high - his stress, his joy, his shame.
O'CONNOR: Mentally somewhat it kind of straightens out my head - or spiritually I guess would be the better word for that 'cause, like, everything was about me until I get that next drink or drug.
RODOLICO: O'Connor switched from pills to heroin to get higher cheaper. In fact, 75 percent of prescription opioid addicts shift to heroin. Jeffrey Ferguson says that's because the addicted hijacked brain is singularly focused on getting high at all costs. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In the audio of this story, we incorrectly say that 75 percent of people addicted to prescription opioids switch to heroin. Actually, 75 percent of heroin users started out abusing prescription opioids.]
O'CONNOR: My morals, my standards, my ethics may start out like I would never steal money from my mom's purse. All of a sudden, click, that bar goes down. I'll never rob a store - click, click, click. I'll never be homeless. I'll never sell my body for drugs.
RODOLICO: Jack O'Connor lied to his family and stole from his job all while trying to get sober. In late 2013, he put himself through a five-day detox clinic. Then he managed to get through five more days in the real world sober. And then he found a bag of heroin in his wallet.
O'CONNOR: Somebody's telling me, like, I need to get high - cool. So I get high, go to a Christmas party, like, really ashamed of myself that I did that.
RODOLICO: Giving into his heroin craving was his addiction tipping point. At the Christmas party with his family, high on heroin, O'Connor got drunk - really drunk - wine then beer then whiskey.
O'CONNOR: It, like, sets off this thing where it's like, cool, I'm good now. But I could be better. Let's have some more.
GREENE: All right. That report coming to us from Jack Rodolico from New Hampshire Public Radio. And he's still on the line with us. And just listening to that voice there, clearly opioids are different. But this is not some big scientific discovery that people who are addicted are driven to use again and again. I mean, does it really involve a change in approach in some way?
RODOLICO: Well, it does in that what has changed is that tens of thousands of new people from all walks of life are now hooked on opioids. That's the change. We've got more people addicted to these drugs. And we don't have enough addiction specialists in the country to help those people. And detox isn't enough. For people who only detox from opioid dependence, relapse rates can be above 90 percent.
GREENE: OK, so where does this all leave this man you spent so much time with, Jack O'Connor?
RODOLICO: Well, so far, he's actually in the minority. Today is his one-year sobriety anniversary. He's been in rehab for that entire year. He has a job and a supportive family - all things that help people stay sober in the long-term. And in the same way he once replaced his coping skills with drugs, he has now rebuilt those coping skills by quitting drugs.
O'CONNOR: I don't need it anymore because what it essentially is is like, I like the way I feel when I put drugs or alcohol in my system. Now sober, I love the way I feel sober. I literally physically and, like, emotionally don't need it.
RODOLICO: O'Connor is optimistic for himself but not for everyone. Every hour two Americans die of an opioid overdose.
GREENE: Wow, that's a stunning number. We'll certainly be rooting for O'Connor. Jack Rodolico is a reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio. Jack, thanks a lot.
RODOLICO: Thank you, David.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's hear from people with a vital interest in North Korea's most recent nuclear test. They are citizens of neighboring South Korea. And though in theory they are the ones most threatened by their neighbor, many responded to the news of the nuclear test with a shrug. NPR's Elise Hu reports from Seoul.
(SOUNDBITE OF SUBWAY RUMBLING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This stop is Hongik University.
ELISE HU, BYLINE: It's Friday night in Seoul or, more specifically, the Hongdae neighborhood, where you can't spread out your arms without hitting a college student. The news of a North Korean nuclear test may have reached the rest of the world. But here, just hours away from the test site, 17-year-old Jinwoo Ha hadn't heard.
JINWOO HA: Sorry, but I don't quite really know about the issue, so can you please explain that?
HU: Students here say they have more pressing matters on their minds.
KIM HYEJUN: We have to do like study. Or we have to live. We have to work. So I think there is much important thing in my life.
HU: That's Kim Hyejun, a 21-year-old art student. She says she almost never even thinks about North Korea.
HYEJUN: Just they are there and we are here. I think that's all. We don't have family out there. We don't talk. We can't see them. To me, it's another country.
HU: Older generations may remember a once-unified Korea and what tore it apart, says Katharine Moon of the Brookings Institution. But that was decades ago.
KATHARINE MOON: The young people, they don't have a history of the Cold War and of communism and of the ideological fight.
HU: And North Korean rhetoric has always been in the background of their lives.
MOON: These are individuals who have grown up with multiple announcements and declarations about the North's threatening postures and programs. So in a way, they've become very familiar with this narrative.
HU: So far, no tangible consequences, like the effects of radiation leakage or actual war, have been felt. But there is one constituency among younger generations that is watching North Korea more closely - college-aged South Korean men for whom military service is mandatory.
JEONG-KYU LEE: We're really concerned because we have to go to military.
HU: Jeong-kyu Lee is one of them.
LEE: If North Korea do some [expletive] with bombs, we, like, all have to, like, prepare for, like, war, right?
HU: The possibility exists, but it has for so long that it's had a desensitizing effect. Domestic concerns here like high youth unemployment can cause far more worry than the threat of a bomb. Elise Hu, NPR News, Seoul.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Right after Mexican authorities announced the third capture of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, we heard the real shocker here. Just months before, Sean Penn had ventured into the Mexican jungle and secretly met with the drug kingpin. The Academy Award-winning actor wrote an article for Rolling Stone about the encounter. He made it clear it would not have happened without the help of an actress. Kate del Castillo, he wrote, was, quote, "our ticket to El Chapo's trust." NPR's Eyder Peralta tells us about that Mexican actress.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: On screen, Kate del Castillo already played the kind of character that might have met up with El Chapo.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LA REINA DEL SUR")
KATE DEL CASTILLO: (As Teresa Mendoza, speaking Spanish).
(GUNSHOTS)
PERALTA: She is best known for her roles in narco telenovelas. In "Queen Of The South," she plays a powerful drug trafficker in Spain. In "Masters Of Paradise," she play a ruthless mob boss in 1970s Miami. And she stayed on that track when she played a crime boss in the Showtime series, "Weeds."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "WEEDS")
PERALTA: Her relationship with the real drug lords, however, began with a tweet in 2012. She wrote that she trusted El Chapo more than she did the Mexican government. At home in Mexico, she faced intense criticism. But late last year, she defended her tweet in an interview with CNN en Espanol. She said unlike the government, at least El Chapo is upfront about his crime. In his article, Sean Penn says El Chapo sent her flowers after the tweet. The connection between actress and drug lord was made. And the two reportedly began discussing a biopic.
JUAN CARLOS RAMIREZ-PIMIENTA: You cannot make up this.
PERALTA: That's Juan Carlos Ramirez-Pimienta, who studies narco culture at San Diego State University Imperial Valley Campus. He says he was surprised by the stature of the actors involved in this meeting. But at the same time, drug lords have a long history of using artists to tell their stories. In the narco world, big figures often pay musicians to write ballads and filmmakers to make movies.
RAMIREZ-PIMIENTA: So of course, you know, it makes sense, especially at what you perceive to be the end of your career, to try to perpetrate a certain image of yourself.
PERALTA: As for Kate del Castillo, back in 2011, she told NPR that she wasn't worried about being typecast in the role of the criminal antihero. She said she enjoyed playing Teresa in "Queen Of The South."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
CASTILLO: She makes the wrong decisions. She makes mistakes. She contradicts herself. She smokes pot. She sleeps around. She sleeps with married men. She drinks tequila. And people love her.
PERALTA: Perhaps a bit like Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. He's flawed, but it's hard not to be drawn to his story. Eyder Peralta, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
At the U.S. Supreme Court today, a major challenge to public employee unions. Union opponents want to reverse a 1977 Supreme Court decision that allows public employee unions to collect so-called fair share fees. Twenty-three states authorize collecting these fees from those who don't join a union but benefit from a contract that covers them. The decision later this year will have profound consequences, not just for the California teachers union in today's case but for police, firefighters, health care workers and other government workers all across this country. Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: This is the way the labor law works in states that have authorized these fees. If a majority of the public employees at a given site vote to be represented by a union, that union becomes the exclusive bargaining agent for the workers. In California, some 325,000 teachers in more than 1,000 school districts are represented by the California Teachers Association and, to a lesser extent, the California Federation of Teachers. Of those, 9 percent have not joined the union. But under California law, any union contract must cover them, too. And so they're required to pay an amount that covers the cost of negotiating the contract and administering it. The idea is that they reap the bread-and-butter benefits covered by the contract - wages, leave policies, grievance procedures - so they should bear some of the cost of negotiating that contract.
They do not, however, have to pay for the union's lobbying or political activities. They can opt out by signing a one-page form. In addition, the state legislature has carved out certain hot-button matters that are not subject to bargaining at all. Specifically, the union can't bargain over pensions or tenure.
In 1977, the Supreme Court upheld mandatory fees for non-union members as constitutional. The court said they were justified by the state's interest in maintaining labor peace and eliminating free riders who gained benefits without paying their fair share. But in recent years, five Supreme Court justices have signed on to opinions strongly hinting they were ready to overturn that precedent.
Indeed, Justice Samuel Alito - the author of two key opinions - has all but invited the challenge posed by today's case. Rebecca Friedrichs is the public face of the lawsuit that bears her name. After 28 years on the job, she currently is a third grade teacher at Buena Park near Anaheim, Calif.
REBECCA FRIEDRICHS: In my opinion, the union's supposed financial benefits aren't worth the moral costs. They protect teachers who are no longer effective in the classroom. And they are more focused on self-preservation than they are on educating little children.
TOTENBERG: Friedrichs is a strong opponent of the $650 in yearly fees she says she's forced to pay, arguing that everything the union does is political.
FRIEDRICHS: They're used to promote the union's political agenda. So this is really a direct attack on our First Amendment rights.
TOTENBERG: Eric Heins, the current president of the California Teachers Association, says what's purely political is Friedrichs's case.
ERIC HEINS: It's really about an agenda to weaken and destroy unions.
TOTENBERG: He says he in fact got involved with the union because of concerns about teaching, especially No Child Left Behind and it's, quote, "incessant testing."
HEINS: What the union allowed me to do is to advocate for what I believe was good teaching and for my students without fear of retaliation.
TOTENBERG: In the Supreme Court today, lawyer Michael Carvin, representing the challengers, will tell the justices that what are technically called agency fees are unconstitutional.
MICHAEL CARVIN: You're forcing the employee to subsidize somebody else's speech.
TOTENBERG: Negotiating a public employee union contract he maintains is different from negotiating one for workers at the private sector.
CARVIN: When we're talking about public unions, everything they do inherently is a matter of public concern because every time they try and to get pension, health care and salary benefits, that comes out of the public fisc. So every dollar you spend for health care or salary is a dollar you can't spend on roads or children.
TOTENBERG: Lawyer David Frederick, representing the union, counters that what the challengers are seeking is a free ride on the union's back.
DAVID FREDERICK: No one is precluding the right of teachers to speak publicly about their beliefs concerning merit pay, to lobby the legislature, to express their views on these important issues in any way. All we're talking about here is an efficient means for the government to determine what its contract with its workforce is going to be.
TOTENBERG: The union and the state of California are on the same page in this case. They say that agency fee s give the union the resources to be able to make some hard deals, as they did in California during the Great Recession when the union negotiated furloughs and reductions in pay in many places so that more teachers could keep their jobs in hard times.
The union and the state argue that if the court were to overturn its 1977 decision, it would inevitably weaken unions. They would have to raise dues, pitting those who pay against those who don't. And the union would end up digging in its heels unreasonably in negotiations to prove its mettle. Lawyer David Frederick points to New York City and state in the 1960s and '70s, a times when agency fees were not authorized.
FREDERICK: There were literally hundreds of work stoppages in the public sector. And we're talking about the subway system, firemen, police, teachers who went out on strike. And just one week of a strike of the transit workers in New York could cost $1 billion to the economy.
TOTENBERG: There were on average 20 public sector strikes a year in New York State in the 15 years prior to the Supreme Court's 1977 decision. Even laws imposing harsh penalties for public employee strikes proved ineffective. But after the Supreme Court upheld agency fees, the state quickly passed a law permitting them, and the rate of strikes plummeted by well over 90 percent to fewer than two a year. In today's case, the union and 23 states urge the Supreme Court not to risk that kind of chaos again. But Michael Carvin dismisses that justification outright.
CARVIN: The proof's in the pudding. Most states don't require agency fees. The federal government doesn't require agency fees. And those unions do fine in that environment.
TOTENBERG: But he adds, in a moment of puckish clarity...
CARVIN: It may impede their ability to become the largest political contributors to the Democratic Party.
TOTENBERG: The court's 1977 decision is so wrong, he says, that it's time to reverse it. The union and the state of California warn that if that happens it would unsettle tens of thousands of union agreements across the country. A decision is expected by summer. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have a glimpse this morning of a community facing environmental disaster. It's an affluent area in the far reaches of Los Angeles. And for months now, it's been the site of a massive natural gas leak.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
A utility company well has been releasing more than 1,200 tons of methane gas every day. Schools have closed.
INSKEEP: Air safety regulators have declared a no-fly zone. And 10,000 residents of Porter Ranch have been evacuated. That's about a third of its population.
GREENE: Governor Jerry Brown has now declared a state of emergency. And our colleague Renee Montagne reached the LA City councilman who represents Porter Ranch.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: Mitchell Englander has compared the natural gas leak to the BP oil spill - except on land in a populated community. And when he joined us to talk about it, I asked him why. Good morning.
MITCHELL ENGLANDER: Good morning. Yeah, it's been since October - roughly October 23 - 80,106 metric tons of methane have spewed through our community. You can smell it. And there are a lot of symptoms that people are experiencing every single day, dizzy, nausea, bloody noses, rashes. And in fact, we're seeing a high level of call-ins to the emergency room.
MONTAGNE: Well, give us a brief example of the sort of thing that you're hearing from your constituents.
ENGLANDER: People are - they're not upset anymore. They're beyond that. This has really shocked a community that didn't know. And that's the other part of it. Most people weren't aware that one of the largest gas storage facilities in the United States was in their backyard. There was, from what we're hearing, no disclosure when they bought their homes.
MONTAGNE: Why hasn't SoCal Gas, Southern California Gas Company - why hasn't it been able to stop this leak?
ENGLANDER: Well, there's a number of reasons here. This well - so you understand it I'll paint a picture - sits on a bluff and some open space that's five square miles. It's huge. There's 115 wells. Some of these wells are some 40, 50 years old. And they had emergency shutoff systems that they removed. And they're saying the regulations didn't require them to have them. We're not sure about that. I do know that the regulations and the regulatory authorities don't have enough teeth. And we're going to see to it that that changes. But what I think - what they were also negligent in was their operations and their contingency plans. They're operating a facility of this magnitude, this size and scope, feeding 20 million addresses. And they didn't have a backup plan. Plan B is having all the necessary equipment on site, not having to bring it in from the Gulf states like they did in this particular situation, which took weeks and weeks to set up. They're just learning now that some of the brine and oil and chemicals that are coming up from the ground and are landing on people's homes and turning their cars black - they've now put in a screening system to capture that. You know, this is going on 78 days later, and they just figured that out.
MONTAGNE: That does indeed sound, I'm sorry to say, like the BP oil spill in the aftermath. There is one thing that's different, however, and that is this leak is now responsible for an amazing amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the entire state of California.
ENGLANDER: Millions of cars is what the equivalent is. This is the equivalent of roughly - what I think they're saying - 25 percent of California's greenhouse gases. What's scary is when you start putting a human face on it, quite frankly, and not hearing the emission numbers and not hearing the long-term effects. When you start talking to, you know, Roberto (ph) or Kim Jim (ph) or some of the folks I spoke to just yesterday - Sam (ph). And he's telling me about his daughter being rushed to the emergency room three times with bloody noses and rashes, and all three kids are sick. His father, who is perfectly healthy, has been falling down. I mean, you start hearing these stories. That's scary.
MONTAGNE: Mitchell Englander is the Los Angeles councilmember who represents the area that includes Porter Ranch. Thank you so much for joining us.
ENGLANDER: Thank you very much for having me on. I really appreciate it.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Stock markets in Asia dropped again today. That comes after a lousy first week of the year for stocks around the globe. In this country, the S&P 500 lost 6 percent of its value in a week. The trouble is blamed on concerns about China's economy. And we're going to talk about this with NPR's Jim Zarroli. Jim, good morning.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Not off to a good start this year.
ZARROLI: No, no. Last week was something of a disaster. It was bad all over the world, in Europe, in Asian markets, in Australia. And what's driving the markets down is really this sort of generalized concern about global growth. There are so many places where growth is slowing and demand is weak. And in places like Russia and Brazil, it's only getting worse. So this is not something that's going to be fixed quickly. It's going to mean that a lot of the fears about growth have to be addressed.
INSKEEP: And you are wise to point out that this is a concern that spreads farther than China. But many of the countries that are experiencing trouble have close ties to China. I'm thinking about reports on this program about Brazil losing its Chinese markets. What is happening, as best anyone can tell, to the Chinese economy?
ZARROLI: You're right. China has an impact all over the world, especially in countries that sell commodities. China's government right now is really trying to make it look like it has gotten a grip on the situation. It got rid of the circuit breakers in the stock market that shut down trading on Monday and Thursday. These were supposed to kick in when stocks fell too much. They're a way of curbing volatility. But in fact, they seemed to make the situation worse. And then over the weekend, you had Chinese officials trying to talk up the economy. They said the financial system is stable and healthy. But it's not clear how much people believe that. You're just seeing this slowdown in China's economy. And China has been such an engine of growth for the rest of the world for so long that people are worried about what it means.
INSKEEP: Are people losing confidence in the ability of China's government to manage the situation?
ZARROLI: Oh, I think they are, definitely. I think, you know, for a long time, China's government has done a good job at steering the economy, at doing what it needed to do to create jobs and create growth. And I think there's just this overall feeling like it's trying different things. It's going in different directions. But it really just doesn't have a grip on the situation. It's tough because what it has to do is really reorient its economy from the kind of investment-driven economy that we've seen for so long to be more consumer-driven. And that's a real big change.
INSKEEP: But help me understand why stocks are also falling in the United States, Jim. Haven't we actually had more and more positive news within the U.S. in recent months?
ZARROLI: Yeah. For instance, the job market was so good on Friday. I think that reflects the fact that the jobs report is backward-looking. But of course, the stock market looks forward. In other words, people buy and sell stocks based on, you know, what they think is going to happen down the road. And right now there's just a lot of concern about corporate profits. Are they going to fall? Of course you're seeing something of a bloodbath in the oil and gas sector. But then this week, we're going to get a look at bank profits for the fourth quarter of the year. They weren't very good in the third quarter. And they're expected to be even worse in the fourth quarter. So there are questions about where corporate profits and the overall stock market is going in the United States.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jim Zarroli is watching the markets from New York. Jim, thanks very much.
ZARROLI: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene. You ready for this? You could be the proud owner of Tom Brady's underwear. The New England Patriots quarterback tried his hand at acting in 2015 with a cameo in the movie "Ted 2." Brady is rudely awakened by Ted, that talking teddy bear, and he tosses him over his balcony. Well, you can now bid on the white boxer shorts and T-shirt Brady was wearing. Bidding at goldinauctions.com begins at 2500 bucks. Oh, and the underwear does come with a certificate of authenticity. It's MORNING EDITION.
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There has been a long debate in the United States over whether the mentally ill should be allowed to own guns. But in fact, for decades, federal law has banned gun ownership for a limited number of mentally ill people.
JOCELYN SAMUELS: The mental health prohibitor prevents people who have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions or who have been adjudged incapable of managing their own affairs or a danger to themselves or others from owning a gun.
GREENE: This is Jocelyn Samuels. She's the head of the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has been trying to get states to report these severely mentally ill people to the national criminal background check system and marked as ineligible for gun ownership. State agencies have been cautious about doing that because they're worried it will violate patient-doctor privacy rights. But under a new federal rule, they do now have clear permission to provide that information.
SAMUELS: What we wanted to do was to clarify what entities could report and what information could be reported about the individuals. At the same time, we wanted to be very careful to narrowly tailor the rule so that it would not serve as a disincentive for anyone to seek mental health treatment.
GREENE: But you sound very worried about making sure not to create a disincentive for people to seek treatment. And already, I mean, we're hearing from some gun rights activists who have taken up a motto, see a shrink, lose your guns, basically suggesting if you go to a psychiatrist, they could very quickly take your guns away.
SAMUELS: I mean, I think that that message is incorrect. An individual doctor is not authorized under this new rule to disclose information about someone who seeks treatment from that provider.
GREENE: I'm just imagining a case where a doctor is treating a patient, and that doctor might be really convinced that this person could pose a threat. It sounds at this point that unless this patient fits a very specific definition that that doctor has very little that he or she can do to make sure that this person does not own a gun.
SAMUELS: It is correct that nothing in this rule would authorize that doctor to report that patient to the background check system. However, we have been very clear that nothing prevents that doctor in the exercise of his discretion from talking to that patient's family, talking to that patient's guardians, talking to law enforcement about concerns that the patient poses a threat to the safety of either himself or others.
GREENE: I think about some of the tragedies that Americans have watched, I mean, at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and the theater in Aurora, Colo., which, you know, as many people read so much about, involved shooters who it seem suffer from some kind of mental illness. I could see some people hearing about this and they were sort of hoping that there would be something very aggressive in terms of making sure people with mental illnesses don't get access to guns.
SAMUELS: I reject the automatic correlation between mental illness and a propensity to violence. Each individual has to be treated as an individual. And that's why generalized stereotypes about people with mental illness are both unlawful and dangerous because they sweep in huge numbers of people without consideration of their individual circumstances. It is really important to push back against stereotypes that entire classes of people ought to be prohibited from the kinds of rights that people across the country are able to exercise.
GREENE: Jocelyn Samuels, thank you very much for coming by. We appreciate it.
SAMUELS: Thanks so much.
GREENE: She is head of the Civil Rights Office for the Department of Health and Human Services.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A couple years ago we finished a report on the U.S.-Mexico border by crossing from Tijuana into the United States. It took hours. The crossing is just that busy. Now customs agents are testing new technology on many who cross - facial recognition and iris scanning. Here is David Wagner of KPBS in San Diego.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Where are you going, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Unintelligible).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Go ahead.
DAVID WAGNER, BYLINE: At the Otay Mesa border crossing, people are lining up to enter the U.S. This busy crossing on the southeast edge of San Diego processes thousands of vehicles each day. But many frequent crossers choose to walk through the border on their way to work, to visit family or to go shopping. Today some of those pedestrians are about to find out that crossing the border now involves one more step.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
WAGNER: Border agents help them feed their travel documents into brand-new kiosks. Then, if they're a U.S. citizen and their documents clear, they're ushered across the border. But the non-U.S. citizens are asked to stay put for a moment.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Look in the mirror.
WAGNER: They have to stand very still while a camera inside the kiosk scans their face and eyes.
JOSEPH MISENHELTER: This is a national security issue as far as looking for individuals who are violating the law.
WAGNER: Joseph Misenhelter with Customs and Border Protection explains this is all part of a pilot program evaluating biometrics at the border. He says the agency wants to know if tracking uniquely identifying facial features can help better screen people.
MISENHELTER: This will address certain issues as far as, is that the same person on the document, potential visa overstays. So we'll know with certainty, did that person really leave the United States?
WAGNER: Otay Mesa is currently the only land border stop where people crossing by foot will have their faces scanned. And for now, scanning is only being done on non-U.S. citizens. But if the test is deemed successful, facial biometrics could expand to other border stops. Among those crossing at Otay Mesa, Abel Gongora says he's fine with face scanning as long as it cuts down on wait times.
ABEL GONGORA: If that's going to improve that, you know what I mean?
WAGNER: Gongora is an American citizen who lives in Tijuana for its cheap rent. But he works in the U.S. as a music instructor. The border can make his commute excruciatingly long.
GONGORA: I really need to get over there. I need to get over there.
WAGNER: Many Mexican citizens say they're also more concerned about wait times than anything else. Cesar Quezara says getting his face scanned is no big deal.
CESAR QUEZARA: It's very easy. Now it's more quick. I think it maybe one, two, three second.
MTRA EBADOLAHI: I would say you're interest in getting through the border as quickly as possible is a valid one.
WAGNER: But the ACLU's Mitra Ebadolahi says border crossers shouldn't be so quick to trade their personal information for shorter waits.
EBADOLAHI: If you pay for that convenience by giving up a photo of yourself, and that photo then gets into a database - not just at the border but potentially used elsewhere - how would you feel about the government having that information on file for you indefinitely?
WAGNER: Ebadolahi is worried that this focus on physical features could lead to racial profiling and false matches. Customs and Border Protection says the images collected during this test will not be shared with other agencies. It also says these new biometrics have similar accuracy to old standbys like fingerprint scanning. For NPR News, I'm David Wagner in San Diego.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
There was a Hollywood flavor to the arrest of Mexico's most famous drug lord. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was caught after being interviewed by the actor Sean Penn. He'd also been talking about a movie about himself. Fascinating as all this is, that kind of detail can obscure what Guzman did for a living, which is what Tony Garza faced as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President George W. Bush. Welcome to the program, sir.
TONY GARZA: Morning, Steven, how are you?
INSKEEP: OK. Thank you very much. Are you surprised to find El Chapo was reaching for the stars, so to speak?
GARZA: (Laughter) Well, yeah, it did surprise me a bi. Although, Steven, as you well know, the heads of these organizations tend to work very diligently on their - on their public images, in a sense. Typically it's at the local level, cultivating a sense that they are patriarchal, trying to project that they can assure security in a way to the people in their communities. And in fact, in the wake of his recent arrest, you saw people in Los Mochis, which is his hometown along the Pacific, talk about this - talk about him in a sense of he had always given to the community, built ball fields, had assured security, so that they cultivate their public image and songs are written about them, the famous narcocorridos, this sort of thing.
But this, I think, was a bit different. This, really, I think was that next step into - into hubris almost beyond the sense of his public image in the areas where he operated. And he may have been thinking about his legacy, recognizing that his time was short. When you start talking about movie deals...
INSKEEP: Yeah.
GARZA: There was something a bit different about this. But yes, you're right, they do work very hard to cultivate an image at a local level, almost romanticize what they do.
INSKEEP: Maybe he began believing his own publicity then.
GARZA: Well, that may be the case. It's interesting. It's curious - kind of a outreach to both Mr. Penn and Miss del Castillo, but to the extent that it contributed to his arrest, I suppose that's good.
INSKEEP: Kate del Castillo - of course she's the Mexican actress that he was interested in in some fashion, and she was part of this entire story.
GARZA: Correct.
INSKEEP: Now, the last time that Guzman was arrested, Mexico declined to extradite him to the United States, said don't worry, we can take care of this. And, of course, he was able to escape. Now Mexico is trying to extradite him. Why the difference do you think?
GARZA: Well, I think there were a couple of things. The last time he was arrested you had had a transition in administration from the Calderon administration, which is the PAN. Pena Nieto recently - you know, he had recently been elected. And I think they wanted to project a certain strength that they had the ability and the resources both to hold him and properly prosecute him.
INSKEEP: Right.
GARZA: And this, I think, it's different. In the wake of his escape and the challenges that the Pena administration has had, they recognize that broadly speaking I think the Mexican public would like to see El Chapo Guzman, or Joaquin Guzman Loera, extradited. And, you know, there's long been that old expression that there's nothing that a drug dealer fears more than an American prison because they are without the resources or the net that they might have cultivated in the communities where they've been operated - where they've been operating. And the potential for escape or co-opting and corrupting the officials holding them is far less. So I think the Mexican public broadly supports extradition this time.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
GARZA: And the Mexican government is inclined to do that.
INSKEEP: Ambassador, we've just got about 15-20 seconds here, but if Guzman does stay in prison this time, how much difference do you think it'll really make to the drug trade?
GARZA: Well, ultimately, these organizations are so large and they - much like any corporate body they have succession plans in place, so if you're asking me will the drug flows stop because Guzman is in prison, my guess is no.
INSKEEP: That is Tony Garza. He is the former United States ambassador to Mexico, talking with us about the re-arrest of El Chapo Guzman. It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
People around the world have David Bowie lyrics in their heads, ground control to Major Tom, they were the young Americans, turn and face the strange changes. We could go on.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
That makes it especially strange to think that David Bowie is gone. A statement on his social media account says he died after fighting cancer for 18 months. Here's NPR's Mandalit del Barco.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACKSTAR")
DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) Ooh...
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: On Friday, David Bowie turned 69. And that day, he released his final album, "Blackstar," a collaboration with a jazz quintet.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACKSTAR")
BOWIE: (Singing) Something happened on the day he died. Spirit rose a meter and stepped aside.
DEL BARCO: The surreal real music video to one song on the album, "Lazarus," is quintessential David Bowie. A dead astronaut, creepy figures, strange religious overtones and Bowie singing at first blindfolded. In keeping with his multitalented career, Bowie was also getting ready to be honored at a concert at Carnegie Hall. And his off-Broadway musical "Lazarus" began last month. Bowie's work often addressed inner truths and existential questions.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHANGES")
BOWIE: (Singing) Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.
Turn and face the strange...
Ch-ch-changes.
He's gonna to have to be a different man.
DEL BARCO: David Bowie was always morphing his sound and his look. He even changed the name he was born with, David Jones from South London, the son of a waitress and a nightclub owner. He told Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 2003 that as a child, he wanted to be a baritone saxophone player in the Little Richard band. He told about getting nearly blinded in one eye when he was 13.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BOWIE: My best friend hit me because I'd pulled his girlfriend. In his mind, he had every right to do that. The best thing part of it, of course, is that we still remain very close friends.
DEL BARCO: Bowie said he started playing in a rock band when he was a teenager.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BOWIE: It was a real trip, you know, to have girls wave at you and smile and everything just because you opened your mouth and sang. But really, I guess what I really wanted to do more than anything else was write musicals. But because I like rock music, I kind of moved into that sphere, somehow thinking that somewhere along the line I'd be able to put the two together.
DEL BARCO: Mixing rock music and theatricality is what David Bowie did throughout his musical career. In 1969, he released his first hit song, "Space Oddity," about a fictional astronaut named Major Tom who is lost in space.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPACE ODDITY")
BOWIE: (Singing) And I'm floating in the most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today.
DEL BARCO: In the early 1970s, Bowie was an icon of glam rock, wearing androgynous clothing and eye makeup with chopped bright red hair. He became known for creating alter egos, such as Ziggy Stardust. He told Fresh Air that character defined him in many ways to some fans.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BOWIE: That's me in the American - frankly, in the American eye. But in fact, in Europe, I'm more kind of this bloke what writes lots of stuff. And I'm kind of, you know - a greater number of the 26 or so albums that I've made are known in Europe than they are in America.
DEL BARCO: Bowie also had a successful acting career, including his role as an alien trying to help his dying planet in the film "The Man Who Fell To Earth."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH")
BOWIE: (As Thomas Jerome Newton) My first day here, I shall die.
DEL BARCO: Bowie also played The Elephant Man on Broadway and Pontius Pilate in the movie "The Last Temptation Of Christ." Throughout the years, he continued to write songs about being an outsider, mixing rock, jazz, disco, pop, soul, whatever genre he could think of.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S DANCE")
BOWIE: (Singing) Let's dance. Put on your red shoes, and dance the blues.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUNG AMERICANS")
BOWIE: (Singing) She was a young America all the way from Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REBEL REBEL")
BOWIE: (Singing) Rebel Rebel... Torn your dress.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNDER PRESSURE")
BOWIE: (Singing) Under pressure.
DEL BARCO: David Bowie's songs were anthems for generations of fans who felt alienated or different. As many of them noted on social media after news of his death, the stars look very different today. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, news of David Bowie's death spread during the after parties for last night's Golden Globes in Beverly Hills. The atmosphere totally changed as people saw the news on their phones. It had been a night of laughter, thanks to the program host, Ricky Gervais.
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
RICKY GERVAIS: We're live on NBC. And it's right that NBC hosts this award show because they're the only network who are truly fair and impartial. And that's because they're the only network with zero nominations.
GREENE: Oh. NPR's Nina Gregory reports on those who were nominated and won.
NINA GREGORY, BYLINE: It wasn't all cracking wise last night at the Beverly Hilton. There were a few serious moments, like when actor Leonardo DiCaprio won for best actor in a drama for his role in "The Revenant," a Western epic set in the American frontier.
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
LEONARDO DICAPRIO: I want to share this award with all the first nations people represented in this film and all the indigenous communities around the world. It is time that we recognize your history.
GREGORY: "The Revenant" won the most awards, while the most affection went to a very nervous Sylvester Stallone. Almost 40 years ago, he won a Golden Globe for playing Rocky Balboa. He won another last night for playing the same character in the movie "Creed."
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
SYLVESTER STALLONE: This is incredible. Last time I was here, it was 1977. And I was kind of hit by a tumbleweed. It was a long time ago. It was like a different situation. And the view is so beautiful now.
GREGORY: But that was not the sweetest moment of the night.
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
TARAJI P. HENSON: Cookies for everyone tonight, my treat.
GREGORY: For her role playing Cookie Lyon on "Empire," Taraji P. Henson won a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama.
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
HENSON: Who knew that playing an ex-convict would take me all around the globe?
GREGORY: But as the cue came to wrap up her speech as she was thanking her publicist, she shut it down.
(SOUNDBITE OF NBC BROADCAST, "THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS")
HENSON: My publicist, Pam Sharp. So many people to - please wrap? Wait a minute. I've waited 20 years for this. You're going to wait.
GREGORY: And they did. And the crowd cheered. Nina Gregory, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's get to know a rising star in the Republican Party. It is South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. She's playing a central role as the party tries to diversify its support. Governor Haley is young, female and the daughter of immigrants from India. And she was repeatedly tested last year as South Carolina coped with historic flooding and also the aftermath of a deadly shooting at a black church in Charleston. Now Nikki Haley is set to deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address tomorrow night. Here's NPR's Sarah McCammon.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: On June 18 of last year, Nikki Haley stood in a makeshift briefing room near the Charleston waterfront and gave voice to what many South Carolinians were feeling.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKKI HALEY: We woke up today and the heart and soul of South Carolina was broken.
MCCAMMON: The night before, a 21-year-old white man had attended a Bible study at the historic black church known as Mother Emanuel AME. He'd sat with the worshipers for about an hour, then shot and killed nine of them. The investigation into the murders revealed that the alleged shooter had ties to white supremacist groups and proudly posed with the Confederate flag in photos online. A few days after the shooting, Haley called a press conference at the state capital in Columbia.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HALEY: We have stared evil in the eye and watched good, prayerful people killed in one of the most sacred of places.
MCCAMMON: Surrounded by South Carolina black leaders, including Congressman Jim Clyburn and Senator Tim Scott, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate battle flag.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HALEY: Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state without ill will to say it's time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAMMON: After a fight in the state legislature, the flag came down in July. But anger about that decision still lingers among some South Carolinians. Greg Rice and Becky Leffew were eating lunch at Ray's Diner in Columbia yesterday. They disagreed with Haley's push to take down the flag.
GREG RICE: I think she did it for expediency.
BECKY LEFFEW: Tempest in a teapot - all of this furor over something just symbolic when we have everything else to be taking care of.
MCCAMMON: That's not the majority opinion here. A Winthrop Poll in September found that two-thirds of South Carolinians felt that removing the flag was the right thing to do. That poll also showed Haley's approval ratings above 50 percent, although her time as governor has not been all smooth sailing. She's faced what Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon calls slings and arrows, both from inside and outside her party.
SCOTT HUFFMON: There were, you know, allegations of infidelity that had no credibility or nothing really backing them up when she was initially running. There were accusations of ethics violations from her time serving in the South Carolina legislature, and nothing ever came from those either.
MCCAMMON: Haley was a little-known state representative when she ran for governor in 2010, successfully taking on several establishment Republicans. She became the first woman and the first minority to lead the state. And she's currently the youngest sitting governor in the country. Whispers about Haley's ambitions for national office have been around since she was elected, but Huffmon thinks her response to the shootings in Charleston was a breakthrough moment.
HUFFMON: So I think that that not only raised her popularity within the state, it definitely added to her stature around the rest of the country.
MCCAMMON: At the National Press Club in September, Haley demurred when she was asked if she'd like to run for vice president in 2016.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HALEY: Honestly, what I will tell you is if there is a time where a presidential nominee wants to sit down and talk, of course I will sit down and talk.
MCCAMMON: If any of the potential Republican nominees are considering Haley as a running mate, they'll have a chance to see how she performs on a big stage tomorrow night. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Columbia, S.C.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Free speech is not quite that free. A Portland, Ore., man said authorities violated his rights. He was arrested for indecent exposure for playing the violin while naked outside a courthouse. He sued, claiming a First Amendment right to be unclothed. But The Oregonian newspaper reports a judge disagreed. The nudity had no specific message. So in his case, the act of leaving his body uncovered was also not covered by the Constitution. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Present Obama delivers his final State of Union speech this week. That speech to Congress is an annual Democratic ritual and a concrete reminder that the president is beginning his final lap around the track. Let's talk about this moment with Cokie Roberts, who joins us most Mondays. Hi, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: And also with NPR's Ron Elving. Ron, good morning to you.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What's the president likely to talk about?
ROBERTS: Well, yesterday he sent his chief of staff out to talk - say that he would be talking about broad themes, not the usual laundry list of policy proposals. Although, we can expect to hear something about climate change, probably, or immigration, gun control, income inequality. But there's some recognition here that he's not going to get specific proposals through Congress. But really what struck me, Steve, was the contrast the administration is drawing with the rhetoric on the political campaign. It's much more positive. McDonough - Denis McDonough was stressing yesterday the jobs numbers - almost 300,000 created last month. The unemployment rate at 5 percent nearly - when it was nearly 8 percent when President Obama took office. So they're taking on the whole sort of Trump and company make-America-great-again theme, hinting that it's somewhat unpatriotic saying Republicans are running down America. And the president and the cabinet are both going to be out around the country on Wednesday to reinforce the positive idea.
INSKEEP: Well, Ron, hasn't the president faced this consistent problem for years? He says the country is moving in the right direction. He offers his numbers for that. But majorities of voters say in polls the country is not moving in the right direction.
ELVING: That's right. Most people do say the country is heading off on the wrong track. And the numbers are negative on the president's specific leadership as well, especially on terrorism and national security. But of course the people at the White House are aware of all that. In their view, the president is dealing with a full array of national problems from guns to trade to climate change from Iran to ISIS to North Korea. And they talk about a sensible long-term approach to all of these challenges. They say Obama's critics are just speaking from either partisanship or impatience.
INSKEEP: Well, we heard Cokie say that the president is not going to make specific proposals - big proposals - because he wouldn't get them through Congress anyway. Does Congress see it in its interest to pass anything of note in this election year?
ROBERTS: Well, there's a big difference in the Republican leadership on that question. Sen. McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, says basically, let's just pass all of the appropriations bills. Like, get them through. That's not exactly a very sexy theme to run on in 2016.
INSKEEP: That's just a regular government business basically. Right.
ROBERTS: Exactly. Whereas Speaker Ryan in the House says he wants to be the party of proposition not opposition. He held a poverty panel in South Carolina with some of the Republican presidential candidates over the weekend to show that they do have ideas. But there are lots of disagreements in the Republican ranks. I mean, the only thing they continue to agree on is that they want to repeal Obamacare, which they voted to do 62 times.
INSKEEP: Ron Elving.
ELVING: You know, they could pick a couple of things. They could make a deal with Obama on, say, Pacific Rim trade or criminal justice reform. But it's just as likely that, as Cokie says, they're going to pass the basic spending bills, keep the lights on and vote on a lot of stuff that they promised to their hard-core conservative voters when they got elected, especially in the primary. And let's remember that even though all that stuff's just going to get vetoed, 2016 is an election year all year long.
INSKEEP: Well, let's talk about that election. Cokie Roberts, the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to vote, show it's pretty close between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side. Let's just talk about that side for the moment. What does it mean for Hillary Clinton that she has portrayed herself as the inevitable nominee and she faces a tough fight in the first two states?
ROBERTS: It's very tough for her. And she's been ramping up her attacks on Sanders, particularly on gun control. But she - you know, there's a lot of talk that she has a backstop in states where the more diverse population that come after Iowa and New Hampshire - and that's Nevada, South Carolina - because Sanders support is almost entirely among white people. But still it would be very, very tough for her if she loses those first two states. That aura of inevitability could be very much tarnished. And that could be a big problem for her.
INSKEEP: Can someone actually get through losing the first two states and win the nomination? That's happened. It happened with her husband, didn't it?
ROBERTS: Yes, it has happened. But it's going to be much tougher for her because there's a lot of concern about her as a candidate anyway. And we can see how that plays out for her.
INSKEEP: OK, that's NPR's Cokie Roberts and Ron Elving. Thanks to you both on this Monday morning.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
ELVING: Thank you, Steve.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
At the Detroit Auto Show, a lot to celebrate. 2015 was a record year. Detroit sold more cars and trucks than ever before. Here is someone not celebrating.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
MATTHIAS MULLER: We have let down customers, authorities, regulators and the general public here in America, too.
GREENE: That is Volkswagen's CEO Matthias Muller on his company's emissions scandal. Let's hear more now from NPR's Sonari Glinton.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: We're here at one of these exclusive invite-only parties ahead of the North American International Auto Show. That's the big auto show here in Detroit. And we're waiting for Matthias Muller, who is the CEO of VW. Let's hear what he has to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
MULLER: We are - I am - truly sorry for that. And I would like to apologize once again for what went wrong at Volkswagen.
GLINTON: That isn't the first time that Muller apologized. And it likely won't be the last. Though it's interesting, when you talk to Muller, he seems to say that the whole thing is a misunderstanding.
MULLER: Frankly spoken, it was a technical problem. We made a default. We had not the right interpretation of the American law. And the other question you mentioned - it was an ethical problem? I cannot understand whether you say that.
GLINTON: Because Volkswagen in the U.S. intentionally lied to EPA regulators when they asked them about the problem before it came to light.
MULLER: We didn't lie. We didn't understand the question first. And then we worked since 2014 to solve the problem. And it was a default of VW that it needed such a long time.
GLINTON: What do you say to those people who are investigating and who feel personally like that the company lied to them?
MULLER: First of al, I have to apologize on behalf of Volkswagen. And second, I have to promise - and we will do the pledge - that we deliver appropriate solutions for our customers as soon as possible.
GLINTON: Muller says he believes that Volkswagen will weather this storm. But to do that, first, the company has to weather investigations on multiple continents and get the forgiveness of the American people. And who knows how long that will take? Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The U.S. Navy has come up with a new strategic blueprint that goes beyond conventional ships and submarines. It is designed to position the Navy to respond more quickly to threats around the world. The plan's architect is Admiral John Richardson. He outlined some of his proposals to our colleague Renee Montagne.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Admiral Richardson spoke to us from his office at the Pentagon. His report, issued last week, is called "A Design For Maintaining Maritime Superiority." He describes a fast-moving environment where adapting to new technologies has become as important as doing battle at sea.
JOHN RICHARDSON: Over the past 10, 20 years, not only have the actors on the stage changed, but also, you know, the character of the environment has changed. Traffic and activity on the ocean floors - infrastructure on the ocean floors, you know, the information system, some of that information carried on cables that are resting on the seafloor - that's an example of where things have, you know, fundamentally shifted and need to be addressed.
MONTAGNE: Let's stick with that just for a moment, the importance of undersea cables that connect the Internet around the world.
RICHARDSON: Right.
MONTAGNE: Describe that for us. And what is the Navy doing to protect them?
RICHARDSON: You know, a lot of the actual details of those are classified, but let's just talk about the importance of those cables themselves. I mean, something on the order of 99 percent of the world's Internet information travels across the sea on those cables. And if those are disrupted, then, you know, that's a tremendous impact that it would have on, you know, not only security, but economy and, you know, pretty much all the sort of elements of national power, if you will. And that gives rise to vulnerabilities and those vulnerabilities can be exploited, and so we need to make sure that we're paying attention to that.
MONTAGNE: Well, is the concern here that, in some sense, these cables will be attacked or destroyed in some way?
RICHARDSON: I mean, I think that it could run a gamut from a simple attack or a disruption or a disconnection all the way to inserting information into that so that it raises doubts about the validity of the information that you're getting.
What I'm trying to get at here is sort of a broader appreciation of, you know, this just being one element of this environment that is changing.
MONTAGNE: That environment is increasingly high-tech. Richardson's strategy talks about the need for drones to fly, float or dive under the water. But traditional naval ships including aircraft carriers still matter.
RICHARDSON: Ninety percent of the world's trade happens on the oceans. And so, you know, there's a security dimension to that. You know, for instance, since 1990s, the amount of ships traveling the oceans has increased by a factor of four. And, you know, that has supported the rise of many global economies but has also given rise to, you know, mass migration that has been in the news very much recently, also has given rise to more illicit trafficking of materials and peoples and those sorts of things. And so I think going forward, the need for a Navy and all of the platforms that it brings are going to increase.
MONTAGNE: Admiral John Richardson is chief of naval operations.
Thank you very much for talking to us.
RICHARDSON: Oh, thanks very much.
MONTAGNE: The chief of the Navy is just out with a long-awaited strategy for the future of the Navy.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We are learning more about a series of ugly attacks on New Year's Eve in Germany. The worst was in the city of Cologne right in the middle of New Year's celebrations. Women were attacked, sexually assaulted, robbed by groups of men. There are migrants in Cologne from countries like Syria and Iraq, and police believe some of them may have been involved among the attackers. And this has brought Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy under fire. To talk more about this, we're joined by journalist Maximilian Popp, who's in Berlin. Good morning.
MAXIMILIAN POPP: Good morning, and thanks for having me.
GREENE: Well, thanks for coming on. I want to be really, really careful here. I mean, is this a case, perhaps, of people, you know, pointing some blame at an immigrant community? Are their charges now coming from police? What exactly do we know at this point?
POPP: Well, as you said, I mean, it's still - like, it's more than a week now since the events. But it's still kind of unclear what really happened, who the people responsible for this really are. But what we know so far is that there have been massive attacks and that there have been asylum-seekers within this group. This has been - this has been confirmed by the police. We're not sure about the numbers. So far there have been 500 criminal charges filed. They have 30 suspects. And - but about their background, their status, for how long they are in Germany, through which way they came to the country, all this is still very unclear. So it's important to be careful and not to, like, make things more hysteric than they are.
GREENE: So you gave some numbers there that sound pretty stunning. But do we know how many of those charged, suspected, would be these asylum-seekers and how many might be - might not?
POPP: Well, from the 30 people - from the 30 suspects so far, we know about 18 people who are asylum-seekers, mostly, though, from northern African countries, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. There is only one Syrian among them. This is the people of whom we know so far. But I think what we can guess and how it looks like, that these are people who are not, like, asylum-seekers, refugees who came recently to the country, but that these are more criminal gangs who have been active in Cologne before the New Year's events and that they have already some sort of criminal record and now doing it, like, bringing the whole thing to a new extent. But yeah... Yeah.
GREENE: Well, what has been the reaction to this so far?
POPP: Well, the reaction is huge. And it's really like - it really seems to be, like, a defining moment now in the whole debate because obviously those who are skeptic about, like, the migration policy of Angela Merkel that has been open, that has been welcoming, those skeptics seem like they think that their fears and their stereotypes are confirmed now. And so they are really pushing for a stricter policy. And the government is getting under pressure because all the things that have been said - wrongly been said, partly - about them, about migrants, refugees seem to become reality now. And that really is - has an awful effect on the whole debate because it's getting really out of proportion. It's getting really irrational. And it seems that it has the potential to really change politics in Germany.
GREENE: All right, we've been speaking with journalist Maximilian Popp, talking to us from Berlin. Maximilian, thanks very much.
POPP: Thank you very much.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYONE SAYS HI")
DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) Should have took a picture, something I could keep.
GREENE: That is David Bowie singing about losing someone close. And that's the feeling many of his fans have this morning. Bowie lost a battle with cancer. He died at the age of 69.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EVERYONE SAYS HI")
BOWIE: (Singing) Don't stay in a sad place where they don't care how you are.
GREENE: David Bowie chatted with my colleague, Renee Montagne, in 2002 about this song.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BOWIE: The genesis of that was actually my thoughts on how one copes with a friend or somebody near, or a relation, dying. And I suppose it's - for me, my point of reference for me personally was my own father. When he died in the late '60s, there was an overriding feeling in my mind that in fact that he'd just merely gone away and that he'd be - I don't know. I was half expecting that he'd come back again. So I really took - I really took it from there. So it's a lot sadder than it seems, I think.
GREENE: The loss of David Bowie is drawing reaction from around the world this morning - actually from beyond the world. Tim Peake, a British astronaut aboard the International Space Station tweeted that he was saddened about Bowie's death and that the musician was an inspiration to many people. Now, another astronaut, Canadian Chris Hadfield, actually did a performance of Bowie's song "Space Oddity" in outer space a couple years ago. And that video has gotten tens of millions of hits.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
CHRIS HADFIELD: (Singing) Ground control to Major Tom...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPACE ODDITY")
BOWIE: (Singing) Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
HADFIELD: (Singing) Ground control to Major Tom...
GREENE: And let's remember the musician with Simon Warner. He is an author and teaches popular music at the University of Leeds in England. Professor, welcome to the program.
SIMON WARNER: Hello, David.
GREENE: Did you see that video from the International Space Station a couple years ago?
WARNER: Yes, I did. It was extraordinary. And it was - it was witty. It was funny. It was astonishing to have work by that British artist being performed in space. It was wonderful.
GREENE: Witty, astonishing, some words that could probably describe David Bowie, I would imagine.
WARNER: Absolutely. I mean, we have this artist who, for the last 40 years, has surprised us, has changed shape, has changed approach, has changed the kind of artistic life he leads in terms of the genre he plays in. He's just surprised us over and over again.
GREENE: Did you - did you know that he was battling cancer?
WARNER: I did not. I was well aware that he had a fascinating, well-received new album called "Blackstar" out. But he seemed to have kept the secret of his ill health well and truly hidden.
(PHONE RINGING)
WARNER: Just hold on, please, been a lot of calls like this today.
GREENE: Yeah, no, it's no problem at all. Let me just - you know, you were describing his album. Let me just - that new album, it was actually a collaboration with a jazz quintet. I mean, was that a new thing, and it tells us that he was still evolving as a musician or still trying to change?
WARNER: He was still continuing to take on new challenges. I believe he walked into a bar or a club in New York, probably sometime last year, and just decided to work with musicians who he'd never worked with before. They were jazz musicians, an indication that he wasn't going to let the grass grow under his feet. He was continuing to explore new areas. And he's done this with all of his artistic life.
GREENE: You know, one thing I've read about him is that he was particularly an inspiration to people who feel different or sort of feel that they live on the outside. Can you talk about that a little bit and why he would be an appeal in that way?
WARNER: I think that is absolutely the case. You know, if we think about the world of show business or the arts or popular music, for decades - probably for centuries - these areas have been peopled (ph) by those who had different sexual identities to the mainstream. They had to hide their gayness or their sexual ambiguity. At the start of the 1970s, when David Bowie - and I say Bowie. You say (pronouncing it differently) Bowie.
GREENE: You say Bowie in Britain. That's good to know.
WARNER: That's right. It's an interesting distinction that the name seems to be pronounced in different ways. At the start of the 1970s, Bowie stood up and suggested he may be bisexual or he may be a gay man. We weren't absolutely sure whether he was or not. But he opened up the door, the possibility, the debate about people with different sexual orientations. And I honestly do believe that 40 years on, unless David Bowie had done that, it would be much harder for those operating in those areas of androgyny to talk about their lives. And I think Bowie opened up those possibilities.
GREENE: Before I let you go, favorite song?
WARNER: My favorite song by this great singer is definitely "Life On Mars," from the "Hunky Dory" album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE ON MARS")
BOWIE: (Singing) Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy. Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know he's in the best-selling show. Is there life on Mars?
GREENE: We've been speaking with Simon Warner. He is an author and teaches popular music at the University of Leeds in England. Thanks so much for talking to us about David Bowie. We appreciate it.
WARNER: OK, David.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In Navajo culture, teachers are called wisdom keepers - like that. They are revered and entrusted with the young. So when you give your child to this wisdom keeper, it is a magical thing. For our 50 Great Teachers series, NPR's Claudio Sanchez has a profile of a Navajo teacher on the outskirts of Tucson, Ariz.
CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE: Tia Tsosie Begay likes to introduce herself in her traditional language.
TIA TSOSIE BEGAY: (Speaking Navajo).
SANCHEZ: In Navajo, she says, your name is your identity.
BEGAY: Our healing power is through humor and laughter. And so I try to bring that across into my classroom.
SANCHEZ: When we first met Tia, it was Queen and King Day at her school.
BEGAY: I always wear a crown to school, just to let you know (laughter).
SANCHEZ: Los Ninos Elementary serves mostly Mexican-American and Native American families, Yaqui and Tohono O'odham, along with a few Somali kids. This morning, though, Tia is worried. It's 7:30, and the parent she's been trying to meet with is a no-show again. Tia desperately needs to talk to her about her little boy.
BEGAY: Right now, he is about a year behind. When I first met him, he was about two years behind.
SANCHEZ: But is he intelligent?
BEGAY: Yes, absolutely.
SANCHEZ: But he's always late and has already missed way too much school, says Tia. She suspects there are problems at home. We're not using the little boy's name to protect his privacy.
BEGAY: Get your laptops out. Log on to Ms. Begay's...
SANCHEZ: Tia's classroom is a beehive of activity. It's cluttered in a good way. Bookcases overflow with fiction and nonfiction books. One shelf is set aside for books about Komodo dragons, slugs, stink bugs and a class favorite, titled "Why Do Animals Do That?" It's 8:45, and the little boy Tia's so worried about finally walks in, his head bowed.
BEGAY: Hey, just made it.
SANCHEZ: Tia greets him warmly.
BEGAY: He already feels this down-ness (ph). And I see that he transitions quicker if I just say, glad you're here.
SANCHEZ: Of the 25 children in her class, this particular boy is the one who's testing Tia's long-held conviction that no child, no matter how troubled, is a lost cause. She says it's the unspoken pledge teachers start out with.
BEGAY: (Laughter). When you go into teaching, you go in very starry-eyed. Oh, I'm going to make a difference in the world. I'm going to do all these amazing things. I'm going to light the fire.
SANCHEZ: And then what happens?
BEGAY: Then you realize - (laughter) - that - what kind of class you have, that it's really very varied and that you have, you know, students who are one to two years below grade level. And you realize how quickly time is passing you by. And you're not where you thought you'd be.
SANCHEZ: Teaching was actually not Tia's first calling. When she left the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona where she grew up, Tia says she thought about law school, linguistics and politics. But then she started mentoring kids.
BEGAY: And I thought, let me try teaching.
SANCHEZ: After earning her master's in education from the University of Arizona, Tia married, had two children, taught for six years and then spent another five training other teachers.
BEGAY: I want you to find the page that we read yesterday...
SANCHEZ: Now, at age 35, she's back doing what she loves most, watching the proverbial light bulb go on in a child's head - like this morning, when one of her students who's struggling with English blurted out...
BEGAY: We need to use textual evidence. I was very excited about that.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, you got goose-bumps.
BEGAY: Yeah, I did (laughter).
SANCHEZ: The morning has been a blur. It's noon, time for lunch and the pizza chant.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: I'm going to be the pizza man.
BEGAY: Pizza man?
STUDENTS: Pizza man.
SANCHEZ: During lunch, I asked Tia's students what they like about her. She never gets angry, says one girl. She's funny and likes telling jokes, says a boy, like the one she told the other day.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: What do ghosts eat for dinner? S-boo-ghetti.
SANCHEZ: I wince. One little girl's comment, though, stays with me. She teaches me when I don't want to learn, she says under her breath.
To me, it's very profound for a child to say, this person is drawing me out to do something that I don't even expect myself to do, don't you think?
BEGAY: Yeah. They don't verbalize that to me. But I think that's what I strive for. You know, I want them to enjoy school. I want them to feel like someone believes in them.
SANCHEZ: It's a half-day at Los Ninos Elementary. Tia dismisses her students, but as they scatter, she realizes she forgot to hold on to that troubled boy in her class.
BEGAY: I hope he didn't take off.
SANCHEZ: Tia had planned to walk with him to meet his mom on the pedestrian bridge that he crosses to get to school.
BEGAY: I think that's them on that side.
SANCHEZ: In the distance, she spots the boy in his little blue vest and a paper crown walking with his mother. Tia is really upset with herself.
BEGAY: Within two or three years, he's going to drop out of school.
SANCHEZ: Why would anybody allow that to happen, to have a child fail?
BEGAY: I hope nobody would.
SANCHEZ: But that's the thing, says Tia, holding back tears. Some children have no one able or willing to fight for them. So who else if not their teacher?
BEGAY: I want them to be able to say, one person at least, Ms. Begay - Ms. Begay is there every day for me. Ms. Begay's going to wonder where I'm at. If I go missing, there'll be one person who's looking out for me, and it's Mrs. Begay.
SANCHEZ: Tomorrow, I will be on that bridge, says Tia. And if necessary, I'll be there the next day, and the next and the next. Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're going to hear a voice now that could not be mistaken for any other, Dame Maggie Smith. For many Americans, she is the formidable dowager countess from "Downton Abbey."
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DID I MAKE THE MOST OF LOVING YOU")
INSKEEP: She joined our Renee Montagne to look back on the character she's taken on over six decades of acting.
RENEE MONTAGNE, BYLINE: And at 81, Maggie Smith is starring in a new movie that's a long, long way from "Downton Abbey." Set in London, it reunites her with another of Britain's national treasures, playwright Alan Bennett. In "The Lady In The Van," she plays an occasionally delusional homeless woman as bedraggled as the countess is elegant. And the character happens to have been real - Miss Shepherd, who lived in her derelict van parked in the playwright's drive for 15 years.
MAGGIE SMITH: She was quite happy on the street. But I think Alan was so distressed watching her outside his window all the time that he thought he, you know, just had to help. But it was just for a temporary measure, you know. He didn't think that she was going to stay. But she certainly did.
MONTAGNE: She did. And while they didn't quite become friends...
SMITH: I would hardly say - no, not friends. I think he was obviously fascinated by her, in a way.
MONTAGNE: And she's quite resistant to help, not even very friendly to the people who are helping her...
SMITH: No, not at all.
MONTAGNE: But also witty. Is there a line that makes even you smile?
SMITH: Goodness me, there are so many. I hadn't put my head in that area. You'd think it would be with me all the time. Well, she sort of inquires when she first sees him. She says, you're not St. John, are you?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LADY IN THE VAN")
ALEX JENNINGS: (As Alan Bennett) St. John who?
SMITH: (As Miss Shepherd) St. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved?
JENNINGS: (As Alan Bennett) No, the name's Bennett.
SMITH: (As Miss Shepherd) Oh, well, if you're not St. John, I need a push for the van. It's conked out - the battery, possibly. I put some water in. It hasn't done the trick.
JENNINGS: (As Alan Bennett) Well, was it distilled water?
SMITH: It was holy water.
MONTAGNE: (Laughter) I will say this. You have a way with, among other things, sly, sly wit. And when it comes to wit and biting lines, it does not get better than "Downton Abbey."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOWNTON ABBEY")
SMITH: (As Violet Crawley) Well, you and I differ when it comes to the importance of things. Does it ever get cold on the moral high ground?
MONTAGNE: (Laughter).
SMITH: That certainly isn't Miss Shepherd.
MONTAGNE: No, that is not Miss Shepherd.
SMITH: (Laughter) No.
MONTAGNE: That is the famous, infamous dowager countess from "Downton Abbey."
SMITH: That's the dowager, yeah.
MONTAGNE: And in this moment, sticking it to her friend, but also occasional nemesis, Isobel Crawley.
SMITH: Yeah.
MONTAGNE: You do get the best lines in "Downton Abbey."
SMITH: Well, I don't - I don't know. They're all - they're Julian's lines, in fact, Julian Fellowes' lines, who wrote it.
MONTAGNE: Well, he's said as much. He said you - he gives you the best lines.
SMITH: Well, I must say, there were some really lovely things to say. And we just had great fun together.
MONTAGNE: Well, I must say, though, the wonderful thing about your character is that she is a reality check. You know, you would think the reality of her life is disappearing into the past. But she continues to pop in, in her sort of vinegary way, and just checks everybody.
SMITH: I think so. I think she stuck to her principles in the way she had lived. She could see what was going on more than, you know, a lot of other people. She was a wise old bird. She'd been there and done that and got the T-shirt (laughter).
MONTAGNE: Well, when you started, "Downton Abbey" was not intended or expected to last this many seasons.
SMITH: No, I think it took everybody by surprise.
MONTAGNE: What did you - what have you made or what do you make of becoming, through "Downton Abbey," something of a household name?
SMITH: I find it very odd to be recognized. I've spent a very long time without that happening to me. And it's a very, very strange sensation.
MONTAGNE: And not a pleasant one?
SMITH: Well, it depends. I mean, sometimes it's very nice. But sometimes, you just would like to do things on your own without thinking about whether you're going to be stopped to pose for, you know, one of those wretched cell phone things.
MONTAGNE: The selfie?
SMITH: The self - well, I suppose, yes.
MONTAGNE: Well, I, though, would have thought that you would have been at least occasionally recognized on the street because of your role in the "Harry Potter" films, Professor McGonagall.
SMITH: Yes. Yes, indeed, occasionally. But "Downton Abbey" has really - it's a completely overwhelming thing. I mean, it won't go on and on and on because it's at an end here. And it will come to an end in the states. And it will gradually - people will forget. But then, by that time, I probably won't be around.
MONTAGNE: Well, I hope - I hope so (laughter).
SMITH: No, but you don't - (laughter) - you don't know. One has to be realistic.
MONTAGNE: Well, I have been reading some old reviews from the Variety Archives. And I wanted to say, when you were in your 20s and you starred in the Broadway hit "Mary Mary," this would have been about 1963. One reviewer called you a gem of an actress, an undeniable dish. And another critic was worried that, she doesn't become a theater legend too soon. She's far too young and delicious for that.
SMITH: Oh, what does that mean?
MONTAGNE: (Laughter) Dish and delicious. But it is the kind of feedback that could make any actress try to stretch out the sort of youthful beauty as long as possible.
SMITH: That never was me. The dish department didn't apply.
MONTAGNE: (Laughter). Well, I'm fascinated by the fact that you actually headed more or less the other way, that you've really embraced older characters - to me, that seem older than you are.
SMITH: I think that's got something to do with one's not being a dish, which I was trying to point out - because then you become a character actor. And you have much more chance of developing and going on. I mean, God knows it must be lovely to be beautiful. But that's a really difficult thing to lose. But if you've been into character acting really all your life, it's an easy transition. You just go from one to the other. You suddenly realize, oh, I see I'm somebody's mother this time. Then I'm somebody's grandmother. And so it goes on.
MONTAGNE: Well, Maggie Smith, thank you so much for joining us.
SMITH: Well, thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
I'm Steve Inskeep with a story of a man out of work. He's a coalminer in Kentucky. His industry is fading, even as the wider economy grows. The miner met us on his very first day off the job.
Hey, how are you?
JOE MOORE: Pretty good. Joe Moore.
INSKEEP: Hey, Mr. Moore.
Joe Moore wear a beard and a Tennessee Titans cap. He opened his car door, brushed aside the empty cigarette packs on the seats and drove us through Webster County in western Kentucky. Nationwide production dropped as much as 10 percent last year. Companies are filing for bankruptcy, including a big one just yesterday. We saw a sign of the trouble when Joe Moore drove us to his former workplace.
MOORE: Authorized personnel.
INSKEEP: That's you. You're authorized.
MOORE: Well, I used to be authorized.
INSKEEP: The previous day he'd signed papers confirming his termination as the mine shut down.
MOORE: I don't work here anymore (laughter).
INSKEEP: Coal faces unprecedented competition as well as President Obama's long-term moves against climate change. Joe Moore lost a job that, with overtime, paid him $100,000 per year or more. And as we drove, he recalled a moment during his decades of scuttling through tunnels that were often too low to stand up straight.
MOORE: I had a chest cold. I was a young man then, and I went to the doctor. And they had you take your shirt off, and my back was just all ripped up, very big scratches in it.
INSKEEP: From the ceiling?
MOORE: Right.
And he said - who's been beating you? And I said it's just from work.
And he said you need to find a different occupation.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
MOORE: Said you are damaging your body. I said well, great. You want to adopt me? - because I don't know of anything else I can do.
INSKEEP: He stayed in the mines 39 years. We were driving away from the mine as we talked, and Moore accidentally made a left turn.
MOORE: Hold on. This is my way home. That's why I turned here (laughter).
INSKEEP: The force of habit was too strong to break. Webster County, Ky., does not want to break its coal habit. Though one mine closed here, another has been producing coal since 1967.
INSKEEP: We reached it by taking a steel elevator straight down.
GARY THWEATT: We're 530 feet right here.
INSKEEP: We rode down with Gary Thweatt, the mine supervisor.
THWEATT: I still get excited every day.
(SOUNDBITE OF ELEVATOR CHIME)
INSKEEP: The underground tunnels spread out like a street grid. You turn left. You turn right. And at the end of one street, a machine faced a black rock wall.
THWEATT: See those teeth? It's going to knock the coal down, load it in the conveyor and it'll come back the conveyor into the shuttle car.
INSKEEP: In the dim light, we saw the dark glitter of coal.
How much coal just came off that conveyor belt?
THWEATT: About 16, 17 tons.
INSKEEP: In, like, 30 seconds?
THWEATT: Right - 38, matter of fact.
INSKEEP: Thirty-eight seconds to be exact.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE WHIRRING)
INSKEEP: It's a profitable business, even in this time of decline. Our producer Ashley Westerman grew up in Webster County. And in the tunnels, she saw a familiar face.
THWEATT: This is Ryan Hammers. He's our section foreman.
INSKEEP: Hey. How are you, Ryan?
ASHLEY WESTERMAN: Oh, Ryan.
THWEATT: You know Ryan?
WESTERMAN: Ashley Westerman - we went to high school - we went to elementary school together, actually.
THWEATT: Elementary school?
WESTERMAN: Yeah.
THWEATT: It's a reunion.
INSKEEP: Ashley went on to college. Ryan ended up in this mine. Depending on his overtime, Ryan is likely the one who is paid more. It's attractive for those who don't mind the conditions. And many miners are used to it because their ancestors mined before them.
We had dinner at the home of a coal mining family, and we talked while our host Zeann Bumpus, or Z, prepared dinner.
(SOUNDBITE OF DISHES CLANGING)
ZEANN BUMPUS: Didn't break a thing.
INSKEEP: You need help back there 'cause...
BUMPUS: No, I'm breaking things fine.
INSKEEP: I'm breaking things fine, she said. She made us a dessert called chess bars - eggs, butter, cream cheese and so much sugar it hurts your head. Z's parents sat in the living room. They're Dan and Mary Harris. Until he retired, Dan was a coalminer, like his father and his father before that.
So how long were you underground? How many hours?
MARY HARRIS: A lot of time 16, 17 hours.
DAN HARRIS: I've done work - I guess I went in about 1:30.
M. HARRIS: And stayed till maybe 8 the next morning.
D. HARRIS: No, it was about 9:30 when (laughter) they run me out.
M. HARRIS: And then he'd be up and be ready to go back at noon.
INSKEEP: He could hardly stand to leave work, even though he sometimes saw miners maimed or killed. Dan Harris's daughter Z was married to a miner. Z's son only briefly considered a different way of life.
BUMPUS: He went to college and he stayed two days...
INSKEEP: ...After which he came home.
BUMPUS: And not long after that, he went to the mines...
INSKEEP: ...Continuing a pattern as old as the United States. Webster County, Ky., residents know fossil fuels are linked to climate change. Many do not deny the science. I know we're not helping, one miner said. But people do minimize coal's role and play up the industry's importance. We saw a bumper sticker reading, if you don't like coal, don't use electricity. It's been a winning argument - until now.
HEATH LOVELL: For the first time in my career, I've actually questioned if I'll be able to retire from coal in 20 years from now.
INSKEEP: Heath Lovell of Alliance Coal met us at Webster County's last mine.
LOVELL: Depending on what happens in November with the presidential election, I think that will go a long way in determining what does coal's future look like over the next 10, 15, 20 years.
INSKEEP: Alliance Coal blames President Obama for much of its trouble. Regulators cracked down on safety, and the president's Clean Power Plan targets electricity generated with coal.
In an interview with us, the president said he understands why some people think he's waging a war on coal, but he argued the industry's real problem is competition. Surging natural gas production drove down energy prices, and that is indeed part of Webster County's story. Nearby power plants are switching from coal to gas.
Which explains why laid-off miner Joe Moore had time to join us for lunch at a burger joint.
UNIDENTIFIED WAITRESS: Cheeseburger, plain?
MOORE: I'll take it.
INSKEEP: Moore is philosophical about the president, who got Moore's vote in the first of his two campaigns.
MOORE: You know, I could sit here and say - oh, he's (vocalizing nonsense), but, you know, he's done what he set out to do. I'm just caught up in it.
INSKEEP: Caught up in epic economic change. Moore is following this year's campaign. He's interested in democrat Bernie Sanders and in republican Ted Cruz. Each has been cultivating blue-collar voters. Before voting, of course, Joe Moore has to work out his future.
Do you have plans, or are you going to figure it out as you go?
MOORE: Well, after 39 years steady going, I think I'm going to take a minute, you know, and figure some things out.
INSKEEP: He does have options. His termination came with an offer of assistance if he should return to school. Then again, he might try for a job in a mine that is still open. It is not easy to let go of coal.
That is a river of coal.
LOVELL: Yes, it is.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's be frank. A big part of tonight's State of the Union ritual is about style. The president of the United States stands before Congress. Lawmakers applaud or do not.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Inspirational figures play their part by sitting in the gallery. Everyone's playing to the TV cameras. But there is also a degree of substance, the presidential speech itself.
INSKEEP: This is Obama's last State of the Union address. And we got a sense of its preparation by talking with a past Obama speechwriter. His name is Jon Favreau.
JON FAVREAU: Usually we began talking about the State of the Union around Thanksgiving. The writing would really begin in earnest around Christmas. Once the new year came and went, there would be a frenzied couple weeks of writing and editing and rewriting, right up until the final speech and then practicing the speech on the last day.
INSKEEP: Jon Favreau, who's now in Los Angeles, started working with the president during his first Senate campaign.
FAVREAU: I think from the very beginning, I learned that speeches are not a collection of applause lines and sound bites. Speeches are a story that you tell. They have a beginning, a middle and an end. They have structure. And more than anything else, the president's mind as a lawyer and a professor come out when he's working on a speech because everything in the speech is very logical. And there's a story to every speech.
INSKEEP: Of course, there is now a grand story of an entire administration that is beginning to near its close. What does that mean for a speech like this?
FAVREAU: You know, I think it's tempting at first to use a speech like this to only look backwards and sort of talk about all the accomplishments and the administration, everything that we've achieved. And I think there'll be a little bit of that. But for the president, it's more important right now to look forward with this speech. I think in some ways, this is the morning in America speech in response to the malaise speech that the Republican candidates have been giving the entire primary season.
INSKEEP: That's an interesting challenge, to try to convey that sense of morning in America - using a phrase from Ronald Reagan's era, by the way - because hasn't this president been trying to say for several years it's morning in America. Things are moving in the right direction. Things are better. And according to surveys, there's just an awful lot of people out there - even people who may support him - who don't see it that way.
FAVREAU: Well, and every year he says it, it becomes more true (laughter). No, but there is. Look, and I think if you say it without acknowledging the very real anxiety that working people face - you know, wages still aren't growing fast enough. There's still too many people without jobs. But the fact is, if you look at the markers by almost every economic statistic, we're in a vastly better place than we were.
INSKEEP: And you think this is a moment when he can sell that case.
FAVREAU: I do. I think - I think it's a moment where he has to try, certainly, because I think, you know, if all people hear when they turn on the TV or the radio or read the news is dreary and dismal accounts of what America is going through, you know, it ultimately affects the national mood. And I think the president has the opportunity here to say, no; we have a lot going for us as a country.
INSKEEP: It's said of President George W. Bush that his main role in crafting his communications was to hone them, to make them sharper and shorter and simpler. Why say it in seven words if you can say it in five? What's President Obama's role in that process?
FAVREAU: (Laughter). President Obama, he usually adds words when he writes himself because, you know, I think sometimes he has a frustration with the sound bite culture that we have right now, right? And so sometimes, he wants to take the time to make the exact point, even if it takes a couple extra words or a couple extra sentences. And then, once he's comfortable that he's achieved that, he'll then come to the speechwriters and say, OK, you guys cut it down.
INSKEEP: Were there occasions when you would simplify his complexity, take it back to him, and he'd make it complex again?
FAVREAU: He would, many times (laughter). He would say, you know what, that's just a shortcut. We're just being lazy here. And then towards the end, his role is to really add poetry to the speech. You know, he's better than all of us at finding language that you don't hear in politics every day. And so a lot of sort of the uplifting, lofty rhetoric that he's known for in these speeches, you know, he comes up with himself.
INSKEEP: How do you think this president has changed over seven years in office?
FAVREAU: I think he's probably even more patient than when he first - when he first got here, right? I think he sort of knew that the change he spoke about in the campaign would take quite a while. But I think now that he has seen politics and government up close for seven years, he knows that for a lot of these big, transformational changes, it takes a lot of time.
INSKEEP: It's interesting to hear you say that you feel that he's become more patient over time because there are also moments in recent months when he has seemed a little fed up with his critics. I'm thinking notably of when his ISIS strategy was being criticized. And he said, well, if people want to pop off about that, they ought to come up with a better idea. That was taken as a sign of annoyance.
FAVREAU: Well, yeah, there's definitely annoyance (laughter). That's part of the job too. You can't do these jobs and deal with around-the-clock criticism without ever getting a little annoyed.
INSKEEP: Knowing him as you do, what have you thought when you've seen him be publicly emotional in recent weeks and months, perhaps most notably when he shed tears when talking about gun control?
FAVREAU: You know, it didn't totally surprise me. You know, I remember when the tragedy at Newtown elementary took place. And we had handed him a first draft of the speech he would give at the press conference that day, walked into the Oval and tried to pick up the edits. And he barely even looked up from his desk because there were tears in his eyes. I mean, he was so emotional that day, and you know, the first time he came home from Dover Air Force Base and saw a flag-draped coffin come off that plane. I think the weight of what it means to be the president of the United States, the commander in chief, when tragedies like this happen really affects him not only as a president but as a parent.
INSKEEP: Well, Jon Favreau, thank you very much.
FAVREAU: Thanks for having me, Steve.
INSKEEP: On this morning of the State of Union speech, that's Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for President Obama.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's focus on one challenge facing this president and also the next president and likely the president after that. It is the war on drugs, which is once again center stage after the capture this weekend of Joaquin Guzman Loera. He's a notorious Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo. Joining us on the line from Mexico City is Ana Maria Salazar. She was a senior Pentagon drug enforcement official during the Clinton administration. Good morning.
ANA MARIA SALAZAR: Good morning, greetings from Mexico City.
GREENE: Well, greetings - greetings from near Los Angeles, where I'm talking to you this morning here at NPR West. Let me ask you, if I may, if we sort of look at what has happened in the past, the United States has been trying to extradite El Chapo for years. Mexico has refused. But now Mexico seems to have changed its tune. They've begun legal proceedings to send El Chapo to the United States. What has changed here?
SALAZAR: Well, first, it's not clear that the United States has been trying to extradite him for years.
GREENE: OK.
SALAZAR: Actually the requests came very recently, before El Chapo escaped thirteen - about six months ago. Two, what's different is that with the escape of El Chapo, there is - I don't know if the government would recognize it this way. But they say, you know, it's difficult for a government like Mexico to be able to make sure he doesn't escape again. And third - not only in Mexico, but this also happened in Colombia at the time - the threat of extraditions is actually a really good incentive for criminals either to not publicly attack the Mexican government and be so violent - becoming one of their main objectives. So it's used by governments as a threat against these organizations. Now, with that said, I have to tell you something. It could take years for El Chapo to be extradited. Minimum one year, it could take three or four years before he steps in a U.S. court.
GREENE: Well, that raises a question here, does it not? I mean, as you said, he has escaped before. I mean, it was a huge embarrassment to the Mexican government when he got out of that heavily fortified prison...
SALAZAR: Right.
GREENE: As we all remember last year. I mean, if this is going to take a while, is there a real risk that he could escape again?
SALAZAR: Absolutely. And that, I believe, is one of the main concerns, not only of the Mexican government but also the U.S. government, which has invested a lot of resources in trying to get him back and make sure he's recaptured. So this is going to be the big issue between the bilateral relationship between both countries. How can you keep someone like El Chapo Guzman in a jail, even if it's a high-security prison? How can you make sure he doesn't escape? How can you make sure that you can protect his life? Because there - I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who'd like him dead. And how can you make sure that the trial that is going to take place here in Mexico and the processes by which he's going to be extradited can take place when everybody knows he can probably - he can threaten judges. He can threaten prosecutors. He can make sure that evidence (ph) disappears in Mexico. So this is a major challenge.
GREENE: If I may, we just have a few seconds left. I wonder, could you just sort of describe how important he is? He's been described as the world's biggest trafficker in illegal drugs. I mean, you ran counter drug efforts at the Pentagon. Does this arrest have a big impact on the war on drugs?
SALAZAR: Not anymore, and the reason why I say this is that because he has been - he has been in jail for a while. He has been the most sought-after criminal. It's hard to run an organization from the jungle. So there is other - his deputies are running the organization. It appears that they're doing a very good job in trafficking cocaine and heroin and methamphetamine to the United States. So he's more of a figurehead...
GREENE: All right, forgive me. We'll have to stop there. We're out of time. Ana Maria Salazar, thanks very much for joining us.
SALAZAR: Take care, bye-bye.
GREENE: She's a deputy assistant secretary of defense at the Pentagon, a former official at the Pentagon.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning I'm David Greene, calling all bachelors. The Playboy Mansion could be yours for a cool $200 million. Just think about it. You'd have 29 rooms, the famous pool with its grotto, a zoo with monkeys, exotic birds and, yes, bunnies.
Just one catch - you'll be splitting utilities with Hugh Hefner. Yes, that is a condition of the sale. A statement from the magazine calls the mansion Hef's creative center, and it says the 89-year-old playboy is not going anywhere. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's hear from a voter in Iowa. He's a registered Republican. His name is Taha Tawil. And he is the imam at that Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids. Mr. Tawil recently extended an invitation to Donald Trump, hoping the candidate might come to the mosque to chat. I asked Mr. Tawil what motivated him.
TAHA TAWIL: I see Donald Trump as a great man going around with bad ideas. And the thing that we saw, we need to invite him to let the rationale and the logic and the reason be overwhelming instead of emotions and rhetoric and propaganda upon his own fellow citizens.
GREENE: Has he responded to your invitation yet?
TAWIL: No, nobody responded. And we are following it with a written invitation this week.
GREENE: Well, you say that he is a great man with bad ideas right now. So I wonder - if you had the chance to bring him to your mosque and sit down face-to-face, what exactly would you tell him?
TAWIL: We want him to know that we are, you know, with him on so many of his ideas about safety and security for our country. And we want him to know that we are a big resource. So he can use us in his endeavor instead of alienating us and going wild, you know, with those ads that he had. Many people are right now - have Islamophobia already. And now with him running and increasing this Islamophobia, now we're getting back to the '30s and '40s in this country.
GREENE: So you're saying that if he sat down with a community of Muslims, you're thinking that might change his mind about, you know, say the policy that he proposed, which was to close the borders to Muslims coming into this country for, you know, an indefinite period of time. You think you could change his mind there?
TAWIL: We don't know. We don't know, but it is just a voice of logic. It's a voice of reason. And diversity in America is the source of its greatness. So the whole idea, I think, it's like this. It goes, all men are equal. That's the Constitution. We are one nation under God. And we don't see him doing that. We are not seeing him applying the Constitution.
GREENE: Well, I wonder - given everything you've said about what you're not happy with right now, tell me what you like about Donald Trump. You described him as a great man.
TAWIL: Well, what I like about him - his charisma, that he is going forward in his campaign, promising to build America, to be the savior of America. And that's great. That's why we said we need someone to think this way. But we don't want him only to take one community in America and run with it and leave the rest of us behind.
GREENE: You're a registered Republican, right?
TAWIL: Yes, I am.
GREENE: Could you see a chance of voting for Donald Trump depending on how this conversation goes?
TAWIL: Yes, if he has sufficient evidence absolutely. Many of my members, they told me yes, he has good ideas. And we want to stop this radical Islam. And the way to do that is to join the Muslim community in the fight against it.
GREENE: Are there other Republican candidates right now who appeal to you?
TAWIL: Well, that's personal. I don't want to - I am not in politics.
GREENE: OK, understood.
TAWIL: But I do my best to do the right thing - those who support the values of families and the values of our country.
GREENE: Well, Mr. Tawil, I really enjoyed talking to you. And I'm very eager to meet you. We're going to be coming and bringing our show to Iowa very soon - right before the caucuses. So I'd love the chance to sit down with you and meet you in person.
TAWIL: Absolutely, it will be my pleasure, too, Mr. David.
GREENE: Thank you so much for talking to us. We really appreciate the time.
TAWIL: God bless you and God bless America. Thank you, sir.
GREENE: Taha Tawil is the imam at the Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, this day, the cable channel ABC Family will change its name to Freeform, dropping the word family from the title for the first time in more than 25 years. It is a sign of bigger change. Competition has forced today's TV channels to hone in on their most important viewers. Here's NPR TV critic Eric Deggans.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: It's available in more than 90 million homes and has a name tied to one of the biggest corporations in media. So why is ABC Family doing this?
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "WHAT IS FREEFORM?")
VANESSA MARANO: ABC Family is becoming Freeform - a new name.
DEGGANS: Vanessa Marano, star of the channel's hit drama "Switched At Birth," explains the new name to young viewers like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "WHAT IS FREEFORM?")
MARANO: Freeform means no boundaries - but the good kind of no boundaries, not the kind that leave you screaming, boundaries, dude, when your roommate walks around your apartment without pants.
DEGGANS: Tom Ascheim, president of the channel, explained the change to a roomful of journalists who cover TV. He said they were trying to grow their audience of young viewers who were at a certain moment in their lives. These viewers are moving from childhood to adulthood. Ascheim says their age is, quote, "between your first kiss and your first kid," and he labels them becomers (ph).
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TOM ASCHEIM: For our young audience, it is important almost always for them to feel like they've discovered something on their own. It is the essential quality of being young.
DEGGANS: In other words, for Snapchatting teens and 20-somethings, a channel with the name ABC or Disney isn't exactly cool. It also reflects the channel's more explicit themes. Today's launch of Freeform includes a new season of the drama "Pretty Little Liars," a show once called "Desperate Housewives" for teens. And a new show starting later this month, "Recovery Road," features a teenage addict in rehab. It's a long way from where the channel first started.
(SOUNDBITE OF FAMILY CHANNEL THEME SONG)
DR JOHN: (Singing) ...Latch on to the affirmative - the family channel, yes indeed.
DEGGANS: Founded by televangelist Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, it was known as the Family Channel for much of the 1990s, then bought by Fox and renamed Fox Family Channel at the end of the decade. In 2001, Disney bought it and renamed it ABC Family. But thanks to a provision from its original sale, the channel always aired Robertson's religious talk show, "The 700 Club." And Freeform will keep airing it. It's an awkward arrangement, as a channel owned by one of the most storied companies in media tries to recast itself as a revolutionary upstart. And it's an open question whether the name Freeform is really distinctive enough for this kind of makeover. Still, in an industry where standing out in a growing crowd is the biggest challenge, refocusing on your audience before trouble strikes just might be the smartest move of all. I'm Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "SECRET")
THE PIERCES: (Singing) Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save. Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well, there is a new, albeit, pretty familiar school at the top of college football. Alabama beat Clemson last night 45-40 in a dramatic national championship game. Alabama won its fourth title in the last seven years. Despite the seeming inevitability of Crimson Tide football, it was a pretty thrilling back-and-forth contest that featured the most combined points in a national title game. And for one night, at least, it turned the football conversation away from the NFL. And let's about this with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman.
Hey, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: So wasn't this supposed to be an absolute blowout? And Alabama was just going to run away with this? Didn't happen.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, actually, and I think it changed some minds. You know, the best antidote to all the grumbling about this game leading up to it was going to be a great game, and it was - exciting plays, lots of momentum swings, as you mentioned. It was a score fest. Contrary to all the predictions that it would be a low-scoring defensive struggle, that Alabama would grind out a win, leaning heavily on its rushing attack led by Heisman Trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry. Now he certainly delivered 158 yards, three touchdowns. But the Crimson Tide passing game flourished, too. Quarterback Jake Coker connected with tight end O.J. Howard on a couple of 50-yard touchdown pass plays. And on the Clemson side, quarterback Deshaun Watson was as fantastic as advertised - four touchdown passes, more than 400 yards passing, 70 yards rushing.
GREENE: I mean that's - he's doing everything.
GOLDMAN: Yeah.
GREENE: Did this quiet the grumbling over the new playoff format in college football? I mean, did it finally put an end to that?
GOLDMAN: You know, many still think the two semifinal games held on New Year's Eve was a bad scheduling idea and that the championship game wasn't the best time either. Played right after the first weekend of the NFL playoffs, when football fans were still buzzing about the NFL. And, of course, there's still hope that the four-team playoff expands soon. But yeah. Today at least, the talk is about a great game and Nick Saban's fifth national championship.
GREENE: Well, as you said, it's been hard to figure out what to talk about, college football or the NFL since they're going on at the same time. And that - as you know, I'm a Steelers fan. That Cincinnati-Pittsburgh game was nasty.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, absolutely. It was ugly. And the man at the center of the ugliness, Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict will pay for it. Late yesterday, Burfict was suspended the first three games of the next regular season without pay. You know, he's a very talented player but one of those guys who can't always control the aggression, as we saw Saturday when he drove his shoulder into the head of a defenseless Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown.
GREENE: And as much as I hate to say it, though, I mean there were flagrant hits on both sides.
GOLDMAN: Oh, right. The officials didn't seem to do enough policing during the game. They penalized Burfict but did nothing, as you say, when a Pittsburgh defender used his helmet to ram a Cincinnati running back in the head, resulting in a concussion for that running back. You know, the head coaches didn't do enough to maintain control of their players and their assistant coaches. And even the media bears some responsibility for hyping up the bad blood between these teams before the game.
GREENE: And doesn't this say something about the sport right now? I mean, the NFL's so criticized for allowing these types of hits. The NFL has spoken out saying they want to reduce them, but the reality is - I mean, fans like hard hits, and it really can drive ratings.
GOLDMAN: They like hard hits. And in fact, you know, according to Nielsen, the TV ratings for the weekend's first-round games - and there were two games after the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game Saturday night - those ratings were up 11 percent from last year. Now whether it was the violence that drove the ratings, I'm not so sure we can say that, but it certainly didn't inhibit people from watching football.
And yes, in this era of great sensitivity to - on the concussion issue, you know, you have incidents like this. And it just shows that, as much as the NFL says, at least, that it wants to police the game, they're just some times when the violence spills over, and you can't control it.
GREENE: All right NPR's sports correspondent Tom Goldman. Thanks as always, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome, David.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're also following a big question in this country for Democrats. Non-white voters are a growing part of the American electorate and a huge part of the Democratic coalition. The question is which of the Democrats' three presidential candidates has the best chance to mobilize them in the numbers that President Obama did? With that in mind, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton all attended an event called the Iowa Brown and Black Forum last night. It was carried by Fusion Television, and NPR's Tamara Keith was there. Hi, Tam.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi.
INSKEEP: What did it sound like?
KEITH: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton - the two front-runners in this race - continued a recent pattern of really going after each other and talking about each other directly. This was not a debate. It was technically a forum, so they weren't on stage together. Early on, moderator Jorge Ramos asked Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders about this change in tone in the race. Clinton used to avoid using his name, now she doesn't.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JORGE RAMOS: Have you noticed lately that she's been getting more aggressive with you?
BERNIE SANDERS: Yes.
RAMOS: Why is that?
SANDERS: I don't know. It could be...
RAMOS: You tell me.
SANDERS: It could be that the inevitable candidate for the Democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today.
KEITH: And the most recent polls do show Sanders and Clinton very close in Iowa and New Hampshire. And one area where Clinton has been going after Sanders is on guns. And last night's forum gave her campaign some new fodder. Ramos asked Sanders repeatedly whether he stands by his vote in 2005 for a law shielding gunmakers and dealers from some lawsuits.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANDERS: What we have to do is take a new look at that legislation and get rid of the provisions.
RAMOS: Do you didn't make a mistake in that...
SANDERS: It's not a mistake. Like many pieces of legislation, it is complicated.
KEITH: Clinton's campaign feels like this is really a winning issue for her. And this morning, they announced that she's gotten the endorsement of the Brady Campaign to end gun violence.
INSKEEP: So probing a weakness of Bernie Sanders there. What weaknesses did O'Malley and Clinton face?
KEITH: Well these were not - there were some soft-ball questions, but then there were some really tough questions. Like, in the lightning round, they were asked which program is bigger, racism or sexism? Another question - is it time to consider reparations? O'Malley was asked if the schools in his home state of Maryland suffered from de facto segregation. He was also asked about policing tactics during his time as Baltimore mayor. And Clinton was asked about white privilege, as well as her inconsistencies on immigration policy and whether she supports the Obama administration's recent deportation raids on some of the mothers and children from Central America who were picked up at the border back in 2014.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RAMOS: Will you become the next deporter-in-chief?
HILLARY CLINTON: No. No, and I have come out against the raids. I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws. In fact, I think they are divisive. They are sowing discord and fear.
KEITH: This is a position that she basically announced last night but that both Sanders and O'Malley were ahead of her on. O'Malley has struggled to gain traction in this race, and he nodded to that last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARTIN O'MALLEY: Sometimes people say to me, are you to the left or to the right of your opponents? Actually, I'm to the forward of them. I arrive at things before they do.
KEITH: A real frustration of his is of course that people just aren't jumping on his campaign.
INSKEEP: OK, so very briefly, Tamara Keith, this was the Brown and Black Forum, but it's in Iowa, a heavily white state. In fact, the first two states to vote are overwhelmingly quite.
KEITH: That's right, Iowa is 87 percent white. But after Iowa and New Hampshire come Nevada and South Carolina, where Latino and black voters are key. And Bernie Sanders knows he has ground to make up, and he is working on that very hard.
INSKEEP: OK, NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks very much.
KEITH: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Tonight, President Obama will give his last State of the Union address. And one thing he'll highlight is the resurgence of the American auto industry. That industry hit record sales in 2015. That's cause for big celebration right now at the big auto show in Detroit. NPR's Sonari Glinton looks at the president's impact on the car industry.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Almost exactly one year ago, in the run-up to that year's State of the Union, President Obama did what he's often done and what he'll likely do tonight - congratulate himself on saving the car business.
(SOUNDBITE OF 2015 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When I ran for president, I wasn't expecting to have to do this. But I ran not to be just doing the popular things. I ran to do the right thing. And saving the American auto industry was the right thing to do.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Betting on you was the right thing to do.
DEBBIE STABENOW: First of all, I would say that the president has every right to take a victory lap.
GLINTON: Democrat Debbie Stabenow is the senior senator from Michigan.
STABENOW: He was there when there was a strong sentiment on the other side to just let the American automobile industry go.
GLINTON: Now, the bailout got started during the Bush administration and continued under the president. Chrysler was the company closest to the brink, and eventually it was bought by Fiat, becoming Fiat-Chrysler Group. Since the bailout, Fiat-Chrysler has become the fastest-growing car company in America. Reid Bigland is with Fiat-Chrysler. He says the administration drove a very hard bargain during the bailout.
REID BIGLAND: Well, I think we've kept up our end of the bargain, if you look at the number of people that we have hired in this country. We've created significant jobs - a big part of the revitalization of the Motor City. So I think it's worked out well for the government. And it's worked out well for us. And it's certainly worked out well for the American people.
GLINTON: General Motors came through the bailout a stronger company. It's kind of hard to find a car executive who will say anything bad in public or on the mic, at least, about the Obama administration. GM CEO Mary Barra's like the other Detroit executives - very, very careful to express gratitude for the bailout, even years later.
MARY BARRA: General Motors will be forever grateful to both the United States government and the Canadian government for supporting us. And we've worked really hard with award-winning projects like this - the jobs, the investment we've made back into the United States. And so again, I think it's - it was a good investment. And we're grateful.
GLINTON: The bailout is only half the story. One of the things the Obama administration did was demand higher fuel goals. Devin Lindsay is an analyst with IHS Automotive. He says setting the CAFE, or fuel standards, at 54.5 miles a gallon by 2025 is pushing Detroit to plan ahead.
DEVIN LINDSAY: Well, we're seeing that because of these standards, manufacturers know they have to get there. And because of the amount of time it takes, these products need to be underway now so they can start getting some of that return on investment.
GLINTON: We talked to auto people. They bristle at being forced to spend billions on hybrids when the consumers seem to want trucks and SUVs.
BRIAN MOODY: You're getting into this point where the government is now saying, oh there, there, we know what's best for you. So therefore, just give all the power to us; we'll take care of it.
GLINTON: Brian Moody is an analyst with autotrader.com.
MOODY: That's the one argument. On the other hand, when you have these rules in place - and the threat of stiffer regulations - I think that's when you start to see cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt that are cars the average person can use and afford and at the same time is good for the environment.
GLINTON: Analysts say without the Obama administration, we probably wouldn't have the sheer number of hybrids and electrics. Now, whether consumers will eventually buy them or not - that's likely to be the Obama car legacy. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK, here's some news that you can definitely use. The Powerball jackpot is up to $1.4 billion for Wednesday night's drawing. That is the upside. Here's the downside.
RON WASSERSTEIN: There are 292 million combinations of numbers you could pick.
GREENE: Or, to put it another way...
WASSERSTEIN: You have a 99.9999997 percent chance of losing if you do play.
GREENE: That's great. That is Ron Wasserstein. He's director of the American Statistical Association. And he says the bottom line is you are not going to win.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
If you still need convincing, he has an analogy. Imagine you have a stack of pennies the height of the Empire State Building.
WASSERSTEIN: You would need to buy 1,000 lottery tickets to have the same probability of winning the Powerball jackpot as you would have to pick the one penny out of the stack the height of the Empire State Building.
INSKEEP: That's a great analogy. Except now I'm hung up on what happens to that stack of pennies when you yank a penny out of the middle.
GREENE: Yeah, bad things. Well, in any case, some people try to improve their odds by buying tickets in groups. Wasserstein says even joining a group of 50 people is just not going to help much.
WASSERSTEIN: Instead of a 1 in 292 million chance, I now have a 50 in 292 million chance of winning, which is still unimaginably, ridiculously, impossibly small.
GREENE: That's the reality. It is likely that your brain already knew it.
INSKEEP: But, of course, your instinct says something else. So good luck when you play.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Image is everything, even when you're on the run. Police in Lima, Ohio posted photos of a suspect. Donald Chip Pugh is wanted for arson and vandalism. He saw the mug shot, and he texted police a fresh one with the caption, here is a better photo; that one is terrible. Police have now posted his photo showing the suspect in sunglasses. The fugitive told the local radio station about his mug shot, man, they just did me wrong. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We'll hear next from a representative of one of the few military forces to effectively fight ISIS. They are Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, and they've been asking the United States for help. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman is the Kurdistan Regional Government's representative to the United States, and she's in our studios. Good morning.
BAYAN SAMI ABDUL RAHMAN: Good morning.
INSKEEP: What do you need from the United States, if anything, that you're not getting?
RAHMAN: We are getting a great deal from the United States, and we're grateful for that. And that is one of my key messages. We're thankful to the United States. We're thankful to President Obama for standing by us when we were attacked by ISIS. What we're asking for is assistance to help our peshmerga forces to continue that fight. And the biggest problem that we face right now is our big economic financial crisis. And this is where we need the assistance of the United States.
INSKEEP: So you have economic trouble as well as military trouble. I've been interested in reading the accounts of fighting from northern Iraq. Of course, the U.S. provides air support, but you also hear the Kurdish forces described as lightly-armed as compared to ISIS on the ground. Is that true?
RAHMAN: It is true. It's unfortunate that even though the Kurdish peshmerga are part of Iraq's defense system, we haven't really been equipped and trained to the same degree as the Iraqi forces. That's now changing thanks to the U.S.-led coalition. But really what we're - the problem that we're facing today is not just the issue of weapons. It's really very basic - we have a financial crisis. We're not able to pay salaries on time. So we have peshmerga forces fighting at the front, they go home, they realize that their families haven't received their paychecks for three months, and they're struggling. And I think that's very demoralizing for our soldiers. But they also need what I call nonlethal equipment - so equipment to help with unexploded devices. They need winterization - by that I mean boots, helmets, clothing for winter. It's basic stuff that we need now because of the lack of financial wherewithal that we have missed now.
INSKEEP: Do you essentially need the U.S. government to write you a check?
RAHMAN: That would be great, but I don't think U.S. taxpayers would be very happy with that. I think we need to recognize that it's in the mutual interest of the United States and Kurdistan and Iraq to support us, whether that's in cash - of course we welcome that - but also in kind. As I said, we need equipment. It's not just weapons. It's training. We're getting that, we're grateful. But it's the very basics that our peshmerga need. But I should also mention that not only we have a financial crisis, we're fighting ISIS, extremism and a murderous organization. We're also taking care of close to 2 million displaced people and refugees. That's a huge responsibility.
INSKEEP: May I ask also - because, of course, Kurdistan is its own region, there are always questions about whether Kurds would at some point devolve away from Iraq, declare independence from Iraq. Has this conflict driven you closer to or further from the central government?
Just about 30 seconds here, I'm sad to say.
RAHMAN: OK, well, I don't know if we're closer to or farther. We're closer in that we have a common enemy, and everybody's priority is to defeat ISIS. In other ways, you know, Baghdad is struggling. It's not necessarily their fault. Iraq is facing enormous difficulties. But what unites us is our willingness to fight ISIS and to be a strong ally to the United States.
INSKEEP: Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Kurdish Regional Government representative to the U.S. Thanks very much.
RAHMAN: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, sometime this evening, President Obama will declare the state of the union strong. Odds are the television ratings will not be. But this is still a chance for the president to make his case, as NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: The White House will try to offset the shrinking television audience for tonight's speech by using every tool in its digital toolkit - Twitter, YouTube, even Snapchat. Obama spent much of the weekend honing the message of tonight's speech. And he's expected to keep polishing right up to the last minute.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "THE PRESIDENT PREVIEWS HIS LAST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS")
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It's my last one. And as I'm writing, I keep thinking about the road that we've traveled together these past seven years - the people I've met, the stories that you've shared, the remarkable things you've done to make change happen.
HORSLEY: Obama plans to set an optimistic tone, talking about the five-and-a-half million jobs added in the last two years and the more-than-17 million people who got health insurance. That's in sharp contrast to the picture painted by Republican presidential candidates. On NBC's "Meet the Press," White House Chief of Staff Dennis McDonough accused Republicans of, quote, "running down America."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
DENNIS MCDONOUGH: I don't really get it. What I see is an America that's surging - 292,000 new jobs just the other day, the fastest reduction in unemployment in more than three decades over the last two years, and the biggest job growth in two years since the 1990s, when there also happened to be a Democrat in the White House.
HORSLEY: GOP candidate Donald Trump appeared on the same program and offered a very different view.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MEET THE PRESS")
DONALD TRUMP: Our economy is doing horribly. And you take a look at that jobs report. The jobs report is fiction. You have 60, 70, 80 million people out there that want to work that aren't getting jobs.
HORSLEY: Republicans are even more critical of Obama's handling of foreign policy, where the president typically gets his lowest marks in public opinion polls. On the stump, Jeb Bush argues that disapproval should also extend to Obama's would-be successor, Hillary Clinton.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEB BUSH: Who can seriously argue that America and our friends are safer today than in 2009, when the president and Secretary Clinton - the storied team of rivals - took office, so eager to be the history-makers, they failed to be the peacemakers.
HORSLEY: With Republicans controlling both chambers in Congress, the White House sees only a few chances for legislative movement this year - mostly on criminal justice reform and ratification of the Asia-Pacific trade deal. Instead of the usual laundry list of programs he wants passed, Obama plans to stress what he sees as the big challenges facing the country, and the big opportunity to confront those challenges together.
(SOUNDBITE OF YOUTUBE VIDEO, "THE PRESIDENT PREVIEWS HIS LAST STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS")
OBAMA: That's what makes America great - our capacity to change for the better; our ability to come together as one American family and pull ourselves closer to the America we believe in.
HORSLEY: Watching the speech from the First Lady's box will be two people who supported Obama in his first White House bid seven years ago - a hotel security director and Vietnam veteran whose military patch Obama carried throughout the campaign, and the South Carolina County Councilwoman who coined what became his unofficial slogan - fired up, ready to go. These two are living reminders of the grassroots enthusiasm that fueled Obama's unlikely rise to the White House. In recalling that first campaign, though, they also may illustrate how much the fire has burned down as Obama gets ready to go in just over a year. Scott Horsley, NPR News, the White House.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
One of Europe's oldest monarchies is experiencing something entirely new. Yesterday, Princess Cristina of Spain went on trial for tax fraud. She is the sister of King Felipe, and she is the first member of Spain's royal family to face criminal prosecution ever. Lauren Frayer reports on what Spaniards think of their princess in the dock.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Spain's hilltop royal palace towers over working-class barrios on the west side of Madrid. The area is home to Magdalena and Margarita Rodriguez Prado, two sisters in their late 60s. I found them huddled under a wall-mounted TV in their local chocolate-and-churros shop, glued to footage of Princess Cristina's trial.
MARGARITA PRADO: (Speaking Spanish).
FRAYER: "I think she's a good person, but my God, the mess she's gotten herself into," Margarita says. Her sister Magdalena chimes in.
MAGDALENA PRADO: (Speaking Spanish).
FRAYER: "It's such a shame. I'd like to think she's not guilty because I love the royals, and I love Spain," she says. "And we remember their beautiful wedding." That royal wedding in 1997...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FRAYER: ...When Princess Cristina married a dashing athlete she'd met at the Atlanta Olympics earlier. The groom caressed the princess's face at the altar of Barcelona's cathedral. Magdalena and Margarita still remember and still swoon.
MAGDALENA PRADO: (Laughter).
FRAYER: But fast-forward nearly two decades...
JOSE CASTRO: (Speaking Spanish).
FRAYER: ...And her throne has become a wooden bench in the defendants' dock as a judge reads out charges. The princess and her husband are on trial, accused of embezzling 6-and-a-half million dollars of public funds through a supposedly nonprofit sports foundation they ran together. Cristina is charged with tax fraud, her husband with worse - money laundering and forgery. Cristina is the king's sister and first member of the Spanish royal family ever to face trial. Her fall from grace coincided with the economic crisis here and the rise of public resentment.
JULIA MAMPASO: My country is broke. I have millions of people in the last years that are jobless.
FRAYER: Julia Mampaso, who also lives in the shadow of the royal palace, is among the more than 1 in 5 Spaniards who's still unemployed. She says the monarchy embodies the lavish lifestyle Spaniards romanticized during the economic boom years and then suddenly found repugnant when they lost their jobs.
MAMPASO: I really think it's a joke because the image that this gives - it's horrible. The law should be for all and absolutely strict. Doesn't matter who you are.
FRAYER: Cristina's trial could be the biggest challenge to the Spanish monarchy's legitimacy - even worse than her father Juan Carlos' luxury elephant-hunting trip to Africa while so many Spaniards were unemployed. His popularity plummeted, and he abdicated in 2014. The poor economy here made authorities double their efforts to go after tax fraudsters. There was so much public anger, and the government needed the money, says attorney Ignacio Sanchez, a white-collar crime expert.
IGNACIO SANCHEZ: The tax agency started to be more aggressive. They put more enforcement. And there was, like, a political decision to fight against tax fraud.
FRAYER: And that's what ensnared Cristina. Her trial is being held on the Spanish island of Majorca, the source of the public funds that disappeared. The court sits a stone's throw from one of the royal palaces where Cristina used to vacation - and also from the local prison where she could end up for eight years if convicted. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Madrid.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's go right to Istanbul now. There was a deadly explosion there this morning. It happened one of Turkey's most famous tourist neighborhoods, not far from the Blue Mosque. Turkish officials say the death toll as of right now stands at 10. NPR's Peter Kenyon went to the area of the explosion shortly after it occurred, and he joins us on the line. And Peter, just tell us what we know at this point.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Well, this morning I was at home, and I heard the explosion. I didn't recognize it for an explosion at the time. It's a really windy, blustery day here, and at first I thought something big had toppled over. But quickly the news spread from Sultanahmet - that's the neighborhood where all the tourist landmarks are, and that's where it happened. I got to the scene. The police had cordoned off the blast site. But evidence was showing up hundreds of yards away. A shop owner - restaurant worker - told - showed me some shrapnel that had landed at his feet at least 200 yards from the scene. And then I ran into Johnny Green. He's a Briton who says he'd stepped out of the Blue Mosque with two friends seconds before the blast happened. Here's how he described the moment of the blast.
JOHNNY GREEN: We'd come out of the Blue Mosque and we were walking onto this boulevard. We were just on the corner - just out of sight - so we heard it rather than saw. Then people were just, you know, running in every direction. Some people were running towards the action to help, and other people were just fleeing. So it was very much that, and we were sort of caught between a rock and a hard place.
KENYON: Green is actually a photojournalist. He was on his way to Africa on another project and decided just to stop in and see the mosque during his layover. He told his two friends, well, we'll certainly remember this stopover.
GREENE: Yeah, I can imagine. And this is an area, would you say, Peter, where there are a lot of Western tourists gathered quite often. I mean, it makes me wonder if tourists - if Westerners - might have been targeted, and of course, also who was responsible here.
KENYON: Yeah, this is the heart of Istanbul's very busy tourist sector - the Blue Mosque, the Haga Sophia, Topkapi Palace. It's always got tourists around - less in January than July, but still. And in terms of responsibility, there's no claim. Past attacks - there was a double suicide bombing in Ankara blamed on a Turk and a Syrian who had both been influenced by ISIS, we're told. There was an explosion at the second airport here in Istanbul. There have been some questions of whether that was Kurdish related. But basically, folks here in Istanbul have been on edge for weeks, wondering if something was going to blow up here.
GREENE: All right, we'll be following this closely. That's NPR's Peter Kenyon speaking to us from Istanbul where an explosion at a popular tourist area has killed at least 10 people. Peter, thank you.
KENYON: You're welcome.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
An explosion has killed as many as 10 people in Istanbul. This took place in one of Turkey's most famous tourist neighborhoods near the Blue Mosque. Let's try and sort out what happened with NPR's Peter Kenyon, who is based in Istanbul, and he's on the line. Peter, take us through the morning there.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Well, this was a sizable explosion. I heard it in my apartment. And that's more than three miles from the scene. It's a really windy day here on the Bosphorus. So at first, I thought something had just crashed and toppled over. But then we got the news reports from Sultan Ahmed. That's that iconic neighborhood in the old city. And that's where the blast took place. And when I got there, police had cordoned off the site. But I ran into a shop owner, who was picking up bits of shrapnel at his place, 200 yards away from the blast site. And then we ran into a Britain, Johnny Green (ph). He'd been inside the Blue Mosque with two friends. And he had just stepped outside seconds before the explosion happened. Here's how he described that moment.
JOHNNY GREEN: We'd come out of the Blue Mosque and were just walking onto this boulevard. We had just turned the corner, just out of sight. So we heard it rather than saw. Then people were just, you know, running in every direction. Some people were running towards the action to help. And other people were just fleeing. So it was very much there, and we were sort of caught between a rock and a hard place.
KENYON: Now, he's actually a photojournalist. But he wasn't there on assignment. He's on a stopover. He was on his way to Africa for a different project. And he said to his two friends, well, we'll certainly never forget this stopover.
GREENE: Yeah, I can imagine that. Well, Peter, we've now heard, it sounds like, from Turkey's president. What did he have to say about this?
KENYON: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the initial security evaluation suggests it was a suicide bomber linked to Syria. Now, I thought I heard him call the bomber a Syrian national. But we're still trying to confirm that. There have been cases of Turks traveling to Syria and returning to carry out attacks. But in any case, there is a Syria connection according to the president. And he went on to say that Turkey's the number one terrorist target in the region and is fighting all groups simultaneously. And by that, he means not just the Islamic State but Kurdish militants, radical leftists and others. Now, if there is this Syria connection to this blast, that would certainly suggest ISIS or another radical group would be high on the list of suspects there.
GREENE: And just - you mentioned a few landmarks in Istanbul, the Bosphorus, you know, the famous waterway that goes through the city. The old city, you mentioned. For people who don't know the city well, just sort of place us at the Blue Mosque. What kind of area is this?
KENYON: Well, this is the heart of old Istanbul, old Constantinople, home of all the empires throughout the centuries - the Ottomans and the Byzantines, etcetera. The Blue Mosque is there, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace. The area is just crammed with tourists almost all the time - slightly less maybe now in the middle of winter than in summer. But even so, we are already getting reports that there were Germans, Norwegians, possibly Asian tourists also among the wounded. And President Erdogan says both foreigners and Turks were among the dead.
GREENE: And we should say this is a city that has had its share of recent terror attacks. This is not new, sadly.
KENYON: No, there was a very bad double suicide bombing in Ankara in October that left over a hundred people dead. Officials have blamed a Turk and a Syrian, who both were in Syria and influenced by ISIS, we're told. Then, at Istanbul's second airport, there was an explosion that killed a cleaning woman. There may be a Kurdish link to that, but that's not conclusive. But basically, the city has been on edge for months now. And everyone has just been waiting to see what would happen if an attack would happen here. And now it appears one has.
GREENE: OK, a story we'll be following all morning. That's NPR's Peter Kenyon reporting for us from Istanbul. Peter, thanks a lot.
KENYON: Thanks, David.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
A large explosion in a tourist district in Istanbul, Turkey has killed as many as 10 people. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed it on a suicide bomber with links to Syria. And Turkey's deputy prime minister said most of the dead were foreigners. We reached Erdal Karatas (ph). He is a waiter at Pasha Restaurant (ph). That's a restaurant just about 200 yards from the site of the blast in the old city of Istanbul. Thanks for joining us.
ERDAL KARATAS: Good morning, hello.
GREENE: This must have been a very frightening morning. Let me just first ask, are you and your colleagues at the restaurant all OK?
KARATAS: Yes, yes, we're OK, really. I was here in the morning. And of course, we were working. And we tried to take customers here, like, in our restaurant. And it was 20 past 10, I hear something, like, of course, bomb. And of course, I was scared first. And I see, like, some pieces come near me - you know, like, two pieces actually.
GREENE: You said pieces of something. Do you think these were, like, metal pieces of the bomb that were - of the explosion, from the explosion, coming into the restaurant?
KARATAS: Actually, it was - I was outside. And I see two pieces come near my, like, shoes actually. I see under my shoes, like - but I thought maybe not the pieces of a bomb, but I showed the guys here. And they told me maybe it's bomb. That's it.
GREENE: Who do you serve in the restaurant? Is it mostly tourists? Or is it...
KARATAS: Tourists, yeah - tourists and little resident (ph) too.
GREENE: And so this is a neighborhood where many tourists, like Westerners and others, often are visiting the city.
KARATAS: Yeah, we have, like, we have U.S. tourists too. We have Italy and France, Spanish, all, like, everywhere - Arabic. We do our best for them, really.
GREENE: I know there's a lot of - a lot of facts that we have to sort out this morning. But are you worried that tourists were being targeted in this explosion this morning?
KARATAS: First of all, of course, I tell you, before two - we're not happy about this. But I think after, like, one month or after two weeks, everybody will forget this because we've seen France too and other countries too - too much we heard about this in all country. But they forget all. I think in Turkey, also, they will forget. But in Turkey, it wasn't too much people died. We've seen France, too much people died. Of course, we're not happy about all this too. And I wish all be OK for Turkey. We want to all people to come to enjoy in Turkey - everywhere.
GREENE: I hear music now. Is - are things back to...
KARATAS: Yeah, we - because we have little customers, and we opened for them.
GREENE: So the restaurant is back open again.
KARATAS: Yeah, it's open now. We serve food and drinks. We wait for customers. I wish they would come.
GREENE: Mr. Karatas, thank you very much for talking to us. And we hope everybody's OK.
KARATAS: You're welcome. You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're about to meet people who served in the United States armed forces but have now been thrown out of the United States. They call themselves banished veterans. They are people who enlisted in the military even though they were not U.S. citizens.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And you can do that. You can enlist with a green card. In fact, military service speeds up the process of becoming citizens for many immigrants.
INSKEEP: But for those who have not yet completed the citizenship process, the rules for non-citizens still apply, and that means they can be deported if they get into trouble.
NPR's Quil Lawrence met some of these veterans and found that in Tijuana, Mexico.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: Anyone who joined the Marines in 2007 knew the score. That was the year the death toll from Iraq and Afghanistan peaked.
DANIEL TORRES: Oh, yeah. When I enlisted, you know, I was talking to a recruiter and he's, like, well, you're going into the infantry, so you're going to deploy. And you're OK with that? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. I can do it. I'll do it, you know. Young, dumb, ready-to-go.
LAWRENCE: Daniel Torres says his recruiter in Idaho needed numbers. They rushed through the formalities - Social Security number, high school diploma.
TORRES: Well, what about your birth certificate? I'm from Mexico. He was like OK, well, come back Monday (laughter).
LAWRENCE: Torres came back Monday with a U.S. birth certificate. It was fake but for a good cause, he thought.
TORRES: When I enlisted, I didn't just want to be another Mexican living in the U.S. I wanted to be able to say that I had done something for the country.
LAWRENCE: Daniel Torres spent 2009 in Iraq, outside Fallujah. The next year, his unit geared up for Helmand, Afghanistan. And then Torres lost his wallet. When he tried to get his IDs replaced, his story came apart. Instead of going to Afghanistan, Torres wound up in Tijuana, Mexico, unable to return to the country for which he fought.
MARGARET STOCK: Many people are unaware that the United States deports military veterans.
LAWRENCE: Margaret Stock is a former Army lieutenant colonel and an immigration lawyer. She says immigrants have been enlisting since the country began. She mentions a scene in the movie "Gangs Of New York."
STOCK: The Irish are getting off the boat, and they're being sworn into the Union Army, and they're also being sworn in as American citizens.
LAWRENCE: Naturalization used to be part of basic training, but the laws changed, Stock says. And a lot of green card holders went to Iraq and Afghanistan without becoming citizens. She says the Obama White House has been aggressive about deporting immigrants who commit crimes, even veterans, but no one knows an exact number. It's rare enough that even Marine Daniel Torres says he'd never heard of it.
TORRES: When I got to Tijuana, I thought my case was unique. It wasn't until I found this place that I realized that this is a bigger issue.
LAWRENCE: This place is called The Bunker. Next to a tire shop in east Tijuana, a huge American flag hangs in a glass storefront labeled deported veteran support house.
HECTOR BARAJAS: OK, sounds good.
LAWRENCE: Hector Barajas sits behind a desk there most days, networking. Deported vets have no access to VA care or other benefits, so Barajas tries to connect them with help. He started informally about five years ago.
BARAJAS: What happened was is whenever they would deport any veterans, they would usually end up in my department. Pretty much if they needed a place to stay, they would come to me, you know (laughter).
LAWRENCE: That was the system?
BARAJAS: Well, yeah. That's the system we had.
LAWRENCE: Barajas served five and a half years in the Army. He left in 2001, addicted to drugs and alcohol. Soon after, he was involved in a shooting. No one was hurt, but he did prison time, then authorities drove him to the border and dropped him in Mexico. Barajas spent time on the street and in shelters. By the time he set up The Bunker, he knew what he was doing.
BARAJAS: There's a system for everything from somebody coming in that they have to sign in. They have to go get a medical report. You know, the counselors that come here - there's - you know, if you want to run a men's home then you have to have some kind of system for everything.
LAWRENCE: That includes drug rehab. When the guys who come to him need to clean up, Barajas sends them across town to another deported vet.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Spanish).
LAWRENCE: In warehouse a few miles away, the band opens services at the Cruising for Jesus mission of Tijuana.
ROBERT SALAZAR: Amen. (Speaking Spanish).
LAWRENCE: Pastor Robert Salazar uses a lot of car metaphors in his sermons. A few classic low-rider cars and trucks flank the pulpit inside the church. Salazar's church also runs a men's drug rehab shelter. He's happy to help deported veterans sent here from The Bunker because he's walked in their shoes. Salazar was a U.S. Marine in the mid-1990s.
SALAZAR: Most of the time that I did spend overseas was, you know, partying and drinking. That's kind of how I dealt with being away from home. And I got out of the Marine Corps - I got out in '96, and I think I was already addicted, a full-time addict by '98, '99.
LAWRENCE: Salazar got convicted for robbery and then deported in 2005, dropped at the Tijuana border at 3 a.m.
SALAZAR: Like I tell everybody - they're like, well, you're from here. I say I hadn't been here since I was 3 years old. You might as well have dropped me off in China. That's how foreign this place was to me.
LAWRENCE: He did all right, though. Salazar got religion and started this church. His wife came down and joined him. Ten years later, he says he wants to stay. He'd just like to be able to visit his family back in California.
SALAZAR: But I think I should have the right to go and visit my mother. My mother is 76 years old with failing health. My daughter now is a Marine. She's been in the Marine Corps for nine months. I served in the Marine Corps. I think I should be able to go watch my daughter graduate from boot camp. My son's getting ready to sign up in the Army. All my kids - you know, my son was born in a Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, Calif.
STOCK: Most of these folks would never have gotten deported if they had become citizens before they left the military. We shouldn't be treating them like this.
LAWRENCE: Margaret Stock, the immigration lawyer, says the rules about deportation are confusing and not evenly applied. Congress could fix that, but Washington is gridlocked, and immigration is now chained to election-year politics. She's has some of the deported back in Tijuana they be able to get their cases reconsidered.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah, sure (laughter).
LAWRENCE: Back at The Bunker, Daniel Torres, who served in Fallujah, says he's still a loyal Marine.
TORRES: It's really hard to say - well, I deserve to be in the United States. Yeah, I deserve to be in the United States. We're not just some foreigners that got deported. We feel like Americans that have been banished, you know, that are in exile from the country that we love the most.
LAWRENCE: In the meantime, Torres is working at a call center as a telemarketer for a few dollars a day and taking college courses in Tijuana. He wants to become a lawyer, hopefully back in the USA.
Quil Lawrence, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK, let's talk of a different kind of performance, on the soccer field. Commentator Frank Deford is not the biggest soccer fan. It is not now America's game. Yet, Deford finds something in soccer that is impressively democratic.
FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: Much as we talk about certain financial institutions that may be too big to fail, you can be absolutely certain that the one organization in the whole wide world which truly fits the definition is FIFA, the grubby behemoth that runs soccer. Too many international sports associations are rife with corruption. But the graft exposed at FIFA beggars the imagination. Americans, of course, have virtually no interest in FIFA, for most of us are athletic aliens caring not a whit for Earth's game. Sorry, but I must count myself among those who do not find soccer as entertaining as our own favorite sports. I've always thought it was perfectly idiotic to call an exercise which you perform with your feet, the beautiful game. But at a time like now, when American football and basketball overlap, I'm forced to recognize the special beauty in soccer. I'm talking about the men's game here, but it applies to the women's as well, that soccer is physically democratic. The typical American boy simply can't aspire to succeed at the team games that he grows up loving. Our favorite sports are effectively populated by freaks. The average NBA player stands 6-foot-7. And for all the talk about concussions, obesity may be the greater football concern. More than 400 NFL players top out above 300 pounds. And a quick word about baseball players, too - no, they're not gargantuan creatures. But success depends so much on hand-eye coordination, especially as pitchers throw faster all the time, that it's only a small subset of even fine athletes with extraordinary eyesight who can hope to master the game. Ask Michael Jordan. So yes, while soccer's foot fancy is a bizarre perversion of what sets human beings apart from dumber beasts, its beauty is that normal-sized people can play it. The average major league footballer stands less than 6 feet tall. If we Americans continue to demand larger monsters for our favorite sports, soccer's appeal must increase. I'm sorry. While I can't accept that the game itself is beautiful, the opportunity that soccer provides the world over is lovely. And it deserves an honorable stewardship that lives up to the destiny that it offers.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene. You know, I'm hosting this week from here at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. And that means seeing many great colleagues who are out here. And it includes NPR TV critic Eric Deggans, who is in town for the TV Critic Association's Winter Press Tour in LA. And he's with me in the studio here. Hey, Eric.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hey, Dave.
GREENE: So you and I were just talking about some of the stuff we should expect in 2016 when it comes to television. I figured maybe we should just not keep this to ourselves (laughter).
DEGGANS: I know.
GREENE: We should let our listeners in on your advice.
DEGGANS: There's so much great stuff out there.
GREENE: Yeah?
DEGGANS: Let's talk about it.
GREENE: Well, a big moment for "Sesame Street," - right? - I mean, decades that show on PBS and a show so important to so many kids. The show is moving and debuting on HBO. And I wonder, are we going to see a difference?
DEGGANS: I think we'll see a difference. I saw a difference in quality. It feels like the production is sharper. It feels as if the technology is sharper. The special effects are better. We see the legs of Muppets (laughter).
GREENE: OK.
DEGGANS: In the way that - we used to see it before, maybe it was a little, you know, less advanced.
GREENE: Wow, that's a nice tease. We see some legs of the Muppets.
DEGGANS: (Laughter) We see the legs of Muppets.
GREENE: Puppets showing a little leg.
DEGGANS: And what's also great is the people who had been making "Sesame Street" for PBS had always struggled with budgeting issues and funding. And now there's a sense that they have the kind of money to do the kind of show that you'd want to see for "Sesame Street." There's a sense that they're pulling out the stops. And these episodes will eventually make their way to PBS so that people can see them if they don't have HBO.
GREENE: OK, so based on the preview you've done, parents can rest assured that the sensibility of the show and sort of the culture of the show is still there.
DEGGANS: Yeah, I think parents and kids will really like it.
GREENE: Another HBO series we were talking about - it's new. It's "Vinyl." That's what it's called. Just looking at the executive producers - Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger - I mean, that's a combination.
DEGGANS: You've got to love it. I mean, you know, Scorsese's known for using classic rock in a lot of his films very effectively. So it makes sense that these two guys would team up to tell this story about the record industry in the '70s, when the record industry was really at its height.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VINYL")
BOBBY CANNAVALE: (As Richie Finestra) I started this company from nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Right, and now we're selling it.
CANNAVALE: (As Richie Finestra) I'm talking about our dreams, man. You don't understand.
RAY RAMANO: (As Zak Yankovich) OK, here's what I do understand, Richie. You're high.
CANNAVALE: (As Richie Finestra) Yeah, I was - so what?
GREENE: The '70s, a time when there was actually a lot of vinyl.
DEGGANS: Exactly (laughter). Well, there's - vinyl's coming back.
GREENE: Yeah, it is.
DEGGANS: Mick Jagger was talking to his critics. And he said, you know, he doesn't play vinyl, but his kids love it.
GREENE: There you go.
DEGGANS: So there you go (laughter).
GREENE: That tells you something. Eric, we have to say here, you're into superheroes, right?
DEGGANS: I am a comic book geek.
GREENE: OK. Well, this is why...
DEGGANS: Card-carrying, certified comic book geek.
GREENE: Nice, this is why you're into this new show on The CW, right? It's over on network TV, "Legends Of Tomorrow."
DEGGANS: "Legends Of Tomorrow," they basically took a bunch of characters that we've seen in storylines in "The Flash" and "Arrow," Hawkman and Hawkgirl. And they've spun them off into this special show that involves time travel. A guy from the future comes back, grabs a bunch of these heroes and takes them on an adventure to take down this immortal, big bad villain. This show is executive produced by Greg Berlanti. This guy, I like to call him the David E. Kelley of superhero shows.
GREENE: OK.
DEGGANS: David E. Kelley, you might remember, is the executive producer who created "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice" and "Boston Legal."
GREENE: Addictive shows, yeah.
DEGGANS: Tons of shows for television at one time, and that's something that Greg's doing too with "Supergirl" on CBS. He's doing "Arrow" and "The Flash" on The CW besides "Legends Of Tomorrow." And he's really figured out how to translate these characters into compelling television.
GREENE: Sounds good, and before we go, we should say, you and I are both card-carrying karaoke fans.
DEGGANS: You know it.
GREENE: I'm hoping that we can find a time for that while we're out here in LA together.
DEGGANS: (Laughter) I'm taking you down, Greene. I'm taking you down.
GREENE: I know you will. You always do. It's NPR TV critic and karaoke star Eric Deggans. Thanks, Eric.
DEGGANS: Bye.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The president of the United States delivered a speech last night that was both sweeping and relaxed. He offered a State of the Union address that mixed a long-term vision with the defense of his record and a few snaps at opponents. At one point, he told lawmakers that, in this economy, the only people who are going to work the same job with benefits for 30 years were the people there in the House Chamber with him. President Obama offered a vision very different from that of Republicans running to replace him. Here is NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: This was President Obama's last State of the Union, the last big set-piece speech most Americans will hear him deliver. And he wanted his take on the state of the country to prevail. He started with what he called a basic fact - the United States of America, he said, now has the strongest, most durable economy in the world. He cited 14 million new jobs, unemployment cut in half, the best year ever for the auto industry.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction.
LIASSON: But the president was quick to acknowledge that most Americans aren't as bullish as he is. Two-thirds of them tell pollsters they think the country's on the wrong track, and his own job approval ratings have been stuck in the mid-to-low 40s.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: And the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the great recession hit, changes that have not let up.
LIASSON: Technology and globalization have given workers less leverage for a raise and companies less loyalty to their communities, he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top.
LIASSON: Mr. Obama's speech was part defense and part rebuttal to the chorus of Republican candidates painting a gloomy picture of American strength at home and abroad.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: All the talk of America's economic decline is political hot air. Well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and America getting weaker. Let me tell you something. The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth, period.
(APPLAUSE)
LIASSON: The president vigorously defended his approach to terrorism, taking aim at Chris Christie's declaration of a third world war.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: But as we focus on destroying ISIL, over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands. Masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages - they pose an enormous danger to civilians. They have to be stopped. But they do not threaten our national existence. That - that is the story ISIL wants to tell. That's the kind of propaganda they use to recruit.
LIASSON: And the president explained his refusal to call ISIS Islamic terrorists.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: We sure don't need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is somehow representative of one of the world's largest religions.
LIASSON: Instead, we should call them what they are, he said - killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out and destroyed. And he called out Ted Cruz - without naming him - for advocating indiscriminate bombing of ISIL-held areas.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: The world will look to us to help solve these problems. And our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV soundbite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world stage.
LIASSON: And he seemed to be speaking directly to Donald Trump when he said American leadership depends on the power of our example.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: And that's why we need to reject any politics - any politics - that targets people because of race or religion.
LIASSON: That's not political correctness, the president said, it's a matter of understanding what makes us strong. This was Mr. Obama's valedictory State of the Union, and he was reflective and a little self-critical.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: It's one of the few regrets of my presidency that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide. And I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.
LIASSON: Mea culpas were a theme last night. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley delivered the Republican response. After a quick summary of the president's feelings, she said we need to be honest with each other.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKKI HALEY: We as Republicans need to own that truth. We need to recognize our contributions to the erosion of the public trust in America's leadership. We need to accept that we've played a role in how and why our government is broken.
LIASSON: Haley also shared the president's desire to push back against Donald Trump, who continues to lead the Republican race.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HALEY: During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.
LIASSON: Haley has been one of the Republicans being talked up for vice president. She may have helped her prospects last night, though probably not for a Trump ticket. President Obama takes off today for a two-day trip to Nebraska and Louisiana. He'll be trying to give his last State of the Union as long a shelf life as possible. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And let's talk more about the speech now with Mary Stuckey. She teaches political science and communications at Georgia State University. She's also author of a book called "Political Rhetoric." Professor Stuckey, good morning to you.
MARY STUCKEY: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
GREENE: Well, thanks for coming on. I wonder, as you listen to this speech - not many specifics from President Obama. Is that what you would expect from a final act like this?
STUCKEY: It is what I expected. And this is because, at this point in his term, it's, in many ways, more about the large narrative - the meta-narrative - than it is about the small details of policy because this was Obama as party leader going into an election. And what he's doing is setting the large frame for the conversation that's going to happen during the campaign to come.
GREENE: Interesting. So you're saying this was very much about helping his party in this election year. What is something you heard that sort of fits into that narrative?
STUCKEY: Well, a lot of what he talked about - about we can make choices, right? So he gave us four big questions that he thought the nation had to answer. So he sets up the questions, and then he tells us implicitly how to answer them. We are not the people who believe in the politics of fear. And the vision therefore implied is much closer to the one offered by the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. What he really did was offer us a vision of national identity, right? And the end of the speech was sort of signature Obama eloquence on who we should be as a people.
GREENE: With these four questions he said the country needs to answer in the speech, were there some echoes there with President Roosevelt and the four freedoms he brought up - freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear. Was that deliberate?
STUCKEY: I have to think that that echo was a little bit deliberate. Certainly the Four Freedoms Speech is the only State of the Union address ever to make the list of the top-100 speeches of the 20th century, and there's a reason for that. And the four freedoms, of course, have gotten a lot of play recently, as well. But it was an artful echo because it was an updated echo, and it was one that speaks to our time. And if you can get people to buy into the big, expansive vision, then the rest of the politics becomes easier.
GREENE: President Obama said that a president with a last name of Roosevelt or Lincoln would have been better able to heal the political divide than he has been. Was that a significant admission of failure on the president's part?
STUCKEY: I think it's a sadness for him that the opposition to him has been so entrenched and so obdurate. But, you know, Lincoln talked about healing the nation's wounds. But those wounds festered for a very long time. So I think he's making a nod there that he's not claiming the kind of greatness we attribute to Lincoln. But it's also true that we have always been, in many ways, a divided nation. And that - that is something that we have to live with and we have to accommodate or, you know, the consequences of that are violent and bloody and not at all good.
GREENE: Mary Stuckey is a professor of communications and political science at Georgia State University. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
STUCKEY: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
There was much potential for trouble - grave trouble - when Iran detained 10 U.S. Navy personnel in the Persian Gulf yesterday. But we're now told those American sailors have been released. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: The 10 sailors - nine men and a woman - were detained after apparently drifting into Iran's territorial waters. The incident held the potential for a dangerous escalation in tensions between two longtime adversaries. Republicans in Congress spoke of kidnapping and a hostile enemy act, while hardliners in Iran bragged about teaching a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress, which is pushing new sanctions against Iran. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter singled out Secretary of State John Kerry's diplomacy for praise, saying his engagement with Iranian counterparts helped secure the sailors' police. The Pentagon issued a statement saying there's no indication that the sailors were mistreated. The statement did not clarify how the two American boats came to be seized by the Iranian Navy, saying an investigation will be launched to determine what happened. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A glimpse now of a besieged Syrian city. Government forces this week finally allowed some food, medical and other aid into Madaya. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had been slowly starving that Syrian city to death. Pawel Krzysiek of the Red Cross was on the aid convoy.
Welcome to the program.
PAWEL KRZYSIEK: Hello.
INSKEEP: What did you see in Madaya?
KRZYSIEK: Well, when we were entering with the convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the U.N., when the first trucks actually were entering Madaya, we've seen the relief on those people's faces - relief, but also a certain degree of hesitation whether this is really happening.
INSKEEP: Did you sense that this is a city full of people? - which I ask simply because there's so many refugees. So many people may have left.
KRZYSIEK: Well, you know, we entered in the middle of the night, as did the synchronization between Madaya, Foua and Kafraya took quite a long time. So my first impression, despite, you know, the crowds, you know, on the main street, was that the city is kind of deserted. There was no electricity, so when you were looking at houses there, you could just see nothing but darkness. Yet, you knew that the people were waiting. You knew it. You heard it. The people were coming, thanking us. Some were angry that it took us so long. And of course, we cannot really blame them. On little girl came to me and said - did you bring food? You know, I was waiting so long for this food, you know. And it was this emotional punch that you get when you step out of the car.
INSKEEP: To the extent that you could see in the dark, what were the battle lines like that you crossed on the way in? Were there, for example, trench lines facing each other?
KRZYSIEK: It's very similar in all places under the siege. So you have to cross a buffer zone, usually it's a zone that has seen very, very heavy fighting. You cross couple of checkpoints and then, you know, the very last checkpoint controlled by the government forces and then you enter the town of Madaya. And you are basically there inside, surrounded by the people who are coming and really looking at you and smiling because you managed to enter, and they haven't seen anyone from outside for a very long time (laughter).
INSKEEP: What leverage finally persuaded Bashar al-Assad's government to let you in? And are they going to let you in again?
KRZYSIEK: So the humanitarian aid convoy to this Madaya is a part of a political agreement that is not between the ICRC, the SARC or the U.N. or one party or another, but it's the agreement between the two warring factions in this conflict. At the same time as Madaya, the aid has to also be delivered to two other besieged towns in the north in the Idlib Governorate. Those towns are in very dire needs of assistance. And they are besieged by an opposition group, so, in fact, this is the agreement that dictates the delivery of humanitarian aid here.
INSKEEP: So, this agreement also will allow the aid to continue to flow?
KRZYSIEK: We certainly hope so. We managed to deliver only, let's say, a first round of humanitarian aid. We are hoping right now that in the coming days we will get more aid through to those three besieged towns on both sides of the front lines.
INSKEEP: Pawel Krzysiek, thank you very much.
KRZYSIEK: Thank you.
INSKEEP: He's with the Red Cross.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Early this morning, 180 Cuban migrants arrived by plane in El Salvador. They were loaded onto buses and then headed for the United States. They had been stranded in Costa Rica to the south since last November. That's when Costa Rica's neighbor Nicaragua closed its border to them, blocking the land route north. Thousands of Cuban migrants are still stuck in shelters in Costa Rica, hoping for a way out. Joining us from El Salvador now is NPR's Carrie Kahn.
Good morning, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: Just tell us about to scene if you can. I know you were at the airport this morning when these planes arrived. Who was coming off the plane, and what was the mood?
KAHN: Well, there are 180 Cubans, as you said, and they come from all walks of life. Many are engineers, teachers, professionals.
I talked with this one Cuban engineer as he left Costa Rica and again when he landed in El Salvador. We weren't allowed - authorities wouldn't let us talk with them directly. He was on the bus, and I was outside the airport on the sidewalk. He said he's just thrilled to finally be headed to the U.S., and he said when the plane took off in Costa Rica, everyone on board broke into applause.
These Cubans have been following this well-worn path to the U.S. And what they do is they fly to Ecuador, which didn't require visas for Cubans and then they travel north by land through Central America and usually just keep going to the U.S.
But last November, Nicaragua, a close ally of Raul Castro, closed the border to them, and the Cubans, nearly 8,000 of them, have been in these shelters in Costa Rica since then.
GREENE: Well Carrie, you mentioned this is a well-worn path, but a part of that path seemed to be blocked. And these migrants had to be flown to El Salvador to get to this part of the journey. I mean, who coordinated this, and who's paying for it?
KAHN: Well, for months, Costa Rica has been trying to figure out a way to let the Cubans pass and get around Nicaragua somehow. After several months of negotiations with other Central American countries and the help from the International Organization of (ph) Migration, they came up with this plan of letting the Cubans fly over Nicaragua, land in El Salvador and then ride in buses to the Guatemala-Mexico border.
And the migrants paid - each of them - paid $555 for these chartered plane flight, the bus ticket. They get food, all the visas necessary and even medical insurance. And then once they get to the Guatemala-Mexico border, they'll get a 20-day transit visa through Mexico, which they'll have to do on their own, then they just go to the U.S. border, walk across and turn themselves in. And under a long-standing policy, Cubans that make it onto U.S. soil get immediate asylum.
GREENE: Well, what do people in El Salvador think about that? I mean, I know - you know, you've done so much reporting on the surge in migration from countries in Central America. Is there any anger that - you know, a feeling that Cubans are getting special treatment?
KAHN: Definitely. There is a feel about the different ways the Cuban migrants and the Salvadoran migrants are being treated because it's so stark. You know, in the past year, 45,000 Cubans without visas have walked into the U.S. and been let in. And compare that with the average of about 2,000 Salvadorans a month deported from the U.S.
At the airport late last night, the Salvadoran foreign minister addressed this. He said the U.S. has double standards in how it treats migrants. He said the reason why his country is letting the Cubans pass through is to show others what a humane immigration policy looks like and to hopefully get the same treatment.
GREENE: All right. That's NPR's Carrie Kahn speaking to us from El Salvador, the capital of that country San Salvador, where a plane full of Cubans arrived this morning. Those Cuban migrants are on their way to the United States now. Carrie, thank you.
KAHN: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. You're never too wealthy to want a little more. Alex Ovechkin is deep into a 10-year pro hockey contract that pays $124 million. This means the Washington star has a little extra cash for Powerball tickets, and he bought some. The $1.5 billion jackpot would be more than 10 times his entire contract, never mind the expert on this program who told us the other day the odds of winning are virtually none.
You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
In his State of the Union speech last night, President Obama never said the name Donald Trump. But parts of the speech could be seen as a response to Trump. At one point, the president dismissed those who want to, quote, "slam the brakes on change promising to restore past glory." It was a rewording of Trump's slogan, make America great again. Just before last night's speech, Trump was in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Robert Siegel, co-host of NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, was with him.
ROBERT SIEGEL, BYLINE: About a thousand people packed the old West Gym on the University of Northern Iowa campus. They heard the Republican frontrunner recite a familiar litany of ways in which he says America has lost its greatness, spiced with the candidate's commentary on a few stories in the news, all of it off the cuff.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: I'll speak to you for, like, and hour, but we speak about current events. As an example, the boats got captured.
SIEGEL: The news that 10 U.S. sailors had been taken into custody by Iran broke shortly before Donald Trump spoke. There were scant details of what had happened or how the sailors might be returned, but Trump offered this judgment.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: This isn't the same country. When I hear that just happened - just happened - it literally just happened, and I think it's not so good. It's just - it's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I mean, hopefully they get released - and fast.
SIEGEL: Trump also commented on the investigation into the e-mails of the candidate he says he expects to run against in the fall.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Now, let's assume it's Hillary, even though she probably should be in prison, in all fairness.
SIEGEL: And he spoke of his immediate rival in Iowa, Ted Cruz, and his Canadian birth. Trump doesn't say that the Texas senator is constitutionally ineligible for the presidency, but he says others will.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: The Democrats are going to bring a suit. And you can't run unless you're going to be - how can you run like that? You don't even know.
SIEGEL: Trump breezed through some familiar things - the wall he says Mexico will pay for, common core and Obamacare, which he says he'll end, his support of the ethanol fuel mandate, which benefits Iowa farms, something Trump notes that Ted Cruz is against. That was about it for policy in a 40-minute speech that included seven minutes devoted to poll results. His audience included enthusiasts, who emerged even more enthusiastic, some detractors and some undecideds, like college seniors Joel West and Kyla Salzer.
JOEL WEST: He's very charismatic. Personally, I'm undecided. I like a lot of what he has to say, but I thought his speech was a little bit thing.
KYLA SALZER: He doesn't like Obamacare. Well, what's his plan otherwise, you know? I want to know - what he doesn't like, I want to know what he's going to do to change. But he addresses the people, and I think that's very important.
SIEGEL: And his message to the people of Iowa is, if the rally crowds turn into winning caucus votes, Donald Trump says he could just run the table to the Republican nomination. In Cedar Falls, Iowa, this is Robert Siegel, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And just a note to keep us up to date - Donald Trump mentioned Americans taken into custody by Iran. We have news today those 10 Americans have been freed.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR's Tamara Keith continued tracking Trump and other Republicans during and after the State of the Union speech. And, Tam, what'd they say?
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Well, Donald Trump treated tweeted during the speech. In a classic Trumpian type of tweet, he said, quote, "The SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic, very hard to watch!" On a number of occasions during his speech, President Obama alluded to Trump's rhetoric on Muslims, saying this isn't just about political correctness. And it's almost as if there was a Trump theme to the whole night because the official Republican response came from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who at one point all but called Trump out by name in her speech.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKKI HALEY: Today, we live in a time of threats like few others in recent memory. During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation.
INSKEEP: Although, when the president was speaking, he didn't just call out trump. He called out Republicans broadly for their pessimism. How did Republicans respond to that?
KEITH: Well, in short, they feel like he was being overly optimistic in his speech. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was not in Washington for the speech, said that it was less a State of the Union and more a state of denial. Sen. Marco Rubio, who was in the chamber, said the president was downplaying the threat posed by ISIS. And former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina put up a lengthy post on Facebook and said, quote, "despite his rhetoric, Americans know that our economy is lagging, our leadership in the world is waning and the very character of our nation is threatened, " which is to say the people running to replace this president were not persuaded by his speech.
INSKEEP: Are the Democrats running for president running on the president's record?
KEITH: Hillary Clinton is making an argument that she is the best person - maybe the only person - who can carry on the president's legacy, especially when it comes to gun control. The president in his speech only very briefly mentioned guns. It was a short sentence. But while the speech was underway, the Clinton campaign released a new ad, saying that she was with the president.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
HILLARY CLINTON: It's time to pick a side. Either we stand with the gun lobby or we join the president and stand up to them. I'm with him. Please join us. I'm Hillary Clinton, and I approve this message.
KEITH: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is not running as a continuation of the Obama administration. He says he wants to go further than President Obama ever tried to go. And he really is appealing to liberals in the Democratic Party, many of whom were disappointed by President Obama. So on the trail, Sanders is not as optimistic as the president on the economy.
INSKEEP: Right.
KEITH: But last night, he tweeted that it was important - the speech - quote, "it reminded us not to be afraid of change."
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks very much.
KEITH: You're welcome very much.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Some other news now - after two decades of waiting, LA is finally getting an NFL team back - maybe two. The owner of the St. Louis Rams - once the LA Rams - is building a stadium near LA and wants to move the franchise back. The NFL said yes and that the San Diego Chargers or Oakland Raiders might get to play there as well. Here's Ben Bergman from member station KPCC.
BEN BERGMAN, BYLINE: NFL owners met here in Houston for an 11-hour marathon session to hash out their differences and to once and for all decide the winner of the LA stadium race. That was St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
STAN KROENKE: We worked hard. We got a little bit lucky. And we had a lot of good people help us.
BERGMAN: Kroenke may very well have to share his $1.8 billon stadium by the time it opens in three years. Owners voted to allow the Chargers to move, too, if they want to. They have a year to decide and try to negotiate for a better stadium deal in San Diego. Chargers owner Dean Spanos sounded noncommittal.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DEAN SPANOS: This has really been excruciating for everyone. But, you know, I'm going to look at all our options.
BERGMAN: And if the Chargers don't take the LA option, the Oakland Raiders can return to LA, or the NFL gives them a $100 million consolation prize towards a new stadium if they stay in Oakland. But now, the NFL has one fan base in St. Louis very disappointed and two others in limbo. It's just the sort of situation commissioner Roger Goodell tries to avoid.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROGER GOODELL: Stability is something that we've taken a great deal of pride in - and in some ways, a bittersweet moment.
BERGMAN: But it's a sweet moment for Rams fans in LA, who saw their team leave in 1995. For NPR News, I'm Ben Bergman in Houston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Leaders of the European Union have begun wondering just what some of the union's newest members are up to. Consider Poland, which has a new government. The actions of that government are now the subject of a formal inquiry by the European Union. The European Commission, to be specific, is asking if Poland is violating the rule of law in ways that could lead to Poland losing its vote in the EU. It's the first time the EU is challenging the way that a member country governs itself. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Warsaw.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Here in the Polish Parliament, several hasty and controversial decisions by the ruling Law and Justice party triggered the diplomatic row with Brussels. EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger is one of Warsaw's toughest critics.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GUNTHER OETTINGER: (Speaking German).
NELSON: He recently told the German ARD network that the new Polish government's brand of politics is no good and warned officials they are risking their access to foreign investment. But the new Polish justice minister likened Oettinger's warnings to Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II, a not-so-subtle reference to the EU commissioner's German nationality. Polish Senator Jan Maria Jackowski, who is with the ruling Law and Justice party, was more diplomatic.
JAN MARIE JACKOWSKI: (Speaking Polish).
NELSON: He told NPR his country welcomes the opportunity to present its side today in Brussels. He and others in his party say the laws they enacted in rapid succession embrace Catholic and Polish values and demonstrate Warsaw's independence from Brussels. But the EU is concerned about what it views as the new Polish government extending its control of media here as well as its attempt to limit the power of the independent judiciary. Many critics accuse Warsaw of taking a page from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's playbook. He is also accused of curbing judicial and media freedoms and tinkering with the constitution to strengthen his party's rule.
JACKOWSKI: (Speaking Polish).
NELSON: Jackowski is open about his admiration of Orban, who the Polish senator describes as implementing sweeping reforms to undue problems created by his predecessor. But other polls are alarmed at the prospect of following the Hungarian path, including Ryszard Petru. He heads Modern, or Nowoczesna, a rising opposition party.
RYSZARD PETRU: In my view, the way the current government behaves is like an elephant in a china store. So they don't care how about how people react, what other people say, whether this is almost against the law.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in Polish).
NELSON: Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Warsaw and other Polish cities last month after the new government tried to change the makeup of the Polish Constitutional Court. Adam Bodnar is Poland's official ombudsman and is charged with protecting citizens' civil rights, which he says the new government appears determined to violate.
ADAM BODNAR: The thinking is that there should be no control of parliamentary acts adopted by the parliamentary majority.
NELSON: He says that's a problem for the EU, which expects its members to adhere to democratic principles and which came under fire for not enforcing those principles in Hungary.
BODNAR: If the European Union officials see a danger in compliance by Poland with those values, especially with the rule of law, that's their role, to react.
NELSON: Still, the ombudsman and other Polish critics say they prefer to find a solution to their political crisis here in Poland rather than in Brussels. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Warsaw.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
At long last, President Obama and congressional leaders have found something on which they agree.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's that they will not accomplish that much together this year. In his final State of the Union speech, the president left out many big proposals. Instead, he followed the approach we heard about yesterday from his former speechwriter.
GREENE: He told a story. He said he would position this nation to face big challenges in many years to come. The talk, though, took little account of this coming year, and some Republicans seem just fine with that. NPR's Ailsa Chang reports.
AILSA CHANG, BYLINE: The unspoken message that passed from the president to Republicans last night was that he and Congress will need little of each other this election year. As far as Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada was concerned, all he heard in the speech was so long.
DEAN HELLER: It was a farewell speech. That's the way I took it. I thought it was very clear that he realizes and recognizes that this is going into his eighth year, you know, that after seven years, there's not a lot that's going to be done here.
CHANG: One reason is Congress will only be in session for 80-some days before the election. Even South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley used her Republican address to focus on what lay beyond Obama.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKKI HALEY: If we held the White House, taxes would be lower for working families, and we'd put the brakes on runaway spending and debt.
CHANG: And if Republican did win the White House, many GOP lawmakers say expect a more aggressive response to the threat of ISIS. The president spoke of a patient and disciplined military strategy, words Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin scoffed at.
RON JOHNSON: We don't have a strategy for defeating ISIS, and he's just downplaying the threat. Yeah, I realize ISIS doesn't represent an existential threat to America. But, boy, they could - you know, a concerted effort by terrorists could do a great deal of economic harm.
CHANG: Not just economic harm - House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy blamed the White House for putting the safety of the entire global community at risk.
KEVIN MCCARTHY: I think when America steps back and you allow people like Iran, when you allow others - Putin - to step in and lead, you get chaos, and you get an unsafe world, like we do today.
CHANG: One of the very few specific requests the president did make during his speech was for Congress to pass an authorization for the use of military force. But Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker says there'd be no point to that because the White House already insists it has the legal authority to fight ISIS.
BOB CORKER: Seems like a debate that is being done for no outcome that's going to be different than where we are today. So - and I think that, you know, there are sub-agendas to the debate. And one of the sub-agendas is to try to limit the next president's ability to deal with this in a manner they see fit.
CHANG: Even though he knows presidential politics will overtake the agenda on Capitol Hill, Obama called on lawmakers last night to turn down the dial on partisan rancor. But Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina found that ironic after watching the White House go around Congress and issue executive actions to defer deportations and expand background checks for gun sales.
MARK SANFORD: It's this notion of, I don't need a House or a Senate; I need a pen, that creates some of that division.
CHANG: And on some issues, even the president's own party is divided. Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown opposes the Pacific Rim trade deal the White House wants Congress to ratify this year and says Obama should heed the advice of a former Senate Republican leader.
SHERROD BROWN: As Trent Lott used to say, you don't vote on a trade agreement in an even-numbered year. And implicit in what Lott was saying is the voters don't like these trade agreements, and they'll punish the senators that would be voting for it.
CHANG: In other words, at least wait until December to get anything hard done. Ailsa Change, NPR News, the Capitol.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
President Obama is not banking on Congress achieving in his final year in office. His State of the Union speech last night offered few big proposals.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
But he did suggest something.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: So I hope we can work together this year on some bipartisan priorities, like criminal justice reform and helping...
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: ...And helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin abuse.
INSKEEP: NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson has been tracking criminal justice reform. She's on the line. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: Can lawmakers really act on what the president described as bipartisan agreement?
JOHNSON: Well, it's going to be very, very difficult, and here's why. Congress is only around for fewer than a hundred days this year, and pretty soon all attention is going to turn to the presidential election. There is a bill, Steve, that would cut some long mandatory sentences for nonviolent drug criminals, but it's not yet been scheduled for a vote by the full Senate. And then there's Republican Ted Cruz from Texas. He's running for president, too, and he's raised some big questions about this effort. He said last year that lawmakers could have blood on their hands if they dial back on these penalties too far and then a released prisoner commits a new violent crime.
INSKEEP: And let's remember that, in the Senate, even one senator or a handful of senators can slow things down a lot, even if there were a broad bipartisan agreement. So where do things stand in the House?
JOHNSON: Pretty tough there, too, Steve. Just this week, the chairman of the judiciary committee, Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia, said he needs to see some kind of criminal intent reform in this criminal justice package.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BOB GOODLATTE: I think that a deal that does not address this issue is not going anywhere in the House of Representatives.
INSKEEP: Criminal intent reform - what does that mean?
JOHNSON: Here's the translation, Steve - essentially raising the burden of proof for prosecutors in some cases like environmental crimes, corporate fraud. The problem there is the Fraternal Order of Police have opposed this, and the Justice Department says it could be a get-out-of-jail-free card for business executives. Again, not too much to figure that out this year.
INSKEEP: Oh, meaning that you have to prove - you have to go to a higher level to prove that somebody meant to engage in criminal activity. You don't just have to find out exactly what they did. Now, can the White House act in executive fashion with executive orders if they can't get things through Congress?
JOHNSON: Steve, President Obama nodded to this in another part of the speech. Let's take a listen to that.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: I see it in the American who served his time. He made bad mistakes as a child, but now is dreaming of starting over. And I see it in the business owner who gives him that second chance.
JOHNSON: So second chance - what he's talking about here is a concept known as reentry - helping prisoners back into society so they don't wind up in the criminal justice system again. And, in fact, Attorney General Loretta Lynch is touring a corrections facility in Boston today with that in mind. There's also this other issue of urging employers to ask about criminal history or background checks later in the process for hiring, an attempt to make it easier for people who have criminal histories to get jobs. Obama already did this for federal employees. The issue is whether he can do that to extend to contractors, too.
INSKEEP: Oh, yeah, interesting movement - ban the box. Get rid of that box where you check on the application if you've been convicted of a crime. Is the president going to be able to do anything to heal relations between police and communities?
JOHNSON: So a top priority for civil rights groups this year is making sure that police entities - about 18,000 of them around the country actually report the number of civilians that are killed by officers in the line of duty. The FBI is trying to gather this data. It's voluntary now, Steve, but advocates like the ACLU and other civil rights groups want Obama to tie the receipt of federal funds by these police agencies to a requirement to report that data so we can find out how big a problem police-involved deaths really are.
INSKEEP: Carrie, thanks as always.
JOHNSON: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Johnson.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
In sunny Nevada, solar panel companies are shutting down operations. It's a protest of sorts because state regulators changed the rules.
Here's NPR's Jeff Brady.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Across the country, the solar panel business is growing fast thanks to federal and state subsidies that encourage people to switch to renewable forms of electricity.
Here's the rub, though. Every kilowatt from the sun is one less the local utility sells. That leaves the power company with less money to maintain the electricity grid, and solar customers still rely on that grid when the sun isn't shining. That's why Nevada regulators increased a fee for solar customers and reduced how much utilities pay for excess power sold back to the grid.
BRYAN MILLER: It has left our company and other companies no choice but to leave.
BRADY: Bryan Miller is a senior vice president at the solar company Sunrun, and he heads an industry advocacy group. In response to Nevada regulators, both Sunrun and rival SolarCity say they will stop selling and installing new panels in the state. SolarCity says it will lay off 550 employees. Sunrun says it will cut hundreds more. Miller says he hopes regulators countrywide will take notice.
MILLER: And every other state and every other policymaker across the country is going to see that, and they're not going to want to follow the path that Nevada has gone.
BRADY: Last summer, Nevada lawmakers directed regulators to phase out the estimated $16 million a year in subsidies solar customers receive. Solar advocates say the political influence of Nevada's largest utility NV Energy is behind the change.
In a statement, the utility says the increased rates will be phased in over five years and will not bring in any additional profits. David Owens is executive vice president at Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities. He believes what Nevada is doing is a question of fairness because if solar customers don't play to use the grid, that leaves everyone else to pick up the tab.
DAVID OWENS: We don't want to have one group of customers having costs shifted to them because other customers refuse to pay for the infrastructure that's necessary.
BRADY: Solar advocates say they provide other benefits to everyone such as reduced pollution. Even though solar companies have shut down operations in Nevada, they're not done fighting. They'll be back before state regulators today, asking them to reconsider the new rates for solar customers. If regulators refuse, as they're expected to do, the solar companies say they'll take the issue to court.
Jeff Brady, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene. The last time the Internet got this excited about a dress, we were arguing over whether it was blue and black or white and gold. Well, the dress that's all the buzz now is marigold. Michelle Obama wore the orange-yellowish dress at the State of the Union last night. The first lady was trending on Twitter, and the designer was revealed. It's a Narciso Rodriguez, bought on sale for $628. Neiman Marcus was selling it. I say was because that dress is already sold out. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's focus on a few things that President Obama did not say in his final State of the Union address. In that speech at least the president did not speak in detail about a way forward against ISIS. NPR national security editor Phil Ewing was listening to what was said and not. Phil, good morning.
PHIL EWING, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: So what exactly was missing about Iraq and Syria?
EWING: Well, the president didn't lay out any kind of comprehensive vision for a decisive way to end the Syria conflict. He talked about the strategy that's been used - helping local forces, providing them with equipment. And he emphasized a point he's made before it, which is that the approach he is taking right now is the right one because it limits the danger of prolonged Iraq-style ground wars. And if we can, let's listen to what he said about that.
INSKEEP: Sure.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: That's not leadership. That's a recipe for quagmire, spilling American blood and treasure that ultimately will weaken us. It's the lesson of Vietnam. It's the lesson of Iraq. And we should have learned it by now.
EWING: So the president repeated what's become kind of the key foreign policy philosophy of his presidency, which is, don't do stupid stuff. The problem for a lot of the president's critics, including Republican leaders in Congress, is you can't just say what you are not going to do. You have to lay out a roadmap for what you are going to do. And the president didn't do that in the speech last night.
INSKEEP: And granted they've still got a year to work on it. But it seems quite likely that some kind of huge problem will remain in Syria and Iraq. What is the president's successor likely to have to focus on?
EWING: Well, the long-term strategic outlook for the Middle East is completely unclear right now now. Syria and Iraq, as countries, arguably don't exist anymore as they once did. The ISIS conflict, the Iraq conflict is reshaping both of them. Now there are American special operators in Syria and covert support for forces in Syria fighting Syrian president Bashar Assad. But none of those forces are strong enough to win. Assad also has outside help from Russia and Iran. And no matter how many requests U.S. officials make of Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East, none of them has shown very much willingness to make a serious commitment of ground forces to win the conflict militarily. So the question is, how do you win decisively, bring it to a close and then form some kind of new governments in Syria, possibly with a new Kurdish organization, to actually, you know, create a long-term prospect for stability there?
INSKEEP: You mentioned that Iraq doesn't exist as it once did. What about Iraq and Afghanistan, these two countries where Americans have spilled so much blood over the years?
EWING: Well, you know, a lot of the president's speech last night was retrospective. He looked back at the promises he made . Did he keep them? He argued yes. And one major plank of his 2008 campaign was to end those wars. The president's administration officials said yesterday they were taking credit for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But there are still American combat troops there. And occasionally there are still casualties, including as recently as last week in Afghanistan. So those conflicts are not resolved. And there is still no long-term outlook in either case for how those countries can exist as states, as governments without significant amounts of American support for their militaries, for their border control and things like that.
INSKEEP: Phil Ewing, we just got a few seconds here. But let me ask about Iran. The president did not talk about 10 American sailors who had been detained by Iran. It was indicated behind the scenes that maybe they were on their way to fixing this. It turns out they were. And we now have news today that the 10 sailors had been released by Iran. What does it mean that the United States is now in a position where it can talk with Iran about issues like that?
EWING: Well, the White House would argue that this is a good feature of the Iran nuclear negotiations that these channels are open and that when these potential crises spring up, you know, there's a way for Secretary of State John Kerry to pick up the phone and call someone and in this case resolve them. So they would say that's a good thing that he is going to hand to his successor, whoever that may be.
INSKEEP: NPR's Phil Ewing. Thanks very much.
EWING: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
All right. Now to something else we heard from the president last night. He said the United States has the strongest and most durable economy in the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: More than 14 million new jobs - the strongest two years of job growth since the 1990s. An unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever.
(APPLAUSE)
GREENE: We should remember President Obama came into office as the U.S. was entering a pretty terrible recession. But many Americans are still struggling economically today. And let's bring in NPR's Scott Horsley here. Good morning, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, David.
GREENE: So is the president painting an accurate picture here?
HORSLEY: Well, the U.S. economy is still the largest in the world. China's economy is growing faster, though, as we have been painfully reminded in recent weeks, it's not growing as fast as it was.
GREENE: Right.
HORSLEY: And American employers have been adding jobs for 70 consecutive months. That is the longest expansion on record. The job gains over the last couple of years were the largest since the late-1990s. And unemployment, which peaked at 10 percent during the downturn, is now down to 5 percent. Also, automakers did have a very good year in 2015, selling a record 17 and a half million cars and trucks. And the president touted the rebound in auto manufacturing as part of a broader manufacturing renaissance. Factories have added close to 900,000 jobs over the last six years. Although, factory hiring slowed last year partly in response to the sales slowdown elsewhere around the world.
GREENE: Well, Scott, one other thing the president did, I mean, he sorted of pointed to the gloominess that we have been hearing from some Republicans. And this was a way - this speech - to kind of counter that argument. Let's give a listen here.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS)
OBAMA: Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction.
GREENE: Peddling fiction, Scott?
HORSLEY: Well, the White House has been critical of Republicans for their gloomy message on the economy. And certainly by many objective measures the economy is in much better shape now than when the president came into office. There are, however, some blemishes on that record. Wage growth is still pretty sluggish at two and a half percent, although wages did grow faster than inflation last year. Participation in the labor force is somewhat depressed. That's partly, but not entirely, a result of baby boomers retiring. Overall economic growth is still pretty lackluster. And income inequality has widened. The president says those are results of long-running trends that began before the great recession and that continue today.
GREENE: All right. Lots of different objective measures in some ways telling different stories at times. You know, objective measures aside, there are a lot of Americans who are still worried about the economy and many still worried about their job security. And no one seems to disagree with that. The president acknowledged that last night. So what? I suppose that the parties just can't come together on a solution?
HORSLEY: Well, the president did find some common ground and highlighted a few areas of bipartisan agreement, citing, for example, worker training and education as something that's important. He praised the Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan for supporting expanded tax credits for low income workers who don't have children. Those folks don't get a lot of tax help right now. But he also highlighted very partisan disagreements about the government's role in setting the rules of the road and providing a social safety net. He highlighted the Affordable Care Act, for example. But he said, I'm guessing we're not going to agree on health care anytime soon. That's one statement of the president's that is undoubtedly true.
GREENE: All right. We have been speaking about the State of the Union speech with NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks as always.
HORSLEY: My pleasure, David.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Volkswagen has not finished explaining how it cheated on emissions tests. You'll recall the company admitted to fiddling with its diesel cars to make their pollution testing numbers seem far, far more impressive than they actually were. The head of Volkswagen is at the Detroit Auto Show. He talked with NPR's Sonari Glinton for 17 hours. Wait, that's a badly inflated figure. But he did talk with Sonari and said his company just had a technical problem not an ethical one. The broadcast of that interview on this program prompted a lot of reaction. So Sonari is back. Sonari, good morning.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: What kind of reaction?
GLINTON: Well, it has been pretty negative not only here but also in Germany.
INSKEEP: Well, let's listen to how Mattias Mueller describes the diesel scandal which the company had previously admitted to.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
MATTIAS MUELLER: Frankly spoken, it was a technical problem. We made a default. We had not the right interpretation of the American law. And the other question you mentioned - it was an ethical problem? I cannot understand why you say that.
GLINTON: Because Volkswagen, in the U.S., intentionally lied to EPA regulators when they asked them about the problem before it came to light.
MUELLER: We didn't lie. We didn't understand the question first. And then we worked since 2014 to solve the problem.
INSKEEP: How does the claim that Volkswagen did not lie compare with Volkswagen's own admissions?
GLINTON: Well, normally the statements from VW have been really brief. But when they get to this part about lying to federal regulators, that was something that Mueller has been loathed to admit. He won't admit criminality. You know, he said multiple times, we are not a criminal company, which, when a company admits to wrongdoing, you would think that the lying part would be a part of it.
INSKEEP: Well, it does sound like a company in denial when he says it that way. People will hear it that way, anyhow. Does Volkswagen stand behind his statements in that interview to you?
GLINTON: Well, as a matter of fact, after the interview aired - and what has to be one of the weirdest developments of my career - they sort of called back and asked to do a do-over like less than a few hours after the first time the interviewed aired.
INSKEEP: Asked for a do-over? Why?
GLINTON: Well, apparently, it had picked up some traction - the interview - and had caused a lot of heat for Mueller. And when he called - when we talked again, he apologized. He admitted to wrongdoing. But that point about lying, he wouldn't go to. Let's have a listen to him at our second meeting.
MUELLER: One reason could be a misunderstanding. One reason - another reason could be that people and employees did their work not in the right way. There are different possible reasons for that.
INSKEEP: OK, so not willing to use the L-word. What does that mean for Volkswagen?
GLINTON: Well, they seem to be threading a needle between the customers and admitting to criminality, which is, you know, opens them up to lawsuits. But part of the problem is for a lot of people that seems disingenuous, especially as he's going into meet with federal regulators today in Washington.
INSKEEP: Sonari, thanks for both interviews.
GLINTON: It's a pleasure.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Sonari Glinton at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We're going to learn more about something the World Health Organization calls a neglected tropical disease. It's river blindness, and in parts of Africa, river blindness is not neglected as much as it is feared. The blindness is actually the final stage of a parasitic infection that involves intense itching. People often scratch for so long and so hard, they develop so-called lizard skin. NPR's Jason Beaubien recently traveled to Ghana and has the story of one man's struggle with his disease. And we should say, some people might find descriptions here difficult listen to.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Emmanuel Kwame taps a well-worn stick in front of him as he makes his was across existing the village of Asubende in central Ghana. He navigates past chickens, sleeping dogs and a cement sewage canal. Then he veers towards an open fire where a woman is cooking fufu in a charred metal pot.
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: (Yelling in foreign language).
BEAUBIEN: A boy yells at him to stop. The boy then grabs Kwame's stick and leads him around the fire. Kwame, who's now 60 years old, says he started to get sick with river blindness in his 20s.
EMMANUEL KWAME: (Through interpreter) I started having nodules and swelling all around my body. And then, I - it would appear. I'd see some worm on my eyes. I would see them moving across my eyes. And I realized my eyes were no good.
BEAUBIEN: This disease is caused by a roundworm infection. As the parasites reproduce, hundreds of thousands of larvae spread throughout the person's body. They cause blindness by repeatedly penetrating the eyeball. The worms knot up under the skin. Kwame says the itching from the parasites was unbearable.
KWAME: (Through interpreter) You scratch so much. And if it were now, I couldn't have even spoken to you because I would be scratching all over.
BEAUBIEN: This village of Asubende has been hard hit by river blindness, also known as onchocerciasis. Of Kwame's 12 siblings, six lost their eyesight. In the late 1980s, Ghana switched strategies in the battle against the disease. Up to that point, Ghana had been using insecticides to try to kill the black flies that carry the river blindness parasite. The new strategy that's still being used today goes after the parasites inside people. The government treats entire villages every year with a drug called ivermectin. This is meant treating roughly 4 million Ghanaians a year, or more than 15 percent of the population. And the strategy is paying off. Three decades ago, more than 80 percent of the residents of Asubende were infected with parasite. That number has dropped to just 3 percent today. Kwame says his generation appears to be the last stricken with the blindness.
KWAME: (Through interpreter) I cannot say that the disease is totally gone. But since they started distributing these new drugs, I have not seen anybody getting blind again in this community.
BEAUBIEN: The 2015 Nobel Prize for medicine went in part to two researchers who discovered ivermectin. Kwame is well aware that his life would have been very different if these drugs had come earlier. He still has some aches that he blames on river blindness. But his biggest complaint on this day is the goats. He's showing me his vegetable garden next to his hut.
KWAME: (Through interpreter) Have you seen this? This is pine nuts. It was growing, and some goats came to eat it.
BEAUBIEN: In addition to his garden, he has a grove of 70 cashew trees. And he tries to grow cassava and plantains. The goats, however constantly slip through or over his fences and eat his plants. I'm a bit surprised that he can grow anything given the nimble goats, the rapidly growing tropical weeds and the fact that he can't see. He shrugs and says the trick to gardening blind is straight lines, planting everything in straight lines. Kwame is proud that he can support himself. He wants to show me the Pru River. He has a complicated relationship with this river. Decades ago, it took away his eyesight. But throughout his life, it's also been a source of income. He says he can make more money fishing than he does from any of his crops. On land, Kwame walks hesitantly, constantly tapping and probing with his stick. But when he steps in the river, something changes. He seems to stand a bit straighter. He moves smoothly, confidently through the water. Waist-deep in the rapids, he pulls out a fishing net that's about the size of a bed sheet. He runs his fingers over the lines, searching for knots and that the weights aren't tangled. And then he flings the net out across a pool. Eventually, he strides back to the bank, where girls are washing laundry on smooth, dark rocks.
KWAME: (Through interpreter) I didn't get anything. I threw the net, but nothing came in. There's no fish now.
BEAUBIEN: Some days he catches fish, he says. Some days he doesn't. The worst thing about his blindness, Kwame says, was the timing of it. He went blind before he was able to get married. And he never got a chance to have a wife or children. Again, he shrugs. But those men who won the prize for discovering ivermectin, he says, they should be given many, many more prizes. Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Asubende, Ghana.
GREENE: And tomorrow, we'll hear why a wonder drug alone is not enough to wipe out river blindness.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Soon passengers will be able to take a ferry from Miami to Cuba. Plans are underway for a new ferry terminal to serve the island. Miami, of course, is home to many Cuban exiles who fled the Castro regime, but NPR's Greg Allen reports that more elected officials in Miami are seeing an upside to engagement with Cuba.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The Obama administration approved licenses last year to companies that want to run ferries to Cuba. Several are interested. Still, it came as a surprise last week when the Port of Miami said it's considering building a new ferry terminal on land that had been slated for development.
CARLOS GIMENEZ: For me, it seems to be a very logical opportunity. There is interest.
ALLEN: That's Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. There was some criticism, but compared to the firestorm anything involving Cuba has often sparked in the past, it's a sign that in Miami, times have changed. Still, Gimenez was sensitive to suggestions that Miami-Dade County was essentially doing business with Cuba.
GIMENEZ: We don't do business with countries. We do business with carriers. Where the carriers go is where the carriers go, but we don't have a ferry terminal, and that may be a good use for that property.
ALLEN: In Miami, the most controversial part of plans for the new ferry terminal is where it will be located. The location endorsed by Gimenez is an unused portion of the port that's also eyed by developers. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez - like Gimenez, a Cuban-American - agrees that building a ferry terminal at the port makes a lot of sense. But like most other elected officials here, he's not yet ready to give trade and travel to Cuba his stamp of approval.
XAVIER SUAREZ: Well, it's a decision to be made by the governments in question up and not by the county. We don't want to get left behind if ferry service is in fact started.
ALLEN: Several other ports in Florida, besides Miami, have also expressed interest, including Tampa and Key West. Robert Muse is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who represents Baja Ferries USA. Since 2009, when the Obama administration relaxed rules for Cuban-Americans traveling to the island, Muse says the political outlook among elected officials in Miami has changed dramatically.
ROBERT MUSE: Go to Miami airport. You'll see at least 10 flights a day are going to Cuba at this point. I don't think any local politician wants to get in the way of enhanced opportunities for family travel to and from Cuba.
ALLEN: About a half-million Americans - mostly Cuban-Americans - visit the island each year currently. Ferry operators say their fares will be competitive with airlines and that they'll offer something not available on jets - cheap rates for cargo. Bruce Nierenberg is the president of United Caribbean Lines, another company jockeying to provide ferry service to Cuba. For Cuban-Americans carrying everything from clothing, flat screen TVs and car parts to the island, he says a 12-hour ferry trip will be a game changer.
BRUCE NIERENBERG: It's very expensive to take it on the air charters 'cause they charge a fortune for the excess baggage. And we can give them a wire bin that holds a thousand pounds of stuff for a hundred bucks and, you know, just - and let them rent that and take that over there and take tons of stuff with them, which is really why they go.
ALLEN: Ferry companies say after initial enthusiasm, Cuban officials have put approval of regular service between the U.S. and the island on hold, but that action could come by the end of the year. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, if we remember back to when Ebola was ravaging West Africa, this movement seemed so far away - the day we can declare West Africa Ebola-free. The World Health Organization made that announcement today, now that Liberia has gone 42 days without a new case. And so there is hope after an epidemic that claimed almost 12,000 lives in West Africa, but NPR's Nurith Aizenman reports there is still reason for caution.
NURITH AIZENMAN, BYLINE: Dr. Daniel Bausch is a leading scientific expert on Ebola for the World Health Organization. He also worked on the frontlines during some of the darkest moments of the West Africa outbreak. But while he's pleased about today's news, he's not exactly doing cartwheels.
DANIEL BAUSCH: You know, it's victory, but we need to be vigilant.
AIZENMAN: That's because today's announcement only means the Ebola virus isn't being actively transmitted from one person to another. It doesn't mean the virus has been eradicated from West Africa. For one thing, it lingers in the bodies of some of the more than 17,000 people who survived infection.
BAUSCH: Some people can maintain the virus in a few places where it's just harder for or takes longer for the system to get into and clean that place out - places like the semen in men and the internal contents or fluids of the eye, around your brain and your spinal cord.
AIZENMAN: Bausch says it's still unclear how long it takes for the virus to get cleaned out. And...
BAUSCH: While it's being cleaned out, there can potentially be transmission from sexual transmission from men. Or we do have some evidence that a few people here and there can get sick again with Ebola from that virus that they maintain.
AIZENMAN: Most common seems to be an eye infection in which the Ebola virus is basically trapped inside the eye, so it can't be transmitted to other people, but there's also the example of Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey. Months after she survived the Ebola disease, a virus in her cerebral spinal fluid caused her to develop meningitis, and some Ebola virus did get back into her bloodstream. Bausch says in cases like that...
BAUSCH: We think it's extremely rare, but there's the potential that that virus could come out and be transmitted to another person.
AIZENMAN: Then there's the risk of a totally new chain of infection. Ebola outbreaks are sparked when the virus jumps from animals - most likely bats - to humans.
BAUSCH: The bat that presumably introduced this virus into a young child in Guinea in 2013 was unlikely to be the only bat in the region that is infected. So we do have the risk of re-introduction from the wild, although we think that those events are rare.
AIZENMAN: All of which means it's likely we'll see at least a few more Ebola cases in West Africa this coming year. Bausch says as long as we jump on them quickly, they won't balloon into another epidemic. But we can't be complacent, he says. There is still hard work ahead. Nurith Aizenman, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We are seeing a crackdown on secretive purchases of luxury real estate. New rules are aimed at preventing money laundering. And right now, this effort is focusing on Manhattan and Miami. Here's NPR's Chris Arnold.
CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE: You probably understand the concept of money laundering from watching Hollywood movies.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LETHAL WEAPON 2")
JOE PESCI: (As Leo Getz) All I did was I laundered a half a billion dollars in drug money, OK?
DANNY GLOVER AND MEL GIBSON: (As Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs, in unison) Half a billion dollars?
ARNOLD: As as Joe Pesci's talking about, criminals need to take large amounts of money that they made illegally and make it look legitimate. They need to clean the dirty money. And it turns out, a great way to do that is buying multimillion dollar homes in the United States with cash.
HEATHER LOWE: Real estate is a really good vehicle for this.
ARNOLD: Heather Lowe is a lawyer with the group Global Financial Integrity.
LOWE: You can spend a lot of money to buy a house. And then you can sell that house, you know, a year later. And all of a sudden, all of that money is completely clean money.
ARNOLD: Lowe's group focuses on the movement of illicit money out of developing countries - say, politicians accused of corruption who look to be stashing embezzled money abroad.
LOWE: So Teodoro Obiang, the son of the leader of Equatorial Guinea, for example, bought a Malibu mansion for $35 million. And I think his salary at the time was something like 4,000 U.S. dollars a month.
ARNOLD: And Lowe says the same thing is done by drug kingpins from South America, organized crime figures from places like Russia. And when they buy these properties, she says they set up shell companies to purchase them. So nobody knows who's actually buying that luxury penthouse overlooking Central Park in New York.
LOWE: That shell company might be owned by another shell company. It might be a Panamanian shell company, which might be owned by a Singapore trust. And so it can be very easy to disguise who is actually - who actually owns that company that owns that real estate. And that is a very common way to move illegal money and illegal assets around the world.
ARNOLD: So going forward, the government will require that title insurance companies involved in these real estate sales get the shell companies to tell them who are the actual owners of the shell companies. The title companies will then report that to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. And least, that's the plan. But will it work?
MICHELLE KORSMO: Well, that's what we're going to find out through this process.
ARNOLD: Michelle Korsmo is the head of the American Land Title Association, which represents title insurers. She supports the effort. But she acknowledges that if a major drug kingpin is buying a mansion through a string of shell companies that are all over the world, that might be a bit much for a title insurance company to figure out.
KORSMO: And that's something for all of us to explore because we're not sure we're going to be able to have access to enough information. But we're going to give them the information that we have.
ARNOLD: Heather Lowe says it would be a good thing if investigators get more information than they have now, even if it's just loose bits that still need to be pieced together. Chris Arnold, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's catch up with one of the Republican presidential candidates. Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has had a bit of a wild ride so far. She went from barely a blip in the polls, to a surprise surge, to this moment. She's been dropped from tonight's main GOP debate stage and placed on the undercard with Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Rand Paul - although there is word Paul might not participate because of the demotion. We caught up with Fiorina on the campaign trail in Des Moines, Iowa. She is certainly feeling the chill of a different kind.
CARLY FIORINA: It is a little cold this time of year - like, minus three.
GREENE: Minus three Fahrenheit - great.
FIORINA: Uh-huh.
GREENE: Well, I can't wait to get out there. I'll be joining you around caucus time.
FIORINA: Well, there you go.
GREENE: So we'll all be shivering together. Let me ask you this. I want to know if you understand the decision to remove you from the main stage in this debate.
FIORINA: Well, analytically, I don't think it's defensible.
GREENE: OK.
FIORINA: I mean, the polls are not this precise. I think this is what happens when the RNC outsources decision-making to the media and the media decides they want to show. But I'm going to talk to the American people every chance I get. And I'll talk to them about why we have to take our country back, and why I am the best candidate to beat Hillary Clinton and to lead this nation in these difficult times.
GREENE: Are you worried, though, that being sort of on the second stage labels you as a second-tier candidate and makes things much, much more difficult?
FIORINA: Oh, I think I've been underestimated all along. I mean, I started out 17 out of 16 candidates. Literally, the polling companies wouldn't even ask my name because 97 percent of Republican primary voters had never heard of me. And now according to Fox News's own poll, I am sixth nationally.
GREENE: Well, as you look at the reality of today where you're sitting - the poll numbers you see and sort of the debate stage you'll be on - what do you see as your best path to victory here?
FIORINA: I mean, look, one of the things that I see, one of the things that I talk about every time I'm on the ground is our politics, our government, our future, our country has sort of been hijacked by a political class of both parties, by an establishment in the media that plays along. People want to take their country back. That's why I'm running. We were intended to be a citizen government. And we are a very long way from that.
GREENE: How do you sort of deal with the question of whether or not to play up the fact that you're a woman in terms of looking for a way to help you stand apart from the other candidates?
FIORINA: Well, you know, it's pretty obvious I'm a woman.
GREENE: (Laughter).
FIORINA: I mean, it's hard to miss. So I think people get that.
GREENE: Fair.
FIORINA: And it's also true that I don't play identity politics. Hillary Clinton does. Hillary Clinton will play the gender card, which is why I am the most effective nominee against her - 'cause she can't play that card with me.
GREENE: What's an example of when she's played the gender card?
FIORINA: Oh, she plays it over and over again. How often does she talk to us about the historic nature of her candidacy? Every single time she's on the stump. I don't talk about that. I talk about why I'm the most qualified candidate to win this job and to do this job. Hillary Clinton cannot talk about the historic nature of her candidacy if she faces me. What she's actually going to have to talk about is her track record. She's going to have to talk about her lies to the American people. She's going to have to talk about the fact that she's gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. And on that ground, I win.
GREENE: But let's say there were two women who were nominated. Wouldn't that be a historic moment that you'd want to talk about.
FIORINA: Of course it would be a historic moment, and one that we should celebrate. Look, I'm proud to be a woman. But I also have benefited every step of the way in my life from a meritocracy where people judged on merit and results, and that is the way I want the American people to judge me. And that is the way the American people should judge Hillary Clinton.
GREENE: Let me ask you about results - and this also gets to a question I wanted to ask you about, which is running for president as someone who's been in business. I mean, Mitt Romney was really dogged in his last campaign by sort of the label of being a vulture capitalist. And you've had to defend a decision as CEO of Hewlett-Packard to lay off some 30,000 people. Has that made it more difficult to gain support when voters have so many options in this primary?
FIORINA: Actually, no, not at all - just the opposite because, you see, I led Hewlett-Packard during the technology bust. And a lot of companies that voters know went out of business because they didn't make the tough calls - Sun Microsystems, Gateway Computer - used to be right here in Iowa. And yes, I had to make tough calls in tough times and stand up and be held accountable. I saved the company, and that was what I was recruited to do.
GREENE: And I guess that's my question - with so many people who have been through hard times and been out of jobs, you know, is it difficult for you to make that argument when you have sort of this lay-off on your record hanging there.
FIORINA: Well, David, you clearly think it is, but actually it's not. Here on the ground, people respect the fact that I understand what it takes to save a job. And we saved 80,000 of them. And we went on to create another 80,000. People respect that.
GREENE: I want to finish, if I may, by asking about the current front-runner in the Republican race, Donald Trump. And, you know, he is - if you look at his business record, he has had, you know, a number of bankruptcies. People have complained about the way he does business. How do you think he's overcome that record so far?
FIORINA: Well, look, I think Donald Trump is the Kim Kardashian of politics.
GREENE: OK.
FIORINA: He's famous for being famous. He's a celebrity. He also is not a leader. He hasn't presented a single plan to solve a single problem. Give Donald Trump credit - he is a great promoter of himself. But I do not think he will be the nominee of our party, and he cannot beat Hillary Clinton.
GREENE: If he is the nominee from your party, would you pledge to support him?
FIORINA: I don't think he will be, and I don't answer hypothetical questions.
GREENE: Fair enough. Carly Fiorina, talking to us from Iowa where she is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.
FIORINA: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And some news we are following this morning - yet another of the world's great cities has come under attack. This time it's Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Police say seven are dead, most of those the attackers themselves. We have on the line Joe Cochrane in Jakarta. He's a reporter with The International New York Times. Joe, good morning.
JOE COCHRANE: Good morning. How are you?
GREENE: I'm well. Thank you. Could you take us through what happened there this morning?
COCHRANE: Yes, absolutely. Well, it's nighttime here now, and it's the end of a very emotional and shocking day. The Indonesian capital, Jakarta, was just going through it's normal midmorning routine of heavy traffic - people in office buildings, people out shopping, people walking the streets - when gun and grenade attacks occurred right in the city center along the main thoroughfare. The target, everyone seems to agree now, was a outdoor police post by traffic police officers. There were at least seven attackers wielding handguns and also armed with grenades and possibly other explosives.
Amazingly, only two civilians died in the attack. Five attackers were killed, and four other were taken into custody. The Indonesian authorities are saying this was clearly a terrorist attack, and they're linking it to local violent, radical groups linked to the Islamic State.
GREENE: And have you seen them present any evidence of that? Or this is just something they're saying right now - that there are ISIS links here.
COCHRANE: Well, the police chief of the Jakarta provincial police, who himself is the former head of the country's elite police counterterrorism unit, told reporters some very specific information. This is General Tito Karnavian. He identified the ring leader of the group who carried out today's attack as an Indonesian suspected terrorist named Bahrun Naim. And he said this person is currently in Syria, and he is a leader of a Southeast Asian group of terrorists under ISIS named Katibah Nusantara. And this is specifically a Southeast Asian-based military unit of Malay speakers from Indonesia, Malaysia and other parts of Southeast Asian where they speak the Malay language. And according to experts, they pose a grave and increasing threat to the region.
GREENE: And, Joe, I know you covered this region. I mean, was it clear that there was an ISIS presence in Indonesia before, or does this come with some surprise?
COCHRANE: It's not come as a surprise because there have been a number of arrests in recent days, weeks and months of extremists linked to ISIS or linked to terrorist groups that are sympathizers or linked to ISIS. So certainly, the Indonesian counterterrorism authorities have been extremely active recently. There's been, like, 12 to 15 arrests in the past three or four weeks alone. And also, government officials and terrorist analysts said there was a heightened threat of a possible terrorist attack in Indonesia, which hadn't experienced one since 2009.
GREENE: I just want to be clear about one thing. I mean, there were some suggestions from an Indonesian official earlier that these attackers were imitating what happened in Paris, that there were some reports that some of these attackers blew themselves up at a Starbucks. But it appears that civilians were not being targeted here, right?
COCHRANE: No, from what I've seen, all the evidence indicates that civilians were clearly not being targeted. If they had been, the death toll could have been in the dozens, and luckily, only two civilians - well, unfortunately, two civilians were killed, but it was only two. If they had wanted to target civilians, they could have walked into any of the restaurants or hotels or office lobbies in the vicinity and done that. Clearly, they were going after the police.
GREENE: All right. That's reporter Joe Cochrane with The International New York Times speaking to us about attacks this morning in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, which officials in Indonesian say were carried out by attackers with links to ISIS. Joe, thank you very much.
COCHRANE: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now to the aftermath of that attack in Istanbul on Tuesday. Most of those killed and wounded in the suicide bombing were German tourists. After Paris and now Istanbul, many Germans no longer feel as secure as they used to. Esme Nicholson reports from Berlin.
ESME NICHOLSON, BYLINE: It's another cold and rainy day in Berlin. This is the time of year many Germans try to escape the weather and head for sunnier climes. Last year, about 5 million Germans went to Turkey, making them the country's best tourist customers. But after at least 10 German nationals were killed in Tuesday's suicide bombing in Istanbul, the German government has warned travelers going there to avoid crowds and tourist sites. Foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier reminded Germans they are not immune from terrorism.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FOREIGN MINISTER FRANK-WALTER STEINMEIER: (Through interpreter) For many years now, we Germans have been spared a terror attack of this scale. But we've always known that the cancerous virus of terrorism is indiscriminate and threatens us all in equal measure, whether in Turkey, Europe or elsewhere.
NICHOLSON: Some Germans are unsettled by the constant onslaught of bad news. Seventy-one-year-old Dorit Nurith from Bavaria is in Berlin on vacation. She says she knows Istanbul well and was horrified by the news. But she says she'll never change her travel plans.
DORIT NURITH: (Speaking German).
NICHOLSON: "You can't stop living your life," she says, "even after Paris, Istanbul or Tunisia. It could happen to any of us. It's a matter of luck." Nurith's plucky determination will be good news for the German tour companies. But they say more anxious customers can cancel or rebook trips to Istanbul for no extra fee. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nicholson in Berlin.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene. You ever wonder what the celebrity life is really like? Well, Jonathan Nichols found out by accident. The Seattle lawyer got a new phone and a flood of strange text messages - offers from luxury car dealers, backstage passes, photos from women in bikinis. Turns out, the number once belonged to rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot. Reached by The Seattle Times, the real Sir Mix-A-Lot advised Nichols; don't check any text messages in front of your wife. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
There is some new research that is reminding us of the power of suggestion. My colleague Steve Inskeep spoke to NPR's Shankar Vedantam about this.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: It's research showing how people believe differently when they believe that other people hold a stereotype about who they are or what they're like. NPR's social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam has been looking into this research. Hi, Shankar.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: What's the research?
VEDANTAM: Well, it's about an idea known as stereotype threat, Steve, and we've actually talked about this in the past. The idea of stereotype threat is that when there's a stereotype in the air about you, you are worried that your behavior might end up proving the stereotype true, and it adversely affects your performance.
INSKEEP: Your anxiety might actually make you more like the stereotype in some ways.
VEDANTAM: Exactly. Turns out you don't even have to remind people about the stereotype. You just have to remind people about the context in which the stereotype is activated for stereotype threat to kick in.
INSKEEP: Oh, and that causes anxiety that might make you perform differently or act differently in your life.
VEDANTAM: That's right. And sometimes just being reminded of the context is enough to trigger a stereotype threat. Studies find, for example, that if you ask kids to write down if they are male or female before taking a math test, girls will often perform worse than if you hadn't reminded them about their gender. So merely reminding children about gender unconsciously activates the stereotype that girls might be worse than boys at math, and this can affect the performance of girls.
INSKEEP: And now you've got some research that says something else about stereotypes, right?
VEDANTAM: That's right, Steve. Most of the work on stereotype threat has looked at minorities and other underrepresented groups. This research looks at a majority group - American Christians - and it looks at a stereotype about American Christians - that Christians and science don't get along. We often see headlines in the news that say creationism and evolution are in conflict. And many people have a stereotype that there's something about Christianity and science that don't mix. I was speaking with Kimberly Rios at Ohio University, and she told me that she noticed something on a recent trip to Morocco. When she talked to people there about religion and science, she found that Moroccans had a very different concept than the one in the United States when it came to Christianity and science.
KIMBERLY RIOS: In Islam, which is the predominant religion in Morocco, they don't seem to have this conception that Americans do about Christianity - or religion, in general - and science about these two bodies of thought being incompatible. And when I talked to people in Morocco about this notion, that surprised them.
VEDANTAM: So Kimberly Rios and her colleague Azim Shariff, Steve, along with their grad students - they started thinking - what's the effect of the stereotype that Christians in the United States have a problem with science? And they asked - is it possible that stereotype threat, this time applied to a majority group - American Christians - might stereotype threat explain data that shows that Christians are often outperformed in science by non-Christians?
INSKEEP: OK. What did the research find, then?
VEDANTAM: Well, she conducted a survey and a series of experiments. And she found that many non-Christians in fact do think that Christians aren't good or aren't interested in science, so there is a stereotype about Christians having problems with science. She then ran an experiment with Christians and non-Christians volunteers who were asked to solve problems of logic. Christian volunteers reminded about the stereotype that Christianity and science don't mix did worse than Christian volunteers who weren't reminded of the stereotype. This, of course, is classic stereotype threat. She also found that when she gave volunteers a test, Christians did worse when she labeled the test as a test of scientific ability, rather than a test of intuitive ability, even though the test was exactly the same, presumably because labeling it as a test of scientific ability triggers stereotype threat just like the girls asked to list their sex before taking a math test.
RIOS: Those who thought the test was about scientific reasoning - for those people, there was a difference between Christians and non-Christians. But for those who thought the test was about intuitive thought, there was no difference.
INSKEEP: Wow. So you have evidence there that having the stereotype in your mind makes you anxious in some way, affects your performance. And this is the key - the most troubling part, Shankar - you're telling me that, again and again, people who are reminded of a stereotype about themselves end up behaving in ways that conform to the stereotype.
VEDANTAM: That's exactly right. And it seems paradoxical because the people don't necessarily need to believe the stereotype themselves. It's just the fear that other people might believe the stereotype and your behavior might confirm the stereotype that makes you question your own behavior and impedes your performance.
INSKEEP: Shankar, thanks very much.
VEDANTAM: Thanks, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Shankar Vedantam, who regularly joins us to talk about social science research and also explores the science of stereotype threat and many other ideas on his podcast Hidden Brain.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
This morning in Beverly Hills, the nominations for the Academy Awards were announced, and NPR's Mandalit del Barco is on the line at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Mandalit, good morning.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So who's up for best picture?
DEL BARCO: Well, "The Revenant," the Western epic that was famously filmed in only natural sunlight and fire light under such harsh conditions in Canada and Argentina? Well, that movie got 12 nominations. "The Revenant" will be up against "Mad Max: Fury Road," George Miller's post-apocalyptic action film. That movie earned 10 nominations. And also nominated for best picture is "Spotlight." That's been a critical darling, and it's considered right now as the frontrunner, the story of Boston Globe journalist investigating the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. Those films will also compete against Ridley Scott's science-fiction thriller, "The Martian," as well as the "The Big Short," "Bridge Of Spies," "Brooklyn" and "Room."
GREENE: All right. Well, let's move on to directors because I know the director of "The Revenant," I mean, won for "Birdman" last year, right? I mean, so he's - is he a repeat compet-er (ph) for that category?
DEL BARCO: That's right. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, he won last year for "Birdman," he's up again for "The Revenant." And George Miller, who we just mentioned, he is the director of "Mad Max," he's nominated. Tom McCarthy for "Spotlight," Lenny Abrahamson for "Room" and Adam McKay for "The Big Short." But, David, there is a huge scrub snub here; 78-year-old director Ridley Scott had been considered a shoe-on for best director for "The Martian." He's never won before, not for "Alien," not for "Blade Runner," and the buzz is that he'd win it for his complete body of work, but he didn't even get nominated, nor any women or people of color.
GREENE: Wow. So that'll certainly to be a topic heading into the Oscars. Well, that about best actress and best actor? What are some of the highlights from those nominations?
DEL BARCO: Well, in the actress category there's also not a single non-white person nominated in either of those. For best actress, Brie Larson is expected to win. She just won a Golden Globe on Sunday night for her performance as a woman held captive with her son for years, and competing against her will be two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett for Carol. Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, the star of "Brooklyn," is also nominated, so is Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and Charlotte Rampling for her role in "45 Years." That's her first nomination. As far as the actors, the frontrunner is Leonardo DiCaprio for his role in "The Revenant." He's never won an Oscar, and the buzz is that this is his year. He'll be competing against Matt Damon, Bryan Cranston, Michael Fassbender and Eddie Redmayne. He won last year.
GREENE: Well, Mandalit, I know just as these nominations were getting ready to come out we got news - some sad news that the British actor Alan Rickman died. Was the reaction in the room of people who were involved in the industry?
DEL BARCO: Well, we were in the - backstage waiting for the announcements, and everybody seemed to get the news on their smart phones. And it was quite a surprise. It's very sad news. You know, the British actor he's known to the younger generation for his role in - his role in the Harry Potter movies. And, you know, only 69 years old, so it's rather shocking news around here in Hollywood.
GREENE: All right, that's NPR's Mandalit del Barco. Mandalit, thanks a lot.
DEL BARCO: Thank you very much, David.
GREENE: And let's just listen to a few of those roles played by Alan Rickman, who passed away. These are a few scenes from "Harry Potter," "Die Hard" and "Dogma."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE")
ALAN RICKMAN: (As Severus Snape) Mr. Potter, our new celebrity.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DIE HARD")
RICKMAN: (As Hans Gruber) Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DOGMA")
RICKMAN: (As Metatron) I am a Serafin, the highest choir of angels. You do know what an angel is, don't you?
GREENE: The voice of actor Alan Rickman. He died today at age 69. This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
David Maraniss won a Pulitzer Prize writing about politics. He's also written several books of nonfiction, and his latest features an unlikely main character - a city, a great city, that has come to symbolize hard times. When we sat down to talk, I asked David Maraniss about his inspiration.
You know, I don't imagine many works of history have their origins in a television commercial. But there was a Super Bowl commercial that really is the starting point for this book.
DAVID MARANISS: It's an odd thing, but yes. I was watching the 2011 Super Bowl with my Packers playing in it. And at halftime...
GREENE: Playing my Steelers and beating them, by the way. Let's just say that.
MARANISS: Yes, but - looked up at the screen and saw a commercial that had a freeway sign that said Detroit.
GREENE: And while David Maraniss grew up mostly in Packer country, Wis., Detroit is his hometown. And that commercial he's talking about - that's rapper Eminem cruising in a black Chrysler through the iconic streets of downtown Detroit. And there was this voice-over.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
KEVIN YON: Now, we're from America. But this isn't New York City or the Windy City or Sin City. And we're certainly no one's Emerald City.
MARANISS: You know, I'm too old to be an Eminem guy, but I love the back beat of that song. And he walks into the Fox Theatre and a black gospel choir is rising in song. And he turns to the camera and says...
(SOUNDBITE OF ADVERTISEMENT)
EMINEM: This is the Motor City. And this is what we do.
MARANISS: Now, of course, they were just selling Chryslers. But it struck me in a deep, deep way and got me thinking about I want to write about the city where I was born.
GREENE: And David Maraniss ended up writing a history of what Detroit gave America. His book, "Once In A Great City," examines four subjects - cars, the labor movement, civil rights and Motown - all at a very specific point in the early 1960s.
MARANISS: It seemed that I could tell the whole story pretty powerfully in those 18 months between October of '62 and the spring of '64 when they were all at their peak. And yet you could see some of the shadows of Detroit's demise coming.
GREENE: Yeah, and you kind of capture that in a paragraph from the very beginning of the book that I'd love you to read here, if you don't mind.
MARANISS: (Reading) It was a time of uncommon possibility and freedom, when Detroit created wondrous and lasting things. But life can be luminescent when it is most vulnerable. There was a precarious balance during those crucial months between composition and decomposition - what the world gained and what a great city lost. Even then, some part of Detroit was dying, and that is where the story begins.
GREENE: Life - luminescent at its most vulnerable. What exactly do you mean by that?
MARANISS: Well, here you had a city that was selling more cars than ever before, that had this wondrous music being created, that was so vital to the labor and civil rights of this country, and yet it was dying and didn't see it, except for some sociologist at Wayne State University who predicted that Detroit was losing population by a half-million by the end of that '60s decade, and that that trend would continue taking away its tax base.
GREENE: But people were focusing on other things, I mean, among them the Detroit Auto Show of 1962, which you described as the Academy Awards of Detroit. I mean, paint me a picture of that.
MARANISS: Sure - or the White House Correspondents' dinner of Washington. Originally, John Kennedy was going to come speak, and then Lyndon Johnson. Because it was October of '62, neither made it because of the Cuban missile crisis.
GREENE: They had a little other business to take care of.
MARANISS: Yes, but it's that big. And all of the big shots of the car industry are there, strutting their stuff. And that year, they're feeling especially good because cars were selling more than ever before.
GREENE: And so if those were the positive signs, what were the signs - if we're talking about cars - that things were really about to implode in Detroit?
MARANISS: Well, there were several things. One was that the industry itself built in Detroit was abandoning the city - taking factories elsewhere, the corporate headquarters elsewhere. And then the industry itself was so cocky about what they were doing that they weren't seeing what was coming on the horizon with Japan and Germany and other places that were building smaller cars.
GREENE: And, you know, I'm just amazed by how many big speeches were given in Detroit or nearby. You had Martin Luther King - I mean, this was basically the first time he used "I have a dream" - at a speech in Detroit before the big one in Washington. You had Lyndon Baines Johnson using the term Great Society in a big speech in Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan. I mean, it's just extraordinary.
MARANISS: And that John F. Kennedy uttered the first variation of "ask not what your country can do for you" in Detroit on Labor Day in 1960. So Detroit was really central to Democratic politics United States. Every Democratic candidate would start their fall campaigns in Cadillac Square. Second, it was so crucial to the Civil Rights Movement that on June 23, 1963, Martin Luther King came to town, walked down Woodward Avenue with more than 100,000 people and delivered the first major public iteration of his "I Have A Dream" speech, two months before he did it in Washington.
GREENE: So you had this hope and optimism. But what was happening in sort of the Civil Rights Movement where you could sort of see the seeds for real problems if we look at the city?
MARANISS: Detroit was an exaggeration of what was going on across the country. You could see the divisions, even within the Civil Rights Movement of that period. At the same time that Martin Luther King was talking about his dream, Malcolm X gave his most famous address in Detroit during that same period, "The Message To The Grass Roots," dismissing the notion of integration. You also had in Detroit that summer, an early variation of Ferguson. A black prostitute was shot in the back by police. And all of the efforts that a very progressive police chief and mayor of that period had put into trying to restore race relations started to fall apart again, and you could see that unraveling for several years until the riots or rebellion of 1967.
GREENE: You write about - at the end of the book - the experiences in going back and doing the research and seeing modern-day Detroit and staying in a hotel with some tourists who have come to treat the urban destruction as something to see.
MARANISS: Well, there is something beautiful about ruins. I mean, in one sense it's not that different from going to Rome and looking at the Forum. But it's changing. It truly is. I'm optimistic but skeptical. So, I mean, there's still vast swaths of the city that are suffering from a lack of jobs and poor housing and poor public schools, but they are building momentum - you know, techies, foodies, artists, musicians, all coming to Detroit. So there is this vibrancy. You see it in the newspapers every day - some story about the new Detroit.
GREENE: You know, I do a lot of interviews with musicians. And often at the end, I'll say, is there a song you want to go out on? And, you know, the soundtrack of Motown just infuses your book. Is there a Detroit song from this era that we should play as, you know, it seems particularly fitting to you?
MARANISS: My favorites are Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, but those are a little off in terms of getting Detroit right on the head. But of course, you know, "Dancing In The Streets." You can't forget the Motor City. And we can't forget the Motor City.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANCING IN THE STREETS")
MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS: We can't forget the motor city. All we need is music.
GREENE: David Maraniss' book is called "Once In A Great City: A Detroit Story."
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We're turning now to the country where the Arab Spring began. In Tunisia, a fruit vendor set himself on fire to protest his government. And the protests that grew in that small North African nation inspired so many protests elsewhere. Tunisia remains the one country trudging forward on a path towards democracy. But now Amnesty International has released a report that suggests major concerns about human rights in the country. And we should say this report contains some graphic detail that listeners might not want to hear. Let's talk about the report with NPR's Leila Fadel, who joins us on the line from Cairo. Leila, good morning.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So what does this report say?
FADEL: Well, it basically says that human rights protections in Tunisia five years after people ousted an authoritarian ruler are in danger of being reversed. It says that inside Tunisia's prisons, they found evidence of torture - people being shocked with electricity and people's hands and feet being tied to a stick, people being stripped and their family's threatened in order to force confessions to crimes. So Amnesty International says there's been at least six people who've died suspiciously in police custody since 2011 and no one's being prosecuted and that nothing has been investigated.
GREENE: And we should say this is the country that was seen as the bright spot in the Arab Spring, where democracy was - I mean, is on the rise. Does this call all of that into question now?
FADEL: Well, you know, Tunisia is doing well politically. They've had free and fair elections. The Quartet, a group of civil society organizations won the Nobel Peace Prize for pulling Tunisia out of crisis. There was no coup, like here in Egypt, no civil war like Syria, no mass arrests of political opponents. And political parties who were battling did so with negotiations, and they didn't come to violent confrontation. And the world has recognize that and pointed to Tunisia as an example of how you can transition peacefully after a revolution. But it's not all rosy. There are serious concerns about the reversal of human rights protections. Over the summer, the Parliament hastily passed a new counterterrorism law. And human rights groups worry about that law because it may be cover for the return of authoritarianism. It's a law that's so broadly written that people could be arrested for demonstrating, really. And it allows the police to hold people for 15 days incommunicado. And so human rights group says that sort of opens the road to more torture or possible torture.
GREENE: Well, Leila, is there some lesson here that you have a country that seems to be, you know, politically doing better, moving towards democracy but just can't get it right when it comes to human rights?
FADEL: Well, I mean, this is a really scary time in the region. And Tunisia has witnessed some terrifying attacks inside its country - the Bardo Museum attack where more than 20 people were killed by gunmen, where a lone gunman over the summer killed nearly 40 tourists who were sunning themselves on the beach. And on top of that, they've had a few thousand young people who've gone to join extremist groups like the Islamic State. So people are worried and they want stability, and so often governments, like in Tunisia, passed some legislation that isn't protective of human rights. But people are willing to accept that because they - they don't want instability. They don't want attacks inside their country.
GREENE: Well, Leila, just listening to the kind of balance that you're describing a country trying to find, I mean, I think of the debate going on right now in France. I mean, the sort of people wondering what they need to give up for their government to be able to protect them.
FADEL: Yes, it's not unique to Tunisia. This is a conversation going on in the U.S., in European countries and in Middle Eastern countries - where do protections of civil liberties end and the state being able to sort of clamp down in order to provide stability? And it's a difficult question to answer.
GREENE: All right, that's NPR's Leila Fadel, talking to us about the country where the Arab Spring began, Tunisia. Leila, thank you.
FADEL: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Times are also tense in France right now. In the southern city of Marseilles this week, a 15-year-old boy who said he was inspired by ISIS attacked a Jewish teacher. In response, the head of the Jewish community gave a safety tip about skullcaps that has infuriated some people. Here's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ZVI AMMAR: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Speaking on the radio, Zvi Ammar, head of Marseille's large Jewish community said it might be better if Jews in Marseilles for the time being stopped wearing their skullcaps, known in Hebrew as a kippah - at least, he said, until these barbarians calm down. He was referring to an immigrant Turkish-Kurd highschooler who set upon a Jewish teacher with a butcher knife. The attack by the young radical this week has horrified the country, but so has Ammar's proposal. France's head rabbi, Haim Korsia, called it defeatist.
HAIM KORSIA: (Through interpreter) To suggest this is like saying Jews bear some of the responsibility for being attacked, this is the same thinking as those who would say a woman is guilty of a sexual attack because her skirt wasn't long enough.
BEARDSLEY: Several of the recent terrorist attacks in France have specifically targeted Jews. National Jewish community leader Joel Mergui says Jews know the threat posed by young extremists.
JOEL MERGUI: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "But we're not going to stop going to stadiums or cafes or concert halls," he says. "And so Jews will continue to wear the kippah."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Foreign language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
BEARDSLEY: An Israeli journalist secretly filmed himself walking through some of Paris' Muslim neighborhoods wearing a kippah last year. Broadcast on French television, the clip shows him drawing some unsavory comments. A group of young men can be heard comparing him to a dog. French officials on the left and right have also denounced the proposal for Jews their skullcaps. Parliamentarian Xavier Bertrand spoke on a popular radio show.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
XAVIER BERTRAND: (Through interpreter) If the Jews of Marseille don't wear their kippah, France is no longer France because it'll mean letting those who want to change our way of living and values win.
BEARDSLEY: Ten-thousand soldiers now patrol the streets of France. Nowhere is their presence more visible than in Paris' traditional Jewish quarter, Le Marais. Clothing shop owner Stephan Levy says he feels safe, but things have changed in the last couple years.
STEPHAN LEVY: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "Now sometimes I think it's less risky to wear a baseball cap or a hat rather than a kippah," he says, "not only in France but everywhere because let's face it, these days Jews are targeted.
(CROSSTALK IN FRENCH)
BEARDSLEY: Teacher Avraham Scharbit is wearing his kippah. So is his 4-year-old son sitting in a seat on the back of his bike.
AVRAHAM SCHARBIT: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "Yes, sometimes I wear a cap instead of a kippah but not always," he says. "I do both. It's not a big deal." Scharbit says he's not afraid and France is a good place to raise his children. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Republican presidential field just got smaller. Well, at least the field you will see on stage if you tune into tonight's primetime debate. There were strict qualifying rules to be on the main stage in Charleston, S.C. And some candidates have been relegated to a so-called undercard debate. One of them, Senator Rand Paul, says he's just not going to show up. Here's NPR's Don Gonyea.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: To make the main event, you needed to in the top six in national polls or top five in either Iowa or New Hampshire. The Fox Business Network is hosting. So here's the lineup. Right in the middle of the stage, Donald Trump, flanked by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, then Ben Carson and Chris Christie, with Jeb Bush and John Kasich on the ends. Bumped from the main stage this time are Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul. Paul is saying no, thanks to the undercard debate to be held earlier tonight. He spoke to CNN.
(SOUNDBITE OF CNN BROADCAST)
RAND PAUL: It really sort of points fingers and says, well, are you really going to be a contender? We are a contender. We think we have a national campaign that can contend for victory. And we can't accept sort of an artificial designation by anybody.
GONYEA: Fewer participants means more precious minutes for each candidate to answer questions or to challenge statements by others on stage. They seem primed to do just that. Let's start with Trump. He's the national front-runner, but Cruz leads in Iowa. So Trump has been jabbing at Cruz lately.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: So I'm running against different people. And Ted's been nice to me. And I've been nice to him. But he's got a problem, and you know he's got a problem.
GONYEA: This is from a rally in Iowa this week. Trump is talking about Cruz's birth 45 years ago in Canada. Cruz's mother was American, but Trump still says Cruz may not be eligible to be president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: I don't know. What do I know? But I can tell you this. The Democrats are going to bring the suit. And you can't run unless you're going to be - how can you run like that? You don't even know.
GONYEA: So what Trump tried to do to President Obama by challenging his birth certificate he's now doing to Cruz. Except Cruz really was born outside the U.S. Cruz has dismissed the idea that he's not eligible. On the syndicated "Howie Carr Show," Cruz was asked about Trump suddenly playing "Born In The U.S.A." at his rallies.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE HOWIE CARR SHOW")
TED CRUZ: Well, look. I think he may shift in his new rallies to playing "New York, New York," because, you know, Donald comes from New York. And he embodies New York values. And listen, the Donald seems to be a little bit rattled.
GONYEA: Because Trump leads in New Hampshire, just about everyone on stage may be feel compelled to confront him tonight. Trump might not be the only focus, though. Senator Marco Rubio could again have to explain why he worked with Democrats on an overhaul to the nation's immigration laws. A super PAC backing Cruz has been attacking Rubio with this web ad.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: He was a co-author of the bill. I mean, it was the Rubio bill. It was the Rubio-Schumer bill.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: His fingerprints are all over that bill.
GONYEA: Rubio says such attacks are a result of his connection with voters. Here he is on ABC News.
(SOUNDBITE OF ABC NEWS BROADCAST)
MARCO RUBIO: Well, we're going to keep doing what we're doing now. Look, there's a lot of voters in these early states, particularly in Iowa but also in New Hampshire, that are going to make their decisions tvery late. They're still shopping. You can see it. You can sense it in your conversations.
GONYEA: And many of them will be watching tonight's debate, as voting fast approaches in those places. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Washington.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Green. A Russian official may have proven that it is not my way or the highway. You can have both. People in Russia's Komi Republic were wondering why parts of their highway kept disappearing. Well, now we may know. The acting deputy chief of the federal prison service is accused of stealing pavement from a 30-mile stretch of road. He supposedly supervised the operation, which included dismantling the road, moving thousands of slabs of concrete and delivering them to a company that sold them. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well suddenly, implementation day is upon us. This is the day that Iran will, in theory, complete everything it needs to do implement the nuclear deal it reached with world powers last July. And for Iran, this means the liftings of sanctions that have done a lot of damage to its economy. Let's turn to my colleague, who's been covering the story for - probably, it seems a very long time to him. NPR's Peter Kenyon, who joins us from Istanbul. Good morning, Peter.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: So one of the major steps that Iran agreed to hear to cut back its nuclear program involved the reactor it was building at Arak, which can produce plutonium for an actual atomic weapon. What is the latest there?
KENYON: Well, we've had some conflicting statements on that coming out of Tehran. But Secretary of State John Kerry says he's heard directly from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that that reactor core has been pulled out. It'll be filled with cement, and that should just about eliminate the threat of a plutonium-fueled nuclear weapon. And that's because of something else that Kerry talked about, something that really hasn't got that much attention - the new inspection and monitoring powers to be had by the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. And here's a little bit of what Kerry says about that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN KERRY: In the meantime, the IAEA will build up its capacity to inspect and know what Iran is doing and for 25 years, will be tracking every bit of uranium that is processed, from the mine, to mill, to the gas, to the yellow cake, to the centrifuge and into the waste.
KENYON: Now he got a little technical, but basically what he's saying is that the U.N. inspectors should be able to track every gram of uranium, the nuclear fuel, from the minute it's mined all the way through the enrichment process. The idea being that if they can track all the fuel from start to finish, even if there was an attempt to launch a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program, there wouldn't be any fuel for it.
GREENE: I suppose that long list there from Kerry, in a way responding to critics who have long said, you know, how are you actually going to make sure that Iran fulfills its end of the deal? Kerry basically is saying we've got it all covered.
KENYON: He is, and the critics are not satisfied with that explanation, of course, so we're going to hear this debate go on for some time.
GREENE: Well, for Iran, does implementation day actually mean an end of sanctions, or an end of some sanctions at least, and this massive influx of cash that they've been waiting for?
KENYON: It does. The EU, the U.S., others say they're ready to hold up their end of the bargain. Details are in short supply at the moment, but there are possibly 100 billion or more dollars in assets that are waiting to be unfrozen, and then officials in Tehran are really focused on these banking sanctions. All kinds of transactions have been blocked, and that's hit all sectors of the economy. On the other hand - critics, meanwhile, are going to be saying wait a minute. All this money and this reinvigorated Iran is going to make things much more volatile when we've already got these wars going in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
GREENE: Wars going, and also - I mean, all the news recently of the tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Given all of this turmoil in the region, is it significant that this deal actually appears that it might be implemented and go through?
KENYON: I think it is pretty significant. I mean, you can look at the spike in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, perhaps, as Riyadh's effort to see if this might be derailed. It hasn't happened. There's going to be years of suspicion still to come. But take another example, the U.S. sailors detained in the Persian Gulf this week. They were freed in less than 24 hours. Would that have happened without the countless hours Kerry and Zarif had spent together not only talking, but making commitments that both countries have so far kept? I mean, that's a pretty important change.
GREENE: All right, NPR's Peter Kenyon speaking to us from Istanbul. Peter, thanks.
KENYON: Thanks, David.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Republican candidates meet again for another debate in Charleston, S.C. tonight. So maybe it was appropriate that the governor of that state, Nikki Haley, delivered the Republican response to President Obama's final State of the Union address this week. But the Republican response to her response has not been all positive. And that could tell us something about the state of the GOP. Let's talk about that with Washington Post political reporter Robert Costa, who's in the studio with us, coming in again. Always good to see you, Robert.
ROBERT COSTA: Good morning.
GREENE: So let's just begin by listening to Governor Nikki Haley and a bit of what she had to say here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
NIKKI HALEY: Some people think that you have to be the loudest voice in the room to make a difference. That's just not true. Often the best thing we can do is turn down the volume. When the sound is quieter, you can actually hear what someone else is saying. And that can make a world of difference.
GREENE: OK, good to turn down the volume, not always good to be the loudest in the room. Who is she talking to here, and what is she trying to say?
COSTA: Governor Haley's person that she was discussing was unsaid, Donald Trump. But there was a clear message here. This is the Republican establishment making its pitch to the party, ahead of the votes just a few weeks away, that the party should not move in the direction of Trump or perhaps even with the hard-line immigration views of Senator Ted Cruz.
GREENE: You wrote in a story this morning that party leaders are tiptoeing around Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. What exactly do you mean by that?
COSTA: It's been stunning to cover the Republican Party in the last few months and recognize that they're not doing any kind of financial effort against Donald Trump. They're not airing ads, in the early states, against him. What they do have at the moment is a messaging war, trying to take control of the party's message and appeal to a broader demographic. But it's been a difficult road for them because they haven't been able to curb Trump's rise at all.
GREENE: Well, the conservative commentator Ann Coulter among others, I mean, had an angry reaction to Nikki Haley. I mean, she tweeted, Trump should deport Nikki Haley.
I mean, that's stunning. How - how big a division right now is there in the party? And how damaging could it be for the party? Or is it a good thing to have a debate like this?
COSTA: It's a yawning, cavernous divide in the GOP. And to watch the reaction to Governor Haley - you saw on one hand the Republican establishment was celebrating, saying that she's a fresh face. She's 43 years old. She's the daughter of Sikh immigrants from India. This is the kind of party we want to be. On the other hand, talk radio erupted. Rush Limbaugh tore apart Governor Haley's message. There are calls for her to be deported. The negative reaction on Twitter, it's not even worth discussing here.
GREENE: (Laughter) Well, OK. Could this play out, I mean, in the months ahead? I guess one question I had - I mean, you know, you had a story. You broke a story some weeks ago suggesting that there's already talk within the party of planning for a possible broken convention. It sounds like those talks might be intensifying.
COSTA: Right now in South Carolina, members of the Republican National Committee are actively discussing a contested convention, the possibility that no one may have enough delegates on that first ballot in Cleveland in the summer. But it wouldn't be a brokered convention. There are very few powerbrokers left in the Republican Party. What we may see is someone come in, not win on the first ballot. Those delegates would be unbound, and you'd have a free-for-all on the convention floor.
GREENE: All right. Well, we'll look forward to that - to whatever happens in the conventions. It'll surely be interesting. It's been an interesting year to cover politics, I'm sure, for you and others. Robert Costa, thanks for coming in, as always.
COSTA: Thank you.
GREENE: He covers politics for The Washington Post.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The price of oil has been on a downward dive for a couple years now, and one business hit especially hard by low oil prices is the recycling business. Here's Stacey Vanek Smith from our Planet Money team.
STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE: Last spring, oil prices had just dropped in half from $120 a barrel to about $60 a barrel, and all of these recycling plants were going out of business. To figure out why, I visited Tom Outerbridge at Sims Recycling in Brooklyn, right near where live.
My garbage comes here - or my recycling. Sorry.
TOM OUTERBRIDGE: Yeah, your (inaudible).
SMITH: Is that bad to call it garbage?
OUTERBRIDGE: Yeah, well, we don't call it garbage because we're not really in the garbage business. People make that mistake all the time.
SMITH: Sorry.
OUTERBRIDGE: It's OK.
SMITH: Recycling is a for-profit business. Recyclers collect our yogurt containers and soda bottles. They sort them, clean them and then sell them to companies that melt that plastic down and use it to make new things, like toothbrushes and fleece jackets. It's a $100-billion-a-year business, but Outerbridge told me the price he was getting for plastic had dropped in half in just six months. Plastic is made from oil, so when oil gets cheap, it gets really cheap to make fresh plastic. When the price of oil gets really low, using recycled plastic can actually be more expensive because it has to be sorted and cleaned. Last March, demand for recycled plastic was plunging, and Outerbridge was in all of these brutal price negotiations.
OUTERBRIDGE: You're negotiating around a penny or a half-penny a pound. That's really where you're negotiating.
SMITH: As profit margins get slimmer, some things just don't make sense to recycle anymore.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY NOISE)
SMITH: Outerbridge took me to see the huge conveyor belt where the plastic bags are sorted. It was like a river of them.
And there, we've got, like, bubble wrap and a target bag and a Dunkin' Donuts bag.
OUTERBRIDGE: Yeah. (Inaudible).
SMITH: It costs about as much to clean and sort a plastic bag as it does a detergent bottle, but you get way less plastic from the bag.
OUTERBRIDGE: This is really the bottom of the barrel in terms of the plastics market. The value of it is relatively low, which means we can't afford to put a lot of time and money into trying to recycle it.
SMITH: And so then what happens to the plastic bags if you can't sell them?
OUTERBRIDGE: We will certainly - you can get to the point where these are going to the landfill.
SMITH: But Outerbridge hated the idea of plastic bags becoming trash, so he made a bet. He figured if he could offer super clean plastic bags, he could charge a little premium. So he hired a guy called a picker to stand at the plastic bag conveyor belt and pick out anything that didn't belong, like food or receipts. He thought this investment could make plastic bags worth it, even with those low oil prices, but those low oil prices got even lower. They dropped in half again from $60 a barrel to around $30 a barrel.
OUTERBRIDGE: Hello?
SMITH: Hi, Tom. How are you? It's Stacey from NPR.
OUTERBRIDGE: Hi, Stacey.
SMITH: So I checked back in.
Do you still have that picker?
OUTERBRIDGE: No, we were not able to find a customer for whom that extra step and upgrade in material justified the cost.
SMITH: Outerbridge says he can find a buyer for his plastic bags about half the time. The other half of the time, the bags go to a landfill. And even super high quality plastic isn't really making money now. Outerbridge says the whole industry is struggling.
OUTERBRIDGE: I have heard of some consolidation plants that may be shut down and materials diverted to another plant.
SMITH: With rivals going under, plants like his that are still standing get more plastic to sell. And that is good for business, but Outerbridge says things won't really turn around until the price of oil starts going up. Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And we are remembering Alan Rickman this morning. The British actor on stage and on screen has died at age 69. Maybe the best way to describe him is Hollywood's go-to villain. Many people might member him from his role in "Harry Potter." I remember him most for his role in "Die Hard." If Bruce Willis was the hero in that movie, Hans Gruber was Bruce Willis' enemy. And Hans Gruber was played by Alan Rickman.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DIE HARD")
ALAN RICKMAN: (As Hans Gruber) Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho.
GREENE: Haunting - taking over that Los Angeles skyscraper on Christmas. I'm joined by NPR film critic Bob Mondello, who's in the studio with me. Hey, Bob.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Hi.
GREENE: So Alan Rickman, I mean, is that the way to describe him? I mean, just he played a villain better than anyone else?
MONDELLO: Well, he sure proved it right from the get-go. Apparently, he was hired to play Hans Gruber after he'd been in Hollywood exactly three days.
GREENE: Oh my God.
MONDELLO: He went there after he - he'd done about 10 years of television in Britain, and he came over to Los Angeles and was hired him almost immediately to play Hans Gruber. And of course, he had a British accent - there he sounded sort of vaguely German - but really an extraordinary villain. And they - very shortly thereafter, he was playing the Sheriff Nottingham in "Robin Hood." He was - he just seemed disturbing and worrisome. And then he had this other side that we discovered. You know, just within two years, he was cast in a romantic comedy. And it was extraordinary. It was called "Truly Madly Deeply"...
GREENE: ...Which we have some tape of here. Let's listen to that.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TRULY MADLY DEEPLY")
RICKMAN: (As Jamie) Talking was the major component. You played the piano. And I played, then we both played something - a duet, something - I can't remember. And then you danced for about three hours until I fell asleep. But you were fantastic.
GREENE: What's the role he's playing there?
MONDELLO: He's a ghost. And it's a lovely romance, and he's lovely in it. And I think everybody saw that he had another side. Ang Lee hired him to play a part in "Sense And Sensibility" shortly thereafter. He was an actor - I mean, you know, he was a classically trained actor in Britain and had done a lot of stage roles. And so he could pretty much slip into something rather quickly. And he actually won a Tony Award, I think, for "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" on Broadway, playing another villain. But then he was very funny in shows like "Private Lives" on stage. So he was just all over the place.
GREENE: And is it the versatility that makes him special and that you'll remember him for?
MONDELLO: No, it's his voice. That voice - oh my gosh. There's something really - I mean, yeah, sure he was versatile. He could do all these things. But that voice was sophisticated and communicated enormous feeling. You know, even when he was playing - you heard that ho, ho, ho at the beginning. You knew what he was thinking when he did something as simple as that.
GREENE: It was evil and funny and sort of all wrapped up into one emotion.
MONDELLO: Yeah. He did really - extraordinary.
GREENE: Remind us about his role in Harry Potter. I want to play just a bit of that.
MONDELLO: He played Severus Snape, a very worrisome character. I hesitate to call him a villain, but he was a very worrisome character, and scary.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE")
RICKMAN: (As Severus Snape) Mr. Potter - our new celebrity. Tell me, what would I get if added powdered root to asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?
GREENE: (Laughter) It gives me chills.
MONDELLO: You don't want him as your teacher. That's for sure.
GREENE: That's for sure. Well, we're going to miss that voice. We're remembering Alan Rickman, the actor who died at age 69 this morning - speaking about him with NPR film critic Bob Mondello. Bob, thanks a lot.
MONDELLO: It's great to be here, but sad for this.
GREENE: Indeed.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now some news from 1871 and a whaling expedition that headed into Arctic waters too close to winter. Thirty-three ships got trapped in the ice. Well, now 145 years later archaeologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say they have discovered the hulls of two of those lost ships. They're on the seafloor off the coast of Alaska. To understand how they got there, we reached Peter Nichols. He's author of the book "Oil And Ice," and he remembers a time when people got their oil from whales.
PETER NICHOLS: Whale oil was used for everything. It was the lubrication for machines. It was lighting. It was very very close to what petroleum oil is today.
GREENE: Well, so tell me about these doomed ships and who was on board them.
NICHOLS: Well, this was sort of the dwindling end of the world's whaling fleet. It was like the last gasp of the first oil business. By 1871, when these ships were all up in Alaska - they were all there because that's where all of the whales were. And when the ice began to retreat from the Alaskan shore, the whales then followed this little channel and the ships followed them, too. And 1,200 people were on these 33 ships.
GREENE: And were there - there were families on board these boats as well?
NICHOLS: Yeah, a whale ship captain or wailers typically would go off on voyages that lasted three to five years. And whaling captains who might have a 40-year career often spend no more than, say, five years at home in total. So a lot of wives and their children went on these voyages around the world. And the whale ships often moved in company with other whale ships. So on Sundays they'd have a church service on board one or other of these ships, and the women would get together, and they'd all be rowed over to each other ships to talk and - as the men would, too. So they moved in these flotillas around the world following the whales.
GREENE: So this whole community on board ships gets trapped in this channel - what happens? Did people survive?
NICHOLS: Amazingly, everybody survived. What happened was the weather turned. The wind blew from the sea, and it blew the ice onto this channel. And the ships were all pushed up against the shore by the ice, and the ships began to be destroyed by the ice. And at that point they thought how are we going to get 1,200 men, women and children out of here? So they took to their whale boats, these little peapods from classic Arctic whaling illustrations. And they rode down the coast - sometimes there was so little water that they had to drag them over the ice - all these people until they got far enough south that they were into open water. And there were seven whale ships that were not trapped, and they all made it.
GREENE: That's extraordinary. You have 1,200 people marching across the ice dragging little boats, I mean, did it have a big impact on the industry in 1871?
NICHOLS: It actually finished it off. Petroleum had been found in 1859. Whale ships did go out afterwards but in one year, 1871, this disaster wiped them all out.
GREENE: But whaling remained an enterprise, I mean, through - you know, into the 20th century.
NICHOLS: Yes, it did. But the world didn't turn on it as it had in the 19th century. And actually I was sailing across the Atlantic on a little leaky wooden boat in 1971, and I stopped in the Azores.
GREENE: Those are - those are Portuguese islands sort of way off in the Atlantic - right?
NICHOLS: They're Portuguese islands. And those people there were still practicing whaling in little open peapod boats along the traditional model. And while I was there a great shout went up - a bell rang one day, and these people dropped their tools in the field. They all ran down to the beach and jumped in these whale boats and went after Sperm whales that I could see spouting. They paddled out there and spent hours chasing these whales and harpooned them by hand.
GREENE: Well, Peter, it's been really cool hearing about all of this. Thank you so much for talking to us.
NICHOLS: Thank you, David.
GREENE: Peter Nichols, he's author of the book "Oil And Ice." This is NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
What a difference a drug can make. Take the example of ivermectin's impact on river blindness. River blindness, as we first heard yesterday, is a parasitic infection that the World Health Organization says threatens more than 100 million people, mainly in Africa. For decades, efforts to control the disease were largely unsuccessful. All of that changed after the introduction of ivermectin in the late 1980s. But, as NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Ghana, having an effective drug is just half the solution.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: In the town of Beposo 2, Albert Tamanja Bidim is sitting under a tree in the center of the village. He's calling out the names of residents from a ledger to come and take their ivermectin tablets.
ALBERT TAMANJA BIDIM: (Foreign language spoken).
BEAUBIEN: As he shouts out the names, young children give a running commentary on whether that person is around; whether they're off working in their fields. Some of the kids run to look for the resident. Bidim doesn't get paid for distributing these pills in his village, but he takes the job very seriously.
BIDIM: (Foreign language spoken).
BEAUBIEN: "This job is so difficult," he says. Once a year, he has to go to every house in the village and track down everyone and make sure they take the tablets. Small children and pregnant women are exempt. Volunteers like Bidim are the foot soldiers in a global effort to wipe out river blindness. The parasitic infection is spread by black flies. These particular flies breed in rapidly-flowing rivers - thus the name river blindness. Blindness is actually a late stage of the debilitating disease. The infection, also known as onchocerciasis, causes intense itching as hundreds of thousands of larvae burrow under a person's skin.
NANA-KWADWO BIRITWUM: We have about 5 million Ghanaians at risk of onchocerciasis.
BEAUBIEN: Dr. Nana-Kwadwo Biritwum heads up Ghana's neglected tropical disease program. He describes attacking river blindness with ivermectin as sort of the public health equivalent of carpet bombing.
BIRITWUM: It's an annual treatment program where we go in with millions of tablets of ivermectin every year to treat every community. This is a public health program, and it's not targeted at individuals. It is targeted at villages - communities.
BEAUBIEN: The World Health Organization estimates 30 million people, primarily in equatorial Africa, are still infected with the parasites that cause the disease. Earlier efforts to get rid of river blindness focused on blasting the black flies with insecticide, but aerial spraying was expensive, spotty and ultimately abandoned. This new strategy using ivermectin instead attempts to break the transmission cycle in the host - in people. As good as this drug is, wiping out river blindness is still difficult for several reasons. First, trying to get everyone in a village or anywhere to take their medicine on cue is hard. Secondly, ivermectin doesn't actually kill the parasites - it only kills the offspring of the parasites, the larvae. And Doctor Biritwum, with the Ghana health ministry, says the adult parasites can live for up to 15 years.
BIRITWUM: So we need to wait until the adult worms naturally die out of the system.
BEAUBIEN: This means they have to keep treating infected villages over and over again for years to wipe out all the worms. Currently, Ghana is treating roughly 4 million people, or 15 percent of its population, with ivermectin. It's a big task, but it's been quite successful. Some hard-hit villages have gone from having 70 to 80 percent of adults testing positive for onchocerciasis 25 years ago, to just 2 to 3 percent testing positive today. In Latin America, mass distribution of ivermectin has allowed Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia to get rid of the disease entirely. The village chief in Beposo 2, Bondi Sanbark, says his village used to be full of blind men being led around by young boys.
BONDI SANBARK: (Through interpreter) So we should continue to distribute the drugs to them so that the disease will be gone forever.
BEAUBIEN: The chief says no one has gone blind in Beposo 2 for years. That's the power of ivermectin. River blindness is now on the verge of elimination in the Americas, and it's been sharply curtailed in parts of Africa. Ghana is now talking about trying to wipe out the disease by 2020. Biritwum at the ministry of health says before the arrival of this wonder drug, that never would've been possible. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
It is Friday, and it is time for Story Corps. As we head into this Martin Luther King Day weekend we'll hear from the man who as a teenager was the King family's personal driver. His name is Tom Houck. He's white. And in the mid-1960s he dropped out of high school to join the civil rights movement. After meeting Doctor King at an event, he volunteered to work for King's organization. So he made his way to Atlanta, and his story starts the day he arrived.
TOM HOUCK: I was standing outside waiting for somebody to come pick me up. And all of a sudden, Doctor King drove down the street. He said Tom, you're here. And he was with Mrs. King, and she says, Martin, why don't we take Tom over to our house to have lunch? And then the kids wanted to play football so Coretta asked me if I would be willing to go out into the front yard - I played football with the kids and they said, oh, we're going to call him Uncle Tom. (Laughter) So they were, you know, kidding with me. And then Coretta comes outside and she says Tom, can I see you for a second? Do you have your driver's license? I said yeah, why? Would you mind taking the kids to school tomorrow morning? I said fine. So I wound up spending nine months driving the family and driving Doctor King. I would basically drive him around Atlanta, although he liked to drive himself a lot. But he was a terrible driver. And he'd turn WAOK radio Atlanta on full blast.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HOUCK: Doctor King was a chain smoker - all right? But Coretta did not like the cigarettes. So when we would come back to the house the first thing Coretta would do - she would check Doctor King's pockets. So he started giving me his cigarettes.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You were a co-conspirator.
HOUCK: Yeah, I was a co-conspirator with him. Martin Luther King was my hero. He was a decent, kind human being to me. And treated me not as a 18 or 19-year-old, but as a man. And it was a phenomenal experience for me because at this point Doctor King had won the Nobel Peace Prize. And he would talk to me about the movement. So here I was - did not finish high school. But I went to Martin Luther King Jr. University, and I got a PhD.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: That's Tom Houck telling a friend in Atlanta about his memories of driving for the King family. Now inspired by Doctor King, Houck spent his entire career working for civil rights. This conversation will be archived along with the rest of the Story Corps collection at the American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress. And to hear more conversations from Story Corps, get the podcast on iTunes and at npr.org.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You know, on the show, we've been talking about new ways to cover food. After all, it's something many of us talk about often. So we asked one of our correspondents at the NPR food blog The Salt to come by and surprise us with a story. And I swear, at this moment here, I had no idea what was about to happen.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Hello.
GREENE: Allison Aubrey.
AUBREY: I come bearing gifts.
GREENE: You come bearing something...
AUBREY: I come bearing gifts.
GREENE: ...Looking like a dessert.
AUBREY: A chocolate cake, I made it this morning.
GREENE: Really?
AUBREY: Yeah.
GREENE: For me?
AUBREY: Yeah, sort of.
GREENE: Oh, cool. Well, that's generous.
AUBREY: Yeah, this is really going to help tell our story here.
GREENE: OK.
AUBREY: So, you know, it's sort of the January doldrums, right?
GREENE: Yeah, I'm feeling them.
AUBREY: It's a time when New Year's resolutions might sort of fade away. But a lot of people are still trying to lose weight, get in shape. So I'm going to ask you a personal question, David.
GREENE: Anything.
AUBREY: Would you put yourself into this category?
GREENE: I've been in that category for the past year or longer or maybe my whole life, so yes.
AUBREY: OK, so one of the latest strategies for weight loss...
GREENE: Is chocolate cake.
AUBREY: No, is actually getting paid to lose weight.
GREENE: How much are we talking about?
AUBREY: Well, here. I am going to get out my checkbook here. I'm going to write you a check. OK, 2016.
GREENE: This is - look, I don't want to distract you from this process.
AUBREY: OK, so this is $1,500 to David Greene. But you don't get it yet.
GREENE: That's cruel.
AUBREY: (Laughter) And do you want to know what you'd have to do?
GREENE: Yes.
AUBREY: Well, to find out, I want to introduce you to this guy.
GREENE: OK.
AUBREY: He's a schoolteacher in Indiana. His name is Ben Carnes. He's in his early 30s. He was a lacrosse and football player. But then his weight started to really creep up to more than 350 pounds, and he had tried almost every diet he'd heard of. Now he was really starting to get worried. Doctors had already put him on lots of medicines that were related to his weight and to diet.
BEN CARNES: Cholesterol, medicine and high blood pressure medicine, I had a high liver count. I had pretty much everything that they measured, and my blood work was bad. And here I was taking three prescription drugs at age 30.
GREENE: At 30 years old, he's really struggling.
AUBREY: That's right. He was feeling really desperate. So one day, he was, you know, googling around, doing an Internet search for weight loss programs, and he came across something called HealthyWage, and he signed up. So here's how it works. Ben starts putting $50 down a month on a bet that if he loses a certain amount of weight over a year that he'd get a big payout. But if he doesn't meet this goal weight, he's out, all the money, $600. So basically, we have a gamble here. He's betting on his own success, and he said that that really appealed to him.
CARNES: Well, I knew that if I put money on the line that - it was kind of a double motivating thing. It was one, I didn't want to lose the money I was putting in, but two, my wife and I agreed that if I won, I got to spend it on anything I wanted. So, you know, kind of both of those played into it.
GREENE: So this really worked for him?
AUBREY: This really worked. In his first wager, he lost about 40 pounds. Since then he's lost about 60 more.
GREENE: Oh, my God.
AUBREY: Yeah, a total of 100 pounds, so yes, in the end, he did end up getting this $1,500 check. But it was not easy. At one point, he told me about midway through, his weight had plateaued, he wasn't anywhere near his goal weight, and he was really, really frustrated.
CARNES: My wife, actually, at one point called me out. You know, I was feeling sorry for myself. I hadn't lost any weight for like a three or four-week span, and I was like, this is stupid. It's a waste of time, I'm not going to meet my goal, and I'm going to go have a burger and some fries. And she kind of yelled at me and said, we're paying way too much money for you to just bail on this now.
GREENE: That's the thing about diets. I mean, one thing is you sometimes do plateau, and you start to get frustrated, and frustration not seeing the results change can lead you to say, forget it, it's not worth it, I'm going to have a burger. I mean, that's really the struggle with it.
AUBREY: That's right. And I think what's interesting here is losing that money was the thing that freaked him out. I mean...
GREENE: And his wife.
AUBREY: Right, his wife, right. Now it would be nice to think that willpower is enough, right? But it's not. I mean, I've got this cake sitting here that I just told you about. I mean, look at this. My daughter on the way out this morning took her finger and just ran a big smudge through it. She's like, why are you holding on to me, mom?
GREENE: That's adorable.
AUBREY: It just shows this sort of temptation, right? So I think when it comes to resistance, a lot of people just need more strategies. And that's what Ben's story really shows, that in the end, the big motivator for him was not the prize money. It was what he heard from his wife, that fear of losing the money. And it really turns out that Ben's story is not so unique. Scientists who study financial incentives for a behavior change or weight loss say most of us operate this way without really ever knowing it. We're highly risk-averse. I spoke to this one researcher, Mitesh Patel, at the University of Pennsylvania, and he put it this way, that the fear of loss can be more powerful than the reward of winning.
MITESH PATEL: And so if you have some skin in the game, that really tends to drive behavior change. And people tend to not want to lose something they feel like they already have.
AUBREY: But, you know, I have to say, as compelling as this is, a lot of workplaces are having these kind of weight loss challenges, and they don't always work. For instance, there was a study published just this month in the journal Health Affairs, and it looked at this workplace wellness program where they basically discounted people's health insurance premiums if they lost weight. And it was not successful at all because the payoff isn't significant enough. I mean, who's going to notice at the end of three or four months that you had a few more dollars in your pay stub?
GREENE: Some people might notice, but it's not the same as thinking about $1,500 you could literally hold in your hands and go buy something.
AUBREY: Exactly.
GREENE: It's really important to you.
AUBREY: The immediacy of that, right, so the more successful formula here seems to be this blending of skin in the game, this sort of wager approach, with plenty of social support.
GREENE: What would skeptics say? I mean, among other things, I can imagine you might have someone who just doesn't have $50 to put up. I mean, the budget is that tight.
AUBREY: Sure.
GREENE: But are there other reasons that skeptics say, come on, this is just not the best idea?
AUBREY: Sure. I mean, I can think of two right off the bat. If someone needs to lose a huge amount of weight, they might need more oversight, and they might need a lot more instruction about what they should be eating, how they should be exercising. Another thing to think about is how well will someone like Ben be able to keep it off. What is it about this wagering approach that might help someone keep it off in the long term? And that we don't really know.
GREENE: And that check I guess is not going to fall into my hands, so...
AUBREY: Well, you know, I've got it here, so you want to work towards this $1,500?
GREENE: I do.
AUBREY: Or, you know, here, I can slice up a little sliver of cake for you.
GREENE: Could I have that and still succeed in getting the $1,500? Is that possible?
AUBREY: You know, I think it is possible. It's not mutually exclusive. You could in theory eat a very tiny sliver here and cut back on portions overall and still achieve your weight loss goal.
GREENE: I like that.
AUBREY: (Laughter) OK, here you go.
GREENE: Allison Aubrey, I'm so happy you stopped by, really interesting stuff.
AUBREY: Thanks, David.
GREENE: A conversation with NPR's Allison Aubrey that began with a chocolate cake and a checkbook.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
At events like this week's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the car is the obvious star. But the shows also have a history of featuring women. Decades ago, models would lay across car hoods, dressed provocatively - some even singing. Well, those days are gone. From Detroit, here's NPR's Daniel Hajek.
DANIEL HAJEK, BYLINE: Back in the '70s at auto shows across the country, you could find Anita Mitzel wearing an extravagant gown, reciting scripted monologues in front of a shiny Cadillac slowly spinning on a turntable. All these years later, she can still recite those slogans.
ANITA MITZEL: Longer in stride, wider in stance and cat-sure on standard, steel-belted radials. The other one was, Jeep wrote the book on four-wheel drive. I probably said that about 18,000 times.
HAJEK: Sometimes, her speeches would last for 10 minutes. She didn't have much time to prepare, but she had her whole routine down.
MITZEL: Get in in the morning, I would put all the literature out, turn on the lights, turn on the sound system, get up, say my three-minute spiel, get back down, refill the literature racks. It was kind of a fun time.
HAJEK: And it was all about entertainment.
MITZEL: I think that's what people expected. And sometimes people said that they came to the show just to talk to or see the models.
HAJEK: Hedy Popson worked the car-show circuit back in the '80s. Her instructions were simple.
HEDY POPSON: We were referred to as pretty much the spin-and-grin girls. We would be on the turntable. We would spin, smile and enhance the vehicle.
HAJEK: The thing is, some of these women knew about the cars, but unless they were narrators like Anita Mitzel, they weren't allowed to talk about them. That's what Margery Krevsky noticed when she first visited an auto show. One of her friends was posing by a car.
MARGERY KREVSKY: So I said, tell me about this car. She said, I can't tell you about the car, I'm not allowed. But the designer left his notes in the glove compartment. So I'm going to take those. In 20 minutes, I have a coffee break. I'll tell you about the car. And that's where the idea was made.
HAJEK: Krevsky's idea was to give women like her friend a bigger role at car shows, and by the '90s, car show models had a new job title - product specialists. And the role of women at auto shows drastically changed. Hedy Popson now runs an agency with Krevsky called Productions Plus, which represents over 700 product specialists, both women and men. It's like a mini-industry.
POPSON: Margery helped develop that, actually with Nissan Motor Corporation. They were the first corporation to say, we want these people to do a little bit more.
KREVSKY: The car became the true star, and we were the second bananas as product specialists.
HAJEK: Instead of spin-and-grin, it turned into weeks of training on the cars' specs. Product specialists, dressed professionally, know their vehicles from top to bottom.
REBEKAH SKIVER: The Nissan Leaf - this one is actually really cool.
HAJEK: Rebekah Skiver is a product specialist for Nissan. This week, she's in Detroit at the auto show. She interacts with consumers and listens for feedback on the cars. She's the eyes and ears of the brand.
SKIVER: We write an extensive show report after each show that we submit in. So it's all documented.
HAJEK: And unlike dealerships, there's no pressure here. Skiver's not trying to make a direct sale. Hedy Popson says that creates customers.
POPSON: When before it was very much like going to a museum - looking at a car, looking at a pretty girl, moving on - now it's something that brings people in because there's a result. They're actually going to buy a vehicle.
HAJEK: Product specialists are a vital part of the industry. And today, their job is strictly business. Daniel Hajek, NPR News, Detroit.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You noticed some differences in last night's Republican presidential debate in Charleston, S.C. Fewer candidates were on the main stage, which gave everyone a little more time to talk. The stakes seemed to be growing because Iowa and New Hampshire are getting so close. And Donald Trump and Ted Cruz no longer seem to be getting along. Here's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: As Donald Trump put it in the spin room after the debate, I guess the bromance is over. For months, he and Ted Cruz had acted like frenemies. Cruz, in particular, was careful not to alienate Trump's supporters even after Trump began suggesting that Cruz was constitutionally barred from being president because he was born in Canada. But last night, Cruz, a former Princeton debater and Supreme Court litigator, came prepared for a brawl.
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TED CRUZ: You know, back in September, my friend, Donald, said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue.
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: Now since September, the Constitution hasn't changed.
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: But the poll numbers have.
LIASSON: Trump actually admitted that Cruz's rise in the polls had motivated his birther innuendos.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Why are you raising this issue now?
DONALD TRUMP: Because now he's doing a little bit better. No, I didn't care before. It's true. No, it's true. Hey, look, he never had a chance. Now he's doing better. He's got probably a 4 or 5 percent chance.
LIASSON: The Trump-Cruz rivalry was so aggressive, the other candidates were left searching for opportunities to force their way into the scrum.
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MARCO RUBIO: Because I was invoked in that question, so let me just throw in that answer. Let me say a - the real question here - I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV.
LIASSON: Marco Rubio has managed to make the most of the previous debates, but last night, the spotlight stayed on Cruz and Trump. Cruz was asked about a story in The New York Times that he had failed to tell the Federal Election Commission about a low interest loan his wife got from her employer, the Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Cruz had disclosed the loan publicly on his Senate finance form, and he called the article a hit piece, happily taking aim at a news outlet many conservatives considered to be the epitome of mainstream media elitism.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CRUZ: And yes, I made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. But if that's the best hit the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well.
LIASSON: On the campaign trail, Cruz has accused Trump of having New York values, a not-so-subtle message to conservative Christians in Iowa that Trump is not one of them. The New York-based Fox moderators invited him to spell out what he meant.
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CRUZ: Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focused around money and the media. And I guess I can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan, I'm just saying.
LIASSON: That was a clear dig at Trump, who had raised questions about Cruz's faith by saying in exactly the same way that not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba. The Republican primary battle has turned into a circular firing squad with attacks and counterattacks coming from all directions. Jeb Bush attacked Trump for his ban on Muslim immigrants, Rubio and Cruz continued their fight over taxes and immigration, and Rubio took on Chris Christie.
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RUBIO: Gov. Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it's Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Governor.
(APPLAUSE)
CHRIS CHRISTIE: I stood on the stage and watched Marco, and rather indignantly, look at Gov. Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone's been whispering in old Marco's ear, too.
LIASSON: This was the week that the civil war inside the Republican Party flared up again after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was in the audience last night, criticized Trump indirectly saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices." Asked about that last night, Trump, as usual, doubled down.
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TRUMP: I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly, and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger.
(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Our military is a disaster. Our health care is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people.
(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And yes, I am angry.
LIASSON: Last night's debate probably did little to change the current dynamic of the Republican race. The two anti-establishment populists are still the leaders, and the Republican mainstream has yet to coalesce around an alternative. More and more Republican leaders are trying to wrap their minds around the possibility that Donald Trump or Ted Cruz could end up as the GOP nominee. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Charleston, S.C.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Bruised but never broken, that might describe America's long-standing partnership with Saudi Arabia over the years. It's an alliance that dates back to the Cold War. The United States found itself aligned with Saudi Arabia as it recruited fighters to push Soviet troops and their atheism out of Afghanistan.
ALI AL-AHMED: Islam was used as a tool to serve political goals of the United States and the Saudi monarchy. This idea of jihad was created to serve a political purpose.
GREENE: That's Ali Al-Ahmed. He is director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs and also a vocal critic of the Saudi government. He said he's concerned that the U.S.-Saudi partnership has endured despite the kingdom's poor human rights record and its uncertain links to extremist movements.
AL-AHMED: The U.S., when it comes to foreign policy, rarely changed direction. And if you take an example of Cuba, for example, it took 50 years. And I applaud President Obama for changing that policy.
GREENE: But repositioning with a longtime partner, especially at such a volatile moment in the Mideast, could prove a lot more complicated.
I wonder about the reality in the world today and the dynamic we're seeing. You have Iran, which has been in this conflict and sort of a power struggle with Saudi Arabia. You've got Russia that is aligned with Iran. If the U.S. just suddenly distances itself now from Saudi Arabia, I mean, might that embolden Iran, embolden Russia and be potentially really dangerous for the United States?
AL-AHMED: It's my belief that because there has been too much leaning toward the Saudi position by the Americans, it has created this tension between the Iranians and the Saudis. I believe if the U.S. steps back little bit from the Saudis, it will force them to come together.
GREENE: So you're suggesting the close relationship with the Saudis is actually preventing any potential for the Iranians and the Saudis to work together.
AL-AHMED: I really absolutely do because the Saudis believe that the United States is their proxy, and the U.S. has done that in the fact, you know. If you look at the U.S. wars in the Middle East, they are basically Saudi wars that the U.S. had to fight. The Saudis might have written a check, but it was American soldiers who've died in these wars, and that's not what serves U.S. interests in the region. I wouldn't say, you know, the U.S. should turn against the Saudi government. I think that it has to normalize the relationship because right now it's an abnormal relationship. They must deal with the Saudi government as they deal with the German government, the French government for some of their domestic policies. Why is Saudi Arabia an exception? Do not spare them criticism. And this is the problem that gave rise to ISIS and extremism. So the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States today is creating problems for the United States, for the region and emboldening extremism and terrorism.
GREENE: Now just make that argument for me, if you can, why the close relationship with Saudi Arabia may be helping to or having helped to create ISIS and embolden terrorists.
AL-AHMED: The United States support for the Saudi government has given them a sense of security that they can do anything without repercussion. They have continued to allow the growth of terrorism. They're raising more money. In fact, a TV station that is broadcasting from Saudi Arabia called Wesal, the phone number that they use is a Riyadh phone number. And they call for attacks. They endorse attacks. There has been always this, oh, this is private individuals. That line has been peddled for so many years, but Saudi Arabia is not the United States where there's a lot of personal freedoms. Anything that happens in Saudi Arabia or any Gulf country is under the direct or indirect control of the government.
GREENE: But let me just ask. I mean, the Saudi government would obviously deny much of what you're saying. But if there were the links that you're talking about, what would be in the interest of people in the Saudi government to support links to ISIS?
AL-AHMED: If you look at al-Qaida and the ISIS, they have really served the regional goals of the Saudi government, they attack their enemies. They destabilize Syria, Iraq and Yemen. So I think there is a need to have real, honest reassessment of that relationship. This is not to call to break a relationship with the Saudi government but to really normalize it. So you deal with that government as you deal with other governments.
GREENE: That was Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs. And we should say NPR reached out to the Saudi government for a comment about Wesal, the TV station mentioned there. An embassy spokesman says it is not a Saudi-owned or supported channel and that Saudi Arabia is fully committed to confronting terrorism in all of its forms.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Some first-graders in Minnesota were given a pen pal, Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh. Walsh, we should remember, missed a short field goal, knocking his team out of the playoffs.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Walsh's kick is up, and it is no good. He missed it. Are you kidding me? The season can't end like that.
GREENE: The students sent Walsh letters to cheer him up. One said, don't worry. It's just a game. Walsh was so touched he came to their school north of Minneapolis to thank the kids in person. It's MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The big news in sports this week happened off the field. Football is headed back to Los Angeles. NFL owners approved moving the St. Louis Rams there, and it's the first move by an NFL franchise in more than two decades. John Ourand is a reporter with the Sports Business Journal, and he says the Rams are the big winners in this deal.
JOHN OURAND: Basically, the Rams have a chance to claim the second-largest market in the United States. Los Angeles hasn't had an NFL team since 1995. And for years, that's been the goal of a lot of team owners because it seems like an untapped market to them.
GREENE: And so for a franchise going to an untapped market means...
OURAND: It means more people, more money, a potentially bigger fan base.
GREENE: And does that set a precedent? I mean, this is the first time in 21 years the NFL has moved a franchise. But does that set a precedent that teams in smaller cities where they don't feel like they're getting the fans and interest they want to going to start looking to move to bigger markets?
OURAND: I don't know if it sets a precedent. I don't know if there's another market like Los Angeles out there that doesn't have a team. But I do know that every single sports league uses markets that don't have teams as bait in order to get existing markets to use public money to pay for arenas or to get tax breaks. So I would expect now St. Louis will be that market, and any team that isn't getting what they want from their local governments will end up using, well, we might move to St. Louis.
GREENE: This is the NFL trying to basically hold cities hostage and say, we'll move your team unless you come up with the money, pony up the money for a new stadium, and the league gets better stadiums, and more fans in the league gets more money out of all that.
OURAND: And the owners get a lot more money, too.
GREENE: Well, you know, speaking of that very thing, there's a chance that Los Angeles, the area, might get a second team in that same new stadium, and that might come from San Diego, the Chargers, or even the Raiders from Oakland, right?
OURAND: Yeah, that looks likely. In fact, the league has said that they would give the Chargers and the Raiders $100 million to put toward new stadiums if they stayed in their current home markets. But with the Los Angeles market getting about $3 billion to build a new stadium, $100 million, believe it or not, is just a drop in the bucket.
GREENE: And are those cities now being held hostage? Basically, I mean, are taxpayers essentially being forced to come up with money and support a new stadium if they want to hang onto the teams they love?
OURAND: I mean, ultimately, it is going to come down to public money. And one of the arguments in favor of that is that I live in Washington, D.C., and they built the Verizon Center right in Chinatown.
GREENE: The big basketball, hockey arena.
OURAND: And (unintelligible) in Chinatown, it was a really undeveloped area that very few tourists went to. And now it is a thriving area.
GREENE: You see these debates in cities, but, you know, is there something beyond economics? I mean, is there sort of an argument to be made that having a sports team, there's something you really just can't measure in terms of numbers?
OURAND: I think so, and I think that's why this hits as hard as it does. St. Louis is a fantastic sports town. They have supported the Rams. The Rams haven't had a winning season since 2003. So they still have a fervent support for that team even though it hasn't been good for more than a decade. So I do think pro sports teams enter the fabric of a community. And to think that you can take something from the fabric of that community and up and move it across the country, it's a tough message to deliver.
GREENE: John, thanks so much as always. It's great talking to you.
OURAND: Thank you, David.
GREENE: John Ourand writes for the Sports Business Journal.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, we're also following the debate over the future of Obamacare. Many Republicans want to repeal that healthcare law. But some Republican states have taken a more complicated position. This year under Obamacare, more low-wage workers are eligible for Medicaid - that's the government's health insurance for the poor. Some Republican-led states that had refused to add people to Medicaid are rethinking. There are some holdouts, but the White House is looking to change that, as NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Louisiana got a new Democratic governor this week. And first up, he signed an executive order expanding Medicaid - something the Republican administration before him had rejected.
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JOHN BEL EDWARDS: OK.
(APPLAUSE)
ELLIOTT: Governor John Bel Edwards has the support of Louisiana's Republican-controlled legislature to broaden Medicaid eligibility to people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level - that's roughly $33,000 a year for a family of four.
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EDWARDS: We do not want to continue to send our federal tax dollars to Washington to then be given to 30 other states to help their people who need access to quality healthcare while ours go without.
ELLIOTT: Louisiana is the 31st state to expand Medicaid. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government picks up the full tab for the expansion this year. It then tapers to a 90 percent federal contribution by 2020. In Baton Rouge yesterday, President Obama called Governor Edwards' action a bold step.
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BARACK OBAMA: It was the right thing to do. And by the way, it will actually help the state's finances.
ELLIOTT: The White House is proposing new financial incentives to convert the remaining 19 states, like Alabama.
At hospital in Mobile, Porsche Blount uses a laptop to help housekeeper Betty Riggins sign up for Obamacare.
PORSCHE BLOUNT: So you're not enrolled in health insurance right now?
BETTY RIGGINS: No.
ELLIOTT: Blount is a field navigator with Enroll Alabama. There's this moment - she calls it the income dialogue - when she's on edge, hoping clients make at least $1,000 a month. Riggins barely hits the threshold.
BLOUNT: OK, so that's putting us right there at 12675. So we don't hit the Medicaid gap.
ELLIOTT: The Medicaid gap - people who make too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to qualify for federal subsidies under Obamacare.
BLOUNT: It's nerve-wracking because it could be potentially heartbreaking. We, a lot of times, leave these appointments friends with these consumers and in tears.
ELLIOTT: She tells people there is hope if Alabama expanded Medicaid. But that's not likely to happen, according to Republican Governor Robert Bentley.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBERT BENTLEY: We cannot afford it in Alabama right now.
ELLIOTT: Bentley's position is at odds with his own health care policy task force - board member Jim Carnes.
JIM CARNES: We are already on record as having recommended closing the health-coverage gap in Alabama as our number one priority.
ELLIOTT: Carnes is with the low-income advocacy group Alabama Arise. He blames the continued resistance on the politics of Obamacare - something he hopes will soften as more states expand Medicaid. In South Dakota, Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard included expansion in his budget proposal to the legislature.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DENNIS DAUGAARD: I haven't said never. I've always said, not now. We just didn't have the money.
ELLIOTT: The Obama administration hopes to lure more states by offering money - three years of full funding for Medicaid expansion before the federal match tapers off. But the question is whether a Congress that wants to repeal Obamacare will pay for that plan. Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now to our TV critic Eric Deggans, who says we are about to see TV's best fictional series about Wall Street in a very long time. It's "Billions," and the drama premieres Sunday on Showtime.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: When U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades is mulling how to go after hedge fund billionaire Bobby Axelrod, he doesn't talk to his assistant about wonky details or corporate profits or losses. He talks about boxing.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BILLIONS")
PAUL GIAMATTI: (As Chuck Rhoades) Bobby Axelrod is Mike Tyson in his prime. And you do not want Mike Tyson in his prime. Since my appointment, this office is undefeated in financial prosecutions - 81 and 0. And that's because I know when the time is right.
TOBY LEONARD MOORE: (As Bryan Connerty) I get it, but - this would be a big one.
DEGGANS: A big one, indeed. Axelrod, played by "Homeland" alum Damian Lewis, is a billionaire who gives $100 million to New York City firefighters and funds scholarships to kids of colleagues who died in the 9/11 attacks. But he's also suspected of using insider information to keep his profits high. And as the pressure grows, Axelrod tells a staff psychologist what it's like to be a person whose net worth is big as some nation-states'.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BILLIONS")
DAMIAN LEWIS: (As Bobby Axelrod) You know, being a billionaire, I never get to talk about this with anyone. But being a billionaire, when you walk into a room, it's like being a woman with great legs. You know exactly what everyone's looking at. You know exactly what they want.
DEGGANS: This is how Showtime's "Billions" succeeds where other Wall Street dramas have failed. Viewers are shown a complicated world where decisions often turn on ego, political posturing and personal insecurities. New York Times reporter and columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin helped develop the series after his book about the financial crash, "Too Big To Fail," became an HBO movie. He says the show uses fictional characters who aren't based on real-life people to give a detailed picture of that world. As an example, Sorkin cites a scene where Axelrod explains to his children why the family dog sometimes urinates on the furniture.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BILLIONS")
LEWIS: (As Bobby Axelrod) Boys, boys, look, look - look at this. Look, look. He's marking his territory.
MALIN AKERMAN: (As Lara Axelrod) He's peeing on the furniture.
LEWIS: (As Bobby Axelrod) Yeah, yeah, but he's showing Ryan who's boss. That's why it's called a pissing contest when two men try and stake out their turf.
AKERMAN: (As Lara Axelrod) I don't love it when men do that either.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: You know, he's sitting there with his kids, trying to teach them something. And especially these guys with money, one of their greatest struggles is actually how to deal with their kids. And so it's trying to capture those little moments.
DEGGANS: Despite these human moments, "Billions" doesn't try to make you love these characters. Rhoades is merciless in the name of justice, and Axelrod cultivates a corporate culture in his firm centered on macho guys and profane posturing. When these two finally meet, it's the ultimate example of two predators circling each other - Axelrod, the self-made man, against Rhoades, the child of old money. Here, Axelrod gets a warning from the prosecutor that buying a $63 million house will force authorities to look hard at his business.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BILLIONS")
GIAMATTI: (As Chuck Rhoades) Kids in my office thought you might buy that house.
LEWIS: (As Bobby Axelrod) I'll probably pass. It's so nice though, you know? Your daddy's got a little place out there. He must let you use a bedroom some weekends if you say please.
GIAMATTI: (As Chuck Rhoades) You're the only one running the big money they cheer for. They may be cheering now, but believe me, they are dying to boo.
DEGGANS: There're big issues at the edges of this story - income inequality, profiteering from 9/11, the way big financial types often pay big fines to avoid jail for wrongdoing. But "Billions" excels most at painting a compelling portrait of how powerful men - and the women behind them - move the world. And the idea that many of their decisions center on such small human details is both a compelling and a frightening notion. I'm Eric Deggans.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Here are a few different ways to look at Russia. You can see some of the grandiose moves they've made on the world stage. Several months ago, Russia began a military intervention into Syria. This came after Russia's hostile takeover of Crimea, territory belonging to Ukraine. That prompted a strong warning from President Obama at the U.N. General Assembly last September.
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BARACK OBAMA: Consider Russia's annexation of Crimea and further aggression in eastern Ukraine. America has few economic interests in Ukraine. We recognize the deep and complex history between Russia and Ukraine. But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated.
GREENE: But it is also worth watching what Russia is doing more quietly. For one thing, U.S. military officials say Russia has been building up a complex missile defense in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania. This has General Frank Gorenc worried. He's the commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa, and I asked him what Russia's military looks like right now.
FRANK GORENC: What we see now is a modernized air force - an air force with pretty good capability, pretty good capacity, and in the end, people that are much better trained, it appears.
GREENE: General, let me just make sure I understand this. If you see Russia doing this kind of building up in places like Crimea, which, you know, of course was part of Ukraine and is now Russian territory, you mentioned Kaliningrad, which is sort of an enclave of Russia very close to Germany and Poland - in what way does that start to hamper what, you know, the United States is doing with its European allies?
GORENC: Well, I think since the Ukraine, obviously, NATO has felt the need to move on a program to increase the readiness and responsiveness of their forces. And of course we would have to be concerned about it.
GREENE: But don't the U.S. and Russian militaries talk to each other right now? I mean, we've certainly reported on that in Syria. I guess I just wonder, why would you fear a shootdown of an American plane near Kaliningrad, for example, if these militaries communicate with one another?
GORENC: My area of command is not in Syria, but we are communicating in that, you know, we're attempting to de-conflict operations. But there's no kind of operation where we're doing things together. We're just de-conflicting in that case.
GREENE: OK, so there would still be, I mean, enough fear of sort of, you know, an accident happening if you were to fly near surface-to-air missiles that Russia had set up in a place like Kaliningrad, right in the center of Europe.
GORENC: Yeah, of course. I mean, that's always an issue. I mean, there's plenty of examples where there were mistakes made.
GREENE: What do you think Russia's doing? Why are they building up in places like this?
GORENC: Well, I mean, it's hard to tell. I mean, from my point of view, the Russians see themselves as a global power. And in order to maintain that great power status, apparently, you know, they are demonstrating that they can be on the global stage, I guess, for lack of a better word.
GREENE: For Americans who might hear you describing this situation - you know, the U.S. military sort of worrying about where Russia has surface-to-air missiles and changing its behavior and hear that as kind of a sign of weakness and backing away from Russian power - what would you tell Americans to reassure them?
GORENC: Well, I mean, you know, in the end, Russia has no reason really to consider us a threat. And certainly we're not looking for any kind of conflict with Russia. But the facts around the Ukraine and Crimea are simple. I mean, for the first time in a long time in Europe, there's been a changing of international borders through the use of force. The fact of the matter is many of our allies, particularly on the eastern side of NATO, feel threatened. And there's been many good unintended consequences of Russian actions as far as alliance solidarity and the very reason for NATO.
GREENE: If an American hears you and hears you saying, you know, gosh, I have to sort of change where I might order planes to go because of where Russia has put the surface-to-air missiles, that might strike an American as sort of worrisome - feeling like it has sort of the echoes of the Cold War.
GORENC: It shouldn't be worrisome. I think it's just reflective of recent history. I mean, I always tell everybody, in 2014 - the beginning of 2014 - in January, the biggest thing on the plate of the United States and all of our allies, at least in the European side, was the transition of the mission in Afghanistan from combat operations to train, advise and assist. Interestingly enough, by April of that year, the United States and the NATO alliance were dealing with Crimea, were dealing with the stand-up of Daesh...
GREENE: This is what the government calls ISIS, right?
GORENC: ISIS, yes. And then in Africa, the Ebola crisis happened. And all three of those things happened in a single month, and all three of those things required, you know, a response from not just the United States military, but the NATO alliance. I think it's just reflective of history. Things change; the environment changes, you know, and I think it's just a matter of course.
GREENE: General, thanks very much for your time. We really appreciate it.
GORENC: Thank you.
GREENE: That's General Frank Gorenc. He's commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Republicans in Congress have gotten together in Baltimore this week for their annual retreat. The three-day ritual is a time when members hash out plans for the year. NPR's Ailsa Chang reports that congressional Republicans, though, are worried about their agendas getting trumped during this raucous presidential campaign.
AILSA CHANG, BYLINE: The annual Republican retreat - there haven't been any trust falls or ropes courses, but here, in the spirit of laid-back bonding, members have traded in their suits and ties for sweaters - like this cozy green number Pennsylvania's Charlie Dent has on.
CHARLIE DENT: No ties.
CHANG: Oh, that was actually the instruction.
DENT: Well, I don't know if it was, but I don't bring ties to retreats. I don't do that. I don't wear them here. It's - I'm against it. (Laughter) I'm against ties at retreats.
CHANG: The Republicans say that does not mean this retreat is about kicking back because there's one very pressing question House Speaker Paul Ryan wants them to try to answer this week.
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PAUL RYAN: How do we have a message that's inspiring, that's inclusive, hopeful, optimistic and that unites the country.
CHANG: The implication being that kind of message isn't exactly dominating the presidential race right now. Republicans in Congress get visibly uncomfortable when directly asked, how would they sync up with a candidate like Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee for president?
JOHN THUNE: Well, we're a big and diverse party (laughter) - a very entrepreneurial party, lots of ideas out there.
CHANG: Senator John Thune of South Dakota says instead of worrying about who the Republican nominee will be, what his colleagues need to be focused on is crafting their own agenda.
THUNE: I think there are probably going to be areas where we'll find some common ground with that agenda, but what we want to be prepared to do is see that our members, both House and Senate, are positioned well going into this election year to make their case to their voters about why we need to retain a Republican majority in the United States in Congress.
CHANG: And making that case will mean affirmatively setting forth ideas - becoming a party not of opposition but of proposition. The boldest plan so far - House Republican leadership will unveil a replacement for the Affordable Care Act for the first time, after voting dozens of times to repeal it. House Republican Dave Brat of Virginia says there's a reason Republicans waited five years to do this.
DAVE BRAT: The thing that's different now is we have the probability of a Republican president. So now is the time when you make a real statement. You say - and you give the next president a hint.
CHANG: And while Republican lawmakers try to find a voice distinct from the presidential race, Democrats are only too eager to lump their GOP colleagues with Trump. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid wants to see his chamber vote on Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., to which Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says, bring it on.
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MITCH MCCONNELL: Generally speaking, I've tried to avoid turning the Senate into a studio for the presidential campaign. But it's worth noting that's what good for the goose is good for the gander. And so you could expect amendments that they might not like related to the Sanders or Clinton campaign.
CHANG: So despite trying really hard not to get upstaged by the presidential race, everyone knows Congress will be one of the biggest stages for the 2016 contest. Ailsa Chang, NPR News, Baltimore.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene with advice for those who market clothing. Consider sticking your latest design on a Mexican drug lord. El Chapo, who was arrested yet again was seen in a photo with actor Sean Penn. He was in a button-down shirt with blue and gray strips and what looks like black paint splattered all over it. The LA boutique that made the shirt is thrilled El Chapo got his hands on one. They have been marketing it as the most wanted shirt with a photo of El Chapo. And as you can imagine, sales are spiking. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
If you want to know how the Republican presidential race is shaping up, last night's debate laid it out pretty clearly. After months of playing nice, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz really went after each other. Meanwhile, the candidates in the race from the establishment wing of the GOP were battling it out for the chance to take on the frontrunners. NPR political editor Domenico Montanaro was up very late watching all of this, and he joins us on the line. Hey, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So two weeks from the Iowa caucuses, we're finally getting there, smaller number of candidates on the stage. Did this Trump-Cruz kind of going after each other really start to change the dynamic here?
MONTANARO: You bet. And particularly, you know, you note the Donald Trump-Ted Cruz dynamic. You know, the two of them coming into this debate before the last couple of weeks have had something of an alliance, where, you know, they were kind of reticent to really attack each other because they're kind of going after the same voters, not last night. They went after each other. Cruz was under attack from Trump because of his eligibility to be president because he was born in Canada, which Trump decided to push again last night. And then, Cruz hit back at Donald Trump, saying that he had New York values. And Trump really kind of ran into a professional debater when you think about Ted Cruz. He was a college champion debater at Princeton and really was able to kind of lower Trump in. And I'm not sure if Trump has actually seen that kind of skill from a debater, but it really does mark a new phase in this campaign where we're getting very close to votes. There's desperation time kind of setting in. And, you know, after the debate, Trump was asked if the bromance was over between the two of them, and he said, I guess the bromance is over.
GREENE: I guess it's over.
MONTANARO: Right (laughter).
GREENE: Well, on the other side, could you say the same sort of thing about the dynamic if people Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, are they sort of going after the same establishment votes, and is the pressure sort of growing on them to duke it out and one of them sort of emerge?
MONTANARO: I mean, the pressure on them is almost bigger because you've got them all sort of positioning to be the person who could go up against Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or both. The problem is they're all splitting up the vote amongst each other. So they really needed last night to try and, you know, make people, mainstream Republicans, especially in New Hampshire, look at them, one of them, and say, OK, that's my guy. And it was really notable to see that it was Chris Christie and Marco Rubio who got into it most last night. It really tells you about the dynamic of the establishment race. And Rubio questioned Christie's conservative credentials as governor of New Jersey. Christie rattled off some of his accomplishments and said Rubio is only attacking him because he knew he was a threat. Who you didn't hear from from in that back and forth, Jeb Bush, with all that money with that super PAC. You know, he still was trying to go after Donald Trump, and John Kasich was really off to the side.
GREENE: Any policy differences really stand out last night, or was it just sort of style points?
MONTANARO: Well, there were issues that came up that they tried to talk about. I mean, things from China tariffs came up between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz got into it over immigration and whether Rubio supported immigration reform and Ted Cruz's support for or the lack of support for the metadata program within the NSA, his voting against a budget that increased military spending. Chris Christie tried to talk about social security and entitlements to save the program. But there was one area where they all agree, and that's foreign policy. And you heard them try to really outtough each other with very dark language following that State of the Union from President Obama, where he tried to paint a rosier picture of what the country's like.
GREENE: All right, that's NPR's political editor Domenico Montanaro talking about last night's Republican debate in Charleston, S.C. Domenico, thanks.
MONTANARO: All right, thanks so much.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK, when Super Bowl 50 is played early next month, it will easily be one of the most watched televised events of the year with roughly a third of American households tuning in. It was not always that way. The first Super Bowl was played back in 1967, and it seemed to matter so little back then that the networks broadcasting the game, NBC and CBS, just went ahead and erased the tapes. The video of that game was long believed to be lost forever until now.
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JIM SIMPSON: Hello, again, everyone. This is Jim Simpson along with George Ratterman from the coliseum in Los Angeles, and this is it, the American Football League-National Football League championship.
GREENE: It wasn't even called the Super Bowl then. It turns out the NFL's own production unit was also filming the game. NFL Network has now stitched together that archival footage with NBC's original radio broadcast. And tonight, on the NFL Network, the entire game will be aired again for the first time since 1967. NFL senior producer David Plaut said they spent months scouring through their archives for footage, and then they had to piece it all together.
DAVID PLAUT: I likened it to a jigsaw puzzle.
GREENE: A puzzle with 145 pieces, one for each play. The teams playing on the field, the NFL's Green Bay Packers and the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs. Now back then pro football was much less popular than baseball, less popular than boxing, even college football, but David Plaut said the teams on the field were still pretty impressive.
PLAUT: You had a game where you had 14 future Hall of Famers, two Hall of Fame coaches, a lot of great immortal players who many people have never seen play. And for at least for one evening, you're going to see them come alive again.
GREENE: And for those watching tonight, Plaut says you're probably going to notice some differences but also some similarities between the game now and then.
PLAUT: The athletes are not as big, they're certainly not as fast, but the game is fundamentally played in the same way. Where the Super Bowl is different is in the way that it is presented. It so much more of an event of entertainment and spectacle than it was.
GREENE: I mean, think about the halftime show. Back then it was let's say less Beyonce, less Coldplay and much more about marching bands. NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Dave Robinson played in that original Super Bowl. He was part of the Green Bay pass rush that led to this momentum shifting interception early in the second half.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMPSON: Nelson being rushed, and oh, it is intercepted.
GREENE: He says that walking into the stadium with legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi just felt historic.
DAVE ROBINSON: Vince said, man, football's come a long way from when I used to play in cow pastures. And I said, well, you're right, coach. And he thought that this was a long ways, but if he could see the Super Bowl today with all the grandeur...
GREENE: He probably wouldn't believe it. Spoiler alert, the Packers won that first Super Bowl. And tonight, Robinson gets to relive that glory.
ROBINSON: I've always said that I wish they had saved those tapes of Super Bowl One. Now I'm going to have my own copy because I'm going to tape it. I really can't wait to see it.
GREENE: As for Robinson's prediction for this year's Super Bowl...
ROBINSON: Kansas City versus the Green Bay Packers, wouldn't it be phenomenal to have two teams play Super Bowl 50 after having played in Super Bowl One? It would - the league would have come full circle.
GREENE: Well, those two teams, while they're low seeds, are both still in the playoffs, so that could happen. And if it does, maybe it would sound a little like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMPSON: That's the end of the game with the final score Green Bay, 35, and Kansas City, 10. We'll be back in a moment with a final wrap-up of today's game.
GREENE: "Super Bowl One: The Lost Game" airs tonight on the NFL Network. And just one more note here. Jim Simpson, who we heard there doing the play-by-play in that first Super Bowl, he passed away this week. He was 88 years old.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
A big Hollywood action movie is opening today. That is not exactly news, except that this movie is about a tragedy, one that's been a political lightning rod since September 11, 2012. That is when the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which included CIA and State Department staffers, came under violent attack. Here's a little of how that moment is depicted in the new movie "13 Hours."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "13 HOURS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) We need immediate assistance. We are overrun.
GREENE: Four Americans died in the attacks in Benghazi, including ambassador Chris Stevens. Film critic Justin Chang has been thinking and writing about "13 Hours." He's the chief movie critic for Variety. Thanks for coming on the program and chatting with us.
JUSTIN CHANG: Thank you for having me.
GREENE: So, Benghazi, when Americans hear that, I think they think about the tragic events there. They think about a two-year congressional investigation and how this has become so politically charged, which makes me wonder how the movie handles the story of what happened there.
CHANG: Yes, and I think that the title tells you a lot. It's very much focused on the events of the attack itself. So this is very much a minute by minute account of what was going on on the ground. The politics are almost completely removed from the equation, and the idea is sort of to catch you up in just the tumult and the violence and the confusion and the chaos. And I would say that "13 Hours" is above all else intended to be a heroic tribute, and there's something that I think is respectable about that even though I think the movie - it has some problems as well.
GREENE: I want get to the problems...
CHANG: Right.
GREENE: ...But I do just want to underscore this point. I mean, everyone sort of involved in the political debate, aside from the question of blame that we've heard about...
CHANG: Right.
GREENE: ...Would probably say these were American heroes who were serving this country and involved in a tragedy, and all agree on that.
CHANG: Yes, that's exactly right. I think that, you know, the movie certainly can claim a certain high ground in just saying, look, these men are indisputable heroes. I think that is something that Michael Bay has sort of - I refer to him in my own review as Hollywood's most kind of aggressively pro-military director. I think that in that respect, he's kind of a good fit for this material.
GREENE: But you mention there were problems in the movie that you found.
CHANG: And I would say that those problems go hand in hand with the choice of Michael Bay, who is known for the "Transformers" movies, "Pearl Harbor," a much worse kind of depiction of a historical tragedy. And his films are incredibly bombastic and incoherent and vulgar, frankly.
GREENE: You're talking about the other ones, not "13 Hours," OK.
CHANG: The other ones, I think that with Michael Bay, he's almost stumbled on an ideal choice of subject matter here because he has this sort of genius for incoherence. The way he directs action, he very much is kind of not giving you a very clear picture of what's happening. That approach kind of suits this movie because this is very much a movie about confusion, and so I have very mixed feelings about it in some ways because it is a real grind. It will give you a headache after a while. It is loud. It is assaultive. But in some ways, I think that's sort of the right approach, you know. It's kind of a movie to sort of experience and be immersed in. It's not really an interesting movie to think about afterward. There's a much better kind of more thoughtful and reflective movie to be made about the Benghazi narrative, but this one puts you in it in a way that is, on those terms, pretty compelling.
GREENE: Sounds like you're saying I should go see it.
CHANG: (Laughter) I - you know, as a self-respecting film critic, I always check myself before I make the mistake of recommending a Michael Bay movie.
GREENE: (Laughter).
CHANG: But I think that this is definitely the most serious-minded and responsible thing he's done in a very long time, and I came away with kind of grudging admiration for it, I have to say.
GREENE: Grudging admiration from Justin Chang, who's the chief film critic for Variety, talking to us about the new movie "13 Hours." Justin, thanks for joining us.
CHANG: Thank you, David.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Schools across the country are scrambling to try to find qualified special education teachers for their classrooms. They are often forced to settle for people who are willing but underqualified. Educators in Boise, Idaho, are working on a solution to the shortage by training the highest quality teachers to fill those gaps. Lee Hale from our NPR Ed team reports.
LEE HALE, BYLINE: Teaching special ed is tough. But one place they do it right is the Lee Pesky Learning Center. It's an unassuming one-story building in the middle of an office park near the airport in Boise. And walking in, it feels kind of clinical, sort of like a dentist office. But instead of cavities and dentures, it's worksheet and flashcards.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: How was school?
HELENA: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What did you learn today?
HALE: This is Helena. We're just going to use her first name for privacy. She's in eighth grade and she comes in weekly to work on her reading.
HELENA: Decide, machine, government.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Excellent.
HALE: Helena is a bright kid but she struggles to keep up with her grade-level peers, so these sessions really help. And this one-on-one approach is the Pesky Center's bread and butter. Any given day of the week, students trickle in after school to work with their education specialist, as they're called. Anything from multiplication tables to paragraph structure.
EVELYN JOHNSON: All of the attention is focused on the instructional component.
HALE: This is Evelyn Johnson, the executive director here. And she's also a professor of special education at Boise State University.
JOHNSON: So, like, what are we doing for this child and how are they responding and are they meeting their goals?
HALE: Johnson says the Pesky Center, which has been around since '97, was initially established with one goal in mind - to help students with learning disabilities.
JOHNSON: Primarily because the lack of services was so startling.
HALE: And that lack of services is caused in part by two things. The first...
JOHNSON: Special education has become really bogged down with administrative requirements.
HALE: The special ed teachers whose jobs it is to help these students are often overwhelmed by paperwork, which obviously distracts from, you know, teaching. The second problem is that teacher shortage. The West Ada district just outside of Boise had to replace nearly 20 percent of all their special ed staff last summer. Often when you're hiring that fast, you're settling for quantity over quality, and those new hires are way more likely to leave the classroom after two or three years teaching. Now, the Pesky Center has no control over the paperwork in special ed. That's tied to federal law. But training teachers, that's the kind of thing they're really good at. So in response to the need, the Pesky Center is evolving. Along with helping students, it is also serving as a training ground for prospective teachers.
PRAGNYAA CHAKRAVARTHY: And then I got the hang (ph) with the S because we're teaching...
NICK GOODMAN: Teaching the suffix, adding the blend...
HALE: This is Nick Goodman, education director, sitting down with Pragnyaa Chakravarthy, a teacher in training. They're discussing the progress of a student that Chakravarthy's been working with. And the attention to detail is pretty incredible. They're discussing specific sounds the student struggles with, patterns they've noticed.
CHAKRAVARTHY: He said luch (ph) for luck last time. And then we're doing the diagraphs with the...
GOODMAN: And every now and then, he'll say off or uh.
HALE: The hope is that this type of training can lead to better qualified special ed teachers throughout all of Idaho. Here's the plan - interested college graduates can apply to spend a year training at the Pesky Center while also taking classes and earning a masters in teaching degree through BSU on full scholarship. It's all made possible by Alan and Wendy Pesky, the founders of the learning center. The program is called the Special Education Collaborative. And once the year of training is up...
JODI RILEY: Basically you go where the need is.
HALE: This is Jodi Riley. Along with Chakravarthy, she's one of the first two teacher candidates in the program.
RILEY: I hear the need's in the middle schools and I'm OK with that. You know, I can handle middle school students. I've got a middle school student at home.
HALE: Riley is the perfect candidate, recently retired from the military and excited to jump into a new career. But like I said, she is one of only two in the program. This is their first year and they're starting slow. But that doesn't mean they're aiming low.
JOHNSON: The end goal is that every child with a disability has a highly trained teacher.
HALE: Evelyn Johnson admits it's going to take a really long time. She's planning to have the program up to at least 10 candidates in the next few years. But classrooms need to be filled now. Not to mention that this is a countrywide problem and not every state has been able to find the kind of private funding needed for this type of program. But with the number of districts that are struggling, maybe they need to start looking harder. Lee Hale, NPR News, Boise.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Is it possible for any of us to get through the day without looking up something on Wikipedia? We've all gotten used to this whole idea of knowledge at our fingertips. What's the capital of Pakistan? Google it. Need a thorough article on the life of George Washington? Go to Wikipedia. The encyclopedia began as a community project. And in those early days, it was plagued by factual errors and charges of bias. That was 15 years ago. Wikipedia now has millions of articles tended to by largely anonymous writers and editors. It's grown up. Jimmy Wales is one of the founders of Wikipedia. He's the man who keeps asking us for $3. He joins us from the studios of the BBC in London. Thanks so much for being with us.
JIMMY WALES: Oh, thanks for having me on.
SIMON: What's changed in 15 years?
WALES: Well, obviously, things are a lot bigger. I would say things are much more global. We're seeing a lot of growth in the languages of the developing world, which is something that's very near and dear to my heart because our goal is to have a free encyclopedia for every single person on the planet. But on the other hand, some things haven't changed at all. The central concept of Wikipedia is just the same as it always ever was.
SIMON: And that is?
WALES: What we've always said is the vision statement is imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. And that's what we're doing. That's what we're working.
SIMON: You don't have advertising, though.
WALES: No advertising. We're a charity. We're a nonprofit organization. We get money from all those $3 out there. Over two million people donate every year. The backbone, the vast majority of the money, is the small donors.
SIMON: You must have been tempted over the years to run a few ads. I can't imagine how much money that might be for you.
WALES: No, I mean, we've never really considered it. You know, people say do you ever think about it? And I say, only 'cause reporters ask me all the time. But in terms of our internal board meetings and things like that, it's not even a topic that comes up. We're very happy being who we are.
SIMON: According to Wikipedia's Wikipedia page, hundreds of thousands of visitors add and/or edit content every day. No qualifications necessary. How do you keep that from going horribly wrong?
WALES: (Laughter) Well, it really does depend on having a strong community of people who know each other and who monitor things and vet things. We're always open to new people coming in. We're always looking for good writers. But a lot of people have the idea of Wikipedia as, you know, 100 million people adding one sentence each. But really the bulk of the work is done by the core community. And these are people who, by now, some of them have more than a decade of experience writing an encyclopedia, working in this community environment. And they do a great job.
SIMON: I have tell you, Mr. Wales, this week, just to be puckish, one of our producers went into my Wikipedia entry and said I was born in Karachi, Pakistan. I, rather famously, was born in Chicago. Now, I know this is a stunt, but it's still there.
WALES: Well, it won't be as soon as we air this.
(LAUGHTER)
WALES: And we always say...
SIMON: But does that demonstrate something that should concern you?
WALES: Yeah, I mean, we don't like it when that happens. We like it when things are monitored very quickly. Things do sometimes slip through the cracks. They're normally corrected quite quickly. I always do slightly chastise journalists. If you - being from Chicago, if you heard about this amazing neighborhood in a rough part of Chicago where the community had decided to get together and clean the streets every morning on their way to work and you wanted to write a story about that or broadcast about that, you probably wouldn't go into the neighborhood and dump some trash around just to see what they do, so tisk, tisk.
SIMON: Oh, oh, I think I consider myself reprimanded then.
WALES: (Laughter).
SIMON: I know you've been concerned about the fact that - I believe the figure I've seen is 9 out of 10 of the contributors to Wikipedia are still men.
WALES: Yeah, I think 85 percent. Different surveys - you know, we don't really have 100 percent reliable numbers, but we do know that it is the vast majority. And it is something that we consider a problem. One of the things we know is that people tend to write about things that they're really passionate about, things that they know about. And the fact that our community is largely made up of tech geek-oriented men means that there are a lot of types of entries that don't get enough attention. And we really want to have more diversity in the community because we believe that it brings more quality.
SIMON: I have a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old. And we tell them to be careful about using Wikipedia for their homework. I wonder what you tell your children.
WALES: I mean, that's exactly right. I mean, I think we've moved beyond the error when people would say to the kids don't use Wikipedia. It's, you know, it's not very good. It's full of errors. And now we say, look, here's how to use Wikipedia. First thing - particularly ages 9 and 12 - I think one of the first lessons you want to say is you can't just copy your homework out of Wikipedia because your teacher reads Wikipedia too and you're going to get caught. (Laughter) So, look, there's sources at the bottom. Wikipedia follows, you know, traditional academic traditions of citing their sources. And if something seems a little suspect, you should go and check and read the sources. There's a lot that kids can learn from Wikipedia, including, I think, what is one of the most important moral lessons of Wikipedia, which is that we all have a right to participate in the public conversation and in the, you know, the grand project of understanding the world. And, you know, knowledge isn't always just handed down from on high. We can all participate in it.
SIMON: Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia 15 years ago, thanks so much for being with us.
WALES: Thanks for having me.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A record Powerball jackpot transfixed the country this week. There were long lines and rising hopes. B.J. Leiderman was not among the winners, so he still writes out theme music. A previous Powerball winner, however, is the major investor behind a play that opens at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It celebrates the late Catholic monk and author Thomas Merton, and it's called "The Glory Of The World." But our man Jeff Lunden says it's not really about Thomas Merton.
JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Defining who Thomas Merton was is not easy.
CHARLES MEE: Everybody is far more complicated than that one simple line about being a great mystic, a great Buddhist, a great activist, whatever.
LUNDEN: And in Charles Mee's play, his characters argue about that.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE GLORY OF THE WORLD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Merton, the Catholic monk and priest.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Well, you say he was a Catholic but no, really he was a Buddhist.
LES WATERS: I don't know if this is contemporary compulsion or just a human compulsion to slap a label on something and say that's who somebody is.
LUNDEN: Les Waters is artistic director of Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky, near where Merton lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Every morning, Waters walks to work.
WATERS: I pass this plaque that says, on this site, Thomas Merton had a spiritual revelation. And it's an extraordinary thing to see on a plaque.
LUNDEN: He got curious, started reading about Merton and got in touch with playwright Charles Mee to see if he might want to do something for the monk's 100th birthday last year. Mee grew up in a Catholic home with Merton's books on the shelves and nuns and priests in the family. He said yes but with a caveat.
MEE: I said, well, you know, I'm an ex-Catholic so I couldn't write anything nice about him. And probably what I would do would get you thrown out of Louisville. And Les said, that's OK.
LUNDEN: Actually what the pair came up with is less a traditional play than kind of a wacky birthday party for Merton.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE GLORY OF THE WORLD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Happy birthday to you.
LUNDEN: Featuring 17 actors, all men, in which Merton never actually appears.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE GLORY OF THE WORLD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Happy birthday, dear Thomas.
LUNDEN: Louisville Courier-Journal critic Elizabeth Kramer reviewed the play and says at times the action resembles the film comedy "Animal House."
ELIZABETH KRAMER: There's crazy parts where men start dancing a slow dance and then they kiss each other and make out. And then later on there's this huge fight where one man brings out his fist, another brings out his knife, another comes on stage with a chainsaw.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE GLORY OF THE WORLD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) What was that?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) You think it's OK to do some violence?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) No.
LUNDEN: These raucous moments are bracketed by silence, a lot of it at the beginning and the end of the play where an actor in Louisville - it was director Les Waters - sits onstage without speaking and his thoughts are projected on a screen.
WATERS: You can feel waves going in the house behind you, waves of tension, waves of people thinking what is going on?
LUNDEN: But critic Elizabeth Kramer says when that silence returns at the end of the play, the audience's perceptions have shifted.
KRAMER: It gave the middle of the play a stronger sense of the argumentation that takes place, of the passions that people have about this man Merton and how they define him. And it also gives you as an audience member just some time to reflect on your own as you're sitting in silence.
LUNDEN: One of the people who felt that was Roy Cockrum.
ROY COCKRUM: I understood it. I understood what it meant. It made sense to me. I was known as Brother Roy for a number of years and wore a black habit and traveled all over the world doing spiritual retreats.
LUNDEN: Before Cockrum became an Episcopal monk, he spent 20 years as a professional actor and stage manager. He saw "The Glory Of The World" when it premiered at the Humana Festival in Louisville last year.
COCKRUM: And when the house lights started coming up after the curtain call, I leaned over to my friend that I was sitting with and I said, if ever I'm going to be a commercial producer, this is going to be it.
LUNDEN: Cockrum wasn't just daydreaming. In 2014, he won the $259 million Powerball lottery and set up a foundation to create and support new theater works. He's used some of that money to bring the entire Louisville production - actors and sets - to New York where he hopes audiences respond to the contradictions, chaos and silence in Charles Mee's play.
COCKRUM: It's that complex diversity of the human condition that is, in fact, the glory of the world.
LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A quartet of siblings and assorted spouses, lovers and friends all spent a holiday in the English family summerhouse they'll have to sell. Do you think everything will go just swell for those three weeks or will tensions simmer, secrets break out of storage as quarrels, tears and fatal attractions roil the old house in the summer heat? Tessa Hadley's novel, "The Past," has already been praised in Britain and now in the U.S. where her stories frequently appear in The New Yorker. Tessa Hadley joins us from the studios of the BBC in Oxford. Thanks so much for being with us.
TESSA HADLEY: It's a pleasure.
SIMON: Does setting the story in a house give the novelist a kind of stage?
HADLEY: Yes. I mean, first of all, a house is like a metaphor. Before you even start, you don't have to even work on it. There is a building that's had a family in it and they've been there for a couple of generations now. And they gather in those rooms and on the walls are certain pictures and everything is sort of helping you to make your story. I love putting stories in houses.
SIMON: Help us meet some of the characters. The sisters first. Harriet is the oldest - an old student radical.
HADLEY: Yeah, I'm interested in what became of, I suppose, actually the people of my generation who some of them, not me, but some of whom were so passionately sure a new world was coming and that almost any kind of sacrifice was worth it in the name of a better world. But there's something sad about Harriet, something missing, something - some lost part of her life.
SIMON: Alice, the middle sister, is - and who wouldn't be - just a little anxious about growing old.
HADLEY: Yes, she's sort of single, though she's had lots of lovers, and she's childless and she hasn't really got a career. And in a way - I sort of love the way novels like people like that.
SIMON: Fran is a teacher and a mother of two. Let me just ask you, not to dismiss her in any way, are the differences between the sisters both the source of their tensions and their partnership ultimately?
HADLEY: Yes. I mean, speaking as a writer, of course, if you gather four siblings, three sisters, in a house and you want to do something with them, you're going to be working with how different they are from one another as well as working with what binds them. But everything interesting is in the difference, isn't it?
SIMON: Does a novel start for you with characters or story?
HADLEY: It often starts with a scene. And it did, this one did very vividly. And I've no idea what strange place in my subconscious this surfaced from. But I saw the scene where this slightly sad and solitary Harriet totally accidentally witnessed her brother making love to his new wife. Not quite literally witnessed, but a door is open, she catches sight of her reflection, she can hear things. And she's sort of excruciated, the way one is when those silly accidents happen. But more than that...
SIMON: This is Roland, her brother, the philosopher and not just a philosopher, huh?
HADLEY: That's right. He's a philosopher and a bit of a man about the scene and a bit of a film critic. And he's brought his very attractive, brand-new wife to the house with him to meet his family. And she's the catalyst that in a novel you drop into a steady scene to precipitate something completely new. And it's Harriet's eavesdropping on her brother making love to this new woman that sort of tears something open that was sealed up inside Harriet.
SIMON: I made a note of a line. Roland, at one point, wonders, quote, "whether mutual incomprehension might not be the most stimulating arrangement in a marriage." (Laughter) I've been trying to figure that out. Well, let me just get you to talk about that.
HADLEY: OK (laughter). Well, the reason - there's another bit where I'm kind of on the same theme, which really interests me, where I go back into the past and the grandparents of my four siblings are also having one of those moments. And it sort of says the woman had thought that when she was married she would be intimately known to somebody and intimately know him. And actually to save yourself inside a marriage, you need layers of guardedness. Maybe that's just me, but being attracted to the unknown in the other person and not trying to colonize it or wanting to be colonized or sort of wanting to become one country, if you know what I mean, I think that may help.
SIMON: Oh, but there's that old line from "The Russia House," I believe, where the man says to the woman, you are my country. I think it's the - one of the most romantic things I've ever heard.
HADLEY: I wonder what the woman thought as she heard him say that. (Laughter) What a lovely line, that's for sure. But I think it's very good because it's very true to something that happens in love. But I'm not sure that it's a very good blueprint for what happens in marriage.
SIMON: Obviously there's a lot of tension in this book between siblings, the whole cast of characters. But somehow at the end, I am not left with a doubt that they'll somehow be back together next summer.
HADLEY: I think that's a good subject for writing about because really, as many families work as don't work or they don't work some of the time, but lots of the time they do. And I suppose the Western world went through a deep disenchantment with the family in the mid-20th century for very good reasons. You know, it can be an extremely oppressive institution. But actually I think we're probably in a period of recuperating it now. We love it. So I kind of love to write about families getting on together but not blandly. I mean, there's a challenge to writing, how much easier to write people falling out than falling in. But we need it on record that people also love each other and then hate each other and then love each other again.
SIMON: Tessa Hadley - her novel is "The Past." Thanks so much for being with us.
HADLEY: Thank you so much for having me.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Tennessee Ernie Ford was a singer who hosted a top-rated primetime TV show. He recorded number one hits, collections of hymns and spirituals that dominated the Billboard charts. Sixty years ago this winter, Ernie Ford was at the top of both the country and pop charts with his recording of the Merle Travis song "Sixteen Tons."
A new a five-disc set that's up for a Grammy this year features Tennessee Ernie Ford's early career and his influence on another style of music, rock 'n' roll.
Wayne Winkler from member station WETS has more.
WAYNE WINKLER, BYLINE: Tennessee Ernie Ford was fed up with the trappings of fame and the demands of the music business. It was 1955, and his label Capitol Records had threatened to sue him if he didn't make another record. He decided to fulfill his contract and leave, so he recorded this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SIXTEEN TONS")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) Some people say a man is made out of mud. A poor man's made out of muscle and blood, muscle and blood and skin and bones, a mind that's weak and a back that's strong. You load 16 tons. What do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store.
TED OLSON: He covered songs that were Appalachian in origin, but he kind of modernized them.
WINKLER: Ted Olson is professor in the Appalachian studies program at East Tennessee State University and produced the new box set.
OLSON: He was a country music hit-maker, but he also scored many hits on the pop charts.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MULE TRAIN")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) Mule train. Giddy up, pah-giddah.
OLSON: He covered hillbilly boogie selections, which are the forerunners, in many people's books, of early rock 'n' roll.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOTGUN BOOGIE")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) There it stands in the corner with a barrel so straight. I looked out the window and over the gate. The big fat rabbits are jumping in the grass. Wait till they hear my old shotgun blast. Shotgun boogie...
WINKLER: Ernest Jennings Ford was born in Bristol in 1919 and began his career as a radio announcer at local station to be WOPI. He also studied voice at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. During World War II, he served with the Army Air Corps as a bombardier trainer in California. He also hosted an armed forces radio program from a nearby radio station. After the war, Ford worked at stations in San Bernardino and Pasadena, where he hosted a popular country music program.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: Well, it's love song time, and here's a lovely girl to sing it for us.
OLSON: It wasn't uncommon for radio announcers to have a persona like that. He just was particularly good at it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: Yes, sir. Fine, fine.
WINKLER: Ford's radio program soon earned him a recording contract. But unlike most country singers, Ted Olson says he was not based in Nashville.
OLSON: He recorded in Hollywood for Capitol Records, west coast-based label, major label. And Capitol had a different approach, as they showed with somebody like Merle Travis in the '40s and early '50s, they would take an artist with strong roots in kind of the Appalachian Uplands area and take what had been folk music and encourage the artist to kind of revise it or revision it or come up with a new interpretation and a fresh approach.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TROUBLE IN MIND")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) Trouble in mind, I'm blue. But I won't be blue always 'cause the sun's going to shine in my backdoor someday.
WINKLER: Ford went on to host several TV shows and often ended them with a religious song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HIS HAND")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) His hands paint the flowers. He puts leaves in the trees. At his whisper, birds start singing when my heart needs melodies.
WINKLER: After Ford's 1956 album of hymns stayed on the Billboard charts for 277 consecutive weeks, Capitol turned him into a gospel singer. But his son Buck Ford wants his father to be remembered for more than just that.
JEFFREY BUCKNER FORD: Because Ernie Ford was not a gospel singer. He was not a country singer. He was not a jazz singer. He was not a pop singer. He was a singer, period.
He could literally cross from genre to genre. And I mean, literally, from opera to pop without taking an extra breath. The great volume of gospel music that he did was due, less and less over time, to its popularity than it was with Capitol's failure to continue to see him as a singer of American music and not just a gospel singer.
WINKLER: In fact, producer Ted Olson says Tennessee Ernie Ford was a pioneer in bringing the music of black Americans to the pop charts.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I DON'T KNOW")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) I don't know - my, oh my, oh my, oh my. I don't know what my baby's putting down.
OLSON: People have focused on the Sun Studio role in popularizing Southern black music. They were, in some respects, students, so to speak, of people like Tennessee Ernie Ford, who were doing similar sorts of things earlier than that. Tennessee Ernie Ford was a pioneer of rock 'n' roll music, to date, uncredited by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but perhaps they'll get around to recognizing that at some point.
WINKLER: Tennessee Ernie Ford was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990. He died a year later and in 1994, was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
For NPR News, I'm Wayne Winkler in Johnson City, Tenn.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I DON'T KNOW")
ERNEST JENNINGS FORD: (Singing) Putting down...
SIMON: NPR is following developments now. Secretary of State Kerry is in Vienna. Iranian State TV reports four Iranian-American nationals will be released from prison. It might be part of a broader deal to lift sanctions against Iran, which could happen early as today. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The FBI is now tracking animal abuse the way it tracks arson or assault. This may help save more animals from harm. But research has also shown that animal abuse is often a precursor to other acts of violence. And tracking acts of violence against animals may help law enforcement intervene before that develops into violence against people. John Thompson is deputy executive director of the National Sheriff's Association and has been instrumental in moving this idea forward. He's in our studios. Sheriff Thompson, thanks so much for being with us.
JOHN THOMPSON: Good morning.
SIMON: So how does this tracking work?
THOMPSON: In the past, if, let's say an incident happened here in D.C. for animal abuse, it would just - that data would get thrown into this all other category.
SIMON: Yeah.
THOMPSON: So there's really no way to track it. But now that - if there's animal abuse here in D.C., for example, they will now track the incidents and the data elements, which will then give good data for the police chief to say, wow, I've got a really big problem with animal abuse which is affecting gangs, which is affecting domestic violence and other interpersonal violence. Then that - the police chief could set up a special unit. So it's data that gives that police chief and the sheriff valuable information to help them set up the way they police their community.
SIMON: Well, and how would that work? You were a police chief in Mount Rainier, Md. I mean, it's one thing to have the data, but...
THOMPSON: Well, let's say you have a specific area where we're having a lot of dogs - they're finding dogs that are mutilated or something in one specific area. That's a good indication we maybe have a dogfighting gang or a dogfighting incident in that area. So now we can focus more law enforcement in that area to get it where in the past maybe we didn't do that.
SIMON: And there is a correlation between dogfighting rings and other crimes, perhaps?
THOMPSON: Oh, my God, yes. You know, if you've got dogfighting and gambling, you got just about any type of crime that goes with it. It - and that's what people are more aware of.
SIMON: What is the line, as research has established it, between people who abuse animals and violence against other human beings?
THOMPSON: Well, the research is very clear. And it's been there for a long time, as I said earlier. Law enforcement just hasn't got it yet, even though some have. Some agencies do a very good job. It's growing. If you look back at Son of Sam and Dahmer and...
SIMON: Jeffrey Dahmer in Milwaukee.
THOMPSON: Right and Ted Bundy in Florida. I mean, if you look at the serial killers, the majority of them that abused animals prior to turning on humans - and even one admitted, I did it to see how the animal would die before I killed a human. It's just - it's amazing. School shooters, Pearl, Miss., and Columbine, they all abused animals and killed animals prior to their shooting spree. So it's - the data's there and it's not just guesswork. It's actual documented data.
SIMON: You've been a law enforcement professional. Are there people who say the last thing I need is more paperwork, more data?
THOMPSON: Yeah, here's the thing. Law enforcement really hasn't grasped this problem yet. If you look back in the early '70s when domestic violence came up and how the laws changed and then law enforcement would go, say, well, if the woman's getting beat, why she won't leave the house? Well, we didn't understand. We'd understand the dynamics of domestic violence, and as that whole thing changed, it got better. And if you look at animal abuse right now, it's - can follow the same timeline. You can always - bet you it's within years that it's going to be the same timeline. You have to get - in order for this problem to be solved, you're going to have to get the legislators to create the laws, you're going to have to get law enforcement to enforce the laws, you're going to have to get prosecutors to prosecute and judges to convict.
SIMON: John Thompson of the National Sheriff's Association, thanks so much for being with us.
THOMPSON: OK, thank you. Appreciate it.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Mexico's president was jubilant over the recapture El Chapo. Joaquin Guzman, the world's most wanted drug lord, humiliated the government when he escaped from a Mexican prison last summer through an elaborate mile-long tunnel. When El Chapo was recaptured last weekend, President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted, mission accomplished. But what are Mexican citizens saying about his arrest and the ongoing drug violence there? Genaro Lozano is a columnist in Mexico City, and he teaches politics at the Universidad Iberoamericana. Thanks very much for being with us.
GENARO LOZANO: Thank you, Scott. It's a pleasure to be with you and good morning to everyone.
SIMON: You've been on social media sites. What are a lot of Mexicans saying about this?
LOZANO: People here are discussing over lunches, over tacos and burritos, about the romance between El Chapo and Kate del Castillo, this Mexican actress that was the link between El Chapo and Sean Penn, and also if President Enrique Pena Nieto is going to be able to change the dynamic of his low popularity in the following weeks.
SIMON: So very little feeling that they'll have any impact on drug trafficking and violence?
LOZANO: Yeah, but people are very skeptical about it. I mean, because everybody knows that the fact that El Chapo has been recaptured, it doesn't really change anything in the formula. People are still dying on the streets because of this war on drugs that President Calderon started in 2006. Mayors are being killed. Candidates running for office are also being kidnapped or disappearing. Journalists are living in the country that - it's one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists. And that's another thing that people are discussing, especially the journalists in Mexico know that the quality of Sean Penn's chronicle and interview and the reasons and all the privileges that he had for being able to unite with El Chapo, privileges that journalists in Mexico don't have.
SIMON: Yeah. Is the Rolling Stone article itself getting much play, much attention?
LOZANO: Yeah, the article's getting a lot of attention. But also people started discussing the poor quality of it. And it became at least a conversation in social media about how Sean Penn was actually saying more about himself and his ego rather than telling us a different perspective or a different point of view from El Chapo.
SIMON: Is Joaquin Guzman, El Chapo, any less of a folk hero to some Mexicans now that he's been recaptured?
LOZANO: That was also a discussion, if Sean Penn's piece was portraying him as a hero. And I don't think that in Mexico we consider El Chapo a hero, not as Pablo Escobar was considered a hero in Colombia back in the '80s. People know that El Chapo is not a hero. People know that he's a criminal, that he has committed murders, that he was one of the most wanted men in the world. So I don't think that people consider him a hero. He's just a character that people are wondering about and are very curious about.
SIMON: Has the Mexican government tried to spin this story, as we might say?
LOZANO: Yeah, the Mexican government, I think that has been very intelligent in sharing some information with some newspapers, with some TVs, giving a little bit, giving cookies to different media to portray different stories about El Chapo. And I think that what they're trying to do is to actually stop the Mexican people believing that El Chapo is a hero. And they're attacking him where it hurts most to a Mexican man - machismo. So they're actually portraying a drug lord who wasn't able to perform sexually. So they're giving all these details now about El Chapo having surgery to perform better as a lover. But I think that's actually quite a shaming and quite embarrassing for a man in Mexico.
SIMON: Genaro Lozano, who's a columnist and a professor in Mexico City, thanks so much for being with us.
LOZANO: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
There's a house for sale in Los Angeles - 29 rooms, tennis court, swimming pool and wine cellar, a guest house, game house, movie theater and a grotto, which is not to be confused with any grotto you've read about in the Bible. The owner wants $200 million. Local realtors say that's optimistic, which is often their way of saying that's ridiculous. But the house is Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion.
At the age of 89, Hef may be downsizing. Insert the double-entendre of your choice here. But there is a catch. Any buyer must permit Playboy's founder to continue to live in the house until he moves on. Twenty-nine rooms should afford privacy all around, but imagine padding down to the kitchen to find yourself walking on cracker crumbs and dirty plates in the sink because some night snacker in his black silk pajamas didn't clean up and downed the last sip of orange juice. Hef. The man isn't used to sharing.
The Playboy Mansion is a year younger than its owner and may be getting a little creaky - or worse. Izabella St. James, a former Playboy bunny who lived there from 2002 to 2004, says much of the furniture is old and ratty, the bedding is soiled and tatty and the dogs who belong to the bunnies who live in the mansion relieve themselves on the curtains and carpets. That would be a lot to put up with in a budget motel, much less a $200 billion mansion. Hugh Hefner's been married for three years to Crystal Hefner, who is his third wife and, for whatever it means, 60 years younger than Hef. He's spent many years sharing his residence with a changing cast of young women, but in 2005 he told Britain's Telegraph, I thinned the herd a couple of years ago because there were some rivalries, some petty jealousies and I was trying to emphasize the quality. There are some statements for which no truly clever response is possible.
Anyone who wants own Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion must also know it comes with a history of ring-a-ding '70s glitz but also darker chapters of drug use and sexual assault at his celebrated parties. Recent reports say Mr. Hefner now fills his nights by slurping canned chicken noodle soup and chomping oatmeal and raisin cookies before he watches old movies with his younger brother and a few old friends. He sits hand-in-hand with his wife. They say good night at 9 p.m. Imagine spending millions to move into the Playboy Mansion and instead of rampant revelry, you find you have to get in line for the Early Bird Special.
(SOUNDBITE OF CY COLEMAN SONG, "PLAYBOY'S THEME")
SIMON: Cy Coleman. You're listening to NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A big political weekend in presidential politics, and it began Thursday night with the sixth Republican debate. On Sunday, it will be the three Democrats who are running for president. Yes, there are three. NPR's senior Washington editor and correspondent Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks for being with us.
RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: So who came out of that debate looking strong as we look ahead to Iowa?
ELVING: Two people in particular, Trump and Cruz, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Trump is no longer the dominating personality that he was, but he's still the name leading in national polls and in most of the early states. Cruz, though, is the central figure in this particular debate if only because he was the object of most of the attacks from the other candidates. And he is masterful at slipping the punch, changing the subject, turning the criticism back onto others.
SIMON: What about all the time he had to spend, though, going back and forth about whether he's even eligible to run for president?
ELVING: Certainly not helpful. It's a big distraction, a speed bump, if you will, for his campaign. But his footwork, even on this, is remarkable, also on that story in The New York Times about his taking loans from a couple of big Wall Street banks to finance his Senate campaign and then portraying it somewhat differently in popular press. He's pretty good at making all that sort of seem not that important, and it doesn't seem to be bothering his followers.
SIMON: However, did Ted Cruz, an acclaimed debater, open the door for Donald Trump to have his best moment when Senator Cruz seemed to take a swipe at New York City?
ELVING: The moderators asked about this idea of New York values, which Ted Cruz has been using to identify himself with people in places like Iowa and New Hampshire where New York City may not be that popular. And he refined that to say not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan in this particular debate. But as you say, Donald Trump then came to the defense of New York. It was an uncharacteristic moment for Trump. It was clearly not planned or rehearsed. You could see his face show the thoughts coming into his mind. And he got almost emotional talking about how New Yorkers responded after 9/11, how they suffered, the smell of death in the air. And it was moving, and that's not what we always expect from Donald Trump and quite sincere.
SIMON: Yeah, I also thought all Senator Cruz could do was just kind of nod his head.
ELVING: A rare moment of silence from Ted Cruz.
SIMON: Who else do you think scored well?
ELVING: Marco Rubio always does well in these debates. It's as though this is really the focal point of his campaign. He always has prepared things to say that he gets off very spontaneously, a flurry of attacks on Ted Cruz, a flurry of attacks on Chris Christie, who did the best he could to cope with those and was certainly also a strong figure on the debate stage. Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Ben Carson, you know, they were there but they're far behind and they're fading fast.
SIMON: It seems like conservatives are on the rise in the Republican Party from one end to the other.
ELVING: You know, Scott, this week, a watershed poll in The Wall Street Journal with NBC News, it shows that if you narrow the field of Republican candidates to just the top few, Trump and Cruz together have 70 percent of the vote. So look, when the primaries are this dominated by the kind of voters we saw in the midterms of 2010 and 2014, you're going to get a conservative nominee. And we'll be looking for a vice presidential running mate who would balance the ticket a little bit to the left. You know, if you have to go all the way back to Ronald Reagan in 1980 to find that situation, usually the Republicans are looking for someone who would please or at least appease their right wing when it comes to a running mate. But this year, it's going to be going back the other way. The shoe is on the other foot.
SIMON: In your estimation, is the birthplace issue serious?
ELVING: These are muddy waters. It's just not like the Obama birther issue. That was a question of biography. Was he born in Hawaii or not? Get the birth certificate out there, the whole business kind of came to a halt. This is different because we're talking about different legal interpretations of what the Constitution meant by natural born citizen. So the lawsuits are already beginning to be filed.
SIMON: Yeah, and is there a new level of intensity on the Democratic side?
ELVING: There is indeed. Bernie Sanders is close in Iowa and he's leading in New Hampshire. Not so much because his numbers have come way up but because Hillary Clinton's numbers have come down. It's much like eight years ago when she was far ahead, but then Barack Obama crept up behind her and overtook her. This time, her numbers have actually come down even more precipitously in this last month before we get close to Iowa and New Hampshire.
SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving, thanks so much.
ELVING: Thank you, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And now time for sports.
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SIMON: The NFL playoffs march on and the Australian Open opens. Howard Bryant of ESPN The Magazine and espn.com joins us now, this week from the studios of member station KRCB in Sonoma County, Calif. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT: Thank you, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm fine, thanks. Let's begin with the playoffs from last week. The Steelers beat the Bengals.
BRYANT: Brutal game.
SIMON: Ugly, wasn't it? Not just ugly, vicious. That's what I mean.
BRYANT: It was a vicious game and also a game that - I've watched a lot of sports. I've never seen a team do so many dumb things as the Bengals did to lose that game in the final minutes.
SIMON: So what's it say about the NFL now?
BRYANT: Well, what it says is that you've got a lot of teams - you've got a great rivalry obviously between the Bengals and the Steelers and the frustration of the Steelers having won those six Super Bowls and the Bengals never quite finding their way. And the - I mean, the Steelers now have another battle against Peyton Manning and Denver on Sunday. But that game was so vicious that Antonio Brown, who got hit with a dirty hit in the final minute of the game, he's not going to play. DeAngelo Williams, another running back, he's not going to play. Ben Roethlisberger's got bad shoulder - he couldn't lift his arm above his shoulder and yet they still won the game. So it's going to be a really tough battle for Pittsburgh to come out of that with a victory to go out there to Denver.
SIMON: Let me ask you about a game today. The Chiefs play the Patriots. The Chiefs have a very hot hand and the Pats have lost four of their last six, but come on. It's the Patriots. It's the playoffs.
BRYANT: It's the Patriots, exactly. And everybody thinks that the Patriots do what the Patriots do and therefore they're going to find their way. But one of the things that this season has told us about the NFL is that the team you start with is not the team you're going to finish with. Remember when the Patriots came out and won those 10 games in a row that they were thinking about maybe going undefeated. And then obviously the injuries have crushed them. They are not the same team. They don't have a lot of players. But we'll see, depending on the health of Julian Edelman, depending on the health of Gronkowski, the health of Tom Brady, maybe they've got enough to do something. I think a lot of people think the Patriots are just going to show up and win, but I think it's going to be a really tough game.
SIMON: Tomorrow, the Seahawks and the Panthers play in North Carolina. Should this be the Super Bowl?
BRYANT: It should be NFC Championship at best. You've got one team that's trying to go to the Super Bowl for the third straight year. Then you've got the Panthers who had a great shot to go undefeated this year. They ended up 15 and 1. You've got two of the best quarterbacks in the league. You've got Cam Newton with Carolina who should be in the league's MVP and then you've got Russell Wilson who just is a magician back there and finds ways to win. They should've lost the game last week but - except for him. And so I think this is going be a terrific game. It might be the best game of the playoffs. It's a shame that it's not going to be for the right to go to the Super Bowl.
SIMON: The Australian Open draw was announced on Friday. Serena Williams is about to play her first official match since last September. What's the year look like for her?
BRYANT: I think it's going to be a hard year for her for a couple of reasons. One, she came so close to winning the Calendar Grand Slam last year - she lost to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open in the semifinals - and also the fact that she's going to be 35 this year and the emotional stress. One of the beauties of watching Serena - the greatest thing about watching her is not just her fight but how much she wears that emotion on her sleeve. She gives you - she's not a robot. She gives you exactly what she's feeling out there in the moment. And the pressure was so great last year. She's one major away from tying Steffi Graf for 22, the most in the Open era. She's got a knee injury right now. And I think it would be great for her to come out of the box and get that one because every one you don't get, the pressure mounts to get that next one. And at 35 years old, I know players are playing. Kimiko Date-Krumm is playing. She's 45 years old. So I know players can play a lot longer now. But to play at that high level, the clock is ticking on the greatest tennis player I've ever seen.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of espn.com and ESPN The Magazine, thanks so much for being with us.
BRYANT: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Later today, the New England Patriots host the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL playoffs. The Chiefs are hot. They've won their last 11 games. But no team knows how to win like the Pats. Coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady rightly receive a lot of praise. But what about Ernie Adams? His official title with the Patriots is football research director. He's a man who doesn't give interviews, but if you look at the career of Coach Belichick, Ernie Adams has nearly always been nearby. Who is this guy, Ernie Adams? What does he do? Dan Shaughnessy writes for The Boston Globe. Thanks very much for joining us, Dan.
DAN SHAUGHNESSY: My pleasure, Scott.
SIMON: Who is this guy?
SHAUGHNESSY: (Laughter) Well, we don't know a lot ourselves. You know, Ernie is the same age as Bill Belichick. And they go way back to their high school days
SIMON: Prep school days. I didn't know that, yeah.
SHAUGHNESSY: Yeah, Phillips Andover Academy. And David Halberstam actually unearthed this better than anybody when David was working on a book on Belichick, "Education Of A Coach." And Ernie Adams is such a historian that he wanted to meet the great David Halberstam. And I think they traded questions. Every time David would ask Ernie something, Ernie could ask a Vietnam question of the late, great David Halberstam.
SIMON: Yeah, so what does he do during a game? What does he do for the team?
SHAUGHNESSY: Well, there's no question. During the games he's up in the booth with a headset and there's an emergency line down to the field with an orange piece of tape that says Ernie. It's a dedicated line for him. And if you see a controversial play or a play where they might dispute or throw the red bag to get a replay, those are carefully selected challenges. And Ernie, I believe, makes all the calls on those, like, this is worth the risk 'cause you lose a time out if you make the challenge and it's upheld. So if you go back - and there's an excellent NFL Films video from the Super Bowl last year and Ernie does speak a little bit in that. And it's pretty clear that he sniffed out the play that Pete Carroll ran from the one-yard line at the end of the game, which Malcolm Butler intercepted to win the Super Bowl. The Patriots had worked on that repeatedly on Friday...
SIMON: Oh, my.
SHAUGHNESSY: ...And basically knew it was coming. He is what, again, Halberstam called Belichick's Belichick. He's really the man behind the curtain there.
SIMON: And yet I gather Tom Brady barely knows him.
SHAUGHNESSY: Well, you talk to guys - I mean, Brady certainly knows the value there. And they're a very secretive organization, so they're not going to give up a lot anyway. I was fascinated by going back into Ernie's history, people he's worked for and just trying to get them to tell stories. And it was amazing, you know, talking to Phil Simms. And Ernie was his quarterback's coach and just...
SIMON: Phil Simms was quarterback for the New York Giants.
SHAUGHNESSY: (Laughter) Yeah.
SIMON: This is NPR, Dan. We have to fill in the blanks sometimes.
SHAUGHNESSY: (Laughter) I understand. Well, Bill Parcell is one of the legendary coaches in NFL history. I called Bill and, you know, 'cause saw in the press guides that Ernie was his pro player personnel director for a couple of years in the 1980s. And Bill could not remember anything about him. He says, I don't know the guy. I said, Bill, it says on the press guide that he was your director of pro personnel for two seasons when you were head coach. And he says, well, I don't remember the guy. So they're all either being very careful about it or Ernie just does not leave a personal mark with them.
SIMON: So I don't have to tell you, Dan, there are people who say that history will judge the New England Patriots as the preeminent professional sports franchise during this time. And yet they often - I mean, they almost never mention Ernie Adams name.
SHAUGHNESSY: No, no.
SIMON: And yet he's - his name - and again, he sounds indispensible.
SHAUGHNESSY: Yeah, he's absolutely a behind-the-scenes guy. That's by choice on everyone's part. And they feel the less said and the less attention brought to it the better. But no one's really cracked the code on this guy. I mean, I've tried. David Halberstam did a good job, as good as anybody, but I think he's going to go into his old age holding onto all these secrets
SIMON: Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe, thanks so much.
SHAUGHNESSY: My pleasure.
SIMON: This is NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. We're watching an ongoing crisis in Flint, Mich. Governor Rick Snyder has just called on President Obama to declare a state of emergency there. Dangerous levels of lead have leached into the city's water supply. It started in 2014 when city officials switched the water source from the Great Lakes to the Flint River to cut costs. But the river water is more corrosive than the lake water and eats away at lead pipes. The city has switched back to lake water, but the devastating reality is the children of Flint have been poisoned and are at risk of serious developmental delays and permanent health issues. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician at Hurley Children's Hospital in Flint, and she is the head of a new initiative to assist the affected children. She was also the first to discover this widespread poisoning, and she joins us from her office in Flint. Dr. Hanna-Attisha, thanks so much for being with us.
MONA HANNA-ATTISHA: Thanks for having me, Scott.
SIMON: You confided in a recent interview that when pediatricians hear the word lead we freak out. Help us understand why.
HANNA-ATTISHA: We know lead - lead is a potent, irreversible neurotoxin. It's been well-studied, well-researched, and it has lifelong and damning consequences. It effects your cognition. It effects your behavior. It has a multigenerational impact.
SIMON: What do you do?
HANNA-ATTISHA: So what we are trying to do is we are trying to throw every single evidence-based intervention at these children. And they encompass education, so early literature programs, and universal preschool and nutrition access and access to mental health services. All of these things are known to help children who are at risk for developmental disabilities.
SIMON: What kind of support do you need from not just the state government but the federal government?
HANNA-ATTISHA: We need funding for these interventions. We need funding to expand Head Start programming. We need funding to help us continue to assess and monitor these children. We need every resource in the world so maybe we won't see those consequences, and that's this new initiative that we're trying to get going.
SIMON: And what is it exactly?
HANNA-ATTISHA: One - to assess this exposure, to continue our research to see how widespread, how bad was the exposure. Number two - to do that long-term neurodevelopmental follow-up with these children. But the most important thing I think is the third thing, which is the implementation and the assessment of interventions. So what can we put into this community - innovative interventions - so that we don't see those consequences so then when we are studying them in 10-20 years, hey, maybe we won't see the bad effects of lead poisoning.
SIMON: Dr. Hanna-Attisha, I'm sorry if this sounds naive, but how could nobody in authority know that this would happen?
HANNA-ATTISHA: Yeah. So the river water was more corrosive, but what was the real problem was that corrosion control was not added to this water treatment. That was the crux of this problem. So yeah, I don't know what happened, and there's many investigations to figure out what happened and what went wrong. But it is unfortunate that in 2016 in the middle of the Great Lakes - we are literally in the middle of the Great Lakes - that we could not guarantee a population access to safe drinking water.
SIMON: And painful as it might be to detail, what are some of the things to which children will be vulnerable?
HANNA-ATTISHA: Yeah. So lead has kind of these lifelong consequences. It effects your cognition. It actually drops your IQ. So imagine what that's done to an entire population. We have shifted our IQ curve down. And then it effects your behavior. It causes attention deficit hyperactivity behavior. It's even been linked to criminality.
SIMON: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha at Hurley Children's Hospital in Flint, Mich., thanks so much for being with us.
HANNA-ATTISHA: Thanks for having me.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
New Hampshire voters take pride in their track record of supporting presidential candidates who often go on to win their party's nomination. The state is also known for helping to bolster establishment Republicans, that is until this year. Donald Trump is double digits ahead of his rivals in the polls. And as NPR's Sarah McCammon reports, that leaves the rest of the pack fighting to be the one who can take Trump down.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: There's not much time left for establishment Republicans to settle on a favorite. And with no clear challenger to Donald Trump's dominance here in New Hampshire, other candidates and their super PACs are lobbying attack ads at each other.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Chris Christie could well be Obama's favorite Republican governor.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Marco Rubio, just another Washington politician you can't trust.
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CHRIS CHRISTIE: Do not be fooled. Any significant division within the Republican Party leads to the same awful result.
MCCAMMON: That last ad opened with the words Marco Rubio is attacking Governor Chris Christie. It was a response to Rubio's criticism of Christie's record. The back-and-forth continued on the campaign trail in New Hampshire yesterday.
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MARCO RUBIO: So it's a four-round magazine.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Yeah, yeah.
MCCAMMON: During a stop at a weapons factory in Newport, Rubio was presented with a hunting rifle.
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RUBIO: And what's the range on that?
MCCAMMON: The Florida senator addressed a roomful of plant workers in between shifts.
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RUBIO: And I'm going to tell you what's really important, that our nominee be someone who is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. And there are people running - Republicans running - that are not supporters of the Second Amendment in the way you and I want them to be. They support gun control.
MCCAMMON: A few hours later in Hollis, N.H., Rubio himself was the target of attacks from former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
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JEB BUSH: The senators sometimes get off into their world, their little ecosystem, of Washington, D.C., talk. I don't know if you've noticed. It's mind-numbing actually.
MCCAMMON: Bush joked that Rubio and Texas senator Ted Cruz live in an alternative universe.
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BUSH: It was like I filed an amendment and you didn't and - these are bills that never passed.
MCCAMMON: He also took aim at Trump after a member of the audience asked how he could distinguish himself in a year when voters seem to favor big personalities.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: The degree to which 2016 is an election cycle that's more about personality than policy...
BUSH: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: ...How do you break through the personality noise in the next three weeks in Iowa and New Hampshire?
MCCAMMON: Bush said he plans to stay the course, arguing that having the ideas and experience to be president should be enough.
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BUSH: And if it isn't, I'm not going to change who I am. I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to play the game. I'm not going to insult someone just because I'm told that that's the way to connect with voters - really? Really? I mean, Trump does this, and I don't know. It just - it sets sets me off.
MCCAMMON: Afterward, Milt Janosky of Hollis said he likes Bush. But he's also considering Christie, Ohio Governor John Kasich and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Janosky says he's definitely not voting for Trump, and he has a question for those who are.
MILT JANOSKY: What in the world are you thinking with - this guy is dangerous. He really is.
MCCAMMON: Janosky was chatting with Jim Polus, also from Hollis. He's supporting Bush, but he says there are a lot of good choices.
JIM POLUS: People like myself and Milt, we have three or four candidates that we think could be good. So that vote is being split four different ways.
MCCAMMON: Janosky says those voters could easily defeat Donald Trump if they could just settle on someone they all could support. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Nashua, N.H.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
New lawmakers in Spain took up their seats in Parliament - I beg your pardon. In Spain, new lawmakers took up their seats in Parliament this week after recent elections. It is a very different looking legislature now thanks to a number of anti-establishment members of Parliament who are making their debut. Lauren Frayer reports from Madrid on the changing face of Spanish politics.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: The first day of Parliament in Spain is usually all about power suits and black limos with tinted windows. But this week...
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FRAYER: A brass band marched up to the doors of Spain's Congress, escorting a new crop of lawmakers, younger and more diverse than ever before. Many arrived by bicycle, wearing T-shirts instead of neckties and sporting ponytails and even dreadlocks. A dozen of them are in their 20s, recent college grads. The new lawmakers include Spain's first black MP and a physicist confined to a wheelchair. Podemos has arrived. The left-wing party has transformed and unsettled Spanish politics, weaning about a fifth of parliamentary seats in last month's election. In large part because of Podemos, this parliament has a record number of women - 40 percent.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).
FRAYER: Carolina Bescansa brought her 6-month-old baby and breast-fed through the opening session. She said she wants the parliament to look like the people it represents.
CAROLINA BESCANSA: We made a new organization that is basically democratic. Everyone can participate in Podemos. If you put your name in the web of Podemos, you can take part in all democratic process.
FRAYER: That's who many of these new Spanish lawmakers are, citizens and activists who decided to enter politics for the first time.
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JOAN BALDOVI: (Foreign language spoken).
FRAYER: "It's a festival of democracy," said another new Podemos MP, Joan Baldovi from Valencia. They tweeted selfies and pumped fists inside the chamber as older white, mostly male MPs from the conservative Popular Party, the PP, looked on bewildered.
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CELIA VILLALOBOS: (Foreign language spoken).
FRAYER: "These young guys from Podemos - I don't have a problem with dreadlocks." Celia Villalobos, a veteran conservative MP, told Spanish television. "I just want them to take a shower so that they don't give me head lice," she said. Her comments have gone viral on Twitter with Podemos supporters posting quips in response about the cleanliness of her conservative party tainted by corruption allegations. This so-called rasta row reveals the clash of cultures that suddenly exist in Spain's parliament, says Matthew Bennett, editor of The Spain Report, a web magazine.
MATTHEW BENNETT: The composition of the parliament has changed. It does represent Spaniards better than before perhaps.
FRAYER: For nearly 40 years, Spain has been governed by either the conservatives or the socialists. But now there are four main parties, none with a majority, all now locked in coalition negotiations, Bennett says.
BENNETT: All four of the major parties seem to have unmovable, unshakable red lines, Podemos on the left, and the PP on the right, are least likely to budge.
FRAYER: If they can't figure out a way to work together, fresh elections could come this spring. For Podemos, it will be a test of whether these new faces can affect real change in Spanish politics. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Madrid.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The United Nations says siege and starvation are tactics that have become routine in the conflict of Syria. This past week, aid groups finally reached one town where 40,000 people were at risk of starvation. And when they got there, they saw one boy die and found many others severely malnourished, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: As diplomats gathered for an emergency meeting in New York, the U.N. Children's Fund offered a glimpse into the town of Madaya under siege by Syrian government forces and their allies. Aid workers say that a severely malnourished 16-year-old boy died in front of their eyes there. And UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac says his team found others in desperate need.
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CHRISTOPHE BOULIERAC: The people they met in Madaya were exhausted and extremely frail. Doctors were emotionally distressed and mentally drained, working round the clock with very limited resources to provide treatment to children and people in need.
KELEMEN: The clinic had only two doctors, he says. Young children there are severely malnourished while one teenager and a pregnant women need to be evacuated immediately. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says it is as if the people of Madaya are being held hostage.
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BAN KI-MOON: But it is even worse. Hostages get fed.
KELEMEN: He says it's never been easy for aid agencies to reach people in need in Syria. Almost 400,000 people live in areas that are out of reach to aid groups, half of them in regions controlled by ISIS. One hundred eighty-thousand Syrians are trapped by the Syrian government, Ban says. Another 12,000 are besieged by rebel groups.
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KI-MOON: Let me be clear. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.
KELEMEN: At a U.N. Security Council meeting Friday, most ambassadors blasted the Syrian government. Russia's ambassador accused antigovernment rebels of using civilians as human shields. Here in Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Russia should focus more on humanitarian aid and less on bombing opposition groups. He said the shipments to Madaya are welcome but just not enough. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In President Obama's State of the Union address, there was a line you might have missed, but it caught the ear of people in the energy industry.
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BARACK OBAMA: I'm going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources so that they better reflect the cost they impose on taxpayers and our planet.
SIMON: On Friday, the Department of the Interior made good on that promise. They put a freeze on new federal coal leases while it reviews the program. From coal country, Wyoming Public Radio's Stephanie Joyce reports on the latest in the Obama administration's climate agenda.
STEPHANIE JOYCE, BYLINE: When Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced the temporary moratorium on a call with reporters, she portrayed the review as a non-partisan, common sense move, pointing out the federal coal program hasn't been updated since the 1980s.
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SALLY JEWELL: That was a time, 30 years ago, when our nation had very different priorities and needs. The result was a federal coal program designed to get as much coal out of the ground as possible, and in many ways, that's the program that we've been operating ever since.
JOYCE: Today, 40 percent of the coal mined in the U.S. comes from federal lands, mostly in Wyoming. The government review will address whether taxpayers are getting a fair return on that coal, as well as how to square the coal program with the country's new climate goals. But while Jewell might have wanted to come off as non-partisan, many people in Wyoming heard something different.
TRAVIS DETI: Obama to Wyoming, drop dead. Am I on the record on that (laughter).
JOYCE: That's Travis Deti with the Wyoming Mining Association.
DETI: Since the overwhelming bulk of the federal coal is mined out of the basin in Wyoming, it's obviously directed towards us.
JOYCE: In practice, the moratorium won't have much of an immediate effect here. It doesn't stop existing coal production. And the federal government estimates that, nationwide, the leases companies already have could supply 20 years of U.S. demand. But the review is likely to bring about changes that will make it more expensive to mine coal on federal land, and that could have a big impact on Wyoming. Coal provides a quarter of state revenues. State Senator Michael Flatern represents the town of Gillette.
MICHAEL VON FLATERN: The value of coal has always kind of stayed steady. It's always been there, so - and it's always been expanding.
JOYCE: Von Flatern says without that steady source of revenue, Wyoming won't be able to pay for its roads and schools and public services, at least not at the level it does today.
For now, though, people in Gillette largely greeted the announcement as just the latest in a bunch of bad news. Nate Hardy is a coal miner and the owner of Gillette Brewing Company. He says between low natural gas prices competing with coal, new carbon regulations for power plants and recent coal company bankruptcies, the mood around town is pretty dismal.
NATE HARDY: Everybody realizes that we're in a downturn and have been for a while. Hopefully, we get another noom.
JOYCE: But Hardy knows that coal reforms might not be the end of it.
HARDY: I think the community as a whole feels like not only coal is targeted, but a lot of other things are targeted. We are the energy capital of the nation, so have coal, oil, gas.
JOYCE: If Obama is true to his pledge in the State of the Union, expect to see changes coming in the near future to federal leasing of oil, too.
For NPR News, I'm Stephanie Joyce.
SIMON: That story comes to us from Inside Energy, a public media collaboration that focuses on America's energy issue.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In your home, you might have a GE appliance, maybe a stove or a washer. Well, on Friday, General Electric announced the sale of its appliance business to the Chinese manufacturer Haier Group. That's part of GE's recent shift to selling services and sophisticated goods like jet engines and power turbines instead of household goods. And that transition was reflected in GE's decision this week to move from suburban Connecticut to Boston. From member station WBUR in Boston, Curt Nickisch explains.
CURT NICKISCH, BYLINE: To understand why General Electric would abandon its sprawling Fairfield, Conn., campus listen in on a conversation involving a small firm. Like GE, this 30-person startup wants office space on Boston's waterfront.
GREG HOFFMEISTER: ...Showers on four.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: No.
HOFFMEISTER: Anything in the building as far as...
NICKISCH: When it gets down to the nitty-gritty details, they're discussing showers. Greg Hoffmeister is one of the real estate brokers.
HOFFMEISTER: Because a lot of people are biking to work and, you know, they want to have that or go running at lunch, so having a shower is pretty important.
NICKISCH: Today's knowledge workers want bike racks and subway stops, not country clubs and parking garages.
(SOUNDBITE OF PINGPONG BALL BOUNCING)
NICKISCH: At the Boston startup EverTrue, a couple dozen employees have gathered for sales training and pingpong. Not one is over 30 except for Chief Operating Officer Elisabeth Bentel Carpenter. She says her young colleagues don't want to spend their time commuting like she did when she was their age.
ELISABETH BENTEL CARPENTER: They'll leave at reasonable hours that they can go do things that are important to them, whether it's having dinner with friends, going to the gym, what have you. They tend to get back online later on at night because we have a lot or work to do as well. They're just really, really ambitious, young go-getters.
NICKISCH: It's these young go-getters who General Electric wants to have in its neighborhood and working for the company. In its announcement, CEO Jeff Immelt cited Massachusetts's record spending on research and development.
Marty Walsh is Boston's mayor.
MARTY WALSH: GE recognizes the innovation in our city, the educational institutions in our city, the diversity of our city, the people in our city. We're excited about this.
NICKISCH: Another key to luring GE was the 15-minute drive from the waterfront to Logan International Airport. Boston's economic development chief, John Barros, says that's critical for a company with 300,000 workers in nearly 200 countries.
JOHN BARROS: We added in the proposal everything from access to the airport and different things like hangars for GE. For a corporation like GE, you have to discuss things like helipads.
NICKISCH: Those selling points turned out to be more important than tax breaks. The city and state incentive package totals $140 million, about one tenth of 1 percent of GE's annual sales.
Labor market economist Enrico Moretti at UC Berkeley says GE's move is reversing an old trend. Companies left troubled cities in the '70s and '80s for manicured suburban office parks. Now they're moving back into revitalized urban centers.
ENRICO MORETTI: We see similar dynamics at play in Silicon Valley. But we see the same trends in other cities from Seattle to Austin to Raleigh-Durham.
NICKISCH: If corporate managers haven't noticed yet, they will now. General Electric has been able to stay an industrial giant for more than a century by changing with the times.
For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Last Saturday, we heard a story about the band The Brothers Nazaroff and their namesake, an early 20th century musician who was known as Prince Nazaroff, of whom little was known, except maybe that he probably wasn't the member of any royal family. Our story ended this way.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
DANIEL KAHN: He was buried in countless bargain record crates at the back room of many used record stores. That's the only grave of his that we know of.
SIMON: Well, thanks to that story, we now know that Prince Nazaroff is buried in New Jersey, and we learned more about his life, too. Listeners got in touch with reporter Jon Kalish.
JON KALISH, BYLINE: Eric Adler is an amateur genealogist in Washington, D.C. After hearing the story, he did some digging and learned that the man who performed as Prince Nazaroff was born Abraham Agronowitz.
ERIC ADLER: The very first record that appears is his immigration record in 1913. And he appears on that as Agronowitz. He also appears in 1917 on the World Ward I draft registration as Abraham Agronowitz.
KALISH: He actually came to America earlier than 1913, says one of three grandchildren who are still alive. Eric Kaufman says that his grandfather was jailed as a teenager in Russia and released after her agreed to serve in the czar's army.
ERIC KAUFMAN: He joined the army, and like a Max Sennett comedy, got on one side of the train, got off the other side of the train and kept on running. He eventually tied up with this dance troupe.
KALISH: Then it was on to a traveling theater troupe where he met his wife. Again, genealogist Eric Adler.
ADLER: They married over there and he came to the U.S. first, about a year later. And then she and their daughter came a year after that.
KALISH: The wife was listed as Malka Agronovitch, as the family pronounces it, on her naturalization application. The daughter she brought with her eventually had three children - Eric Kaufman, another son named Adam and a daughter named Andrea, who was close to her grandfather.
ANDREA KAUFMAN: I remember him as a sweetheart.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE NAZAROFF SONG)
KALISH: She called him poppy, and she says his hands were always calloused from playing guitars and mandolins.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE NAZAROFF SONG)
PRINCE NAZAROFF: (Singing in Yiddish).
KALISH: But Prince Nazaroff's career faltered, and he worked odd jobs, one of them at the Bronx Zoo, which was across the street from the family's apartment building.
ANDREA KAUFMAN: I got to see the elephants, and it was fun.
KALISH: The grandchildren all remember Prince Nazaroff as a great whistler, and Eric Kaufman can still imitate him.
ERIC KAUFMAN: (Whistling). He would signal. When he was in the neighborhood, you could hear him a half a block away. That was his particular signature tune.
KALISH: Kaufman's granddaughter was dancing along to Prince Nazaroff's music on the radio last weekend and her mom perked up. When she realized what the story was about, she alerted the family.
ANDREA KAUFMAN: I am grateful for the spirit of the music being transmitted.
KALISH: Nazaroff's granddaughter, Andrea Kaufman.
ANDREA KAUFMAN: He was an embodiment of the music that he made and his community, and to know that others are picking up his spirit and the energy of joy that came through makes me very happy.
KALISH: And there may be more to come. Smithsonian Folkways has an album's worth of unreleased material the prince recorded in 1961.
For NPR News, I'm Jon Kalish in New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRINCE NAZAROFF SONG)
NAZAROFF: (Singing in Yiddish).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This week, National Football League owners voted to send the St. Louis Rams back to Los Angeles, and they're not the only team that's looking to go west. The San Diego Chargers - well, they're already west (laughter). The San Diego Chargers want to move to LA, too.
The Rams and the Oakland Raiders both left LA in 1995 after they struggled for years to attract fans.
From member station KPCC, Ben Bergman reports on the prospects of success this time 'round.
RANDY TROY: Welcome home, Los Angeles Rams
BEN BERGMAN, BYLINE: Just after the NFL's announcement Tuesday, Randy Troy led a cheer for fellow Rams fans in exile on land where their new stadium will be built.
TROY: What's that spell?
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Rams.
TROY: What's that spell?
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Rams.
TROY: What's that spell?
BERGMAN: If only fans were as excited about the team when it left. With a dismal record of 4-12, the Rams were dead last in NFL attendance. Sports Illustrated wrote fewer people went to the Rams last home game than went to a high school football game played in the same stadium 8 days before.
MARC GANIS: Los Angeles is a front-runner market. If you're winning, you can't charge enough for your tickets, and if you're not, you can't get people to come to the games.
BERGMAN: Marc Ganis should know. He's a consultant to NFL teams who helped the Rams move to St. Louis. And he says yes, LA is a big market, second only to New York, but it's also a fickle one, where there are lots of other things to do.
GANIS: There's a strong argument that LA is really a one-team market rather than a two-team market.
BERGMAN: But two teams is what Los Angeles may very well get, which has more to do with NFL politics than whether two teams can be successful. The Rams, Chargers and Raiders all wanted to go to LA. Now the Chargers have a year to decide whether they want to move north. If they don't, that option goes to the Raiders.
GANIS: That's just part of the compromise that had to be achieved.
BERGMAN: Yesterday, Stan Kroenke said he's currently in talks with the Chargers. He's the owner of the Rams, the 63rd richest man in the world and one of the country's biggest landowners. But I asked him if two teams can really thrive in LA playing in the same stadium.
STAN KROENKE: The National Football League - they have done those studies, and they think they can.
BERGMAN: But you do?
KROENKE: You want to get into the rational economics of it? It's always better for me to have another team. Just remember - that's 10 more dates every year. That's more people coming to the facility, so it's always better for me.
BERGMAN: That depends partly whether a second team would be a tenant or a partner. Either way, Kroenke will control most of the massive 300-acre entertainment and retail center.
KROENKE: For me as a developer and a sports owner, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
BERGMAN: Kroenke has likely looked at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey as a model. Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist points out everything there is shared equally by the Giants and the Jets.
ANDREW ZIMBALIST: Those are two ownership groups that never got along in the past. They're doing quite well.
BERGMAN: A lot of their success comes from a strong market for luxury suites. It turns out many New York companies buy suites for both teams. That's important because in the NFL, most revenue is shared among teams. Luxury suites are the big exception. Kroenke says that's crucial for his project.
KROENKE: It allows you certain streams of income to, for example, support the building of an iconic stadium in the second biggest media market in the country, so that's an attractive proposition.
BERGMAN: The Los Angeles Rams announced a waiting list for tickets will open Monday.
For NPR News, I'm Ben Bergman in Los Angeles.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The loss of a sports team can be a devastating event for a city and its fans. There are people in Brooklyn who still light candles for the lost Dodgers and people in Baltimore who lament the flight of their Colts. They feel confusion, heartbreak, anger and loss. Cameron Lashley watched the Cleveland Browns since he was a kid.
CAMERON LASHLEY: The trials and tribulations of being a Browns fan - that's ingrained into pretty much every instance of my life that I can remember.
SIMON: And then the dark day came in 1996 when Art Modell, who owned the Browns, moved them to Baltimore. The team became the Ravens, but they never became Cameron Lashley's team.
LASHLEY: Most of the people that I know who are Browns fans, they don't look at the Ravens and say oh, that's my team. Sometimes they look at it and they say that should be my team, but it's really not.
SIMON: It took four years for a new Browns team to come to Cleveland. Cameron Lashley roots for them from Georgia now.
LASHLEY: But I still consider myself to be a Browns fan. And part of that is I consider myself to be a person from Ohio, and that's part of what I identify as being from Ohio is being a fan of this particular team.
SIMON: The Browns haven't had a good year, haven't had a few good years actually. St. Louis no longer has the Rams. The owners in San Diego and Oakland would like to move their teams, too. What would happen if the Browns skipped town again?
LASHLEY: You know, I love my wife. If my wife were to divorce me and go off and move on to someone else, I might get to the point where I'm not seething mad about every day, but I'm not going to forget it. And I'll probably still be angry about it for as long as I can live.
SIMON: Cameron Lashley has some advice for St. Louis fans and their shattered hearts.
LASHLEY: Make the point. Make the noise that, hey, we're here in St. Louis, and we're ready to support a team. And sooner or later, someone's going to tap into that, and if there's a market there for it, they'll - they'll come take your money, basically (laughter).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Hollywood prides itself on being progressive. At almost any award show you can see the beautiful people festooned with red ribbons, green ribbons, je suis Charlie buttons as they arrive in their hybrid automobiles. The Oscar nominations were announced this past Thursday. Something you will not see in the acting categories is a nominee of color. For the second year in a row, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected an all-white group of acting nominees. Bobby Rivers, the longtime film critic and interviewer, joins us now from our studios in New York. Bobby, thanks so much for being with us.
BOBBY RIVERS: Scott, so glad to be here.
SIMON: You've called this, what, "Just Another Hollywood Sequel"?
RIVERS: "Oscars So White, Part Two."
SIMON: And - now, I just made a short list. Actually, it's not a short list at all - Idris Elba; Michael B. Jordan; Samuel L. Jackson; Will Smith; Benicio Del Torro; Angela Bassett in "Chi-Raq," the best part of...
RIVERS: Yes.
SIMON: ..."Chi-Raq," I thought; Audra McDonald in "Ricky And The Flash."
Any of their names would have been very credible on this list. What happens?
RIVERS: I don't know. Well, the academy - the voting body is predominantly Caucasian and predominantly Caucasian male. So I think it's, like, 2 percent black, 2 percent Hispanic or Latino and less than that is Asian. And it's trying to get more diversity into the voting body. I think that the situation of black and Latina actresses kind of capsulizes the gender-race bias, if you will.
Now if you think of actresses such as Cicely Tyson, Angela Bassett, Alfre Woodard, Diahann Carroll - good, solid actresses - they got one Oscar nomination and then had to go to TV...
SIMON: Yeah.
RIVERS: ...Because Hollywood offered no more substantial scripts.
You look at Jennifer Lawrence. She now has her fourth Oscar nomination. She's still in her 20s. And look at the TV show "Empire." You have Taraji P. Henson, Gabby Sidibe, Jennifer Hudson - three black woman who got Oscar nominations, had to go to TV. And Jennifer Hudson, just like Rita Moreno, won an Oscar for a musical drama and had to go to TV also.
SIMON: But Hollywood people are progressive. I mean, when they get awards, they stand up and say we shall overcome and...
RIVERS: Yes, they are. But you know what, I think it's not just the Hollywood people that we see on camera. I feel that, as somebody who has reviewed movies on TV and been an entertainment reporter and been a talk show host back in the '80s on VH1, there needs to be diversity in other areas of the industry.
The first time that I had a meeting with an agent was in 1990 at William Morris. And this came about because The New York Times liked my talk show on VH1. And all that time, I have only seen one black person as an agent in a top agency in New York or Los Angeles.
SIMON: Yeah. Should the top, most glamorous - and I think, in this case, that word fits - names in the industry - should Brad Pitt, should George Clooney, should Matt Damon be more outspoken about this?
RIVERS: I believe they could help. Usually, it's casting directors who've - I've personally have felt - had been a big help in this. There need to be people in the business who are more like the late Marion Dougherty. You probably know the story about "Lethal Weapon" - don't you? Do you?
SIMON: No, but tell, please.
RIVERS: Ok. Marion Dougherty - wonderful casting director.
Richard Donner got the script to "Lethal Weapon" and he saw OK, Mel Gibson. And I'm going to cast Brian Dennehy.
Marion Dougherty said I want you to see Danny Glover because there is nothing in the script that says the part cannot be played by a black actor. And Donner said he could have kicked himself because she was absolutely right. And that casting opened the door for other interracial in cop buddy movies.
So we need people like that who will think outside the box and say - you know what? A person of color can play this part. Or an actor who is gay could play this part. So we really need people to take the chains off their brains in the - several areas of the industry.
SIMON: Bobby Rivers - longtime film critic, interviewer, bon vivant.
RIVERS: (Laughter).
SIMON: Thanks so much for being with us.
RIVERS: Pleasure to be with you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
We begin this hour with breaking news. Iran has announced that it has freed several U.S. prisoners from Iranian jails. In exchange, the Iranians say the U.S. released some Iranians who'd been in jail here for sanctions violations. All of this occurs just as sanctions against Iran might be about to be released. NPR's diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen joins us in our studios. Michele, thanks very much for being with us.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Nice to be here.
SIMON: What do we know about the Americans who are being released?
KELEMEN: Well, they include Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, who's the longest held in this group. He was jailed in 2011 when he went to visit his grandmother in Iran. Christian pastor Saeed Abedini is also being released. His wife is calling this an answer to prayer. There's some confusion about the fate of another, Siamak Namazi, a businessman who was arrested after the nuclear deal was reached with Iran. His supporters say there are indications he was released, but we haven't had confirmation for Iranian media or the U.S. The U.S. says the other name - that Iran released is Nosratollah Khosravi. The U.S. for its part said it's offering clemency to seven Iranians, six of whom are dual U.S.-Iranian citizens, who are convicted or are pending trial in the United States.
SIMON: For sanctions violations.
KELEMEN: That's right.
SIMON: And of course the sanctions are about to be lifted. Is that behind the timing of this announcement?
KELEMEN: Well, you know, that is an important moment of this, why this is happening now. The IEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is expected to announce as early as today that Iran's met its obligations under the nuclear deal. And that would trigger a lot of sanctions relief. So this is obviously a moment of maximum leverage for the U.S. and others to get these people back.
SIMON: Now, the critics of the deal, and what has happened subsequently, who - and it must be said, there have been some prominent Democrats, the president's own party, as well as Republicans, who says that in this deal the United States is not only surrendering its leverage but giving billions of dollars to an Iranian government to make mischief with U.S. adversaries.
KELEMEN: Well, that has been the criticism that the Iranian hardliners, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, for instance, could be the big winners with all of this sanctions relief because they control big companies, big businesses. But I have to say I also talked to a European ambassador yesterday who has a much different perspective. That's Germany's ambassador Peter Wittig. And he tells me that trade can bond countries together and that economic benefits were really part of this deal.
PETER WITTIG: We believe that trade can help to reestablish closer ties to Iran and make Iran a more responsible stakeholder in the region and beyond.
KELEMEN: And, you know, also with the release of these prisoners it shows that the Iranian moderates do want to put a different face of Iran out to the world today. Peter Wittig was talking about how the Iranians really wanted this implementation day, as it's known, to get out from under these sanctions sooner rather than later because there are elections in Iran and this could benefit the moderates, those who negotiated this deal.
SIMON: I - quick question - from what you've learned, are U.S. companies poised to jump into the Iranian market one way or the other?
KELEMEN: There are going to be a lot of restrictions still on the - on U.S. businesses. There are some exceptions. The U.S. companies will be able to import carpets, caviar, pistachios from Iran. They'll be able to sell airline and airline parts, and U.S. - foreign-owned subsidiaries will be able to do business. But there's still going to be a lot of rules and they're going to have to go over all the Treasury Department guidance that we're expecting any time now.
SIMON: NPR's Michele Kelemen, thanks so much.
KELEMEN: Thank you.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And we are following breaking news today. Iranian state media are reporting the release of four Americans from captivity today, including Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post reporter. Now, this news comes on a day that final preparations are being made to lift economic sanctions that had been imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. NPR's Peter Kenyon is following the news from Istanbul. Peter, thanks for being with us.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
SIMON: First, what do we know about the release of these Americans?
KENYON: Well, we now have confirmation from a U.S. official that Jason Rezaian and three others have been released - Amir Hekmati, Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. Now of those four, probably the highest profile case was Jason Rezaian. A very engaging American-Iranian from California. He worked for The Post. His wife and him were both arrested in July of 2014. And despite several moments when it seemed that there might be some hope for release, he was convicted on espionage charges. The trial was said to be devoid of due process. And now the relief is huge among his family.
SIMON: And the other three prisoners, what do we know about them?
KENYON: Well, by far the longest held was Amir Hekmati. He's a U.S. Marine who was picked up while visiting his grandmother in 2011. So that means he spent nearly four and a half years in Iranian custody. Saeed Abedini is a pastor. He was arrested in 2012. His wife is now quoted as confirming her husband's release. Both those men and Rezaian were the subject of widespread campaigns seeking their release. Now, the fourth person I can't say that about. His name we have - Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. It wasn't public until now, and I don't have any information about him.
SIMON: And, Peter, how do we read the significance of why this is happening at this moment?
KENYON: Well, why it's happening now, I think the claim by the Iranians is that this is a prisoner exchange and the Americans have taken some steps. U.S. officials say they've either dropped charges or in some cases are releasing seven Iranians. They were mainly involved in sanctions violation cases. Now, there's also these international searches on for 14 other people. INTERPOL calls them red notices. The U.S. is pulling those back and dropping charges in those cases as well. The U.S. is hoping this isn't a precedent. Obviously, there's a danger of Americans abroad being kidnapped as, quote, unquote, "trade bait."
SIMON: Yeah. And - well, let me just ask a question I think that might be running through the minds of a lot of people now. Why does this release happen at this moment as opposed to the negotiation process over the Iran deal?
KENYON: It's interesting. I can tell you frequently during the nuclear talks U.S. diplomats would tell reporters they never failed to bring up these cases of Americans being detained. And it now looks like talks to win their release may have just kept going even after the nuclear negotiations stopped. So I think a lot of people will be seeing this in the context of a new relationship between - between America and Iran, that is, and certainly Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have a fairly close working relationship. And it - at the moment it seems to be providing concrete results, although I don't think anyone believes this is a long-term sea change in the relationship.
SIMON: NPR's Peter Kenyon in Istanbul, thanks so much.
KENYON: Thanks, Scott.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's been happening for years, a steady flow of young, disaffected Muslims from Belgium traveling to Syria to join ISIS. Several of the men behind the terror attacks in Paris were from Belgium's capital, Brussels. Religious extremism in the community is a volatile subject. But one Belgian Muslim thinks the best way to open up dialogue is through comedy. Reporter Teri Schultz has this story from Brussels.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "DJIHAD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, foreign language spoken).
TERI SHULTZ, BYLINE: Belgian playwright Ismael Saidi says he chose the title of his comedy, "Djihad," to make clear he wouldn't be shying away from controversy. One of his main characters, a Muslim guy named Ben Hamidou, gets a lot of laughs as he secretly plays out his Elvis obsession while his friends sleep.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL, "DJIHAD")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Ben Hamidou, singing) My baby so lonely I could die.
(APPLAUSE)
SHULTZ: The audience seems to forget Ben is a radicalized foreign fighter using a rifle as a microphone, standing guard over his armed friends as they sleep in the Syrian desert. Writer and director Saidi says he wants to portray the characters as real people, not stereotypical terrorists.
ISMAEL SAIDI: If you have the ability to feel something about those guys, maybe everything's not over.
SHULTZ: The story follows three hapless young men who go from a park bench in Brussels to the killing fields of Syria with little idea of how or why they got there. The plot is loosely based on the experiences of Saidi, who says extremists tried unsuccessfully to recruit him to fight in Afghanistan when he was just 14.
SAIDI: What we are doing on stage is we are laughing about us first. Us, the Muslims - you know, I'm laughing about me. And then I'm laughing about the society. I think that we can laugh about anything if you begin with yourself. That's maybe the secret.
SHULTZ: The characters discuss various interpretations of Islam before rejecting the most dogmatic. The group ends up befriending a Christian. One decides to marry a non-Muslim against his mother's wishes. "Djihad" has gone from an initial five shows to more than a hundred, with dozens more planned. The production's publicist, Lucile Poulain, contrasts the plays reception today with that of a year ago.
LUCILE POULAIN: The journalists didn't want to hear from us. And they didn't want to even write the name "Djihad" in their cultural agendas. And they thought we were a threat, actually.
SHULTZ: But once word got out that the play counters radicalization, it was sponsored by Belgium's education ministry, which paid for school pupils to come see it. Student Emma Innocente went to see "Djihad" with her school in Binche, about 50 miles south of Brussels.
EMMA INNOCENTE: It makes me more sensitive about the problem of integration. I hope that we find a way not to forget what we saw.
SHULTZ: Saidi hopes his play will also help young Muslims feel more accepted in Belgium and perhaps prevent some of them from going to fight in Syria. One of Saidi's most controversial views is that his own Muslim community needs to take more responsibility for the actions of its young people.
SAIDI: We have a problem that we as Muslims, we create the origin of what we call today a radicalization. We create it.
SHULTZ: That's a message that could spark retaliation. And Lucile Poulain says the team is aware of the risks they're taking.
POULAIN: Of course we are afraid ourselves. But the comedians are very courageous and very brave. And they want to stand for something.
SHULTZ: Although some theaters have canceled performances due to security fears, the play is expected to open in Paris this spring. For NPR News, I'm Teri Shultz in Brussels.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Shawn Amos has worn a lot of hats in the music industry - singer, songwriter, producer. He started out in folk rook (ph) - folk rock mode, rather. But lately, he's a vessel for the blues.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAYS OF DEPRESSION")
SHAWN AMOS: (Singing) In my days of depression, I could take my hand off the wheel. Let me go where the wind blows. Let me go with the Lord.
MARTIN: His newest album is "The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You." He spoke with Karen Grigsby Bates from NPR's Code Switch team about the source of his inspiration.
KAREN GRIGBY BATES, BYLINE: Shawn Amos had a Los Angeles childhood that was equal parts grit and glamour.
AMOS: I grew in Hollywood in the '70s, when it was...
BATES: Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, yeah.
AMOS: ...Far different than it is now (laughter).
BATES: He went to private schools and lived in a nice house, but it wasn't exactly in Mr. Rogers's neighborhood.
AMOS: I grew up waiting for a carpool with hookers (laughter) who knew me by name, and I knew drug dealers by name. And I lived across from an apartment complex that was sort of a home to all the pumping iron, sort of bodybuilding, gay porn kind of guys.
MARTIN: Shawn's dad, Wally Amos, was a former Hollywood talent agent who'd became a celebrity by creating Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. His mother, Shirlee Ellis, was a former nightclub singer who performed as Shirl-ee May. She was a great beauty, but she also suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
AMOS: My mother committed suicide in 2003. She was severely mentally ill my whole life. And she'd given up her career long before I was born and so I never knew her as that Shirl-ee May figure of the clubs.
BATES: He tried to work his way through the hole she left by writing a tribute album to her.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THANK YOU SHIRL-EE MAY")
AMOS: (Singing) She came on strong and she went too fast. I try to keep it in the past. Thank you, Shirl-ee May.
BATES: Some songs were upbeat. Others had agony and a little anger.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD INSIDE")
AMOS: (Singing) I know when enough's enough. I know that my best ain't much. Why must you always kill what's good inside?
BATES: The critics praised his maiden effort, but it didn't sell, which crushed him. After a couple other albums suffered the same fate, Amos withdrew from performing.
AMOS: I sort of felt like I can't approach music that way anymore. I can't, like, go into making music just pulling my heart wide open. It's just too hard for me, and I didn't know how else to approach music.
BATES: He decided to put his own songs aside and worked in the industry as an artist representative and a producer. He compiled the greatest hits of popular, alive and not, for Rhino Records and the Shout Factory.
And he produced albums for the likes of Heart, Quincy Jones and the great R&B man Solomon Burke.
AMOS: I was with him in the studio for three records, and I sat as close to him singing as we are now.
BATES: It was fulfilling work, and Amos was content doing it until he got an offer, in 2013, to front a friend's blues band for a weeklong tour in Italy.
And was it fun?
AMOS: It was life-changing.
BATES: The music was loud and energetic and happy. For once, he wasn't playing through pain or anxiety.
AMOS: I was just playing from a place of joy, and I just wanted to celebrate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PUT TOGETHER")
AMOS: (Singing) With your do-rag, honey, you're all right. Baby, you're put together. The way you shake-shake, making crazy - honey, you're put together. I just want to come home.
BATES: He didn't so much want to imitate classic delta or Chicago blues. He wanted something else.
AMOS: I thought - like, what if Muddy Waters made a record today? Not like, trying to, like, pay homage to Muddy back then. (Unintelligible) a lot of people - oh, well, we'll do a record just like they did it back in 1950 whatever. But what if these guys were alive today and made a record today? What would they be talking about? And what would it sound like? And how would they take advantage of technology, but not turn it into, you know, a super slick rock record?
BATES: Old school, new tools. That's the guiding principle Shawn Amos applies as he plays around the country. There's a good chance he might be coming to your town. He's done 200 shows in the last two years, and each one is part of his mission.
AMOS: Keeping the blues alive, one gig at a time.
BATES: With joy.
Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DAYS OF DEPRESSION")
AMOS: (Singing) Let me go where the wind blows. Let me go with the Lord. I said let me go where the wind blows.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We're more than halfway through January, which means many of us may have realized how easy it is to just sort of forgot about our New Year's resolutions. We're going to hear now from two people who stuck with it, designers Timothy Goodman and Jessica Walsh.
They're the creators of the blog and book "40 Days Of Dating."
For that experiment that went viral, they dated each other for 40 days and blogged about it.
Last year, they embarked on a year-long resolution to become, quote, "kinder, more empathetic people." The project is called "12 Kinds Of Kindness," and they're releasing each step they took on and the results of that on their website. They're releasing it a step at a time. They join me from our studios in New York to talk about what they discovered. Welcome to the show.
TIMOTHY GOODMAN: Hi.
JESSICA WALSH: Hi.
MARTIN: Thanks for talking with us.
GOODMAN: Yeah, it's good to be here.
MARTIN: So you both committed to implement these 12 steps as a kind of year-long resolution to become more empathetic people. You want to work through a few of these with me? What was number one?
WALSH: The first one is called "Can I Help You?", and we literally just went out on the streets of New York and just started asking people how we could help them.
MARTIN: How did you decide who to ask that question to? New York is a big place.
GOODMAN: Everyone.
WALSH: Everyone.
MARTIN: Everyone you came across?
GOODMAN: You known, we talked to so many people that day, from people who were losing their apartments in New York to people that just wanted to talk about broken family ties.
WALSH: Or relationship issues.
GOODMAN: Relationship issues, homeless people - I mean, we talked to so many people. It was pretty amazing.
MARTIN: What did you do with that information? Was it just you're having a conversations and so it - the value of it was in just being an ear for someone who clearly needed to talk?
WALSH: Yeah, I mean, we did try to help as many people as we could on that day. But you know, of course in one day, it is not like Tim and I were delusional enough (laughter) to think that we were going to make any real difference. The idea was really just to start out the project by taking a survey of what other people around us might be going through on any one day.
GOODMAN: Yeah, it was a discovery of sorts to kind of measure ourselves against what was going on around us.
MARTIN: Without walking through all 12 steps, can you just talk a little bit about which ones were the hardest for each of you?
GOODMAN: I mean, there were certainly ones that were very difficult for us because we explored a lot of topics with this project, from talking about mental health issues, broken family ties.
I went out and tried to find my biological father, who I've never met in my entire life. That's for step five, and that was about forgiving someone who may have hurt you in the past and coming, you know, face-to-face with that and trying to maybe better understand their situation.
MARTIN: Jessica, what was toughest for you?
WALSH: Probably step four, which is about learning not to beat yourself up about things from the past. Psychologists say that you need to forgive yourself for, you know, things that you're angry with. Otherwise, you can kind of transfer that onto other people. So I've always had this secret that I've carried with me, that I haven't really told anyone, which is that when I was much younger, I went through a lot of mental health issues. And so on the step, I end up opening up about all of those and I'm creating a platform where other people are going to be sharing their stories as well.
MARTIN: So you guys knew that when you set out to do this, you were going to go to some deep, at some times dark, places.
WALSH: Actually, when we created the project, we didn't know what we were going to do. We created the steps based on what we read and learned that psychologists say can make you more empathetic. And then after we had the steps set up, we asked ourselves, you know, what we wanted to explore for each of those.
GOODMAN: Yeah.
MARTIN: We've talked about the serious stuff, but was there some fun in this year?
WALSH: (Laughter) Yeah...
GOODMAN: There was certainly a lot of fun.
WALSH: ...There was a lot of fun.
GOODMAN: And there were certainly things that were light but still felt very heavy. Like for instance, step six is about exploring your own fears and insecurities and maybe, you know, people that you judge. And one of my insecurities is going bald because my hair is slowly thinning in the front. And so we shaved my head down to the scalp (laughter). And I had to really - you know, I had to live with that experience...
(LAUGHTER)
GOODMAN: ...And it was very hard.
MARTIN: How did that make you more empathetic?
GOODMAN: Well, I think it's just about being kind to ourselves, you know. This project is just as much about that as it is about being kind to others, and it's about being happy with who you are, whoever you are.
MARTIN: Jessica, what surprised you the most about the experiment?
WALSH: We did do one step where we went out on the streets of New York and we smiled for the entire day...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
WALSH: ...At different people.
GOODMAN: Eight hours, constant.
WALSH: And I was really - like, trying to be very friendly and smiling.
MARTIN: Like, what kind of smile? There's a lot of different kinds of smiles.
GOODMAN: Well, I think it came off creepy.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GOODMAN: Maybe that's why people didn't smile at us.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: And were you just standing there smiling or...
GOODMAN: We did...
WALSH: No, we were walking about a bit...
MARTIN: OK.
WALSH: ...And, like, giving compliments and smiling. People were kind of were freaked out a bit.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GOODMAN: Yeah.
WALSH: But then we thought - OK, what happens if we start frowning at people? And then everyone was cracking up.
GOODMAN: Yeah, then everyone smiled and...
MARTIN: (Laughter) Reverse psychology, but the point being just engaging with people...
WALSH: Exactly.
GOODMAN: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Just interacting with the people around you.
GOODMAN: And that's one of the biggest things when it came to those kind of steps that we did, the less personal stuff, was just witnessing yourself in relationship to society. And every day, you know, there's a heartbeat, and feeling, yourself, a part of that is truly amazing at times because oftentimes we do not. We just go on.
WALSH: Yeah, we just get caught up in our daily routines and doing the same kind of things. And this experiment really allowed us to do things we would have never done before.
GOODMAN: Yeah.
MARTIN: Timothy Goodman is a designer and illustrator. We also heard from Jessica Walsh. She's a designer and partner at Sagmeister & Walsh.
Thanks so much for talking with us, you two.
WALSH: Thank you.
GOODMAN: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In 2007, Destin Sandlin had a goal, to get smarter every day. To do this, he started a YouTube channel. Now his channel, which has more than 3 million followers, teaches viewers more about all sorts of things - the mechanics of a tattoo needle to the biology of how Houdini died to the physics of skating on ice. And on Friday, Destin Sandlin got to do something pretty cool. He and two other YouTube stars were selected by Google to meet President Obama. They got to sit down for an exclusive one-on-one interview that they could then share with their followers online. Destin Sandlin joins me now to talk about this experience. Hey, Destin.
DESTIN SANDLIN: How's it going, Rachel?
MARTIN: It goes well. How are you? How was it?
SANDLIN: Oh, it was fantastic. I mean, you know, the president's just a man. And granted, he's the most powerful man in the world. But still, when it comes down to it, we're all people right?
MARTIN: Yeah.
SANDLIN: It was great to meet him on a personal level.
MARTIN: Were you nervous?
SANDLIN: Well, not really. My heart was beating fast once, when I walked up. Then I just calmed the nerves and just went for it. So you know, I didn't really feel nervous. It was kind of odd.
MARTIN: What did you wear?
SANDLIN: I was really excited about my tie. It had red and blue.
MARTIN: Nice.
SANDLIN: That was one of my goals...
MARTIN: Yeah.
SANDLIN: To make sure not to show favoritism towards any side.
MARTIN: Yes, bipartisan.
SANDLIN: I enjoyed it. Yeah, it was fun.
MARTIN: You asked your followers to help you pick questions to ask the president. How many did you go in with? And how many did you actually get to ask?
SANDLIN: I had six questions total. And I ended up dropping the fifth one. His answers were a little bit longer than we expected. So I didn't have time to cram it all in.
MARTIN: He's a bit of a slow talker.
SANDLIN: (Laughter) Well, he can be. It just depends on the format of the interview, I think. So it was fun.
MARTIN: What was the best exchange that you had with him, do you think?
SANDLIN: Well, I enjoyed asking him about space because my grandfather was a drafter during the - a draftsman during the Apollo program. And so I've grown up listening to stories about space. And you know, I want to be an astronaut. Everybody wants to be an astronaut. And I just don't think the administration had laid out a plan for deep space exploration. You know, they say, we're going to use commercial entities to get to low Earth orbit and work and sustain on the International Space Station and then, dot, dot, dot, Mars. I work with rockets for my day job, and I was really interested to know what the dot, dot, dot meant.
MARTIN: And did he have a plan?
SANDLIN: Well...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SANDLIN: I don't know.
MARTIN: How did he answer the question?
SANDLIN: He answered the question by saying exactly that. We would use the commercial - the commercial partnerships to, you know, boost supplies and sustain the space station. He mentions the word asteroid. But, you know, I don't know what asteroid he's talking about. But he did say that we would go to Mars. There just wasn't a clear timetable out. We'll see how it goes.
MARTIN: What was the question that you wanted to ask him and didn't have time for?
SANDLIN: I actually have it memorized, if you want me to just tell you.
MARTIN: Sure.
SANDLIN: It was, Mr. President, my sister and I are both mechanical engineers. I serve the country through the Department of Defense, by using my science and engineering skills to increase the military might of the nation. My sister decided to go into the Peace Corps when she got out of school. So basically, she helps the nation speak softly. And I help the nation carry a big stick. So Mr. President, what do you think the balance between that diplomacy and military intervention - how do you think that's changed, in your mind, over the course of the presidency?
MARTIN: Good question.
SANDLIN: Yeah, I was really excited to ask it. But we just didn't have time.
MARTIN: Maybe you'll get another shot. Save that one for next time.
SANDLIN: Yeah, the next time I'm in front of the leader of the free world. I'll just - yeah, I'm not sure that's going to happen.
MARTIN: Destin Sandlin is the creator of Smarter Every Day on YouTube. Destin, thanks so much for talking with us.
SANDLIN: Thank you so much, Rachel. It's been an honor.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Chances are you played at last week's Powerball game, and odds are you did not win the more than $1 billion jackpot. Well, I didn't either. But here's a sure thing; we're playing the puzzle.
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MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: Did you buy a lottery ticket?
SHORTZ: I thought about it, which is saying something because I've never bought one before.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SHORTZ: But honestly, I don't know what I would do with a billion dollars. I don't know that that would make me a happier person. What about you?
MARTIN: I don't know if you heard this, but NPR's CEO Jarl Mohn actually bought every full-time, permanent employee of NPR a lottery ticket. He sprung for this out of his own pocket. But - so I had that lottery ticket, and I have to admit, it was pretty fun. It was pretty fun to just, you know, dream for a minute on my commute on the way home.
SHORTZ: Yeah, yeah (laughter).
MARTIN: That was about it, though. OK, so let's play the puzzle. Remind us. What was last week's challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes, it came from listener Sandy Weisz of Chicago. I said name a unit of measurement. Remove two consecutive letters. And the letters that remain can be rearranged to name what this measurement measures. What is it? Well, my answer was minute. Drop the N-U, and you can get the letters to make time. We also accepted hectare, H-E-C-T-A-R-E. It's a measurement of land. If you drop the E-C, you can make earth. And there was an almost answer with parsecs. Drop the R-S and you get space. But those are really units rather than unit. So...
MARTIN: Got it.
SHORTZ: Didn't allow that one.
MARTIN: OK, but more than 800 of you got the correct answer to the puzzle this week. Our randomly selected winner is Marc Wright of Tacoma, Wash. He's on the line now. Hey, Marc, congratulations.
MARC WRIGHT: Thank you very much.
MARTIN: I'm so excited to talk with you because you and I went to the same university - right? - UPS.
WRIGHT: We did, UPS here in Tacoma.
MARTIN: University of Puget Sound, for those who don't know. It is not the postal delivery service. It is a really beautiful university in the Pacific Northwest. I had a great time there, and you - you stayed. You just said, Tacoma's a great place to live; I'm going to stay here?
WRIGHT: Yeah, with a short trip to Europe - a few years in Europe and then back to Tacoma.
MARTIN: And how often do you play the puzzle?
WRIGHT: Well, I've been listening to it off and on for 20 years. But I actually didn't submit an answer until two weeks ago. So this is only the second time I've actually officially played.
MARTIN: Congrats, beginners luck. Will Shortz is on the line. Do you happen to have a question for him?
WRIGHT: Sure, I would - I'd like to know how that ping-pong tournament went.
MARTIN: Oh, yeah, you had a ping-pong tournament the other week.
SHORTZ: Well, I was afraid you were going to ask. We made it to the semifinals. That's the good part. But then we lost ignominiously.
MARTIN: Oh.
SHORTZ: It was a good time. It was for a good cause - Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City.
MARTIN: But still, semifinals, Will. I mean...
SHORTZ: Eh.
MARTIN: Eh (laughter). OK, Marc, with that, are you ready to play the puzzle?
WRIGHT: I am.
MARTIN: All right, Will, let's do it.
SHORTZ: All right, Marc and Rachel. I'm going to name a category. You name something in the category whose first two letters are the last two letters of the category's name. For example, if I said vegetable, you might say leek or lettuce because vegetable ends in L-E and leek and lettuce start L-E.
MARTIN: Oh, OK.
SHORTZ: Here's number one. Color.
WRIGHT: Orange.
SHORTZ: Correct, orange. Number two is metal.
WRIGHT: Aluminum.
SHORTZ: That's it. State.
WRIGHT: Texas.
SHORTZ: Texas and Tennessee, either one. State capital.
WRIGHT: That's a hard one. I'm not... Albany?
MARTIN: Great.
SHORTZ: Excellent. Shellfish.
WRIGHT: Why am I not - I'm not coming up with anything, Rachel. Can you help me?
MARTIN: Shoot. I don't - (laughter) - I don't know. I don't know. What is it?
SHORTZ: I'm going to tell you guys. It's shrimp.
MARTIN: Shrimp.
WRIGHT: Of course.
SHORTZ: Shrimp is a shellfish.
MARTIN: Painfully obvious. Yeah, OK.
SHORTZ: Norse god.
WRIGHT: OK, my Norse mythology isn't fantastic.
MARTIN: Norse...
SHORTZ: It is the chief Norse god, just as Zeuss is the chief God in Greek.
WRIGHT: Oh, Odin is it?
MARTIN: Odin.
SHORTZ: Odin is right, O-D-I-N. Good.
MARTIN: Good.
SHORTZ: Woolly animal.
WRIGHT: Alpaca.
SHORTZ: That's it. Language.
WRIGHT: German.
SHORTZ: TV talent program.
WRIGHT: "American Idol."
MARTIN: Yeah.
SHORTZ: That's it. Book of the Bible.
WRIGHT: Leviticus.
SHORTZ: That's it. And your last one is breakfast cereal.
MARTIN: Like a brand name?
SHORTZ: A brand name. I have two in mind, one of which I ate this morning.
MARTIN: I love how that's supposed to be a clue. That's really going to, like.
SHORTZ: I know (laughter) that's no...
WRIGHT: Yeah. Well, it's A-L. Why am I not thinking of anything?
MARTIN: All-Bran.
SHORTZ: All-Bran, Kellogg's All-Bran. And I had Alpha-Bits this morning. There you go.
MARTIN: Alpha-Bits, that's the more fun answer - and more delicious.
SHORTZ: My favorite cereal.
MARTIN: I guess that makes sense.
WRIGHT: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: But don't you stress out? Are you always trying to, like, make words on your spoon?
SHORTZ: (Laughter) No, I just shovel it in.
MARTIN: (Laughter). Well, Marc, well done. That was very, very good. And for playing the puzzle today, you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and all kinds of cool puzzle books and games. You can read about your prizes at npr.org/puzzle. And where do you hear us, Marc?
WRIGHT: At KPLU here in Tacoma.
MARTIN: KPLU, a fabulous station in Tacoma, Wash., serving that community. Thanks so much for playing the puzzle, Marc.
WRIGHT: Thank you very much for inviting me. I enjoyed it.
MARTIN: Great. OK, Will, what's up for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes, the challenge is an extension of my on-air puzzle. Think of a category in three letters in which the last two letters are the first letters of something in that category. And the thing in the category has seven letters. Both names are common, un-capitalized words. What are they? So a three-letter category, seven letter thing in that category, both common, un-capitalized words. What are they?
MARTIN: When you've got the answer, go to npr.org/puzzle and click on that submit your answer link. Just one entry per person, please. And our deadline for entries is Thursday, January 21 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Please include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, we'll give you a call, and you get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thanks Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Florida's Everglades - the area is known for the alligators and in recent years, the pythons. Burmese pythons aren't native to the Everglades, but over the last two decades, they've taken up residence in the swampy mangroves. With their voracious appetite, they're taking a big toll on native wildlife. Now comes along another Florida species, the python hunter. And often in hot pursuit of the hunters are the television cameras.
NPR's Greg Allen reports on the hoades that are descending on the Everglades for a competition, the Python Challenge.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Several hundred people have signed up to take part in the month-long python hunt. This weekend, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission held a kickoff event where they showed perspective hunters how best to corral a 10-foot long snake.
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JENNY NOVACK: So now this animal has gone into fight behavior. He knows that Jeff is there. He's not happy about it. He's hissing a little bit.
ALLEN: While biologist Jenny Novack narrates, snake wrangler Jeff Fobb works to control and bag a Burmese python that weighs 50 pounds.
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NOVACK: And then he's just going to grasp the animal right behind the head. He can feel the jawbones on his hand. He's just using two fingers around the neck to control the animal. That all we need is to control the animal.
ALLEN: In the last Python Challenge three years ago, 1,600 people took part, catching just 68 snakes. Researchers say there are tens of thousands of Burmese pythons in the Everglades. Catching them isn't easy, but finding them is even harder.
Veteran snake hunter Bill Booth says in the last Python Challenge, his team hunted seven days before finding their first snake. They ended up taking second place.
BILL BOOTH: We got six snakes, and one got away (laughter). We were being followed by National Geographic, and they were filming a show. And they actually borrowed the snake from us to reenact one of the other hunters. And they came back and said the snake got away. So we wanted to kill them.
ALLEN: Booth, a firefighter from the Tampa area, took a month off work for this year's challenge. He grew up in Miami and says he spent much of his childhood in the Everglades. Burmese pythons, Booth says, have had a dramatic impact on wildlife there.
BOOTH: The thing is, you don't see anything. It's like a wasteland out there. I think in the 30 days that we spent on the last Python Challenge, I think we saw maybe one or two otters in 30 days. And rabbits and stuff like that, they're just not around.
ALLEN: As preparations were underway for this year's Python Challenge, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called on Florida to tell participants not to cut off the heads of pythons they capture. The animal rights group said when decapitated, Pythons can remain alive and writhe in agony for hours. State officials declined to take a position on that.
Ron Bergeron is a commission board member and a longtime snake hunter.
RON BERGERON: You know, as an expert, I catch them alive, but we don't really recommend that to the public.
ALLEN: Because what - it's...
BERGERON: Well, there - it can be dangerous. A snake can turn around and bite you.
ALLEN: The best way to kill a snake, Bergeron says, is whatever works.
JIMMY RODRIGUEZ: That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to educate the public on how gorgeous the texture of this meat is - not just the texture, the flavor.
ALLEN: At the kickoff to the python hunt, chef Jimmy Rodriguez was serving up samples of invasive species, no snakes - two marine species - snakeheads and lionfish, fried. Plus tacos made with slow-cooked green iguana.
RODRIGUEZ: Make sure you come back for that green iguana taco because that's another invasive species taking over.
ALLEN: With the extensive media coverage, Burmese pythons have become Florida's best-known invasive species. The Python Challenge attracts people from across the country. Howard Hudson and his wife Diana came with their friend Chip Williamson from Cincinnati to join in what would be, for them, their first-ever python hunt.
HOWARD HUDSON: This is also just an adventure. We'd love to be able to help protect the native wildlife from the invasive species. We know that they're really hard to find out there, but I think we'll have a ball.
ALLEN: I point out to the Hudsons and to Williamson that they'll be up against some serious python hunters.
H. HUDSON: Yep, yep.
CHIP WILLIAMSON: We're not them.
H. HUDSON: We're not them. We're going to enjoy ourselves and have a good time.
DIANA HUDSON: But we could catch the big one. We could catch the biggest one.
WILLIAMSON: Yes, that is true.
H. HUDSON: You never know.
ALLEN: As for catching a python, the Ohioans say they think they know how to do it. They've seen it done on Animal Planet.
Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Across the country, sitting in police evidence rooms are tens of thousands of rape kits waiting to be tested. Some have been sitting there for years. But a national push to address the backlog has given the issue a sense of urgency.
To find out what kind of progress has been made, we reached out to Becca O'Connor. She's vice president for public policy at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, one of the groups spearheading the effort.
Becca, thanks so much for being with us.
BECCA O'CONNOR: Thanks for having me. It's my pleasure.
MARTIN: Explain why these kits were not being tested.
O'CONNOR: So 10 or 15 years ago, the DNA technology wasn't in the same place where it is today, first of all. We now are able to pull much more out of a rape kit through DNA testing than we may have been able to in the past.
And beyond that, there was also a different mentality around these crimes. You know, for many people, the belief was that these were stranger-perpetrated crimes, where you have someone leap out of the bushes, and we know better now. And we have more of a push and an inclination to test, even in acquaintance cases because we know that these are serial offenders that are likely to strike again.
MARTIN: How much does it cost to process a rape kit?
O'CONNOR: The average is between $400 and $1,200.
MARTIN: So it's a big hit for cities, especially if they have a big backlog.
O'CONNOR: It can be, but it depends on what exactly they're planning to test out of that kit. But it's something that, you know, cost is outweighed by the benefit, we believe.
MARTIN: So even if there was no value to the specific case, you're saying that there is still value in testing a kit because of another crime that that perpetrator might commit.
O'CONNOR: Exactly. And over time, the other thing that's evolved, of course, is the CODIS, a national database run by the FBI which holds offender samples. And so as that's grown, we have more, basically, things to check against.
MARTIN: And are there examples of finding someone - a perpetrator who committed another crime because of a positive ID with a rape kit?
O'CONNOR: Absolutely. So for instance, there's a woman named Natasha Alexenko who's a survivor with whom I work, where she learned, only after they finally tested her kit years later, that the individual who assaulted her had committed other crimes.
MARTIN: There's been federal legislation to address the backlog as far back as 2000. So why is it still a problem?
O'CONNOR: You know, we talk about the backlog in this generic terminology. And it's important to point out that, you know, for the Department of Justice and others, a backlogged kit is one that is sitting at a crime lab and waiting to be tested. And as we've been talking about, we know that many of these kits never make it to that stage. They sit in evidence rooms. So there's this education that needs to happen.
That said, we do have this challenge of creating a system where victims feel comfortable coming forward and submitting themselves to these exams in the wake of what's likely the worst trauma of their lives. If I'm a survivor and I'm seeing headlines that say that my kit is likely going to sit and collect dust somewhere, where's my incentive to come forward? I think that's one of the things that we're seeing shift as more and more states step up to the plate and do what needs to be done to clear their backlogs.
MARTIN: As you mentioned, there is some movement here. Some states have really taken this on. Last week, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced he's forming a task force to find and test old kits. Kentucky is pressing ahead with a bill that requires rape kits to be tested within 30 days of collection, I believe. I imagine this is encouraging news to you.
O'CONNOR: It absolutely is. And what's really, really encouraging, as I talk to lawmakers across the country and in the federal government, is that people are starting to have these aha moments and realizing that, first of all, it's OK to raise your hand and say - we may have a problem here, and we want to get to the bottom of it. You know, there's no finger-pointing at this point.
What's really been amazing, even in just the three years that I've been working on this issue, is the shift and the desire to be proactive rather than just reactive to the issue.
MARTIN: Becca O'Connor of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, thanks so much for talking with us.
O'CONNOR: Absolutely. Thank you so much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
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MARTIN: And this is For The Record.
Raising kids is rewarding. And raising kids is hard. That work is compounded when you have a child with autism. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 68 children have been identified with ASD, or autism spectrum disorder. ASD is five times more common in boys than girls and cuts across all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
There's a lot of controversy about autism, what causes it and whether it can ever be cured, but that's not what we're going to talk about today. Instead, we're focusing on how families experience autism. For The Record today, caring for a child with autism.
CHRISTY HAMMETT: Francis is a sweet, loving kid. He is just awesome. He is a big boy, and he is quite a lover.
MARTIN: This is Christy Hammett. She lives in Bowie, Md., with her husband and two other children. Francis is her youngest. He's almost 13 years old and in the seventh grade. He was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.
We're also going to hear from Ronald Hampton. He also has three children - two adult daughters and his 31-year-old son.
RONALD HAMPTON: His name is Ronald Quintin Hampton, and we call him Ron. We called him Quintin. We call him Boo.
(LAUGHTER)
HAMPTON: He has such a personality, so I think that's why he has these variety of names.
He loves strings, and so he had a pet string that he would twirl around his fingers and whatnot, and he wanted that string all the time. And he didn't like it if you took it away or if he'd lost it. He wanted to try to find - but it had to be a special string. It had to be a special texture for him.
MARTIN: Ron remembers back all those years ago when Quintin was just a toddler. He had been meeting all these developmental milestones and then he wasn't anymore. After a lot of tests and evaluations, the doctor called Ron and his wife into his office.
HAMPTON: You don't never forget that day. That's like the day you get married. That's like the day, unfortunately sometimes, people pass. That day was a hard day.
MARTIN: Christy also remembers the day she learned her son has autism.
HAMMETT: We were at the neurologist, and I remember leaving there feeling so sad and so lonely and so lost. And I do specifically remember the long ride home. I remember that long road. And I just remember - and I don't know if that was kind of, like, a subliminal thing for the rest of our lives like this is a long journey, you know?
MARTIN: Christy has been on that journey for more than a decade now. And she has learned how to navigate the behavioral challenges of autism. Some of them are particularly hard.
HAMMETT: That's terrible - when they start taking off their clothes. Like, in the middle of, like, the store or school or anything. And Francis's biggest thing was the shoes. The shoes would come off, and they'd get thrown across the classroom or thrown across daycare.
MARTIN: Ron's son is 31 years old now, and things like this still happen, even just the other day.
HAMPTON: We took him up to the ENT clinic.
MARTIN: Ear, nose, throat clinic, yeah.
HAMPTON: So standing there, he had to go, and he did. It just so happened that the Depends caught most of it, but some of it came out, ran over. And so he was standing there. Once he realized and felt the wetness on his leg, he took his stuff off. He took his pants and Depends off. And so just fortunate, for me, there was a bathroom nearby so I rushed him into the bathroom, wiped him up a little bit and I put the fresh stuff on him and then we went to our appointment.
MARTIN: Ron says he doesn't get frustrated or embarrassed by his son's behavior. It doesn't help. It doesn't change anything.
Those are some of the emotional pressures. The financial pressures of autism are also very real. Christy had to leave her job for a while to cut costs. She carries a flip phone, and for a while, her family didn't have Internet at their house. Ron and his wife both worked full-time when Quintin was growing up. Both the Hamptons and the Hammetts had to get outside help to deal with the pressure of the daily routine. It goes something like this.
HAMMETT: Fran gets up. Usually, he gets up between 6 and 7, and...
HAMPTON: He can pick his clothes because he likes certain things. Certain things he don't want to wear, some things he do, so he's...
HAMMETT: Then I make him a waffle.
HAMPTON: Maybe sausage, bacon, salmon cakes. He likes to put it in his oatmeal sometimes (laughter)...
HAMMETT: And usually the bus comes, you know, probably around 7:30-ish.
HAMPTON: So he goes to a service center, so he's not sitting in the house all day doing nothing...
HAMMETT: And then he's usually home between 4 and 4:30.
HAMPTON: And then he's ready for bed. So then we start all over again the next day.
HAMMETT: My husband and I are under the understanding that Francis will be with us, you know, for the rest of our live, you know, which is a hard thing to swallow. I just - I don't know what else, you know, we'll do. I would hope that he could make it into a group home eventually and that he could be able to get a job, you know, something that he would enjoy, maybe working at a pool because he likes water, or - I don't know what else, you know, he could do.
HAMMETT: You know, it would be great if he had friends, but that's really - that's really, I think that's one of the hardest things is that when these kids - you know, because they have limited language, that limits their availability to be social.
So it's not like Fran has, you know, a group of kids or guys down the street who are saying hey, come play basketball with us. That doesn't, you know, happen. We don't have that for Fran, so we are his friends. We are his squad. We are his buddies, so somebody's with him all the time, you know.
MARTIN: That's a lot of pressure on you.
HAMMETT: It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure.
What are you doing? Don't pour the water in the sink, honey. Do you want more water to drink? Here, give me that bottle.
FRANCIS HAMMETT: Give, give.
HAMMETT: Let me have that. You have this. Are you thirsty?
FRANCIS: Thirsty.
HAMMETT: Yeah.
FRANCIS: (Unintelligible).
MARTIN: I want to be able to let you go because he's home, but I do have to stick one more personal question - they're all personal questions. But if you don't mind me asking, what has the effect of Francis's diagnosis been on your marriage?
HAMMETT: (Laughter). It's very hard. It's very hard. It's not only hard on our marriage. It's hard on our family. It's very taxing mentally and emotionally. It's very, very hard.
Don't pour the water out, sweetheart. This is your water. Here. Fran, no, no, no. Sit down. Can you go get a tissue? Go get a tissue for your nose. Get a tissue. Go get...
FRANCIS: Go get tissue.
HAMMETT: Yeah, you get it.
FRANCIS: Go get it.
HAMMETT: It's in the bathroom. Go in the bathroom and get it.
It's very hard, and there are moments where it's much more difficult than others, I will tell you. But my husband and I have been together over 20 years.
FRANCIS: (Vocalizing).
HAMMETT: It'll be 22 years this spring. I do need my husband to do what we do here. We need each other, and we depend on each other far more than I think we even realize. But - but we're going to do this, and we're getting through this because this is what God has given us, and we were designed to be Francis's parents.
MARTIN: That was Christy Hammett talking about her son Francis. We also heard from Ronald Hampton talking about his son Quintin.
That's the story of two parents caring for children with autism. Now, another perspective.
SAVANNAH LOGSDON-BREAKSTONE: I'm Savannah Logsdon-Breakstone. I am 28. I live in Venango County, Pa., and I am a social media contractor.
MARTIN: Savannah struggled a lot as a child.
LOGSDON-BREAKSTONE: I would do things like charge at people, not intending to hurt them but because I wanted to get past them. I would tap my head on walls. I would hide under things. I was what some parents describe as scary kids.
MARTIN: It took a while to figure out what was going on.
LOGSDON-BREAKSTONE: They were changing mental health diagnoses about every six months. And it's got to the point where I did not really feel attached to any specific diagnosis because I knew it would change.
MARTIN: With a lot of help, Savannah graduated from high school. She was eventually diagnosed with autism. She tried college, but it was too hard to be on her own. After a few years back at home, she got a job and was able to move into her own place. Her family is nearby, and they visit often, which is important.
LOGSDON-BREAKSTONE: When I am not getting help, my kitchen becomes dangerous. There ends up being garbage everywhere, and dishes don't get done. And so my family will come in and help clean. They'll help organize things. They'll make sure that the garbage goes out, that sort of thing. My mom's current husband actually manages my finances because it's not something I'm able to do.
MARTIN: Savannah's doing pretty well now. She loves her job working as an advocate for people with autism. She's got a dog named Molly, and she's got good friends in her life. I asked her what she wants for her future.
LOGSDON-BREAKSTONE: I know I want a big enough yard so that I can have chickens. And I hope that I can have a significant other who complements me in ways so that I'd be able to have children someday. So I mean, those are pretty vague goals for the most part, but you know, that's what I want my future to be.
MARTIN: For The Record this Sunday morning, we heard from Savannah Logsdon-Breakstone, Christy Hammett and Ronald Hampton. We'd like you to share your experience with autism. You can do that on WEEKEND EDITION's Facebook page and at npr.org.
And stay with us. We're covering all the news about the U.S. prisoner exchange with Iran and the decision to lift economic sanctions on that country. We'll have more of that unfolding story coming up.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It is a new day in the relationship between the United States and Iran. After two and a half years of intense international negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, the U.N.'s watchdog agency confirmed that Iran has met all its obligations under the deal reached this summer. And as a result, economic sanctions placed on Iran for its nuclear program have been lifted. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to reporters in Austria last night. He said, quote, "today, the U.S. and our friends and allies are safer because the threat of the nuclear weapon has been reduced." At the same time the announcement was being prepared, word got out that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a prisoner swap. The U.S. released seven Iranians from U.S. prisons. And in exchange, Iran released five American citizens, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been imprisoned in Tehran for the past year and a half. To talk about the latest developments, we're joined by Robin Wright of the Wilson Center. She's an expert on Iran and the region and has been following all of these developments closely. Hey, Robin, thanks for being with us.
ROBIN WRIGHT: Great to be with you.
MARTIN: Let's start with the prisoner swap. You have written a piece in The New Yorker saying that President Obama had opened a top secret diplomatic channel with Tehran 14 months ago to start negotiating for the release of these prisoners. What more can you tell us about that?
WRIGHT: Well, it grew out of the nuclear talks. The U.S. at every session had made a point on the sidelines of the discussion about the American cases. And the Iranians, in turn, had made the case for a long list of Iranian-Americans who were imprisoned in the United States. And after several - almost a year of this, they then decided that it would be much better, if they really hoped to make any progress, to set up a secret second channel that would officially deal with this. And President Obama, after much debate, authorized this and assigned Brent McGurk, a senior State Department official, to meet with a different Iranian team. And it was quite controversial, actually, and quite a gamble because the Iranian interlocutor was a member of Iranian intelligence. And this was a different channel than the usual context through the foreign ministry.
MARTIN: You wrote that it was so secret, it was even kept from the people who were negotiating the nuclear deal - some of them, anyway.
WRIGHT: Indeed. Wendy Sherman, who was the top U.S. negotiator, kept it very closely held within her team. Only one other person on this vast nuclear team involved in talking with the Iranians about limiting the controversial nuclear program knew about this second channel.
MARTIN: Secretary Kerry said that the nuclear deal helped facilitate this second channel that led to the swap. How so - because wouldn't it have made it more complicated because the U.S. no longer had anything to leverage after the deal was signed?
WRIGHT: Well, the U.S. didn't want the two to be connected and that - didn't want the Americans' lives to be leveraged in the middle of the nuclear talks. They hoped that both could be achieved separately. But clearly, the spirit of diplomacy developed during the nuclear talks facilitated the second negotiation. And it was really quite touching. At the end of the announcement last July about the nuclear deal, John Kerry said to his Iranian counterpart that it would be good for the development of both contacts that they move forward on solving the long-standing dispute over the Americans imprisoned in Iran.
MARTIN: There was a fifth American who was released, apparently not part of the official prisoner swap. But he was someone you personally knew. His name is Matthew Trevithick. At one point, he worked as your research assistant. What can you tell us about him?
WRIGHT: Matt worked for me in 2009, when I was looking at working on a book. And he's a very gregarious, outgoing, enthusiastic young man who then went on to work at the American University of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq and after that spent four years working at the American University in Kabul. He had actually been in Iran before on vacation, liked the place, thought it was an interesting dynamic of a country, wanted to add it to his repertoire of nations. And so because he had learned a little bit of Farsi while working in Afghanistan, he decided to take an intensive language training program in Tehran. And he arrived in September, and he was just about to complete the four-month course when he was arrested.
MARTIN: What do we know, if anything, about the Iranians who've been released on this end?
WRIGHT: There are seven who - six of whom were Iranian-Americans who have been released. All of them were involved in activities related to sanctions-busting or violations of trade embargoes. And there were an additional 14 who are fugitives and who are on Interpol's list. There's something called a red notice that notifies other countries to be on the alert for them. And so the United States took two steps. One was pardoning the seven who were held in the United States and lifting the red notices of 14 additional Iranians.
MARTIN: Quickly, Robin, the announcement that Iran has held up its part of the nuclear deal, economic sanctions will be lifted. What will be the immediate impact, do you think?
WRIGHT: Well, this will have an enormous impact on Iran in terms of trying to get control of its economy again and develop its oil resources. It - aging equipment, they have got a lot of problems. They've had a serious chronic problem with mismanagement of the economy. And this is the moment they hope to turn it around. But it's also the end of four decades of a pariah status for a country that went through a turbulent revolution. And I think it's trying to regain its place in the region as well as the world. It'll be a long haul still, but it's a beginning.
MARTIN: Robin Wright it is a foreign affairs analyst and a contributing writer to The New Yorker. Thank you so much.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Tomorrow, on Martin Luther King Day, Donald Trump will address young evangelicals at Liberty University. It's the largest Christian university in the world. And it's part of what a lot of people see as Trump's effort to appeal to evangelical voters, many of whom will be voting in the Iowa caucus in just a few weeks. But there's division within that community about Trump and whether his candidacy is consistent with Christian values. Ted Cruz made the point in this past week's Republican debate by tying Trump to his hometown.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal, are pro-abortion, are pro-gay marriage, focus around money and the media.
MARTIN: Pastor Darrell Scott of the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland, Ohio has endorsed Donald Trump. And he helped organize a November meeting between Trump and a group of ministers in the African-American community. Pastor Scott joins us now from the studios of WCPN in Cleveland. Thanks so much for being with us.
DARRELL SCOTT: My pleasure.
MARTIN: Why is Donald Trump your candidate?
SCOTT: I had the opportunity of meeting him and becoming a friend of his several years ago, about five years ago. I was very impressed with him as a person - very charming, hospitable, gracious. And you know, the opinions and the ideas that he expressed concerning the direction of America resonated with not only myself but a number of the other pastors that met him five years ago. And that he - we asked him very directly, are you a Christian? He said, yes. We said, do you read your Bible? He said, well, not as much as you guys do.
MARTIN: And you prefer him to Ted Cruz, who has been much more explicit in talking about his Christian faith. And just on the face of it, Ted Cruz seems to have the background and the language and a familiarity with Scripture that you don't see with Donald Trump.
SCOTT: To me, Donald Trump comes across as more genuine and more honest and more authentic than Ted Cruz, even is his on-camera mannerisms. Ted Cruz seems as if he's playing to the camera. And I'm going to be honest. Whether Donald Trump was running or not, Ted Cruz would probably not be my candidate of choice. I mean, especially with me preaching for 25 years. So I can tell when a preacher is showboating. Or I can tell what's genuine and what's showmanship. And to be honest, there's a lot of showmanship in Ted Cruz to me.
MARTIN: There are a number of evangelical leaders who've been really turned off by Donald Trump. I'm going to read you something that Russell Moore has said about Donald Trump. Russell Moore is the head of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. And he said that Donald Trump has, quote, "spoken in vulgar and harsh terms about women as well as in ugly and hateful ways about immigrants and other minorities." He went on to say, quote, "I don't think this is someone who represents the values that evangelicals in this country aspire to."
SCOTT: First of all, I don't agree with that. It seems to me that Donald Trump is judged through a lens. He's judged through a filter that the other candidates are not judged through.
MARTIN: So you don't take issue with the fact that he implied that Mexican immigrants were rapists and criminals, that he insulted John McCain, said he wasn't a war hero, that he disparaged Carly Fiorina's looks...
SCOTT: (Laughter).
MARTIN: That he has called for a virtual ban on all Muslim immigrants to this country.
SCOTT: I think what Donald Trump says, first of all, is taken out of context. He did not say Mexican immigrants are all rapists. He said a number of the illegal immigrants are rapists. I can't disagree with that. He did not make a blanket indictment against Muslims. He said we need to have a temporary moratorium on immigration until our vetting process is upgraded. If we...
MARTIN: But you know, there was that rally. There was a Muslim woman who stood up at a Donald Trump rally in silent protest. And there were universal boos in her direction. And it doesn't bother you that these - this is happening at events, that there are people who feel this way, very directed animosity for specific groups of people? This isn't something that is necessarily considered a Christian value.
SCOTT: Well, that's the climate of America right now. The climate of America is that Islamophobia is prevalent in America right now because of terrorism. People have their opinions. And that just is the way it is. That's the climate of the country. And so for me to try to hold him accountable for the climate that exists in America - I can't hold him accountable any more than I can hold Cruz or Rubio or any of the other candidates.
MARTIN: Pastor Darrell Scott, thanks so much for talking with us.
SCOTT: God bless you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Iran has officially rejoined the global economy. With a declaration late Saturday, Iran reached implementation day, when the nuclear deal was finally completed. It means a raft of punishing economic sanctions are being lifted. The joy in Tehran is matched by the concern being felt by some of Iran's neighbors and critics of the nuclear deal in the U.S. To explain what this means for Iran and the region, NPR's Peter Kenyon joins us from Istanbul. Peter, thanks for being with us.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel.
MARTIN: Peter, you have been covering the complicated negotiations around Iran's nuclear program for years. This is a significant moment - how significant?
KENYON: Well, you know, I don't think people really recognized it as it was being put together piece by piece over time. But while this is a landmark nuclear deal, it was also an unprecedented sanctions regime. When you think about it, it's amazing that the U.S., Europe, Russia and China, with all their differences, would come together and stay together for years on a sanctions regime like this. A little bit of it now is coming off. But it's some really important pieces, and the changes are going to be dramatic. President Rouhani was just speaking. And he called it a turning point for the country and its relations with the rest of the world.
MARTIN: OK, boil it down for us. What are the most important changes that will take place?
KENYON: Well, politically for Iran, they've craved the end of U.N. Security Council sanctions for many years. I mean, that's the world sanctioning Iran, not just its enemies. But economically, it's the banking sanctions. A lot of transactions blocked, and all sectors of the economy will now be flowing again. Doing business will be so much easier. Tens of billions of dollars or more in unfrozen assets will be a big short-term - will be a big short-term help as well. The Iranian oil tankers are now heading towards Europe and Asian markets again. The price, of course, is so low; it's not clear how much of a help that will be. But there are so many sectors, economically, where investment is needed, especially in oil and gas. And I guess we should say, it's also a good thing for lovers of caviar and saffron and pistachios.
MARTIN: (Laughter) Indeed. So what about American sanctions, though? Because there were some discrete U.S. actions against Iran.
KENYON: That's right. It's a little trickier though. I mean, these are called secondary sanctions. They apply to foreign companies who want to do business both with the U.S. and Iran. They will now be able to do that without losing access to their U.S. markets. But the primary sanctions against U.S. companies those are still in place. Now, there may be some in-between areas if you have a foreign subsidiary, and the U.S. Treasury Department has let in - has issued a raft of guidelines about that. So the lawyers will be busy studying those.
MARTIN: Here in the U.S., this is being seen by some in the foreign policy community as a big win for President Obama. But there's been a whole lot of criticism from many on the right, especially Republican presidential candidates who say, you know, this is going to unlock billions of dollars of frozen assets that will just embolden Iran in a very unstable region. How is it being played out in Iran? How is the government there framing this?
KENYON: Well, it's a good question. It is a big win, and yet. I mean, Iranian politics are so factional and so complex, hard to read. Hardliners have been very active lately. And one reason, we should say, that President Rouhani's government has been racing to get to this point - beating U.S. estimates by months - is that elections are coming up next month. And both Parliament and also a group of experts are going to have a hand in picking the next supreme leader. So in theory, this lifting sanctions now should be a big boost for Rouhani and moderates who helped elect him. But I asked analyst Ali Vaez at the International Crisis Group about that. And he says it's actually a little too late. He probably won't get a big boost. So we're just going to have to see what the impact is there.
MARTIN: NPR's Peter Kenyon in Istanbul. Thanks so much, Peter.
KENYON: You're welcome, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Across Europe, anti-immigration sentiment is growing. Far right groups have been emboldened following the November terrorist attacks in Paris parents. The public was also angered by reports that asylum-seekers in Germany assaulted dozens of women on New Year's Eve. Germany has been one of the most generous countries, welcoming more than 1 million immigrants. But there's growing resistance to Chancellor Angela Merkel's liberal immigration policies. I was in Berlin back in September, reporting on the migrant crisis. And when I was there, I interviewed Jens Spahn. He's a member of the conservative CDU party and the country's deputy finance minister. We thought this would be a good moment to check back in with Mr. Spahn. He joins me now on the line from Berlin. Nice to talk with you again.
DEPUTY FINANCE MINISTER JENS SPAHN: Hello, good to hear you again.
MARTIN: When we spoke three months ago, you told me that Germany needed to differentiate between refugees who were fleeing places like Syria and Iraq, people who Germany would welcome, and migrants who were simply looking for a better way of life. Do you think Germany should continue to welcome in refugees from Syria and the region at the same rate that you have been?
SPAHN: Well, actually, the most important discussion we have in these days is, is there a European solution? Are we able to have a secure EU border, east border especially, where we decide at the border and so-called hotspots who is to be let in and who not? And the second question is, are we able to distribute the refugees all over 28 countries in the European Union? So far, it's only Sweden, Germany, a bit of Denmark and Austria. And the other countries are almost taking no one.
MARTIN: So that means - implicit in that is - what I'm hearing you say is Germany is taking too many and that the burden needs to be shared. How do you go about doing that? How do you make that case to other European nations?
SPAHN: Well, Chancellor Merkel is speaking and dealing and negotiating with other European countries. But especially in the East European countries, we have a kind of sentiment against it. They are asking, why should we take Muslim people to our Christian societies? And I'm not too sure if we will find a solution. But we really do work hard on it to get one because otherwise, Schengen, the so-called Schengen Area, which means no borders within the European Union, that could be ended.
MARTIN: You think that's a possibility, that the Schengen Agreement could dissolve, that the border controls in Europe would be re-implemented?
SPAHN: Well, Sweden and Denmark started already again with controls at their borders. But yes, that's the risk we have at the moment, that the Schengen Agreement is about to be jeopardized. Germany can't go on like this.
MARTIN: Do you have security concerns? I mean, there are these voices saying, look what happened in Cologne. There are people who came into Germany as asylum-seekers, and now they are perpetrating violence. Do you share those concerns?
SPAHN: My biggest concern is actually about integration of the people. So we already have from past decades parallel societies kind of who do not integrate with their own religions, their own language. And they're coming from countries where the equality of men and women, where the rights of minorities are not respected. And of course, after having - having been grown up there, they bring this with them to Germany. And if you want to integrate people from a totally different culture, you need time. You need resources. And that's, at the moment, our problem, that so many people are coming in so short time.
MARTIN: Are you concerned about the rise of anti-Muslim attacks and demonstrations in Germany? Are migrant communities safe in Germany?
SPAHN: Well, I think they are safe because we have a big majority in Germany who don't agree with any kind of hate. But it is a growing - it's kind of fear because you see people with daughters, with women in their family just ask, can I let my daughter out to the street, especially in big cities? What happens to her after what I have seen in Cologne? So it's more fear than hate at the moment. But that might change. And that shows we really do need a solution. Otherwise, the mood in Germany might collapse.
MARTIN: Jens Spahn is a member of the German Parliament. And he's the country's deputy finance minister. He spoke to us from Berlin. Thank you so much for taking the time.
SPAHN: Yes, it was a pleasure.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There's no way to get around it; online dating is work. And some people are more skilled at this kind of communication than others, knowing how to divulge enough information to seem like you're sharing without actually divulging anything of substance, alternating gracefully between ironic texts and earnest GChats, caring but not caring. Brett Fletcher Lauer got pretty good at this kind of repartee, first for fun and then for love. His new memoir is called "Fake Missed Connections: Divorce, Online Dating And Other Failures." He joins us now from our studios in New York. Brett, welcome to the show.
BRETT FLETCHER LAUER: Thanks so much for having me.
MARTIN: You went through a pretty horrible divorce. Your wife had been cheating on you, and it was not an amicable break. Your friends convinced you to go online. What was that first profile like? What did you say about yourself?
LAUER: So I was sitting in my - in an apartment with my friends. And you know, they had the computer in their lap. And they were just reading me the questions. And I just didn't want to answer them. I thought that, you know, summarizing your entire life in a sentence or a phrase of my likes and dislikes was a little bit disingenuous. So we just actually took some poetry books down off the shelf. And they would ask a question. And I'd open it at random and then give a line of poetry. I'm a poet myself. So I felt like that poetic line would be kind of representative of a sensibility that maybe I had. So there was definitely a feeling of it being sort of a joke. And you know, I should also mention one of my profile pics was of me in a Halloween costume of a horse head. So I wasn't - I wasn't really trying to put myself out there in the best way. But people did reply.
MARTIN: This started out, as you say, kind of as a little tongue-in-cheek joke thing, a little performance art. And you took it to another level - not just filling out an online dating profile but creating fake missed connections. Most of us will know that missed connections, these are these - I find them very romantic. You read them in Craigslist. They're the whole, you know, I saw you on the subway platform, but then the doors shut, and we - I thought we had something. You know, email me if you were wearing a blue sweater under a full moon on Tuesday or something. And you decided that you were going to write fake missed connections. Why?
LAUER: Yes, it sounds kind of cruel a little bit, now that I'm hearing it.
MARTIN: That is literally the word that I have written down here. That sounds really cruel (laughter).
LAUER: Yeah, I mean, I was obsessed with missed connections. And I do think they're completely romantic. But there also is a sense that there is a little bit of loneliness and desperation there because the probability of finding someone that way is a small probability compared to other ways of tracking someone down. And so when I was reading them, there's a language to them that is very familiar. I mean, I saw you is probably how most of them start. And so I just kind of started thinking of them as a genre and wanted to see what would happen if I put one up. And when I put one up, people responded.
MARTIN: I mean, I'm snickering because while I found offense at this, I also found them to be really entertaining. I'd love if you would read one of them.
LAUER: Of course. (Reading) Subject, L train this morning, man for woman, Brooklyn. You were on the L train wearing skinny jeans and an expression of doubt. I share that doubt and wanted to share my thoughts on podcasting, 19th century Russian novels and French pressed coffee. Your body language implied you were interested in these things, as well as polka music, in a strangely un-ironic way, East Asian horticulture and car racing. I think that if we met, I will explode into knowing the exact way to sing in the shower and cook pasta for your tiny mouth.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
LAUER: (Reading) If you felt the same way, let me know - smoke signals, etcetera.
MARTIN: I can't imagine that you could read this and think it was anything but funny. But people did reply.
LAUER: They did. And I think, you know, a lot of them start with something that is familiar, like, you were on the train, and you were wearing skinny jeans. And so some people would respond and just say, I was on the L train this morning. But also, some people would respond and say, I've been reading missed connections myself, and I wish I was that person. Or, you know, to just express that same feeling of longing that I think the post expressed itself. And so there was kind of a little bit of a back-and-forth community and acknowledging what was happening but also acknowledging that possibility for romance.
MARTIN: This is a spoiler alert. I'm just going to give it anyway because you did fall in love through this process - not the missed connections, but online dating.
LAUER: Yes. I could not be happier. Ultimately, I found the person who I married and who I'm spending the rest of my life with.
MARTIN: I did too, by the way.
LAUER: Oh, you did?
MARTIN: I did. You're a poet, and you were clearly engaged in all of this as a kind of experiment in language and social interaction. What did you learn, when you look back?
LAUER: You know, it's - I was thinking about that on the way in. And I think I'm still learning it, you know, 'cause so much of it was about writing the book. And now so much of it is the anxiety of all of my secrets being out in the world. And so I think in a year, I'll have a very good answer for that. But, I mean, I think it is about, you know, regaining a kind of faith in other people and being able to love again.
MARTIN: Brett Fletcher Lauer's new memoir is called "Fake Missed Connections: Divorce, Online Dating And Other Failures." It was great to talk to you, Brett.
LAUER: Thanks so much.
MARTIN: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
After being held for nearly 18 months in Iran, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been released along with four other Americans being held in Tehran.
His brother, Ali Rezaian, who had been lobbying for his release gave this statement this morning. He said, quote, "I'm incredibly relieved that Jason is on his way home. He is a talented journalist who was simply doing his job fairly, accurately and lawfully." He added that the family's nightmare is approaching an end.
Now we turn to an Iranian analyst and journalist to learn more about the reaction in that country to the news that economic sanctions are being lifted because Iran has held up its end of the nuclear deal signed this summer.
On the line is Negar Mortazavi. She's a reporter based in New York. Thanks so much for being with us.
NEGAR MORTAZAVI: Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: President Hassan Rouhani held a press conference in Tehran this morning. What did he say?
MORTAZAVI: So he was basically praising the negotiations team. The victory - this is a very big for his administration, for his government. But considering that he was speaking to a parliament who was mostly consisting of conservatives, he was trying to keep a balanced tone and make this - looking into something that's a win-win situation for all of the different political factions in Iran. That's very important. That's something that President Rouhani has been trying to do since the beginning of his presidency, to try to reduce the political tensions, even within the factions in Iran.
So he sort of portrayed a big victory for the entire country, for all of the political system. He spoke of the economic opportunities that are opening up. He spoke of peace and stability in the region with Iran's neighbors and also with the world. And overall, it was - I would say it was a joyful moment for him.
MARTIN: We're hearing that reaction in Tehran just among ordinary citizens has been fairly muted. Considering the economic toll that the sanctions have had on Iran's economy, I would have thought there would have been more reaction.
MORTAZAVI: I have seen a lot of reactions actually on social media and especially on Iranian newspapers because newspapers in Iran, as opposed to television and radio, are what's more reflective of the society. They're more independent, and they have more independent and, I would say, diverse voices.
So looking at Iranian newspapers this morning and looking at social media - and basically, that's where a lot of people express their personal opinion, a lot of people have been happy. They've been following this deal, and they've just been, you know, happy about the lifting of sanctions which is something the president had promised two years ago in his election. And it's just people looking forward to new opportunities in the future. Of course, nothing is going to change overnight, and we'll just have to wait and see how the lifting of sanctions and the unblocking of assets and the new deals and everything are going to have an effect on people's everyday lives.
MARTIN: What is likely to be the short-term and medium-term effect, though? Obviously, frozen assets, unfrozen; investment can now start coming into Iran.
MORTAZAVI: Yes, of course. So there've been reports of Iranian ships and containers basically just waiting for the minute the sanctions are lifting to leave the waters to, you know, to take a lot of - all kinds of Iranian products and exports that have been stalled over the years.
There is Iran's inclusion back into the banking and financial system. Some of Iranian banks - some of the most important banks in Iran had been on the sanctions list. They had been cut off from the banking and financial systems. Them getting back into the world, being able to open LCs, to do - to get back into their credit system, the SWIFT system - these are all very important issues in a very high level, not for an everyday citizen. But people have felt the toll, even on the everyday life. So these are things that are going to immediately change.
MARTIN: And we'll have to...
MORTAZAVI: And of course, in the longer-term...
MARTIN: And we'll be watching that.
MORTAZAVI: ...The investments.
MARTIN: We'll be watching how all that unfolds. Negar Mortazavi - she's an Iranian journalist and analyst. She joined us on the line from New York.
Thanks so much.
MORTAZAVI: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
They were scenes that haunt the soul.
That was how U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described what aid workers saw when they went into Syria this past week.
After months without access, convoys carrying food, medicine and other humanitarian aid rolled into Syrian towns. Dr. Rajia Sharhan was on one of those convoys. She's a nutritionist with UNICEF. She recounted for us what she saw in the town of Madaya.
RAJIA SHARHAN: When we arrived there, we saw children; we saw adults, mothers - all suffering from malnutrition. They all had visibly wasted so their bodies were too weak even to move around or to talk because of the lack of nutritious food over a long period of time.
MARTIN: As the convoy drove through town, children stood on the street screaming for help. Eventually, Dr. Sharhan and the other aid workers made their way to a building that was being used to care for the sick and the dying.
SHARHAN: And then we went into the basement of that makeshift hospital. There was a bed. There was two lying children. Both of them had severe acute malnutrition complications. One of them was dying in front of our eyes. I tried to resuscitate that child, but unfortunately, he passed away.
MARTIN: The child next to him was also very weak says Dr. Sharhan. She could barely get a pulse. But he was able to talk, and he was pleading with her. He wanted to know what happened to the boy who had been next to him.
SHARHAN: Did he die? Did he die? I tried to call that child down.
MARTIN: The doctors were able to get that boy stable.
SHARHAN: Now I just learned that that child, well, the second was evacuated outside Madaya to a specialized hospital, so he will live.
MARTIN: He was one of the lucky ones. Dr. Sharhan says there are thousands of Syrians facing starvation as the five-year-long civil war rages. Desperate to get aid to people, the U.N. is demanding access to these communities.
SHARHAN: Syria is under war. War makes everything difficult, really. But we are advocating strongly and asking all sides in this siege on all the communities in Syria and provide unimpeded, unconditional safe humanitarian access. We will deliver the life-saving food and health and nutritional supplies.
MARTIN: Dr. Rajia Sharhan - she's a nutritionist with UNICEF. She was recently with a convoy that delivered aid to the town of Madaya inside Syria.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The race between a former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is getting tighter.
As NPR's Scott Detrow reports from Des Moines, Iowa, Clinton is hoping to regain her slipping lead in the polls by deploying two high-powered surrogates on the campaign trail.
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Many Democrats running for office consider former President Bill Clinton the most in-demand person for a campaign appearance. But Clinton had stayed away from the spotlight so far in this cycle, even for his wife. This weekend marked just his first trip to Iowa this campaign, and it took a while for him to warm up. During an afternoon event in Fort Dodge, he meandered from topic to topic to topic, reciting dense economic stats from his presidency.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
BILL CLINTON: righty to 90 percent, 10 percent better; 60 to 80, 25 percent better; 40 to 60 - the middle, the heart of American, 70 percent more income increase.
DETROW: But Clinton eventually found his groove, engaging audiences with anecdotes about Hillary Clinton's career.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
B. CLINTON: That's what she's done with everything all her life. She just makes something good happen, and that's what you need.
DETROW: At the last stop of the day, the former president shared the stage with his daughter Chelsea Clinton, who had also been campaigning across Iowa Saturday. Chelsea had made headlines earlier in the week, attacking Sanders's health care stance as a way to dismantle Obamacare. On Saturday, she stuck to the more traditional supporting role of a family member, speaking for only about five minutes.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
CHELSEA CLINTON: I am so proud and grateful to be my mom's daughter.
DETROW: Still, Chelsea Clinton did deliver the sharpest attack of the day, aimed at the Republican primary field.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
C. CLINTON: When we look at that jingoism and the sexism and the racism and the homophobia, that's not who we are, and that's not the country that I want my daughter to grow up in.
DETROW: Joan Hanna of Urbandale had spent the day canvassing in single-digit temperatures. She says she was energized by both Clintons and wants to see more of them on the campaign trail.
JOAN HANNA: I think anybody that saw Bill and his daughter would realize that it is a huge advantage for Hillary to have them.
DETROW: Still, mindful of the negative headlines Bill Clinton generated in 2008 with his off-script attacks on then-Senator Barack Obama, the Clinton campaign wants to make sure they use this particular advantage in ways that really help her win.
Scott Detrow, NPR News, Des Moines, Iowa.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And it's time now for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: I am not going to belabor the point this morning. There was some pretty amazing football last night. The stakes are high, and we're going to talk about all of it with Mike Pesca of "The Gist."
Good morning, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello. The stakes are high, and the stakes are rare in what happened in that Green Bay and Arizona game.
MARTIN: Oh, my gosh, I'm not going to - OK.
PESCA: Yeah.
MARTIN: I have to cop to the fact that I did not stay up and watch football last night, but I watched the highlights this morning...
PESCA: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...On ESPN. Does that count? And...
PESCA: Well, they probably didn't even have enough time to get to all the highlights.
MARTIN: That was amazing - Larry Fitzgerald.
PESCA: Yeah.
MARTIN: That guy's awesome.
PESCA: Yeah. You want to talk about that one, or...
MARTIN: (Laughter).
PESCA: Let me hit on New England-Kansas City first, all right?
MARTIN: Really?
PESCA: Yeah, I'll just say this. Rob Gronkowski seems healthy. This spells, if not doom, then consternation for the rest of the AFC. He scored - the Patriots tight end scored two touchdowns. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick extend their records for most wins by a quarterback and a coach in the playoffs. And they same time is the enemy of all men, but that's especially true for Kansas City coach Andy Reid. His game and time management was just frittered away at the end of the game, didn't give his team a chance to win. You want to get to the big one now?
MARTIN: Yes, please.
PESCA: OK. So I can't even get into all the crazy things that happened - the first down that Arizona achieved late in the first quarter that wasn't measured by chain links but by micrometers. But let's just go to the last play of the game. Hail Mary - it was from the 41 yard line, but Aaron Rodgers, the Packers quarterback threw it from the 50. It's the second time the Packers connect on a Hail Mary at the end of the game.
MARTIN: Oh, man.
PESCA: It's crazy.
MARTIN: I know.
PESCA: So then the game goes into overtime. But before that happens, the coin doesn't flip for overtime.
MARTIN: I saw that. That was crazy.
PESCA: It pancakes. I blame the angular momentum vector, but that's just a guess. We have to investigate this coin flip.
MARTIN: (Laughter) I love - everyone cares so much, though, that the coin didn't flip. Whatever, that's beside the point.
PESCA: (Laughter) Well, for all the things that have ever happened in sports - and this game had a bunch of them - I don't think anyone's ever seen a non-flipping coin, interesting.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
PESCA: So then the first play after Arizona gets the ball, they flip it to their future hall of famer. He rambles 75 years. Two plays later, they flip it to him again. The ball flips, unlike the coin. Larry Fitzgerald, touchdown. Cardinals win.
MARTIN: No words. OK.
PESCA: Good stuff.
MARTIN: But we have to come up with words because there are big games today we must discuss. Seattle takes on Carolina. I am torn. Two great quarterbacks - Russell Wilson, Cam Newton - who do you like?
PESCA: I think I like Russell Wilson, even though the Panthers have not lost at home and Cam Newton is a great weapon. They're similar quarterbacks because they could both hurt you with their arm, but they're very good at running. I think Russell Wilson scrambles when things break down, but Cam Newton has these designed runs. And you know, if Russell Wilson wins, this is his 10th playoff game. And if he wins, he will be 8-2 in the playoffs. And even though he's this young quarterback, the only player - the only quarterback who's played that many games and has a better winning percentage in NFL history is Bart Starr. Maybe you heard of the MVP of the first Super Bowl ever played.
MARTIN: Oh, Bart, good old Bart.
PESCA: (Laughter).
MARTIN: So briefly, we have to talk about Peyton Manning.
He's playing. I didn't know...
PESCA: And Ben Roethlisberger.
MARTIN: OK, him, but Peyton Manning - I thought he was out with an injury, but he's back.
PESCA: Yeah, and we - OK. So for weeks we thought Peyton's season and perhaps career was done, but he resurrects himself in the last game of the regular season...
MARTIN: Yeah.
PESCA: ...Thus clinching home-field advantage for his Broncos. They host as battered a team as you could get in the Steelers. Antonio Brown, the best wide receiver, is out. They're down to third and fourth-string on the running back chart. So I think just in terms of injuries, the Broncos have an edge over the Steelers because Roethlisberger's hurt, too.
MARTIN: Oh, so much drama. So much drama, so much good football.
Mike Pesca, host of Slate's podcast "The Gist." Thanks, Mike.
PESCA: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's time for our first visit of the year with our friends at Alt.Latino. Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd host the weekly podcast about Latino arts and culture. And they come this week with some new music and a tribute. You guys, welcome back.
FELIX CONTRERAS, BYLINE: Good morning.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Thank you.
MARTIN: OK, let's start with new music. Jas (ph), tell us what we're listening to right now. This is from Colombia?
GARSD: Yeah, this is a producer that we met when we were traveling in Colombia. And we ended up having breakfast with this producer Richard Blair. He's in this really famous project Sidestepper, which kind of mixes Colombian typical beats with electronica. This song is called "La Flor Y La Voz," "The Flower And The Voice."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA FLOR Y LA VOZ")
SIDESTEPPER: (Singing in Spanish).
MARTIN: That's lovely.
GARSD: Right?
MARTIN: Yeah, I like it a lot.
GARSD: It's very, like...
MARTIN: It's mellow.
GARSD: ...Waking up in the morning...
MARTIN: Yeah.
GARSD: ...And seeing the mountains.
CONTRERAS: It's a very clever and innovative mixture of influences. This album, by the way, will be featured on our First Listen series, where you can stream an album a week before it's released. And you can start listening to this stream on January 29.
MARTIN: OK, that's exciting. All right, Felix, your turn. Are we going to stay in Latin America for your next pick?
CONTRERAS: Sort of.
MARTIN: Sort of, kind of?
CONTRERAS: We're going to go to Austin.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: OK, close enough.
GARSD: Same thing.
(LAUGHTER)
CONTRERAS: Austin, where the mix of cultures and music is always, to me, just struck me as so unique because it's a mix of country, rock, blues, Mexican music, all of this stuff.
There's a great new album out by a singer named Carrie Rodriguez. The album's called "Lola." And to me, my ears, it is one of the defining sounds of Austin, where you mix Mexican-American culture with all the things we've been talking about. This is a track called "I Dreamed I Was Lola Beltran."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I DREAMED I WAS LOLA BELTRAN")
JIMMY RODRIGUEZ: (Singing) I dreamed I was Lola Beltran, and you were Javier Solis.
CONTRERAS: These are two classical ranchera mariachi singers. Think passionate lyrics and love. It's just a great, great love song with this perfect bicultural touch.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I DREAMED I WAS LOLA BELTRAN")
RODRIGUEZ: (Singing) While you sang to me.
MARTIN: That was not what I expected it to be. First, it's English, which - you guys don't bring in that much stuff that's English language.
CONTRERAS: Correct.
MARTIN: So I knew what was going on in the storyline, first of all.
CONTRERAS: (Laughter).
MARTIN: And it's far - I don't know. There's kind of pop sensibility to it.
GARSD: Yeah.
CONTRERAS: She's got a very, very unique place in music. And jazz fans will be interested to know Bill Frisell, the great guitar player...
MARTIN: Yeah.
CONTRERAS: ...Is on this track. He's on the whole album.
MARTIN: Nice. It was a big week in music, and we can't finish up without referencing the passing of David Bowie. You guys paid tribute to him on your show, I understand.
GARSD: Yeah. You know, David Bowie's reach and influence throughout all the musical genres was huge, you know, whether you're talking about electronica or jazz or blues or Latin music. And we visited with several artists who have been influenced by him and who have covered him. And we brought two songs that illustrate that. The first one is by one of Felix's favorite bands.
CONTRERAS: It's an all-female Chicana punk band from San Antonio called Girl in a Coma, and we've had them on the show before. One of their earlier albums is called "Adventures In Coverland," and they covered David Bowie's "As The World Falls Down" from the film "Labyrinth."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN")
GIRL IN A COMA: (Singing) There's such a fooled heart beating so fast in search of new dreams, a love that will last within your heart. I'll place the moon within your heart. As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you. Every thrill is gone. Wasn't too much fun at all, but I'll be there for you as the world falls down.
MARTIN: Cool. And you have another one?
GARSD: Yeah. I brought Brazilian vocalist Seu Jorge. He covered a lot of David Bowie's songs for the film "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou."
And I think it's great because Seu Jorge is such a - the personification, really, of Brazilian music with all its happiness but its core of melancholy, which is actually very compatible with David Bowie's music, which was - it could be happy. It could be raucous. It could be feisty or danceable, but there was, like, a core of melancholy to David Bowie, I think. And so when Seu Jorge covered "Life On Mars?" with that gravelly, sad voice, it was one of the best covers that I have ever heard.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE ON MARS?")
SEU JORGE: (Singing in Portuguese).
MARTIN: That's haunting...
GARSD: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...In all the right ways.
MARTIN: Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd. You can hear these songs and lots more on their podcast Alt.Latino. It's available from wherever you download podcasts. You two, it's so fun to see you always. Thanks for being in-studio.
CONTRERAS: Thank you.
GARSD: We love being here. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE ON MARS?")
SEU JORGE: (Singing in Portuguese).
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We've been listening to special live coverage of remarks by President Obama talking about what he is calling a diplomatic victory. Iran has met its obligation under a nuclear deal reached last year. And as a result, economic sanctions on that country has - have been lifted. At the same time, the president talked about a prisoner swap that was arranged with Iran. The U.S. released seven Iranian who'd been held in U.S. prisons. And Iran released five Americans who had been held in Tehran. To talk more about this, we are bringing in White House correspondent Scott Horsley along with Deb Amos, who covers the Middle East. Welcome to you both.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good to be with you.
MARTIN: Scott, I'm going to start with you. The president - this - has been working on this obviously for a very long time. Negotiators have been working on the nuclear deal that was signed this past summer for at least two years. How did all of this come together, seemingly at the same time yesterday?
HORSLEY: This was a tremendous culmination of some long and patient diplomacy. As you say, the nuclear talks were going on a couple years. We know that the discussions on the prisoner swap were going on for 14 months. Those talks accelerated after the nuclear deal was struck last summer. Yesterday, in announcing that Iran had complied with the terms of the nuclear deal, allowing - paving the way for the lifting of sanctions, we heard Secretary of State John Kerry say that we would hear from the president. We sort of thought we were going to hear from the president, giving a speech like this, last night. And then, at the 11th hour, there was another delay because we - I think the White House probably wanted an abundance of caution to wait until the American prisoners were out of Iran before the president said anything, in part because part of what he was announcing was a fresh round of sanctions against some Iranian individuals and some other companies for that ballistic missile test. That was a round of sanctions that the White House had hinted at a couple weeks ago and then balked at imposing. At the time, there was some criticism that the White House was wavering in its determination to enforce those sanctions. I think we can now say what probably happened was they wanted to wait until this prisoner deal was done. And then, you know, within minutes of the prisoner deal being carried out, this fresh round of sanctions was imposed.
MARTIN: Deb, I want to bring you in. There's been all kinds of criticism here from Republican presidential candidates, other Republican congressional leaders, who say that the lifting of these economic sanctions is only going to embolden Iran in the region. Hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen assets will be released. How do you see this playing out? What is Iran likely to do with this moment?
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Well, I can't tell you that. But here's what's interesting to me, is Middle East allies - longtime Middle East allies - are quite worried. And you can see that in the newspaper headlines today - sanctions lifted, Iran remains the same. And I think that many - certainly in Saudi Arabia - in the Arab world, there is concern that Iran's aggression continues. And that's sort of how they see it. You know, this is a region that is - that's steeped in a proxy war. It's Iran against Saudi Arabia and its allies. And you see it in Syria. You see it in Lebanon. You see it in Iraq. You see it in Yemen. And that nuclear agreement did not address those concerns. And so the allies are going to be watching. And they are going to be yelling every time they see Iran taking a move that's outside the nuclear agreement but against their interests. So that's what I'm going to be watching.
MARTIN: Scott, the U.S. relationship with Iran has been a focal point of this administration's foreign policy. Where does it go from here? I mean, there are just a few months in this particular White House, in this particular administration. But this is opening a new chapter in this relationship.
HORSLEY: Yeah, and where it goes from here is in many ways up to Iran. And the president and his administration have really tried to prop up the moderates in Iran against the hardliners. And the president talked today about a new opportunity for Iran. He spoke directly to the Iranian people, hoping they will take advantage of this window, this new path.
MARTIN: NPR's Scott Horsley and Deb Amos speaking to us about the president's remarks about Iran. Thank you so much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Many have welcomed the landmark nuclear deal which, as the president said this morning, means economic sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program are now over. But the announcement has also drawn notable critics, including Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Donald Trump and many other Republican contenders for president. Joining us now is Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson who has also been critical of the deal. He is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senator Johnson, thanks so much for being with us.
RON JOHNSON: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: We heard President Obama say this morning that this deal and the implementation of it will make the world safer. You don't agree. Why?
JOHNSON: Well, first of all, I think it's widely acknowledged that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror in the world. They are our self-proclaimed enemy. They are engaged in destabilization of other nations in the Middle East. So just very simply, why in the world would you want to enter into agreement that would inject tens and now hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy and military of your self-proclaimed enemy, the largest state-sponsor of terror? It just makes no sense whatsoever. And then, you know, combine that with the fact now we're hearing that the administration is now putting additional sanctions on the Iranians. That makes no sense. You lift some sanctions, inject hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy, military of your enemy, and now you impose new sanctions? I mean, this is folly. This makes no sense. I think the Iranians are just - believe - you know, it's just unbelievable to me.
MARTIN: As I understand it, the rationale though, administration officials would say that each issue had to be handled separately and that in order to navigate some kind of nuclear deal, this is the path that they had to pursue. And if you think that wasn't the path forward, what would have been the alternative?
JOHNSON: We should have increased the sanctions. We should've tried to weaken our enemy, the largest state-sponsor of terror, as opposed to sanction them. You cannot separate these issues. Iran is Iran. It has a regime that is destabilized in the region, that is spreading terror. And, you know, why in the world would you try and strengthen them? So you can't separate these issues. And by the way, this agreement is not verifiable. We don't - we do not understand really what their past military dimensions are. This is not going to be transparent. And what you've seen since the deal, it's just emboldened the mullahs. They sent General Soleimani into Russia. They've test-fired ballistic missiles. They lobbed some rockets 1,500 feet from the USS Truman. They detained and humiliated American sailors. And then they threw us one olive branch. You know, they set all these fires. They sent us one olive branch, and then we're supposed to believe that they changed their behavior to the positive? If they've changed their behavior, it's become much worse.
MARTIN: So you don't trust that the IAEA has indeed verified that Iran has upheld its side of the obligations that were codified in the nuclear agreement?
JOHNSON: No, I think in hearings, as well as briefings, to give some assurance - how can we verify that they only have 10,000 kilograms of enriched uranium. I can't get an answer to that. Yeah, I know they've shipped 10,000 kilograms out. I don't know where they've possibly stored other enriched uranium. I just do not - we do not have any-time-anywhere inspections. We can't verify this.
MARTIN: Republican Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts this morning with us.
JOHNSON: Have a good day.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And we're reporting this morning on the changes in U.S. foreign policy towards Iran. President Obama said this morning that Iran has held up its part of the nuclear deal signed over the summer. As a result, international economic sanctions in place for the last decade have been lifted, and Iran has released five American prisoners. In exchange, the U.S. has released seven Iranian prisoners. Earlier this morning, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani spoke to his nation. And to learn how Iranians are reacting to all this news, we have called up Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times. He's in Tehran, and joins me now on the line. Thomas, thanks for being with us.
THOMAS ERDBRINK: Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: You were there at that press conference where President Hassan Rouhani spoke. What were the big takeaways?
ERDBRINK: Well, he is - he described a new Iran, a country in which the - everybody would be able to make financial transactions with other countries. A country where the government would be able to sell oil and gas. A country where foreigners, even Americans, are welcome to come and make investments. And of course, he was describing all the things that since or as of Saturday evening, Iranians are able to do because the sanctions that you just mentioned have been lifted. So he was incredibly upbeat.
MARTIN: Did he have any reaction in the press conference to the new round of sanctions that have been issued to Iran over its ballistic missile program?
ERDBRINK: No. That was actually really a bit of a surprise for those who are supporting Mr. Rouhani and officials in his government. Mr. Rouhani even commented on the United States. He said that there's no obstacle for American businesses to come and invest here. And an hour later, there's the news of the new sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile program. Now while they might not sound as elaborate as the previous sanctions, it is definitely a blow for Mr. Rouhani and his government because Iran's supreme leader, the man who is even more powerful than the president, has said on numerous occasions that after the nuclear deal, there should be no new sanctions whatsoever. So it will be interesting to see what his reaction and that of Iranian hardliners will be to this new decision.
MARTIN: You wrote a piece in The Times today saying that reaction in Tehran has been fairly muted to the lifting of the economic sanctions which, for years, Iranians have described as being incredibly oppressive. I would have thought there would have been more positive reaction.
ERDBRINK: Absolutely. But on the other hand, try and imagine that you live in a place where constantly, promises of a better future are made, where you are closely following a political process that have no influence over, the nuclear negotiations, that these negotiations go on for two-and-a-half years. And every other month, you are promised a new milestone or sort of a horizon in the distance when - where things will be better, where green pastures await. And if they don't come and if you don't see this in direct improvement in your life, then of course it's hard to come out on the streets and wave flags and celebrate things that we have seen in the past. So I'm not surprised that Iranians have grown a little bit cynical and are now taking a wait-and-see approach.
MARTIN: President Obama, in his remarks this morning, pointed directly at the Iranian people and said it is now up to you to define where you want your country to be and what you want your country's relationship to be with a larger community of nations. How do you see this moment unfolding in Iran?
ERDBRINK: Well, I would say that - I would think that a lot of people would probably be a bit cynical as well because in the end, it were in the United States and Europe and the United Nations that they placed these sanctions on Iran. So they will say if you don't put new sanctions on us, yeah. Then we can have a better future.
MARTIN: Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times speaking to us from Tehran. Thank you so much.
ERDBRINK: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: As I said in my State of the Union address ensuring the security of the United States and the safety of our people demands a smart, patient and disciplined approach to the world. That includes our diplomacy...
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
We're listening to special coverage from President Obama about the news out of Iran.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
OBAMA: For decades, our differences with Iran meant that our governments almost never spoke to each other. Ultimately, that did not advance America's interests. Over the years, Iran moved closer and closer to having the ability to build a nuclear weapon. But from Presidents Franklin Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, the United States has never been afraid to pursue diplomacy with our adversaries. And as president, I decided that a strong, confident America could advance our national security by engaging directly with the Iranian government. We've seen the results.
Under the nuclear deal that we, our allies and partners reached with Iran last year, Iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb. The region, the United States and the world will be more secure. As I've said many times, the nuclear deal was never intended to resolve all of our differences with Iran. But still, engaging directly with the Iranian government on a sustained basis for the first time in decades has created a unique opportunity, a window, to try to resolve important issues. And today, I can report progress on a number of fronts.
First, yesterday marked a milestone in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran has now fulfilled key commitments under the nuclear deal, and I want to take a moment to explain why this is so important.
Over more than a decade, Iran had moved ahead with its nuclear program. And before the deal, it had installed nearly 20,000 centrifuges that could enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb. Today, Iran has removed two thirds of those machines. Before the deal, Iran was steadily increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, enough for up to 10 nuclear bombs. Today, more than 98 percent of that stockpile has been shipped out of Iran, meaning Iran now doesn't have enough material for even one bomb. Before, Iran was nearing completion of a new reactor capable of producing plutonium for a bomb. Today, the core of that reactor has been pulled out and filled with concrete so it cannot be used again.
Before the deal, the world had relatively little visibility into Iran's nuclear program. Today, international inspectors are on the ground and Iran is being subjected to the most comprehensive, intrusive inspection regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program. Inspectors will monitor Iran's key nuclear facilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For decades to come, inspectors will have access to Iran's entire nuclear supply chain. In other words, if Iran tries to cheat - if they try to find build a bomb covertly, we will catch them.
So the bottom line is this - whereas Iran was steadily expanding its nuclear program, we have now cut off every single path that Iran could have used to build a bomb. Whereas it would have taken Iran two to three months to break out with enough material to rush to a bomb, we've now extended that breakout time to a year. And with the world's unprecedented inspections and access to Iran's program, we'll know if Iran ever tries to break out.
Now that Iran's actions have been verified, it can begin to receive relief from certain nuclear sanctions and gain access to its own money that had been frozen. And perhaps most important of all, we've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East. I want to also point out that by working with Iran on this nuclear deal, we were better able to address other issues. When our sailors in the Persian Gulf accidentally strayed into Iranian waters, that could have sparked a major international incident. Some folks here in Washington rushed to declare that it was the start of another hostage crisis. Instead, we worked directly with the Iranian government and secured the release of our sailors in less than 24 hours.
This brings me to a second major development. Several Americans, unjustly detained by Iran, are finally coming home. In some cases, these Americans faced years of continued detention, and I've met with some of their families. I've seen their anguish, how they ache for their sons and husbands. I gave these families my word. I made a vow that we would do everything in our power to win the release of their loved ones, and we have been tireless.
On the sidelines of the nuclear negotiations, our diplomats at the highest level, including Secretary Kerry, used every meeting to push Iran to release our Americans. I did so myself in my conversation with President Rouhani. After the nuclear deal was completed, the discussions between our governments accelerated. Yesterday, these families finally got the news that they had been waiting for.
Jason Rezaian is coming home. A courageous journalist for The Washington Post who wrote about the daily lives and hopes of the Iranian people, he's been held for a year and a half. He embodies the brave spirit that gives life to the freedom of the press. Jason has already been reunited with his wife and mom.
Pastor Saeed Abedini is coming home. Held for three and a half years, his unyielding faith has inspired people around the world in the global fight to uphold freedom of religion. Now Pastor Abedini will return to his church and community in Idaho.
Amir Hekmati is coming home. A former sergeant in the Marine Corps, he's been held for four and half years. Today, his parents and sisters are giving thanks in Michigan.
Two other Americans unjustly detained by Iran have also been released. Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari and Matthew Trevithick, an Iranian - who was in Iran as a student. Their cases were largely unknown to the world, but when Americans are freed and united with their families, that's something that we can all celebrate.
So I went to thank my national security team, especially Secretary Kerry; Susan Rice, my national security advisor; Brent McGurk; Avril Haines; Ben Rhodes. Our whole team worked tirelessly to bring our Americans home, to get this work done. And I want to thank the Swiss government, which represents our interest in Iran, for their critical assistance.
And meanwhile, Iran has agreed to deepen our coordination as we work to locate Robert Levinson, missing from Iran for more than eight years. Even as we rejoice in the safe return of others, we will never forget about Bob. Each and every day, but especially today, our hearts are with the Levinson family, and we will not rest until their family is whole again.
In a reciprocal humanitarian gesture, six Iranian-Americans and one Iranian serving sentences or awaiting trial in the United States are being granted clemency. These individuals were not charged with terrorism or any violent offenses. They're civilians and their release is a one- time gesture to Iran, given the unique opportunity offered by this moment and the larger circumstances at play, and it reflects our willingness to engage with Iran to advance our mutual interest, even as we ensure the national security of the United States.
So nuclear deal, implemented. American families, reunited. The third piece of this work that we got done this weekend involved the United States and Iran resolving a financial dispute that dated back more than three decades. Since 1981, after our nations severed diplomatic relations, we've worked through a international tribunal to resolve various claims between our countries. The United States and Iran are now settling a long-standing Iranian government claim against the United States government. Iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest but much less than the amount Iran sought. For the United States, this settlement could save us billions of dollars that could have been pursued by Iran, so there was no benefit to the United States in dragging this out. With your nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute as well.
Of course, even as we implement the nuclear deal and welcome our Americans home, we recognize that there remain about differences between the United States and Iran. We remain steadfast in opposing Iran's destabilizing behavior elsewhere, including its against Israel and our Gulf partners and its support for violent proxies in places like Syria and Yemen. We still have sanctions on Iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism and for its ballistic missile program. And we will continue to enforce these sanctions vigorously. Iran's recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its international obligations. And as a result, the United States is imposing sanctions on individuals and companies working to advance Iran's ballistic missile program, and we are going to remain vigilant about it. We're not going to waver in the defense of our security or that of our allies and partners.
But I do want to once again speak directly to the Iranian people. Yours is a great civilization with a vibrant culture that has so much to contribute to the world - in commerce and in science and in arts. For decades, your government's threats and actions to destabilize your region have isolated Iran from much of the world, and now our governments are talking with one another. Following the nuclear deal, you, especially young Iranians, have the opportunity to begin building new ties with the world. We have a rare chance to pursue a new path, a different, better future that delivers progress for both our peoples and the wider world. That's the opportunity before the Iranian people. We need to take advantage of that.
And to my fellow Americans, today we're united in welcoming home sons and husbands and brothers who, in lonely prison cells, have endured an absolute nightmare. But they never gave in, and they never gave up. At long last, they can stand tall and breathe deep the fresh air of freedom. As a nation, we face real challenges around the world and here at home. Many of them will not be resolved quickly or easily. But today's progress - Americans coming home, an Iran that has rolled back its nuclear program and accepted unprecedented monitoring of the program -these things are a reminder of what we can achieve when we lead with strength and with wisdom, with courage and resolve and patience. America can do and has done big things when we work together.
We can lead this world and make it safer and more secure for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come. I want to thank, once again, Secretary Kerry, our entire national security team led by Susan Rice. I'm grateful for all the assistance that we received from our allies and partners. And I am hopeful that this signals the opportunity at least for Iron to work more cooperatively with nations around the world to advance their interests and the interests of people who are looking for peace and security for their families. Thank you so much. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, where do you see this relationship going next?
MARTIN: We've been listening to special live coverage of remarks by President Obama talking about what he is calling a diplomatic victory. Iran has met its obligation under a nuclear deal reached last year. And as a result, economic sanctions on that country has - have been lifted. At the same time, the president talked about a prisoner swap that was arranged with Iran. The U.S. released seven Iranians who'd been held in U.S. prisons. And Iran released five Americans who had been held in Tehran. To talk more about this, we are bringing in White House correspondent Scott Horsley along with Deb Amos, who covers the Middle East. Welcome to you both.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good to be with you.
MARTIN: Scott, I'm going to start with you. The president - this - has been working on this obviously for a very long time. Negotiators have been working on the nuclear deal that was signed this past summer for at least two years. How did all of this come together, seemingly at the same time yesterday?
HORSLEY: This was a tremendous culmination of some long and patient diplomacy. As you say, the nuclear talks were going on a couple years. We know that the discussions on the prisoner swap were going on for 14 months. Those talks accelerated after the nuclear deal was struck last summer. Yesterday, in announcing that Iran had complied with the terms of the nuclear deal, allowing - paving the way for the lifting of sanctions, we heard Secretary of State John Kerry say that we would hear from the president. We sort of thought we were going to hear from the president, giving a speech like this, last night. And then, at the 11th hour, there was another delay because we - I think the White House probably wanted an abundance of caution to wait until the American prisoners were out of Iran before the president said anything, in part because part of what he was announcing was a fresh round of sanctions against some Iranian individuals and some other companies for that ballistic missile test. That was a round of sanctions that the White House had hinted at a couple weeks ago and then balked at imposing. At the time, there was some criticism that the White House was wavering in its determination to enforce those sanctions. I think we can now say what probably happened was they wanted to wait until this prisoner deal was done. And then, you know, within minutes of the prisoner deal being carried out, this fresh round of sanctions was imposed.
MARTIN: Deb, I want to bring you in. There's been all kinds of criticism here from Republican presidential candidates, other Republican congressional leaders, who say that the lifting of these economic sanctions is only going to embolden Iran in the region. Hundreds of billions of dollars in frozen assets will be released. How do you see this playing out? What is Iran likely to do with this moment?
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Well, I can't tell you that. But here's what's interesting to me, is Middle East allies - longtime Middle East allies - are quite worried. And you can see that in the newspaper headlines today - sanctions lifted, Iran remains the same. And I think that many - certainly in Saudi Arabia - in the Arab world, there is concern that Iran's aggression continues. And that's sort of how they see it. You know, this is a region that is - that's steeped in a proxy war. It's Iran against Saudi Arabia and its allies. And you see it in Syria. You see it in Lebanon. You see it in Iraq. You see it in Yemen. And that nuclear agreement did not address those concerns. And so the allies are going to be watching. And they are going to be yelling every time they see Iran taking a move that's outside the nuclear agreement but against their interests. So that's what I'm going to be watching.
MARTIN: Scott, the U.S. relationship with Iran has been a focal point of this administration's foreign policy. Where does it go from here? I mean, there are just a few months in this particular White House, in this particular administration. But this is opening a new chapter in this relationship.
HORSLEY: Yeah, and where it goes from here is in many ways up to Iran. And the president and his administration have really tried to prop up the moderates in Iran against the hardliners. And the president talked today about a new opportunity for Iran. He spoke directly to the Iranian people, hoping they will take advantage of this window, this new path.
MARTIN: NPR's Scott Horsley and Deb Amos speaking to us about the president's remarks about Iran. Thank you so much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The U.S. and Iran are entering a new phase in their relationship. Yesterday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog verified that Iran has fulfilled its requirements to dismantle its nuclear program as part of the international agreement reached last summer. That has led to the lifting of international economic sanctions on Iran and a prisoner swap that saw five American prisoners released from Iranian jails. In exchange, the United States released seven Iranian prisoners. They were accused or convicted of violating U.S. sanctions. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said this has opened a, quote, "new chapter" for his country and the world. President Obama also spoke this morning from the White House. Let's take a listen to a portion of his remarks.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For decades, our differences with Iran meant that our governments almost never spoke to each other. Ultimately, that did not advance America's interests. Over the years, Iran moved closer and closer to having the ability to build a nuclear weapon. But from Presidents Franklin Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, the United States has never been afraid to pursue diplomacy with our adversaries. And as president, I decided that a strong, confident America could advance our national security by engaging directly with the Iranian government. We've seen the results. Under the nuclear deal that we, our allies and partners reached with Iran last year, Iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb. The region, the United States and the world will be more secure.
MARTIN: That was President Obama speaking earlier at the White House. NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley joins us now to talk more about this. Good morning, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: Let's first talk about the release of those American prisoners. Apparently there was a bit of a hold-up in their departure. What can you tell us?
HORSLEY: We first got word that these prisoners had been released early yesterday. And then there was this sort of nail-biting period of limbo as we waited for them to actually get on a plane and leave Iran. And that took a long time. They didn't actually leave Iran until this morning. We're told that the Americans wanted to make sure that one of the prisoners, Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who'd been held prisoner, that his wife and mother who were also in Iran would be able to get on the plane and travel with him. And that took some time. And then there was a delay that any frequent flyer can relate to. There were apparently crew rest issues. So it took a while for the plane to finally leave Iranian territory. And the president then held off making his statement until the Americans were safely out of harm's way.
MARTIN: Let's turn to today's news because while there's a whole lot of attention being paid to the old economic sanctions on Iran that have now been lifted, the U.S. government slapped new sanctions against Iran today. Tell us what they are and what do you know about the timing of that announcement?
HORSLEY: Yeah, just as soon as those four Americans were out of Iranian territory, the Treasury Department leveled new sanctions against five Iranian individuals, as well as a company based in the United Arab Emirates, which has links to China. All of this having to do with Iran's ballistic missile tests, which the U.S. believes are in violation of U.N. orders. These were sanctions that had been hinted at a couple of weeks ago and then withdrawn by the administration. There was a lot of criticism at that time. And we now know that the administration held off announcing these new sanctions until this very delicate prisoner swap had been achieved.
MARTIN: So, Scott, how do these new sanctions square with this big diplomatic opening that we've seen with Iran in the last day or so?
HORSLEY: Well, you know, the administration has said all along that striking this nuclear deal with Iran would not solve all of our differences with that country. We still have serious differences over Iran's contact - conduct in the region, places like Syria and Yemen, as well as things like that - what we regard as an unlawful ballistic missile test. And so the administration's trying to show that they're going to be vigorous in keeping an eye on those differences. At the same time, as you heard, the president says, look, engagement makes a difference. We're seeing diplomacy working, not only with this prisoner swap but last week - early last week - when those 10 U.S. sailors drifted into Iranian territory, the president says, you know, there were people saying this was going to be the beginning of a new hostage crisis. And instead, thanks in large part to these new diplomatic channels, those sailors were set free in less than a day.
MARTIN: This deal is far from universally loved here in the U.S. Can you outline some of the criticism against the deal?
HORSLEY: Yeah, we obviously - in exchange for these five Americans being released, the United States is freeing some Iranians who had been held in this country on sanctions violations. The administration calls that a one-time thing, not a pattern likely to be repeated. But it's certainly being challenged by critics, including some who were against the nuclear deal itself, who would say, look, the administration is giving up too much; it's going to encourage more of our adversaries to take prisoners. Again, the White House will stress that the folks, the Iranians who were being released, were not violent criminals or terrorists but were folks who had been accused and in some cases convicted of sanctions relations.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Thanks so much, Scott.
HORSLEY: My pleasure.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And here's some cold water from researchers for binge watchers getting heavy doses of shows like "Making A Murderer" and "Transparent." A new study shows too much binge watching, just like watching too much regular TV, is bad for your brain. NPR's Angus Chen reports.
ANGUS CHEN, BYLINE: I've had plenty of afternoons telling myself I'm going to watch just one episode of a show. Then, this comes on.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SHERLOCK")
MARTIN FREEMAN: (As Dr. John Watson) There is a man in there about to die. The game is on. Solve it.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: "Sherlock" continues.
CHEN: Well, how am I going to stop now? I can spend hours with my laptop streaming show after show. But hours of TV every day could be pretty bad for our brains. A new study suggests more than three hours of TV every day might slow our minds over the years. Doctor Kristine Yaffe at UC San Francisco checked in with over 3,000 people for 25 years. The study started when they were young adults. Every few years, the participants guessed how many hours of TV they watched. Then, when they were in their 40s and 50s, they all took three cognitive functioning tests - memory, focus and mental quickness.
KRISTINE YAFFE: Those adults who watched a lot of TV did more poorly on some of the cognitive testing.
CHEN: Yaffe thinks TV could be bad just because you're not moving. It's well known that exercise helps the brain. Psychologist Margie Lachman at Brandeis University says that makes sense. But what about all the other things we do where we sit still?
MARGIE LACHMAN: Things like reading, writing, doing computer work, doing puzzles, these have been shown to be beneficial for cognitive functioning.
CHEN: Yaffe's team didn't look at whether people were watching more thought-provoking content or something a little more mind-numbing.
YAFFE: So we couldn't really figure out different types of TV watching and parse out different types of TV that may or may not be more or less cognitively stimulating.
CHEN: In any case, the differences between the 40 and 50-years-old in the study who did and didn't watch a lot of TV is significant but pretty slim. That could change with age.
YAFFE: Would people 30 years later then develop greater differences? Could this then be a risk factor for actually frank dementia? We don't really know that.
CHEN: And Yaffe also doesn't know if lower brain functioning just leads to more TV watching. Still, she thinks maybe we can prevent our brains from slowing down as early as our 20s with some easy things, like turning off the TV and downloading something interesting to listen to on a run. Angus Chen, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, it's one of the most common disorders among children. But doctors are now seeing it more and more in adults - older adults over 50. Here's NPR's Patti Nieghmond.
PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE: Kathy Fields (ph) is 66 years old, a former secretary and mother of two grown children. It was a number of years ago, when she was in her late 50s on a golf vacation with friends, that she started worrying her ability to think just wasn't right.
KATHY FIELDS: I could not focus. I couldn't follow, and it just - when I came home, I remember saying to my husband at that time, something's wrong with me.
NEIGHMOND: Fields worried she was having a stroke or maybe getting dementia. Her physician ruled out any physical problems and suggested she see a doctor to check her mental status. Fields went to psychiatrist David Goodman at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who happens to specialize in ADHD. He asked her a number of critical questions.
FIELDS: It was almost comical as I answered the questions. Can you complete a task? No. I could have four or five projects going at one time, and none of them would be complete.
NEIGHMOND: The more Fields thought about it, the more she realized this was the story of her life - and her mother's, who also never got things done, she says. Her mother was here, there, everywhere. Psychiatrist Goodman says this is typical. ADHD is genetic.
DAVID GOODMAN: Seventy-five percent of the cause of ADHD is genetic. And that translates into a lot of people in families having this disorder.
NEIGHMOND: In fact, if a parent has ADHD he says, there's a 50-50 chance their child will too. And today, that's often how older adults end up getting diagnosed, through the children.
GOODMAN: The child gets diagnosed. The adult parent gets diagnosed. And then the adult parent scratches their head and thinks about their own mother and father and says, well, you know, my mom was kind of always like this. She was scattered. She picked us up late at school. She would miss teacher conferences. She would forget to pack my lunch. And then you get a picture that, gee, grandmom was like this. And that's the genetic link. It came from grandmom to mom and then down to daughter.
NEIGHMOND: Most older ADHD patients were never diagnosed as children, Goodman says. That's because they grew up in the '50s and '60s, when there was little awareness about ADHD. But once diagnosed, he says, medication to help calm and focus the brain works just as well for them as it does for children. Now, for adults of course, the problem is not disruptive behavior or keeping up in school. It's an inability to focus, which can mean inconsistency, being late to meetings or just having problems managing day-to-day tasks.
GOODMAN: They may overpay bills. They pay underpay bills. They may pay bills late. They may forget about bills.
NEIGHMOND: Goodman says adults with ADHD are more likely than others to lose a job and more likely to file for bankruptcy. An ADHD diagnosis, he says, can be a huge relief.
GOODMAN: People will say, well, look, if you've had this your whole life and you're now 65, why bother getting it diagnosed and treated? Well, if you spent your whole life with a disorder for which people said you were lazy and stupid and incompetent, it would be very helpful to be able to sort out the difference between what you have, which is ADHD, versus who you are as a person.
NEIGHMOND: Goodman says people at any age find it liberating to realize their impairments are the result of a treatable disorder and not a character weakness or intellectual inadequacy. That was certainly the case for Kathy Fields, who is now on ADHD medication.
FIELDS: The dots started connecting.
NEIGHMOND: She can focus and get things done. Goodman does have a word of caution when it comes to medication for adults. He says it's important to consider other health problems, like high blood pressure or heart disease and any other medications patients might be on. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
You ever feel like getting away from it all but it just doesn't seem possible? Well, it's possible. We're about to meet a chef who studied in Paris, stared in a high-profile kitchen, got good reviews, but now you'll find Matthew Secich in a rural Amish community. Jennifer Mitchell from Maine Public Radio tells us how he got there.
(BELL RINGING)
MATTHEW SECICH: You all have a good day.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: See you.
JENNIFER MITCHELL, BYLINE: It's not what most Americans will envision when they hear there's a new charcuterie in town run by a former hotshot Chicago chef. The shop is a converted cabin tucked away in a pine forest. You have to drive down a long, snowy track to get there. Inside ropes of andouille, kielbasa and sweet beef bologna hang from hooks above the counter. And instead of the familiar shrink-wrapped Slim Jims, handmade meat sticks fat as cigars sit in a jar by a hand-cranked register.
(BELL RINGING)
SECICH: How you all doing today?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Good, thanks.
MITCHELL: Still, customers are coming into Matthew Secich's shop. Mark Warren has driven in the snow to buy some of the sausages, smoked hams and cheeses.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: So you came all the way down here just for this?
MARK WARREN: I did. A little of everything - it's handmade. You can't get anything any better. Pretty amazing what he can do from scratch.
MITCHELL: And that's exactly the kind of review a diner might have given Secich 10 years ago after forking over $350 for a single meal. Secich studied cuisine at Johnson and Wales University and crossed the pond to learn French techniques. He says Julia Child herself taught him how to make an omelet.
SECICH: From there it was a wild tale of chasing the - I guess you could say the four-star holy grail of the cuisine world, and traveled all over the country working at various great restaurants, working for great chefs to someday be great.
MITCHELL: But he and his family have now chosen to settle in the Maine town of Unity, population 2,000, to open up a deli shop simply called Charcuterie.
It's in a growing Amish community where he and his family have joined the church and embraced all that goes with it. A wood stove in the corner provides the only heat. When the winter light fades in the afternoon, oil lamps will light the shop. Secich has built a pine plank cold room with 79 tons of hand-hewn ice harvested from a local lake to keep his ingredients chilled. And all the meat must be ground by hand. They've also adopted the unfancy dress of the Amish. And Secich is now sporting a beard that falls past his chest. It's a radical departure from the path Secich was on 25 years ago as a military man serving in the Persian Gulf or even 10 years ago, when he brought that military manner into the kitchen as a sous chef at the renowned Charlie Trotter's in Chicago.
SECICH: I thought I was on top of the world. And I had the best job that you could have in working for one of the best restaurants in the world. And being a commander of many, I think we had 35 young people I tortured on a daily basis.
MITCHELL: That's an assessment borne out by his former sous chef, Sean Fowler, now chef-owner of Mandolin in Raleigh, N.C. He describes it as the best of times and the worst of times with an insanely passionate man who was half masochist and half sadist in equal measure. And Secich admits he demanded a perhaps unattainable perfection.
SECICH: I was kind of crazy.
MITCHELL: And Secich wasn't happy. Something was missing. And he says he didn't find it until he adopted a traditionalist Christian faith and started a homestead. Happiness now, he says, is living off-the-grid as an Amish family. Everyone has had to adapt. His kids now take a pony to school instead of the bus. His wife stays home to care for the family. And whether Charcuterie thrives as a business remains to be seen.
SECICH: We probably only have very small sales these days. But I trust that God's going to provide for us exactly what we need to get by.
MITCHELL: And he says whatever happens he won't ever be reaching for the Michelin stars again. For NPR News, I'm Jennifer Mitchell.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now the culture NPR's Carrie Kahn covers is Central America. And in the small country of El Salvador, she's watched people fleeing gang violence, trying to reach the United States. Then recently, El Salvador greeted a group of Cuban migrants also en route to the U.S. Carrie sent us this postcard telling us how these two groups get very different receptions at the U.S. border.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: I posted a political cartoon I saw here this week on my Facebook page. It showed a drawing of a bus full of cheering Cubans heading to the U.S. Next to it was a big rig also heading north. However, it was crammed with Salvadorans tucked under the chassis in hidden wheel wells. This is the U.S.'s current immigration situation. Since the 1960s, any Cuban who arrives on U.S. soil immediately receives political asylum. Central American migrants don't. That's despite a growing number pleading for refuge in the U.S. from the gang violence that has put their countries at the top of the list of world's most dangerous nations. This past week, I met 32-year-old Orlando Priede as he waited on a first-class bus in El Salvador bound for the U.S. The industrial engineer fled communist Cuba last October. Fearful that warmer relations between Cuba and the U.S. would end the generous immigration policy for his countrymen, Priede was following a well-worn trail from Ecuador through Central America and Mexico all the way to the Texas border. Officials wouldn't let us talk in person, so we chatted by cell phone, he in the bus's window seat, me about 100 feet away. We smiled at each other and waved. He told me how grateful he was to soon see his family in the U.S. A few days later here, I met a 19-year-old Salvadoran. He asked me not to give his name for his protection. He was recently deported back to El Salvador from the U.S. He told me how he fled there last spring after receiving two death threats from a gang that ruled his neighborhood with terrifying brutality. After months in a U.S. federal detention facility, a judge ruled his claim not credible and sent him home. He told me the gangs still terrorize his town. And today he's leaving for the U.S. once again. I saw on Facebook a picture of Orlando the Cuban smiling at a restaurant. He had already made it to San Antonio, Texas. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, San Salvador.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Let's try to understand what this moment means in the relationship between the United States and Iran. Over the weekend international monitors gave assurances that Iran had taken the promised steps towards scaling back its nuclear program. International sanctions were quickly lifted from the Iranian government and its major industries. And this means Iran can start selling oil to the West again. And then Iran freed four Americans held in its prisons, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. And the United States released some Iranians held in prison here. We have New York Times reporter Thomas Erdbrink on the line from Tehran. Thomas, good morning and welcome back to the program.
THOMAS ERDBRINK: Thanks for having me.
GREENE: Can you just tell me what the mood is in Tehran? I mean, does this feel like, when you talk to people, a momentous moment?
ERDBRINK: No, surprisingly people know that this is a momentous moment, but they are kind of cynical. And they are cynical because over the past two and a half years, when these negotiations were going on, when the nuclear deal was being verified, they have been made so many promises by their own leaders and also by President Obama that actually their lives would improve after this nuclear deal will be implemented. They have seen many milestones. Sometimes they even went on the streets to, you know, drive around their cars and honk their car horns and wave flags. But there was nothing of that over the weekend when the nuclear deal actually was implemented and those sanctions were lifted. And that is because people feel as if all these promises made first need to materialize. And of course the news of new sanctions - new American sanctions - over its ballistic missile program slapped on Iran by the United States sort of adds to the feeling that the normal ordinary Iranian is just a victim in this entire story.
GREENE: And we should say those new sanctions that the Obama administration announced, as you say, deal with banned missile testing. I mean, still, the lifting of these other sanctions seem like a pretty big deal - opening the Western markets to Iranian oil. But interesting that people just aren't seeing this as a moment. What do they need, do you think, to be convinced that this will actually make a difference in their lives?
ERDBRINK: I think they need to really see that their lives will improve. Their purchasing power has decreased so much over the past 10 to 6 years of several sets of sanctions. A normal average family has trouble, you know, surviving in the way they would like - a normal middle-class family. So when they see that they actually can transfer money to, for instance, their uncle who is living abroad or when they can receive money for the - they start showing out state. They sold somewhere in Europe or even United States as is possible now. I think that will be the moment that they see, hey, this deal is actually working and our lives are changing.
GREENE: So Iranians who have found the United States, for the past number of years they have not been able to transfer money. I mean, they've really been limited in terms of what they can do.
ERDBRINK: Yeah, absolutely. And actually Iranians worldwide have been having trouble sending money inside their country and out of their country. And you can imagine with over 5 million Iranians living abroad, with Iranian businessmen being among the oldest businessmen in the world. I mean, this country was at the heart of the old Silk Route. Iranians are traders. It was completely cut off from the outside world where you literally had to bring money in your - hide it in your backpack in order to bring it into Iran. So this should all be solved. Now, that said, international banks still have to accept Iranian payments and that can of course also be a problem because Iran is still a state sponsor of terrorism according to the United States. And that means that European banks will need to ask for special licenses if they want to deal with Iran. And it also means that American banks aren't allowed at all to deal with Iran. So the picture is not as black and white. It's not as if from today everything is possible. And that's why I think people are taking this latency approach.
GREENE: And, Thomas, just in the few seconds we have left, I mean, President Obama sent this message to young Iranians saying, pursue a new path with the West. I mean, how are young Iranians responding to messages like that from the president?
ERDBRINK: Well, young Iranians - and there's many of them - have heard a lot from President Obama. But at the same time they still see themselves faced with these sanctions. And, again, on Sunday these new sanctions might not directly hurt them, but they are a signal that the issues between United States and Iran are far from over. So they're taking that into account when he says that.
GREENE: All right. We have been speaking to Thomas Erdbrink, a reporter for the New York Times who is on the ground in Tehran, talking to us about how people there are reacting to what seems to be a thaw in relations between the United States and Iran. Thomas, thanks as always for coming on the program.
ERDBRINK: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And when it comes to American politics, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley clashed last night. This time in an NBC News debate in Charleston, S.C. As Mara Liasson reports, the exchanges were sharper and more intense because the race has changed.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: In the first three debates Hillary Clinton practically ignored Bernie Sanders. But she threw that approach out the window last night in an effort to stop his momentum. Sanders is threatening to erase Clinton's lead in key early states, a fact he was happy to point out when asked by the NBC moderators why he's still trailed Clinton by 2 to 1 among African-American voters.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
BERNIE SANDERS: As Sec. Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead in New Hampshire.
LIASSON: And Sanders said he's even beating Donald Trump in some of the hypothetical general election polls.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
SANDERS: To answer your question, when the African-American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda and with our views on the economy and criminal justice, just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African-American community, so will the Latino community.
LIASSON: Not if Hillary Clinton can help it. She was on offense last night tearing into Sanders on health care, taxes and guns. The debate was just a few blocks from the church where a mass shooting last year left nine worshipers dead.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
HILLARY CLINTON: I have made it clear, based on Sen. Sanders' own record, that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous, times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call the Charleston loophole. He voted for immunity from gun makers and sellers, which the NRA said was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years.
LIASSON: Sanders defended himself but never explained why just this week he reversed himself on immunity for gun makers.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
SANDERS: Well, I think Sec. Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA.
LIASSON: The Clinton campaign had tried all week to put Sanders on the defensive for not explaining how he would pay for the single-payer health care plan he wants to put in place of Obamacare. Two hours before the debate last night, Sanders' campaign released some details - new taxes on employers, households and a hike in income taxes. Sanders admitted some middle-class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but...
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
SANDERS: It's one thing to say I'm raising taxes. It's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance and you pay a little bit more in taxes, in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending.
LIASSON: A single-payer-Medicare-for-all plan is still very popular with the Democratic base. But Clinton pointed out that Sanders' plan couldn't get support in a Democratic Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
CLINTON: And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare. And even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work.
LIASSON: For his part, Sanders stuck to his stump speech attacks on billionaires, big banks and the campaign-finance system. He repeatedly called for a political revolution. And with some backup from Martin O'Malley, who also took part in the debate, Sanders portrayed Clinton as part of the system he wants to overthrow. He attacked her for taking $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. Clinton defended herself by invoking Obama, who is very popular with Democrats and nowhere more so than in South Carolina, where the majority of Democratic primary voters are African-American.
(SOUNDBITE OF DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE)
CLINTON: He has criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street. And President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Sen. Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. So I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street.
LIASSON: Democratic voters are attracted to Sanders' passionate calls to change the status quo. But Clinton is hoping they also care about preserving President Obama's legacy and that she is the candidate tough enough and pragmatic enough to do that. This was the Democrats' last debate before voters go to the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. A Sanders victory in both states could change the dynamic of the race in other places where Clinton currently has a big lead, like South Carolina. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Charleston.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Teenagers do it all the time, right? Sneak a taste from your parents' liquor cabinet then add water to fill the bottle back up. Well, you don't expect this at a government liquor store. But a Toronto man reported his Smirnoff vodka bottle contained mostly water. It appears someone brought in a bottle filled with water acting like they were returning it and switched it out for one on the shelf. The response from the store - not all that satisfying. They said this happens all the time. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Iran says it is ready to begin exporting it lot more oil. Western markets are now open to Iran now that international sanctions have been lifted. The country's deputy oil minister said over the weekend that Iran hopes to export as much as 500,000 more barrels of oil each day. Now, this comes at a time when oil prices are falling and oil revenues are plunging around the world. So let's talk about what this means with NPR's Jim Zarroli. Jim, good morning.
JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE: Good morning.
GREENE: So let's start with Iran's oil production. I mean, is this going to - is this going to just explode as they come back online with Western markets open?
ZARROLI: Well, for Iran, it is a huge deal. I mean, Iran has been barred from selling oil in much of the world because of these sanctions tied to its nuclear program. Now, it was still allowed to sell oil in some parts of Asia. But, for the most part, it's been gone from the market. It's really lost a lot of its market share. You saw oil production just fall by a million barrels a day over time. After this weekend, it can go out in the world. And it can basically sell wherever it wants to. And it has the chance to become a major exporter again.
GREENE: Now, of course, I mean, it's been a few years now since Iran has been able to sell to the West. And they're beginning again with a whole different world, right? I mean, since the sanctions were imposed, prices have come down a lot. Does that make it tougher on them to make money off all this?
ZARROLI: That is a big question. I mean, when the sanctions were imposed in 2012, oil was selling for $109 a barrel, and now it's below $30 a barrel. So we're seeing - we're seeing that have an impact everywhere in the oil business. I mean, there are companies pulling back on production, you know, because the price is just too low. You're seeing countries like Saudi Arabia having to cut spending because they're seeing their oil revenues fall. There's been an increase in bankruptcies all over the oil business.
There is just too much supply out there. You know, a lot of the countries that might be in line to buy Iran's oil - countries like India, which is near Iran - aren't sounding all that interested in buying a lot more oil.
GREENE: Well - and, Jim, just technically speaking, I mean, how quickly can Iran start pumping out a lot more oil and getting these exports going again to the West?
ZARROLI: You know, it's not really clear. I mean, Iran has said it wants to limit how much it produces at first so that it doesn't have a really dramatic effect on prices. The fact is that Iran's oil industry really needs a lot of investment to get back online. And they're hoping to lure some of the big Western oil companies back into the country. But it still faces other sanctions.
I mean, the U.S. government still has sanctions that are going to limit the kinds of financial transactions that companies can do with Iran, so that's a problem, and it will slow Iran's return to the markets.
GREENE: And real briefly, Jim, you mentioned that they don't want to go to quickly to have an effect on prices. Has there been an effect on prices with this announcement of sanctions being lifted?
ZARROLI: Yeah, we have seen prices come down. But they have been coming down for a lot of reasons, a lot of that having to do with the slowdown in the global economy. It's kind of hard to separate out the impact of these sanctions being lifted from the other causes. You know, it's certainly true that the markets have been anticipating this for a while. And Iran's return to the markets has already been priced in to some extent, which is not to say this isn't a really big deal. It is. I mean, Iran has the fourth largest proven oil reserves in the world. So that's a big deal.
GREENE: All right. That's NPR's Jim Zarroli, speaking to us from New York. Jim, thanks a lot.
ZARROLI: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's turn now to another big part of our energy sector. Last week was a bad one for the coal industry. First, the country's second-largest coal producer - Arch Coal - declared bankruptcy. Then the Department of the Interior put a pause on new federal coal leases while it considers reforms to the country's coal program. From coal country, Wyoming Public Radio's Stephanie Joyce joins us now to discuss what all of this means. Good morning.
STEPHANIE JOYCE, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: The decision to halt new coal leasing on public lands - you're there in coal country. What impact is that going to have?
JOYCE: Yeah, well, Renee, 40 percent of the nation's coal is mined on federal land - mostly here in Wyoming. But in the short term, this actually doesn't mean that much. The moratorium doesn't affect existing coal leases. And the federal government estimates that companies already have enough coal under lease to supply U.S. demand for at least 20 years. Not to mention that the coal market is terrible right now and most coal mine expansion was already on hold at the request of companies. As you mentioned, at the beginning of last week, the nation's second-largest coal company - Arch Coal - declared bankruptcy. And that was just the latest company to go under. So there hasn't been a lot of interest in new leasing. But more symbolically, the moratorium definitely puts coal country on notice and sends a pretty powerful signal to utilities and to markets that the U.S. is continuing to move away from coal.
MONTAGNE: What has been the response there in coal country?
JOYCE: As you can imagine, people are pretty upset, especially in Wyoming, but also in other cold states like West Virginia and Montana. In Wyoming, the state is very dependent on coal, especially on federal coal. It supplies a quarter of state revenues. School construction here is specifically funded by the money that companies pay for new coal leases. I asked Senator Michael Von Flatern who represents Gillette, a town in the heart of coal country, how he thinks the state government should be preparing for a future in which we maybe aren't mining as much coal. And here's what he said.
MICHAEL VON FLATERN: Well, I think the first thing the state government will have to do if they truly believe this is going to be our future is to consider what the state will look like with 100,000 less people in it.
JOYCE: That's maybe a little dramatic. But if the industry does stop expanding, it will have a big impact locally, and people are scared. You know, until recently, Wyoming has been relatively insulated from the coal industry's downturn, which has mostly affected those higher cost mines in Appalachia. And now that appears to be changing. Let's hear from Travis Deti with the Wyoming Mining Association.
TRAVIS DETI: When the markets look at this and when the utilities look at this, it sends that signal that, hey, that coal's going to stay in the ground. You know, the administration has ravaged the industry back east, too, so this is just our little piece of the pie.
MONTAGNE: Still, this moratorium is not permanent, right? What has to happen for leasing to begin again?
JOYCE: Right. So the moratorium is in effect while the Department of the Interior does a full review of the coal program. According to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, they're going to look at whether companies are paying a fair price for the right to mine that coal. They're going to look at some transparency issues with the program. They're going to look at how coal exports are handled. But, perhaps most critically, for the first time they're going to look at how the coal program fits with the country's climate and public health goals.
MONTAGNE: Stephanie Joyce is a reporter with Inside Energy, a public media collaboration that focuses on America's energy issues.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
On the Greek island of Lesbos, volunteers have been doing whatever they possibly can to help migrants. They hand out food and blankets. Sometimes volunteers will jump into the sea to save asylum-seekers who are drowning. So far, Greek authorities have let these scenes play out. But that might be changing now, as Joanna Kakissis reports.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: There are at least 80 NGOs and thousands of volunteers helping refugees on Lesbos. Some, like Swedish volunteer Asa Swee just show up. I first met her as she and two friends drove on a muddy road in a rented Volkswagen van. They're heading to meet Syrians and Afghans who had just reached the European Union by landing on a Lesbos beach.
ASA SWEE: It's just the deprivation and happiness. And they come and they have - they have literally nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).
KAKISSIS: Volunteers have stepped in to help overwhelmed Greek authorities feed, clothe and even rescue migrants. For months, the Greek police and coast guard let the volunteers to themselves. But now they're requiring registration and asking for IDs. Swee says the mood has changed. She spoke by Skype from Stockholm.
SWEE: Of course, we saw it was noticeably much more volunteers, of course, which means, of course, more people can make more problems.
KAKISSIS: Problems like getting in the way of official rescue operations. But Swee says volunteers like her friend Salam Aldeen of Denmark are careful to tell Greek authorities just what they're doing.
SWEE: And I mean, they have been cooperating with the coast guard from day one.
KAKISSIS: So she was shocked to learn that the coast guard arrested Aldeen and four other volunteers - a fellow Dane and three Spanish lifeguards. They were arrested at sea and accused of directing a migrant boat to Greece, essentially assisting a smuggling operation. Aldeen spoke by phone from Lesbos and says that's not true.
SALAM ALDEEN: The problem is there is no boat. Nobody found a boat. We didn't go to Turkiya, and we didn't even go close to Turkiya side.
KAKISSIS: Aldeen's nonprofit is called Team Humanity. He patrolled Greek waters and communicated with other volunteers via smartphone. He recalls a the port authority officer asking him to help when he told her a boat with migrants was sinking.
ALDEEN: Do whatever you can to save the people's lives. And I told her thank you, took all the women, the children and the guy who didn't have a leg and some other men who were sick and I put them in my boat.
KAKISSIS: And just last week, he was patrolling with professional lifeguards from Seville, Spain. His cellphone rang. He heard shouting in Arabic.
ALDEEN: They were screaming. They were saying help, please. We're sinking, help. We heard babies screaming. We - children, everybody.
KAKISSIS: The people on the boat had no idea where they were. Aldeen speaks Arabic. His father is Iraqi, and he's given out his number to migrants he's met on Lesbos. Perhaps, he says, someone passed it on. Aldeen gave the people on the sinking boat an international emergency number, which brought Turkish coast guard to rescue them. Not long after, he says, his group was arrested by the Greeks. The Greek coast guard declined to comment on the case since it's still pending.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting in foreign language).
KAKISSIS: Volunteers on Lesbos protested this weekend after Aldeen and the other four were jailed. They're free for now, but could still be formally charged. And Aldeen's boat has been seized, but he says he will still help, even if he gets in trouble.
ALDEEN: If I see right now a child in the water is drowning, I don't care about nothing. I will go in and help them.
KAKISSIS: Aldeen says he hopes his arrest won't deter others from volunteering here. And Greece still desperately needs help. More than 23,000 asylum-seekers have arrived here so far - this month. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis in Athens.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Another surprising twist in the case of the missing Hong Kong booksellers. It started when five men involved in selling books critical of Chinese Communist Party leaders began disappearing last fall.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Last night, one of the missing men suddenly appeared in mainland China on government-run television, where he made a videotaped confession to an unrelated crime.
MONTAGNE: Which has only raised more doubts in the former British colony of Hong Kong about the future of free speech there. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Gui Minhai made his living selling politically-sensitive books in Hong Kong, detailing the corruption, power struggles and even the alleged affairs of Communist Party leaders. The court market was mainland tourists, and business was brisk. Then while visiting his apartment in a Thai beach resort last October, Gui simply vanished. Last night, on China Central television, he insisted his three-month disappearance was all his own doing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GUI MINHAI: (Through interpreter) Turning myself in is a voluntary choice of my own and has nothing to do with anybody else.
LANGFITT: Gui said he decided to return to China to make amends after receiving a suspended sentence for killing a woman in a drunk driving accident back in 2003. The terms of the sentence required he not leave the country, according to Chinese state media. In what seemed an attempt to prevent this from becoming an even bigger international story, Gui said he would face the charges on his own.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MINHAI: (Through interpreter) I also don't want any individual or institutions, including the Swedish government, to intervene or interfere. Although I know hold Swedish citizenship, deep down I still think of myself as Chinese. I hope the Swedish authorities would respect my personal choices, my rights and my privacy.
LANGFITT: Gui was also returning to China after more than a decade so he could see his aging mother. The taped confession was tearful, but few people in Hong Kong are buying it.
CLAUDIA MO: The whole thing is so fake.
LANGFITT: Claudia Mo is an opposition, democratic lawmaker in the former British colony.
MO: We find it completely and that Beijing would want to think that Hong Kongers are just a pack of fools, that we're all gullible.
LANGFITT: Mo says people there think Gui was targeted for political reasons along with his fellow missing booksellers and that any past crimes he may have committed are incidental.
MO: If he had felt any remorse all these years, it would have been easier for him to just turn himself in to the mainland in Hong Kong through all kinds of official Chinese channels here. He was abducted.
LANGFITT: Unlike the authoritarian mainland, Hong Kong enjoys a free press and free speech. Many there think that the Chinese government is trying to strip away those rights and reduce the vibrant financial hub into just another mainland city. Maya Wang, who works for Human Rights Watch, says people wonder what the case of the disappearing booksellers means for their own freedoms.
MAYA WANG: What worries people in Hong Kong is not just that this is taking place in Hong Kong, but also that the Hong Kong government seems to be kind of so far rather weak in making a protest or taking actions to protect people in Hong Kong. So who can people in Hong Kong depend on for their personal safety?
LANGFITT: When China took back Hong Kong from Great Britain in 1997, it promised the city it could continue its way of life for 50 years. But many there now are concerned their unique freedoms are eroding much faster. Frank Langfitt, NPR News, Shanghai.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It took barely six months for what's known as Implementation Day to arrive. That's the day the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers went fully into effect.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Over the weekend the U.N. verified that Iran has fulfilled its obligations to limit its nuclear program. And economic sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy are being lifted.
MONTAGNE: Even though all sides insisted there were no other issues linked to that historic agreement, yesterday also brought the release of five Americans who had been held in Iranian prisons. Wendy Sherman was the lead U.S. negotiator in the nuclear talks and until recently was under secretary of state for political affairs. She joined us on the line from Tel Aviv. Welcome back to the program.
WENDY SHERMAN: Always good to be with you, Renee. Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Now, you have told MORNING EDITION - and you were quite emphatic about that - that the U.S. was careful to keep the nuclear negotiations on a separate track from the fate of the imprisoned Americans. And that seems to have happened. And yet this joint release of them and Implementation Day, it does seem like there might have been some sort of overlap. Was there?
SHERMAN: Well, what there was was parallel tracks. Every time I met on the nuclear negotiations, we discussed this humanitarian counselor issue as we called it. And we got to a place where it was clear that there might be a basis for a negotiation and that we really needed separate teams to go to work on some of the nitty-gritty. And so ensued an interagency effort to try to see if we could not get our American citizens home and find out the fate of Robert Levinson who has been missing - and last seen in Kish Island in Iran - for eight years now. The only overlap here is after we got the deal there was obviously some positive feeling that we had accomplished this. And that increased the speed at which the dialogue took place to try to resolve the fate of the American citizens who were in Tehran. So in that way the two were connected. But they were quite parallel tracks because quite frankly we didn't want Iran to say, well, let us keep a few more thousand centrifuges and we'll give you an American. We did not want our people to be leveraged for the Iran nuclear negotiation.
MONTAGNE: But what was possible was some sort of a deal that involved an exchange of prisoners because that's exactly what happened.
SHERMAN: There was indeed an exchange of prisoners. And we were very clear that there was no equity here in the sense that the Americans who were in jail in Iran were there - in our view - completely unjustifiably, unlike some of the Iranians who were in our jails who had in fact violated the trade embargo between the United States and Iran that was put in place after the 1979 revolution and American hostages taken at that time. So these were quite different groups of people. But in the end, the president of the United States I think made a very courageous and right decision that in this one time only we would do such an exchange.
MONTAGNE: In this process, has the U.S. learned anything about Robert Levinson, who is still missing?
SHERMAN: Well, I think we all heard the president say quite clearly that this is an ongoing effort. Iran has agreed to continue to cooperate in the investigation to try to determine the fate of Robert Levinson. There have been all kinds of leads. We have followed up on those leads. And we'll continue to do so. And so we are looking for additional cooperation from Iran in this regard. I think that Christine Levinson and her family have been through a terrible ordeal. And we need to find out where Robert Levinson is and bring him home.
MONTAGNE: Well, Iran has said officially that it will not negotiate with the U.S. on other issues. But in fact there has been a display of what seems like a certain amount of goodwill since the nuclear deal was signed. And I'm thinking of the quick release of U.S. Navy sailors who strayed into Iranian waters and also now this release of these five Americans. Has something changed?
SHERMAN: Yes, I think some things have changed, but not in a terribly profound way, but in an important way in the sense that we now have a channel for diplomatic communication. Sec. Kerry can pick up the phone - and does on a regular basis - to speak with Foreign Minister Zarif with whom he now has a very professional and good relationship. But I think that whether in fact there will be a really profound change in the relationship remains to be seen. There are many things that Iran does that are still very, very problematic. They have filament instability in the Middle East. They have been a state sponsor of terrorism. Their human rights record is terrible. There are a great many problems, and they continue. So we have a very long way to go here yet.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
SHERMAN: Glad to be with you always. Thank you.
MONTAGNE: That's Wendy Sherman. She was the U.S. State Department official who led the negotiating team that developed the nuclear deal with Iran.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Now, let's turn now to the presidential race in this country. On the Democratic side, things seem to be getting tighter. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are pretty much tied in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that will vote in coming weeks. Those two candidates were on the debate stage in South Carolina last night, along with former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Let's talk about the race with Cokie Roberts, who's on the line. Good morning, Cokie.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Good morning, David.
GREENE: And here in the studio with us is Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster from the firm Purple Strategies. Margie, good morning to you.
MARGIE OMERO: Good morning.
GREENE: And just so listeners know your various connections to the campaign, you - Margie, you're a pollster, but your husband also actually works for Bernie Sanders, is that right?
OMERO: Yes. He is one of the Sanders campaign media strategists, but I'm - I'm undecided. I'm neutral, and as a pollster I really look at this through the lens of what do voters think.
GREENE: Interesting conversations over the breakfast table with your husband I take it.
OMERO: (Laughter) Yes, exactly.
GREENE: Well, Cokie, let me just start with you. The debate last night - I mean, it seemed to be a different Hillary Clinton, as we heard from Mara Liasson elsewhere in the program. I mean, she had acted at times like she didn't really have an opponent. She really went after Bernie Sanders last night. What's happening?
ROBERTS: Well, even though in The Wall Street Journal polls she's up by 25 percent nationally over Bernie Sanders, she's, I think, seriously worried about losing both Iowa and New Hampshire, the two early states, where they are running neck and neck, and, in New Hampshire, Sanders is running ahead.
And, you know, Mrs. Clinton knows all too well that strange things can happen in political campaigns. And she thought she had learned her lesson in Iowa last time. So she's doing what the tradition says she was supposed to do, which is be in the state, organizing the locals, show up, talk to voters, but this is an anti-Washington, anti-politician year where lot's unpredictable. And we've certainly seen it on the Republican side. And on the Democratic side, the longtime pollster for The Des Moines Register says that 43 percent of the likely Democratic Iowa caucus-goers say they are socialists.
Now, she has tried to get to the left of Sanders on gun control. We heard a lot about that last night. But she can't get too far to the left of him and still expect to win a general election. So it puts her in a tough place.
GREENE: Now, we should say she was in a tough place in Iowa last time in talking about her losing to Barack Obama in that first caucus...
ROBERTS: Right.
GREENE: ...Which we all remember. Margie Omero, what do you make of the tightening in these two states? You know, there hasn't been some big event. Hillary Clinton's been out there campaigning with her husband and daughter. I mean, what's changing here?
OMERO: Well, I think part of it is just the election getting closer, people paying a little bit closer attention and trying to make up their mind. I don't think - you're right, I don't think there's been a particular event. I think for a lot of voters they're learning about Sanders. Maybe they felt they already - they knew a lot about Clinton, but as election approaches, they're learning a little bit about Sanders. I think what was interesting about this debate, it was a very different tone obviously than the first debate, which was so much more friendly and they're shaking hands and they're smiling at each other. In this debate, I think still the outcome may be the same, which is Clinton shows her mastery of the material. Sanders perhaps has the advantage in the online sentiments and the engagement after the fact. That's what some of the early Twitter and online reports show. So I think that outcome is actually quite similar to what we saw after the first debate.
GREENE: Even though the tone was different.
OMERO: Yeah.
GREENE: Let me ask you about one issue, Cokie Roberts - health care. I mean, Senator Sanders has a plan for this sort of Medicare for all plan that would replace Obamacare. He came out with details on how he plans to pay for it. Does that put some of the doubts to rest about whether it's, you know, a solid policy proposal?
ROBERTS: Well, as Secretary Clinton over and over said last night, we don't want to go back to the drawing board, tear it all up, you know, or repeal Obamacare. So she really went after him on that. But what she - among other things, what she was doing was draping President Obama around her shoulders. And I think that was partly for the audience there in Charleston but also for the African-American voters in particular because President Obama remains very, very popular with them. and that's a place where Sanders is so far not doing well at all is among African-American voters. Sanders, on the other hand, kept talking about Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman in health care without mentioning that neither one of them was able to get health care enacted.
GREENE: Margie Omero, let me finish with you. Senator Sanders, I mean, keeps going back to the influence of Wall Street in American politics. I mean, clearly an issue near and dear to him. Does polling suggest that Americans want to hear that?
OMERO: Polling definitely suggests that people are worried that the American dream is slipping away, that they feel that it's harder and harder to get by, that there's someone always getting a better deal than them and that better deal usually goes to folks at the top. So I think that message does resonate across the board with Democrats and Republicans. What remains to be seen as how that works with primary voters and is he a candidate that folks respond well to.
GREENE: Democratic pollster Margie Omero, thanks a lot.
OMERO: Thank you.
GREENE: And, Cokie Roberts, thanks as always for joining us.
ROBERTS: Talk to you next week.
GREENE: All right. You hear her Monday mornings on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's spend a few minutes with two of our correspondents on opposite ends of the Earth. They've sent us postcards of the small moments that infuse the cultures they cover. In the case of NPR's Philip Reeves, our man in Pakistan, it involves sudden loud noises in the night that woke him up and inspired him to investigate.
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Many Asian cities pullulate with noise around the clock. Islamabad's an exception. This government town is almost as tranquil as the nearby Himalayan mountains. This is the sound of sunset.
(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)
REEVES: Here's the sound of night.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMBIENT NOISE)
REEVES: And then there's this, just before dawn.
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR SPEEDING)
REEVES: Most nights here are like that - most nights - not all. Sometimes this city's soothing soundtrack is rudely interrupted by this.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Shouting in foreign language).
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR SPEEDING)
REEVES: It wakes me up. Who's doing this? What are they doing? How are they getting way with it?
(SOUNDBITE OF CAR SPEEDING)
REEVES: OK. So it's after 1 o'clock in the morning, and I'm going to go out into the streets of Islamabad to see whether I can find these guys who've been interrupting my sleep. So let's see whether we can find who's out there and what they're up to. So what's your name please, sir?
KHAWAR ABBASI: Khawar Abbasi.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Khawar Abbasi.
REEVES: So have you seen these cars racing around here?
ABBASI: (Foreign language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yes, I have seen them.
REEVES: How fast do they go?
ABBASI: (Foreign language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: They go like a bullet.
REEVES: They go like a bullet, do they?
Abbasi's with a friend, another taxi driver called Azizur Rahman (ph).
I want to ask you a question because - tell him we live near here, right, and the noise I hear of, like, (imitating car sound) neeee-ow (ph) - what noise does he hear?
AZIZUR RAHMAN: (Foreign language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: He says, like, (imitating car sound) shring (ph).
REEVES: Shring.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yeah.
RAHMAN: (Imitating car sound) Shing (ph).
REEVES: That night, we scoured the city for several hours - no luck. But we didn't give up.
Good evening, gentlemen.
There are six of them. They're very young men with small Suzuki cars re-engineered to make them sound big.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE REVVING)
REEVES: Their leader, Sheikh Rahim (ph), says these gentlemen are the...
SHEIKH RAHIM: Route 66 crew.
REEVES: Route 66 crew - is that what you call yourselves?
RAHIM: Yeah, we are the Route 66 crew members.
REEVES: And this is here...
RAHIM: This is the crew.
REEVES: All right. I admit it. I didn't actually catch the Route 66 crew racing. We tracked them down on the Internet. But they do it and they're not the only ones. Rahim says Islamabad has four crews of illegal late-night street racers.
RAHIM: The Bulls, The Mob, Street Kings and the Route 66.
REEVES: Why do this? Why ruin my nights?
RAHIM: It's adrenaline.
REEVES: It's adrenaline.
RAHIM: Adrenaline - it gives us a buzz and makes us happy, the inside happiness.
REEVES: Islamabad is a modern, purpose-built capital. It has wide straight roads, ideal for drag racing.
RAHIM: We run the quarter mile from over there to the first bridge. That's the track.
REEVES: And how long is it?
RAHIM: Four hundred meters.
REEVES: The track Rahim's pointing at is a major highway running through the heart of the city. Parliament and the Supreme Court are only 10 minutes away - or two if you drive as fast as the Route 66 crew. In Islamabad, there are police checkpoints and security cameras all over town.
Do the police ever try and stop you?
RAHIM: They do. They even chase us, but we get to, you know, escape.
REEVES: You escape. How do you escape - by just driving very fast?
RAHIM: Yeah, but we've got our hiding spots as well.
REEVES: Have they ever caught you?
RAHIM: My friend Bilal got once.
REEVES: How much do you have to pay in fines?
RAHIM: Around 1,000 rupees.
REEVES: Which is about $10.
RAHIM: Yeah, that's just $10.
REEVES: So it's kind of worth the fun.
RAHIM: Worth it. But the police call our parents as well.
REEVES: And when your parents are called they are...
RAHIM: Then we are grounded.
REEVES: The Bilal he mentions is Mohammad Bilal Akram, a 19-year-old student. He's the crew's fastest driver. Residents do sometimes complain, says Bilal. That won't stop Route 66.
I mean, it's quite dangerous what you're doing. You know, you could get into big trouble.
BILAL AKRAM: It's fun.
REEVES: It's fun.
AKRAM: Yeah.
REEVES: Fun, huh. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to buy ear plugs. Philip Reeves, NPR News, Islamabad.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. OK, therapy animals are out of control. Feathers are flying on the web over a photo of a turkey in the comfort of a wheelchair arriving on board a Delta flight. Another shows the turkey peering through the seats with an arm around it, presumably that of the human who needed a therapy pet. A Delta spokesman told USA Today it is happy to accommodate turkeys, as long as it doesn't affect the health and safety of others on board. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Jason Rezaian is finally headed home. He's the correspondent for The Washington Post who was held in Iran for a year and half while U.S. diplomats, his family and his editors worked to win his release. Rezaian was one of the four Americans released this past weekend from prison in Tehran in a swap for seven Iranians held in U.S. prisons. With us now is Marty Baron. He's an editor of The Washington Post. He's waiting to see at a U.S. military medical facility in Germany. Thanks for joining us.
MARTY BARON: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Well, you were there clearly to reunite with your reporter. What do you know about his health right now?
BARON: Well, our foreign editor Doug Jehl and I had an opportunity to speak with him separately last night. We found him in good spirits, was eager for human contact. He's a very social person. But that has to wait for a medical evaluation, and they started that last night. They're continuing their medical evaluation today, and we hope to have the opportunity to see him soon, perhaps later today. But we don't have any details on his medical condition at this point. And of course, that would be private to himself and his...
MONTAGNE: Right.
BARON: ...Close family members.
MONTAGNE: What about his family? Has he been able to talk to them?
BARON: Well, of course, you know, his mother and his wife were able to come with him after some difficulty at the end there. But they were able to join him on the plane and leave the country, and that was great. And so they were able to obviously talk to each other throughout the plane ride. But they're here at Landstuhl as well. They have not seen him since they arrived here at the medical center. But I would expect they'll be able to see him sometime soon. His brother, who has worked tirelessly on his behalf, Ali Rezaian, has spoken to him on the phone more than once but has not yet had the opportunity to see him in person just yet.
MONTAGNE: So this must be very though exciting because this has been such a long process. I mean, was there any point at which you thought oh, this can't be real?
BARON: Well, this is an awful ordeal. Unfortunately, it seemed all too real. And while we had some glimmers of hope along the way over the course of 545 days, those were few and far between. And the whole process Iran was atrocious and unjust from the very start. And so it was hard to be terribly optimistic. But - though we got word, you know, over the last several days that something might be happening. We got word via our own reporting and through contacts in Iran. And so Doug Jehl and I came here first to Geneva, and then we came to Germany. And, you know, it's just a joyous occasion that he's - that he's here, that he's free, that he's on safe ground and that we'll be able to see him soon.
MONTAGNE: And in terms of him going home - actually going home - when do you expect that to happen?
BARON: Well, we don't know. The process here is typically there's - typically they're in the hospital here for five days and sometimes as long as two weeks. A lot depends on just how - on how well Jason feels, what his condition is, the evaluation by the doctors here and his own wishes, of course, because he's a free individual now. So we'll just have to wait and see. He only arrived last night, so it's really too early to say.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
BARON: Thank you for having me.
MONTAGNE: Marty Baron is the editor of The Washington Post, waiting to greet reporter Jason Rezaian, who's just been released from an Iranian prison after 18 months.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And now to the presidential race. Ted Cruz landed in New Hampshire last night to start a 17-stop bus tour. Now, while he's going strong in the polls in Iowa, the conservative Texas senator faces a tougher fight in New Hampshire, which is known for picking establishment candidates. Here's NPR's Sarah McCammon.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: To kick off his campaign swing in Milford, N.H., Ted Cruz was ready with a salute to a local legend.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: For the record, Tom Brady was framed.
MCCAMMON: That of course is the New England Patriots quarterback who was suspended last year and then had his suspension reversed by a judge over the football scandal known as Deflategate. A day after the Patriots won a big playoff game, Cruz spoke to an excited crowd packed into the Pasta Loft Restaurant.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CRUZ: I'm not willing to pander on much.
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: But on that, Tom Brady was framed. And I have it on good authority that Hillary Clinton was responsible.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAMMON: With that, he launched into his stump speech before a rapt audience, who applauded and cheered, some even shouting amen as Cruz spoke. When it came time for a line criticizing President Obama's response to terrorism, the crowd joined in as Cruz promised that if he's elected...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CRUZ: We'll have a president willing to utter the words radical...
CRUZ AND UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORTERS: (In unison) Islamic terrorism.
MCCAMMON: Cruz is used to these enthusiastic responses in Iowa, where his conservative evangelical supporters are a big force. New Hampshire is known for picking establishment candidates. And yet this year, Donald Trump, the king of the antiestablishment, is way ahead in the polls. Former New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O'Brien, a co-chair for Cruz's campaign, told the crowd they have an important choice to make.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL O'BRIEN: We have to elect someone who is a proven conservative.
UNIDENTIFIED SUPPORTER: Amen.
CRUZ: We have people who are coming before us and saying, you know, despite what I said in the past, I'm a Republican today.
MCCAMMON: A clear jab at Trump, who used to be a registered Democrat. NPR spoke to several New Hampshire voters this weekend who are choosing between Trump and Cruz. And despite Trump's solid lead in the state, many say they're impressed with Cruz too. Nelson Sherman of Nottingham is leaning toward the Texas senator.
NELSON SHERMAN: I think Washington needs somebody like Donald Trump, if he'd just think things through a little more. But I think he's a little too erratic for the way - what we need in the government. Other than that, change like him I think would be good and be refreshing.
MCCAMMON: Sherman also thinks Cruz has the right resume to be president. Political analyst Stu Rothenberg says that's a smart case for the renegade senator to make in New Hampshire, where even a second-place finish would be a major accomplishment for Cruz. Rothenberg says he appeals to Tea Party Republicans who are angry at the establishment.
STUART ROTHENBERG: But he has one thing that Trump doesn't have, and that is credentials.
MCCAMMON: If Cruz can first win Iowa, Rothenberg says that could help him pick off some New Hampshire voters who might be having second thoughts about Trump. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Keene, N.H.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
In what was a big football weekend, four teams are left standing in the NFL. And I'm sure their fans feel so good this morning. Tough morning for those of us whose teams lost. My Pittsburgh Steelers fell to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos last night. Let's talk football with Kevin Blackistone. He's in the studio with us. He's a columnist for The Washington Post and a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. Kevin, good morning.
KEVIN BLACKISTONE: Good to see you. How you doing?
GREENE: Oh, I'm great, great. Didn't sleep as much as I would like (laughter). I mean, god, I mean, watching Peyton Manning pull that off - what a weekend for quarterbacks. I mean, after all the injuries he's been through. I mean, what storyline stood out?
BLACKISTONE: Well, that is the storyline. That's the narrative. You have Brady going up against Manning now after they both...
GREENE: Patriots and Broncos, yeah.
BLACKISTONE: Exactly. And, by the way, Brady holds that matchup 11 wins to 5. And the other side of the ledger you're going to have Cam Newton, Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn, just 26 years old, playing for the possibility of going to his very first Super Bowl against an older Heisman Trophy winner. We understand this is the first time this matchup has happened. And Carson Palmer, who won it back in 2002 at USC.
GREENE: And this is the Carolina/Arizona game that we're going to see in the other conference.
BLACKISTONE: Exactly. So it's all - it's going to be all about quarterbacks heading into next weekend, as well it should because that's the most critical position in professional football.
GREENE: So is this really a moment where, you know, we could see the changing of the guard. You've got Tom Brady. You've got Peyton Manning. I mean, if they pull off and get to the - one of them gets to the Super Bowl and wins...
BLACKISTONE: You know what...
GREENE: ...Versus Cam Newton, the young Carolina Panthers quarterback.
BLACKISTONE: Absolutely. I think that's interesting because you look at Peyton Manning and it seems like he's been around since the electric football days, right? Thirty-nine years old, held together by baling wires, switched to another team, now with the Broncos, doesn't have the arm strength, was injured later in this season, had to sit while a young quarterback behind him held the season together for the Broncos. And yet, Tom Brady is just a year younger, at 38, seems more like he's 28, hasn't lost any of his arm strength, is still as spectacular as ever - Terrific Tom. And he's going for what could be an unprecedented fifth Super Bowl ring. This is the fifth time that he's taken the Patriots - fifth consecutive year he's taken the Patriots to the AFC title game.
GREENE: Let me ask you this, there was a moment in that Steelers/Broncos game - painful as it is - Fitzgerald Toussaint, a young running back...
BLACKISTONE: Right.
GREENE: ...Who because two other running backs were injured...
BLACKISTONE: Sure.
GREENE: ...He's on the big stage, didn't expect to be there, fumbles the ball at a key moment, really giving the Broncos a lot of momentum. If you're a young athlete and you do something like that sort of while a city is all behind you...
BLACKISTONE: Sure.
GREENE: I mean, can that damage you for an entire career or do you come back from that?
BLACKISTONE: You know what, not with the Steelers. They are such a family-oriented team. And I don't use that lightly when you talk about the Rooneys and the way that they run that club. And you saw that locker room yesterday, and you read the comments this morning, that team really rallied around Fitz Toussaint. And they said that he did not cost them that game, though certainly his play turned the tables in that game. I mean, here was a Pittsburgh Steelers team playing with all manner of injuries. They ask him to fill in. He had done an admirable job. He fumbles. The Broncos come from behind on a 64-yard/12-yard play to seize that game. Obviously that turned the momentum. But he'll be remembered I think very highly by Steelers fans.
GREENE: All right, about 10 seconds left - prediction for who's in the Super Bowl and who wins.
BLACKISTONE: I think the Patriots are going to be in the Super Bowl against Cam Newton. And I'm never going to pick against Belichick, Brady, Gronkowski and all those guys.
GREENE: So New England will beat Carolina, that's your prediction.
BLACKISTONE: That's right.
GREENE: After Deflategate and all of that, Tom Brady, another Super Bowl?
BLACKISTONE: After all of that, they're still the best team in professional football.
GREENE: All right. Kevin Blackistone, thanks for coming in as always.
BLACKISTONE: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And for a lot of aspiring college students, the application process is a mystery. Even as they gather up transcripts, test scores, add some final touches on those personal essays, the question remains - exactly what happens after the application goes out into the unknown? From member station WGBH in Boston, Kirk Carapezza pulls back the curtain.
KIRK CARAPEZZA, BYLINE: Behind closed doors, inside a tiny conference room at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., the 13-person admissions committee is about to make some big, life-changing decisions.
ANN MCDERMOTT: OK, any questions before we start? OK, so let's get going. There's 23 files we'll be looking at.
CARAPEZZA: The future of these 23 early-decision candidates will be decided in under an hour. Only a third of those who applied to this small, private Catholic college will get in.
MCDERMOTT: ...Talking about and then we're going to set...
CARAPEZZA: The admissions process at any school can be frustrating. Disappointed applicants complain it's a crapshoot - luck of the draw when it comes to discerning between hundreds of students who all seem to have the grades, teacher recommendations and test scores. But is there a method to the admissions madness? Well, it varies from big state universities to small private colleges. We were given access to one session at Holy Cross. In full disclosure, it's my alma mater.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Nice program, good testing.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Yeah, a lot to like.
MCDERMOTT: You like him?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Yes.
CARAPEZZA: What's most surprising is how quickly the committee reviews the candidates, spending about two minutes on each before deciding whether to accept, hold or deny. To speed things along, the committee uses a lot of jargon, like LBB - that's late blooming boy - and RJ for rejection.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: I think he's just too low.
MCDERMOTT: RJ?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Yup.
CARAPEZZA: While this may sound oversimplified, you should know before this each application gets a close look from two members of the committee and is then condensed into a single one-page profile - like the one for this student, who came off just a little bit arrogant in his essay and interview.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Academically, he has everything. I wonder if a council call might be enlightening.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #4: I mean, honestly, it sounds like maybe he's - could work on it or be cognizant of it. I mean, I don't know. And he's strong academically. I think he's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: I think his classmates will bring him down to reality.
(LAUGHTER)
MCDERMOTT: There is, you know, 13 people in a full committee room and 13 different perspectives, so it can go in any different way.
CARAPEZZA: Ann McDermott is director of admissions at Holy Cross, and she says there's no set formula. It's both an art and a science.
MCDERMOTT: We balance our feeling with some facts.
CARAPEZZA: Yes, she said feelings. Sometimes, the facts - like test scores and grades - just don't tell the whole story. So what tips did we pick up while watching decisions go down? For one thing, aspiring students - demonstrate your interest. Visit campus or observe a class.
MCDERMOTT: Just like a teacher in the class wants a student engaged, we want students to be engaged in the process with us. I think it makes for better discernment about what a good fit is for both them and for us.
CARAPEZZA: Tip number two - don't just phone it in. When it comes to taking time with your application, the biggest red flag is a sloppy, half-baked essay.
MCDERMOTT: ...Or overthinking the topic, so much so that it becomes just awkward and doesn't convey the student as it should.
CARAPEZZA: Tip number three - don't forget this is your college experience, so make sure you're a good fit for the school, and the school is a good fit for you.
MCDERMOTT: I think the students - if they spend a little bit of time thinking about what they liked in high school, what they didn't like, kind of who they are to process what they hope for for the next four years and not just going rushing off and looking at schools.
CARAPEZZA: The committee wraps up their work for the day.
(APPLAUSE)
MCDERMOTT: Good job, guys.
CARAPEZZA: But no rest for the weary - the committee of 13 still has about 7,000 more applicants to consider for just 700 lucky spots. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carapezza in Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The case before the U.S. Supreme Court today could almost be the premise for some TV comedy - something starring Larry David, say. A public employee picked up a political sign at what turned out to be an awkward moment. And now that simple act has become a case with enormous implications. It's a case examining what a government can do when employees are associated with political activity. The court has already said you can't punish people for exercising their right of free speech or association. But what if they were not trying exercise their rights? Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Jeffrey Heffernan was leading a good life in 2005. After 20 years on the Paterson, N.J., police force, he was promoted to detective and given a plum assignment in the police chief's office. Then one day, during the 2006 mayoral election campaign, his mother's yard sign supporting the mayor's opponent was stolen.
JEFFREY HEFFERNAN: So she called me up and said, listen, could you pick me up another sign?
TOTENBERG: Heffernan said he would, and while he was off duty, he went to the challenger's campaign office. There, the police officer was seen holding the sign and chatting with campaign workers.
HEFFERNAN: I got back home, and my phone rang. I was told that I was being demoted, and I was going to go on the walking squad for 12 hours a day.
TOTENBERG: Heffernan says he tried in vain to explain that he was just picking up the sign for his bedridden mother and that he was not active in the campaign - nor could he even vote in Patterson, since he didn't live there.
HEFFERNAN: They said to me that the mayor wants you out of the office, and the mayor calls the shots, and you're out.
TOTENBERG: The police chief later admitted he simply assumed that since Heffernan was seen holding the sign, he was supporting the candidate. For Heffernan, who eventually retired, the demotion was a huge blow. He sued, contending his First Amendment rights were violated, and a jury awarded him a total of $105,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. But because the trial judge later recused himself, that verdict was set aside. On a second go around, the newly assigned judge threw the case out, declaring that since Heffernan was not, in fact, campaigning for the mayor's opponent, he was not exercising his right of free speech and association. Therefore, no constitutional right had been violated. A federal appeals court agreed, and Heffernan appealed to the Supreme Court, where his case will be argued today. Representing him will be lawyer Mark Frost.
MARK FROST: You have the right to be involved or not be involved. That's part of your First Amendment right. And the fact that here, that they were mistaken as to what he was actually doing, doesn't matter.
TOTENBERG: In evaluating retaliation cases, he argues, courts should look at motive, and here the motive was to punish Heffernan's perceived speech. Motive is irrelevant, counters lawyer Tom Goldstein, representing the city of Paterson. He concedes that if Heffernan had, in fact, been supporting the mayor's opponent, his right to do so would have been constitutionally protected. But...
TOM GOLDSTEIN: ...The Constitution always requires that you actually be exercising the right, not that the government's motive was bad. If you aren't exercising your constitutional rights, we haven't violated your constitutional rights.
TOTENBERG: Goldstein contends that Heffernan might have had a legitimate lawsuit under state civil service or civil rights laws, but not under the Constitution. Both sides see the consequences of this case as potentially enormous. Heffernan's lawyer, Mark Frost, says that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the city, government employees at every level will constantly be looking over their shoulders for fear of a mistaken impression.
FROST: Citizens working for government are going to have to think twice before they do something or say something or before they associate with somebody.
TOTENBERG: The federal government - the largest public employer in the country - agrees and has filed a brief supporting Officer Heffernan's position. But lawyer Goldstein, representing the city, counters that a decision supporting Heffernan would lead to thousands of aggrieved public employees suing their bosses based on little more than a suspicion of a bad motive. That, he says, would throw a huge monkey wrench into the ability of supervisors to manage public employees. A decision in the case is expected by summer. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Senator Cruz is thriving in a polarized political environment. He's announced his opposition to many leaders of his own party and also, of course, to President Obama. The president had once believed that he could improve partisan divisions. More than once in recent days he's expressed regret.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I have, as president, obviously done soul searching about what are things I could do differently to help bridge some of those divides.
MONTAGNE: But the president is not, of course, the whole story, as NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: People who've been following Washington for a long time share the president's concern about the growing fault lines in American politics.
TRENT LOTT: It's the worst I've seen in 50 years.
HORSLEY: That's former Republican Senator Trent Lott. Along with former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle, Lott's just published a book about the problem.
LOTT: We're not mad. We're just worried. We think we've reached a crisis point where if we don't change the dynamics in Washington and around the country, we're in real jeopardy.
HORSLEY: There's plenty of finger pointing about the roots of this partisan rancor. Lott complains Obama bears some responsibility. He's not a natural glad hander, and he's made little effort to cultivate members of Congress.
LOTT: He doesn't meet regularly with Democrats, let alone Republicans.
HORSLEY: GOP lawmakers still chafe about the time Obama curtly ended a conversation with Eric Cantor, who was then a Republican House leader. As former White House spokesman Bill Burton recalls, Cantor was trying to revive an argument John McCain made during the 2008 campaign.
BILL BURTON: The president turns to Eric Cantor. And he says, elections have consequences, and, Eric, I won.
HORSLEY: But if Obama did little to build bridges, Republicans put up their own roadblocks. They voted unanimously against the health care law and nearly so against the stimulus, even though both incorporate some Republican ideas. Political analyst Sarah Binder of the Brookings Institution says political parity is part of the problem. Control of the House or Senate has flipped eight times since 1990. And that makes lawmakers in the minority reluctant to cut deals since they can imagine retaking the majority within a couple of years.
SARAH BINDER: Why go for half a loaf when you can hold out for the whole loaf if you gain control of government?
HORSLEY: But the partisan division on display in Washington is not just a product of Beltway gamesmanship. Trent Lott says it also reflects a deepening divide throughout the rest of the country.
LOTT: I can barely talk to my brother-in-law 'cause he's such a left-wing liberal Democrat. We had to swear that at the Thanksgiving dinner table we wouldn't talk politics. And I think that's all over the country. Talk about the center not holding; there ain't no center anymore.
HORSLEY: That's an exaggeration, but the center is shrinking. A massive survey by the Pew Research Center finds fewer Americans in the political middle while more are taking sides on the right and the left. Pew's Michael Dimock says the people at opposite ends of the spectrum are the most politically active. And their increasingly straight-ticket viewpoints almost define separate tribes.
MICHAEL DIMOCK: The more conservative you are on foreign policy, the more likely you are to be conservative on social issues, on economic issues, on role of government. These dimensions, many of which had very little correlation with each other in the past, are getting increasingly aligned.
HORSLEY: Researchers also point to a strong overlap between politics, lifestyle and even choice of neighborhood. So it's becoming less likely that Americans cross paths on a regular basis with people who see the world differently. People who are concerned about this growing polarization suggest a variety of remedies, from lawmakers spending more time together in Washington with their families to mandatory public service for teenagers to encourage civic involvement. Critics agree unless Americans can bridge the political and cultural gulfs dividing them, it's going to be hard to build the consensus needed to tackle any other big problems. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Of course, both news and satire are well within the First Amendment. But still, putting together Univision, the Spanish-language network, and The Onion - that's right, the satirical news site that describes itself as the single most powerful and influential organization in human history is joining Univision. NPR is reporting this morning that the parent company of Univision has acquired controlling ownership of The Onion. NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik joins us now from New York City. Good morning.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: So, David, what's the Onion headline in this? I mean, what's the logic?
FOLKENFLIK: The logic behind this for Univision's standpoint is that it's - you know, it is reliant and very popular among Spanish-speaking Latinos in this country, but that English-speaking Latinos are a growing force in the country and that they are seeking to build an English-language presence, particularly digitally, and to build a more multicultural future. And they'd identified humor as a key way to do this. This comes after Univision launch Fusion a few years ago, which has not been a huge runaway success in ratings but nonetheless has made something of an impact in which they've got a huge digital presence. They last year bought The Root, a leading site for African Americans in politics and culture. And this is another way in which they hope to appeal to a younger, a millennial and a multicultural sensibility. Univision thinks it's got to bet the future on a slightly different definition than in the past.
MONTAGNE: And The Onion - why would it sell itself at this point in time?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, The Onion has had sort of a big pop-culture impact, and yet a bit of a rocky ownership history. It last acknowledged it had been - put itself up for sale back in 2014. There had been wrenching changes after it moved to Chicago. But this may offer some stability. It certainly allows its lead investor, David Schafer, a chance to cash out much or all of his stake. Univision gets about 40 percent in controlling share, as you said. And it may afford it some stability and some runway to figure out the kinds of changes that have affected all those news sites its been satirizing. After all, it's not immune from it. The Onion itself had to go to a digital-only operation not so long ago.
MONTAGNE: Well, just briefly, could this deal possibly kill what makes The Onion special - this big corporation?
FOLKENFLIK: Always a fear when a major conglomerate or major media outfit takes over an niche and strongly-defined publication. My understanding is the folks at Univision are allowing or will be allowing The Onion to stay in Chicago - won't be pulling it down to Miami to fold it into its other properties - and that the hope is more that The Onion will rub off on the Univision holdings - such assets as Fusion, the English-language cable channel and digital properties - more than having Univision dictate how The Onion will operate.
MONTAGNE: All right, well thanks very much.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
MONTAGNE: NPR's David Folkenflik.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
When the day finally arrived and many of the sanctions weighing down Iran's economy were lifted, Iranians might have been expected to celebrate in the streets. Suddenly, the country could sell oil, replenish its fading fleet of airplanes and do business with much of the world. Instead, Iranians offered a collective shrug. Virginia Tech economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, just back after spending a month there, was not surprised.
DJAVAD SALEHI-ISFAHANI: The answer to why they're not more enthusiastic, why the financial markets in Iran actually have not responded - you know, the dollar-rial exchange rate barely moved. The stock exchange, it rose by 4 percent, and it's been in very low numbers for three years now. I think the reason is that the economy is tied in knots, some of it caused by the sanctions. And these knots are not easily removed when the sanctions are removed. A prime example is the banking sector. See, once the sanctions tightened in 2011 and in 2012, Iran's housing boom - rather, housing bubble - came to a quick end. A lot of people who had borrowed money from the banks and had invested it in real estate, they were unable to pay the banks. So banks now hold a lot of what you might call toxic assets. They're very similar, actually, to the problems that the United States and Europe had after the 2008 crash.
MONTAGNE: But what about the drop in oil? I mean, you were talking about toxic assets and the drop in real estate. How much has the fact that the price of oil has dropped - I mean, the average person on the street would know this, right?
SALEHI-ISFAHANI: Yes, they know that. The economy is, as we speak, in its deepest recession since the revolution. Iranians have not known a time as bad as now. Iran anticipates the new budget that was just presented in the Parliament is expecting $20 billion worth of oil revenue. So it's like one-fifth of the oil revenues Iran was getting a few years ago.
MONTAGNE: So what does this mean for - if there's such a thing as an average business or an average family, what does this mean to them?
SALEHI-ISFAHANI: If you are from the upper class, you'll probably be riding in nicer, cleaner airplanes. You will have an easier time moving money around the world, paying for your children's education abroad. For the middle class, lower middle class and poor Iranians, I suspect things are going to take a couple of years to improve. We are talking about 4 million people unemployed. Economic improvement that President Rouhani's promising for, like, next year of 5 percent is not going to make a dent in that unemployment. So I think as far as those people are concerned, they have to wait for the improvements to trickle down the economy so employment begins to improve.
MONTAGNE: There are a few businesses that should be very happy about the lifting of sanctions because it really opens up new markets for them. And those are carpets, caviar...
SALEHI-ISFAHANI: Pistachios.
MONTAGNE: Saffron. Why? Why those businesses?
SALEHI-ISFAHANI: First of all, they can probably penetrate export markets better now, much faster, call people and find distributors abroad and so on. But I think they're waiting for the banking crisis in Iran to blow over, for the banks to be able to lend at lower interest rates, before they can fully take advantage of these businesses abroad. There's one other thing. You know, Iranian carpets, for example, are now facing tough competition from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China. They're - it's not like the old days when they had a monopoly. I go to Iranian carpet stores and have to really work hard to find out if this carpet is not imported from China. It says, made in Iran. But you have to be an expert to be able to tell.
MONTAGNE: That was economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani of Virginia Tech, who is just back from Iran. Thank you very much for joining us.
SALEHI-ISFAHANI: You're very welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In this country, Republican presidential candidates are preparing to survive possible defeats. If you don't win Iowa or New Hampshire, your campaign starts looking troubled, and money can dry up. Because of Donald Trump's strength, many candidates are further down than they'd like - Jeb Bush, for example, who's been conserving money in hopes of going the distance. Ted Cruz is in a strong position, especially in Iowa, but he is also looking ahead. NPR's Sarah McCammon met him on the bus in New Hampshire.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Trump is way ahead here in New Hampshire, while he and Cruz are neck-and-neck in Iowa. So why isn't Cruz spending all of his time there?
TED CRUZ: We don't view any of these one states as a must-win for us. We believe we'll do well in each of the first four states. And 10 days after South Carolina is Super Tuesday. It's the so-called SEC primary. It's states like Georgia and Alabama and Tennessee and Arkansas and Oklahoma and Texas. We've got an amazing team on Super Tuesday. And so we believe we're positioned to do well in the first four states. And we think Super Tuesday is going to be a tremendous day for us.
MCCAMMON: Cruz has the money and organization to go the distance. And he thinks he can win over voters who might be having second thoughts about Trump.
CRUZ: The most important judgment the voters are making is who is best prepared to be commander in chief. Who has the experience? Who has the knowledge? Who has the judgment and understanding, the clarity of vision and the strength and resolve to keep this country safe, to identify our enemy, to defeat our enemy and to keep Americans safe? And I think the American people want a steady hand at the helm. They want someone they know and trust. They don't want to wake up every day wondering if the latest polls might set off the commander in chief into a frenzy of tweets.
MCCAMMON: Just yesterday, Trump tweeted that he thought Cruz was nervous about his own poll numbers. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, North Conway, N.H.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A federal civil rights trial this week examines claims of religious discrimination. Two towns on the border between Arizona and Utah are accused of discriminating against people who are not members of a particular church. It's the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as FLDS. Jude Joffe-Block reports from our member station KJZZ in Phoenix.
JUDE JOFFE-BLOCK, BYLINE: The rural towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are a single community divided by the state border. Fewer than 10,000 people live there. The majority belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a polygamist sect. The Justice Department will be trying to prove the towns act as arms of the church and make it hard for outsiders to live there. One of their witnesses is Colorado City resident Isaac Wyler.
ISAAC WYLER: ...And so it's very difficult if you're non-FLDS, for instance, to get a simple water hook-up that an FLDS member could get in a heartbeat.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Wyler, who's 50, grew up in the FLDS church in a polygamist family. But in the late 1990s, he didn't like the direction the church was going.
WYLER: It seemed like we was headed towards really young marriages, and that really bothered me.
JOFFE-BLOCK: The church kicked Wyler out, but he refused to leave town. He now works for the land trust, which is at odds with the church. He says that's caused the local police - called marshals - to harass him and arrest him for trespassing. As part of the case, the Justice Department will try to prove the town marshals are loyal to their religion, not the law, and allowed illegal church practices, including marriages of underage girls to adult men.
WYLER: The marshals department, the cities - they're all owned by the church. They're all just a part of the church anyway.
JEFF MATURA: The towns don't deny there used to be problems.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Jeff Matura's the attorney defending Colorado City. He says there were issues with the police years ago. But they were resolved, and the problem marshals are long gone. Matura argues there's an ulterior motive behind the government's lawsuit.
MATURA: It really has turned into an effort by the federal government to eradicate a religion - the FLDS church - that it disapproves of.
JOFFE-BLOCK: Over Matura's objections, the Justice Department is expected to present evidence about Warren Jeffs, an FLDS leader who was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting two girls he took as brides. The federal government alleges the marshals helped Jeffs when he was a fugitive, and that Jeffs continues to run the church and the town from his prison cell. To win, the Justice Department must convince the jury more than just a few rogue town officials acted as arms of the church, and there was a pattern of discrimination. Notre Dame Law professor Richard Garnett says this case gets to the core of what the First Amendment is about - preventing government from establishing an official religion.
RICHARD GARNETT: This isn't going to be a matter of, you know, simply, like, how many Christmas carols were sung at the school holiday production. This is going to be much more about intermixing of power.
JOFFE-BLOCK: If the federal government is successful, it will seek monetary damages for victims of discrimination, and town reforms which could include placing some agencies in court receivership. For NPR News, I'm Jude Joffe-Block in Phoenix.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with best wishes to Becca Pizzi, who plans to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. People have done this before. And now, Pizzi wants to be the first American woman to do it. She's already run dozens of marathons across the U.S., so she says she's ready. She'll run in Miami, Madrid, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Chile. She starts with an easy one, 26.2 miles in Antarctica. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Michigan's governor faces calls to resign. That's part of the response to lead contamination in the city of Flint. Governor Rick Snyder himself has called the crisis a disaster, and that is the situation as Snyder prepares to deliver a State of the State address today. Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta covers the governor. He's on the line. Good morning.
RICK PLUTA, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Would you remind us what happened in Flint and which part of it the governor considers a disaster?
PLUTA: Flint is a Michigan community that was placed under what's called emergency management. A state-appointed manager was in charge when the decision was made that Flint was going to stop using water from the city of Detroit system, where it was buying it and it was considered too expensive, and start drawing water from the Flint River at least on an interim basis. And it turned out that the water was very corrosive, so corrosive in fact that General Motors had a car plant nearby and wouldn't use it. And what that did was it caused lead in some water pipes leading into homes to leach into the water. And now we have a lot of kids in Flint who have elevated lead levels, and the fear is all the attendant health problems that go along with it.
INSKEEP: And you're giving us an idea here why it is that people would blame the governor - because the state was in charge of the city, because it faced a fiscal crisis, as some cities in Michigan have, and it was seen as a money-saving measure that the water supply was shifted.
PLUTA: Exactly. The complaint is that it was putting bean counting ahead of the public health, while the city of Flint was, basically, under state control.
INSKEEP: And so what specific criticisms of Snyder's role are there?
PLUTA: Well, there're two. One is the one that it happened in the first place. And then as it turned out, state environmental regulators didn't make sure that the proper protections were in place - that the water was treated properly once they started drawing it from the city of Flint and then denied that there was a problem. And this went on for months and months and months before anyone at the state level acknowledged that it was real. In the meantime, local activists, a pediatrician in Flint and some researchers from out-of-state came in and kept saying, look there's a problem, and finally the state had to acknowledge that it was true.
INSKEEP: This has become part of the presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton framed this as a racial issue because Flint is a majority-black city. What are people saying in Michigan about that element of this?
PLUTA: Well, one of the criticisms of the emergency management law that we were talking about - the one that allows the state to step in and essentially take over a city that is struggling financially. It famously happened in Detroit and wound up with the bankruptcy - is that the communities that are taken over, the cities and the school districts, are almost always primarily minority communities. That's certainly something that people talk about when it comes to this.
INSKEEP: Has Governor Snyder had a good opportunity to defend himself?
PLUTA: Governor Snyder was very late to defend himself. And for the longest time, basically, his administration denied that there was a problem at all, sometimes almost fiercely denied that there was a problem. Now he is starting to acknowledge culpability. Although in an interview with the National Journal, he kind of dumped it on environmental officials saying that they hadn't gotten the change memo - those are his words - when it comes to how public agencies are supposed to operate.
INSKEEP: That's Rick Pluta of Michigan Public Radio. Thanks very much.
PLUTA: A pleasure, Steve.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And in New York this week, a trial begins in the closely watched case of a police officer who's charged with manslaughter. Officer Peter Liang shot and killed an unarmed black man in a dark stairwell. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, a jury in Brooklyn will decide if that was an accident or a crime.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: It was shortly before midnight on November 20, 2014. Officer Peter Liang and his partner were patrolling the dimly lit stairwell of a high-rise public housing project in Brooklyn when Liang's gun went off.
RAE KOSHETZ: It's a police officer's worst nightmare to have your gun go off unintentionally.
ROSE: Rae Koshetz is Liang's attorney. She says Liang had been on the job less than 18 months when a bullet from his gun ricocheted off a wall and struck Akai Gurley several floors below. Gurley was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 28 years old. Koshetz says his death was a tragedy but not a crime.
KOSHETZ: We're not talking about someone pointing a gun at another person and hitting him. We're talking about a round going off, hitting a wall and then ricocheting and hitting this man. It was a really freak accident.
ROSE: But Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson reached a different conclusion. Thompson presented the case to a grand jury, and last February, he announced an indictment against Peter Liang for recklessly causing Gurley's death.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KENNETH THOMPSON: We don't believe that Officer Liang intended to kill Mr. Gurley, but he had his finger on the trigger, and he fired the gun.
ROSE: After the shooting, Thompson says Liang and his partner stood and argued on the stairwell for several minutes instead of administering CPR. According to some reports, Liang called his union rep instead of his superior officers. But, Liang's lawyer, Rae Koshetz, disputes that.
KOSHETZ: He did have a conversation with his partner. But at that point, he didn't realize that Mr. Gurley had been hit.
ROSE: The case has gotten a lot of scrutiny in part because it happened just months after the death of Eric Garner, another unarmed black man in New York. Garner died after being placed in a chokehold by police during an arrest. But, Koshetz says Liang's case should be judged on its own facts.
KOSHETZ: This is not a police brutality case. It's not a police corruption case. It's a terrible tragedy.
ROSE: Some in the Asian-American community say the city is making a scapegoat out of Liang to distract from broader problems with the NYPD. But police reform advocates applauded the indictment, and they continue to push for a conviction.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What do we want?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Justice.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: When do we want it?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Now.
ROSE: Demonstrators gathered two months ago outside the Brooklyn housing project where Gurley was killed to mark the anniversary of his death. Gurley's aunt, Hertencia Petersen, says a conviction would send a clear message to police in New York and across the country.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HERTENCIA PETERSEN: You took an oath to serve and protect the community, not take their lives, OK? And for Peter Liang to go to jail, if that's what it takes for that message to be sent, then so be it.
ROSE: But Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson says don't read too much into the charges.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
THOMPSON: This case has nothing to do with Ferguson or Eric Garner or any other case. This case has to do with an innocent man who lost his life.
ROSE: If he's convicted, Officer Liang could spend up to 15 years in prison. He's also facing a civil lawsuit by Akai Gurley's domestic partner and possible discipline from the NYPD itself. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
A handful of people won a lot of money last week in that monster Powerball, and now they might be thinking of giving some of it to charity. Our David Greene spoke with NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam about the generosity of the wealthy.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that he plans to dedicate the vast majority of his Facebook wealth to philanthropy during his lifetime. Now there are a lot of questions about exactly what that means and how he would distribute the money, but many people applauded that announcement. And then a couple days later, NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam stumbled on some new research looking at the generosity of wealthy people like Zuckerberg, and he's here to talk about it. Hey, Shankar.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, David.
GREENE: So somebody's doing research into generous billionaires. That's interesting.
VEDANTAM: They are, David, and it's based on a clever observation. A lot of the billionaires who've made their name as philanthropists, people like Zuckerberg, are self-made billionaires. An economist in Ukraine recently noticed the same pattern in his own country.
GREENE: Ukraine - what, is there something special about Ukraine?
VEDANTAM: Well, the economist happened to be in Ukraine, but what's interesting is that many people in the former Soviet Union who've gotten rich very, very quickly over the last few years - Tom Coupe noticed that the folks signing up to give away their money have usually been the people who've made it in their own lifetimes. He was curious whether self-made billionaires are more generous in general than billionaires who've inherited their money. He analyzed the charitable donations of billionaires and found that self-made billionaires tend to make larger gifts. He also analyzed the Forbes billionaire list to see whether people had signed something known as the giving pledge, where many of the world's wealthiest people have publicly committed to giving away the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Here's Coupe.
TOM COUPE: When I computed the statistics, I found that self-made billionaires are four times more likely to have signed the giving pledge than billionaires who inherited their money.
GREENE: OK, suggesting there that self-made billionaires - people who've made their own money, not inheriting it - are more generous. I mean, couldn't there be other explanations here?
VEDANTAM: Well, Tom Coupe actually looked for many other explanations. Along with his colleague Claire Monteiro, he looked at the possibility, for example, that the giving pledge was launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, self-made billionaires. And it could be that if self-made billionaires hang out with other self-made billionaires...
GREENE: In a club, so to speak.
VEDANTAM: ...In a club and not with the billionaires who've inherited their money, it could be that these in-network connections might explain the findings. But even after controlling for these factors, Coupe and Monteiro find self-made billionaires tend to give away more of their money than billionaires who've inherited their wealth.
GREENE: OK, well, then if we accept this, Shankar, why is it?
VEDANTAM: Well, one possibility, David, is that self-made billionaires simply have different spending patterns in general. Coupe finds some support for this idea by analyzing the spending patterns of various billionaires. Here he is.
COUPE: Self-made billionaires are more likely to have private jets or expensive art collections or their own yachts. So maybe self-made billionaires just spend more money in general.
GREENE: Oh, so just spending more in general - on philanthropy, but on lots of other stuff for themselves as well.
VEDANTAM: That's right. There's also potentially a more interesting psychological explanation, David. People in general want their children to grow up to be like them. And it could be that self-made people want their children to grow up to be self-reliant. So there might be psychological reasons why self-made billionaires want to give away more of their money to philanthropy.
GREENE: Holding it back from their kids because the message is, you make the money on your own, you'll be a better person, like me.
VEDANTAM: Exactly. Now, it's also possible that self-made people are simply more confident about making money, so they have less trepidation about giving it away and spending it because they know they can always go out and make some more.
GREENE: So an obvious implication here - if you're looking for donations for a cause, I mean, and you're going to rich people, go to self-made billionaires before people who've inherited their money.
VEDANTAM: That's exactly right, David. There's also a policy implication here. If you want to encourage philanthropy, you might want to encourage people to give away their money in the first generation because once they pass on the money to a second generation, it's much less likely to go to philanthropy.
GREENE: All right, that's Shankar Vedantam, who regularly joins us to talk about social science research. He is also the host of a new podcast that explores the unseen patterns of human behavior. It is called HIDDEN BRAIN. Shankar, thanks, as always.
VEDANTAM: Thanks, David.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BILLIONAIRE")
BRUNO MARS: (Singing) ...For when I'm a billionaire.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Australian Open is underway, and it kicked off with a bang. The world's former number one player, Rafael Nadal, was knocked out in the first round by Fernando Verdasco. But even that news is overshadowed by a report by the BBC and Buzzfeed that professional tennis suppressed internal investigations into match rigging for nearly a decade, allowing players flagged in reports to keep playing - among them, some of the top-ranked players in the world. No names have emerged of any players, but the Association of Tennis Professionals denies that it suppressed any evidence of match fixing. Joining us now on the line from London is Paul Scotney. He's the director of Sports Integrity Services, and he's one of the lead investigators that issued an initial report to tennis officials about match fixing back in 2008. Thank you for joining us.
PAUL SCOTNEY: Yeah, good morning. You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: We should say here that tennis officials were the ones, again, that first commissioned you to look into match fixing.
SCOTNEY: Yes, that's right. I mean, at the time I was working for another sport - for horse racing - which we're very much used to dealing with issues around betting because we exist for betting purposes. So the tennis authorities wanted some assistance. And we helped them do it.
MONTAGNE: Well, there was one match in particular in Poland that had caught their attention. What raised red flags on that one?
SCOTNEY: The betting on it was so suspicious. In a tennis match where you have someone ranked five and someone ranked 80-something, you would normally expect the person ranked five to be the favorite in that match. But in this case, that wasn't the issue. The player ranked 80-something was trading as the favorite because of the volume of money for him. So the betting industry at the time thought that suspicious. And then the way the match itself played out, they were further suspicious about it. So it was the betting industry that reported it to the tennis authorities to say that they think there was something corrupt about the match.
MONTAGNE: Once you moved beyond that one match, what else did you find?
SCOTNEY: As we carried out the investigation, we came across - mainly through contact with betting operators - a variety of other matches that were suspicious, and suspicious in the same way as the one we originally investigated.
MONTAGNE: That's the beginning of the story, obviously, which now continues, or has emerged again, these years later.
SCOTNEY: Yes, I mean, again, you know, to be fair to tennis, I don't know what rules they had in the place at the time. But I suspect the rules were not in the same position that ours were in the sport that I was working, where we had very specific rules to deal and sanction players, to get access to telephone records, to get players to come to interviews. It may be that the tennis rules at that time were not fit for purpose because this was before they set up their integrity unit.
MONTAGNE: What do you think would be the next steps for tennis officials?
SCOTNEY: Yeah, I mean, it's - this isn't just an issue for tennis. It's an issue for all sports. The question is, what do sports need to do? They need to work with the betting industry and betting operators because betting across the globe is going to continue. So there needs to be an acceptance. And tennis is one of the three top sports for betting. And those three sports are horse racing, soccer and tennis. So the facts are, it's a bet-on sport and will continue to be a bet-on sport, and authorities need to understand that and work closely with the betting operators because of that.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
SCOTNEY: That's fine. That's all right.
MONTAGNE: That's Paul Scotney, director of Sports Integrity Services, speaking to us from London.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now let's take a moment to remember Glenn Frey, who has died at the age of 67. His music as part of the Eagles has been part of the national soundtrack, if you will, for decades. Here's NPR's Ted Robbins.
(SOUNDBITE OF EAGLES SONG, "TAKE IT EASY")
TED ROBBINS, BYLINE: With those opening chords of their first hit single in 1972, the Eagles announced their arrival. Glenn Frey played guitar, sang lead vocal and cowrote "Take It Easy" with his neighbor, Jackson Browne. Actually, Frey said later he wrote one line, when Browne got stuck - but what a line.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE IT EASY")
EAGLES: (Singing) It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me.
ROBBINS: That laid-back sound helped define '70s Southern California country rock. But Glenn Frey told the AP in 2012 that the music disguised some pretty wild times.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GLENN FREY: Well, when we were young we partied after the shows and before the shows and sometimes during the shows.
ROBBINS: It didn't stop them from turning out seven studio albums with a string of hits.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TEQUILA SUNRISE")
EAGLES: (Singing) It's another tequila sunrise, this old world still looks the same.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DESPERADO")
EAGLES: (Singing) Desperado, why don't you come to your senses? You've been out riding fences.
ROBBINS: Glenn Frey was born in Detroit. He moved to LA and eventually met up with the musicians who became the Eagles, notably Don Henley. The band notoriously fought as much as it partied, including on stage. In 1980, Frey quit and the Eagles broke up. Don Henley said they'd reunite when hell freezes over. Glenn Frey went on to a solo career, with hits like this one.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE HEAT IS ON")
FREY: (Singing) The heat is on.
ROBBINS: Glenn Frey also acted. He was in the movie "Jerry Maguire" and on the TV show "Miami Vice." Then, in 1994, the Eagles did reunite for the "Hell Freezes Over" tour. In 1998, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Glenn Frey told the audience he thought their disagreements were overplayed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FREY: We got along fine. We just disagreed a lot.
(LAUGHTER)
FREY: Tell me one worthwhile relationship that has not had peaks and valleys.
ROBBINS: In a written statement, Don Henley mourned Glenn Frey's loss, saying he was like a brother. On the Eagles website, the band posted the lyrics from "It's Your World Now," a song Glenn Frey wrote on their last album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "IT'S YOUR WORLD NOW")
EAGLES: (Singing) It's your world now. Use well your time. Be part of something good. Leave something good behind.
ROBBINS: Ted Robbins, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG "IT'S YOUR WORLD NOW")
EAGLES: (Singing) I take my bow. That's how it's meant to be. It's your world now. It's your world now. It's your world now.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's run down who's getting out of Iranian prisons and who is not. Iran released five Americans over the weekend. A sixth is still being held, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi. U.S. officials say they will continue trying to obtain his release.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There is also the case of former FBI agent and CIA consultant Robert Levinson, who disappeared in Iran back in 2007. Iran's government says it has no information on his whereabouts, but his family has kept his name in the news. Joining us now is his son, Daniel Levinson. Good morning.
DANIEL LEVINSON: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: What happened, to the best of your understanding, back in 2007?
LEVINSON: Well, my dad traveled to Iran's Kish island, which is a free-trade zone. You don't need a visa to travel there. He was meeting with an American who had fled Iran after 1980, who was actually wanted for murder. And he was meeting with him. My dad was working as a contractor for the CIA at the time. And as far as we can tell that my dad checked out of the hotel. And according to the other man, he was approached by Iranian security forces. So a couple weeks after that, he went missing. The Iranian state-run Press TV reported that he was, quote, "in the hands of Iranian security forces." So we've been focused on that ever since.
INSKEEP: And you received a video of your father, Robert Levinson, five years ago with no information about who made it. What have you learned since then?
LEVINSON: We received that video in late 2010. But we also received pictures of him six months later. We haven't heard anything since. We haven't had any sort of credible information about his whereabouts since then. So that's - that's worrisome for us.
MONTAGNE: And what are you being told by the U.S., given that the government does continue to press for information about his case?
LEVINSON: Well, as of this weekend, we haven't heard much from them. We've tried to get more information. We received one phone call after the news broke of the swap, which came hours after the news had broken. And we found out on TV, just like everybody else. And even in that call, all they said was that they apologized for not letting us know ahead of time. The Iranians had apparently leaked the information before the plan. And they didn't give us any information about what are the next steps. And that's why we're going to be seeking meetings with top-level administration officials in the coming week or so, to find out, what are they doing now? Now that they've gotten everybody out, now that the nuclear deal has happened, what incentive, what urgency do they have to get my dad home? And we're just going to keep pressing his case until we get answers and until we get him home.
MONTAGNE: Well, besides the - besides U.S. officials, have you had any contact with Iran's government?
LEVINSON: Not recently. We will be reaching out to them as well. The - my mom and I traveled to the island December of 2007 and met with officials. But we didn't really get any information that was helpful whatsoever.
MONTAGNE: May I ask, though, is the release of these other - those being held - just briefly, we just have a few seconds here. Does that give you any sense of hope that something will happen with your dad?
LEVINSON: Honestly, I don't see how that makes a difference. It's been a problem for us because we've been hearing the same things for years and years. And it's been almost nine years now. So I don't know how this is going to affect my dad's case. All we can do - hope now is that the single focus is on getting my dad home regarding this - these improved relations between the United States and Iran.
MONTAGNE: All right, well, thank you very much for talking with us.
LEVINSON: Thank you so much for having me.
MONTAGNE: Daniel Levinson is the son of Robert Levinson, who has been missing in Iran for nine years.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's report on the drop in commodity prices. Commodities are basic goods sold at high volumes. One huge commodity is oil. And most of us have seen the result of oil price decline since gas prices have also plunged - good for drivers. But prices of commodities are falling too, and that may tell us something about the broader economy. David Wessel is on the line. He's director of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution and a contributing correspondent to the Wall Street Journal. David, good morning.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Does something seem out of the ordinary here?
WESSEL: Absolutely. Commodity prices rose pretty steadily from the late '90s until the financial crisis in 2008, in part because there was so much demand from China and other really booming emerging markets. Prices turned around five years ago. An index that Bloomberg compiles that tracks all sorts of commodity prices from oil to cotton to cattle is 50 percent lower than it was five years ago. But what's really unusual is the speed of the decline in the past few months. The price of copper has fallen by 25 percent in the last year. And here's just one amazing example. Two years ago, you could buy, if you wanted one, a barrel of high-sulfur North Dakota crude oil for about $48 a barrel - a year ago, $13.50 a barrel. Last week, one firm said it would pay customers 50 cents a barrel to take the stuff away.
INSKEEP: Wow. So I'm just thinking about this - basic economic supply and demand. I'm thinking if the economy around the world is growing, the commodity prices generally ought to go up. So what's it mean that they're dropping so fast?
WESSEL: Well, they always go up and down. When they go up, producers expand supply and overdo it. Then they go down, and then they come to their senses and prices go up again. But the worry now is that there's something more than supply going on - that it's a sign that industrial demand for energy, minerals, other commodities is waning. The global economy may be slowing more than had been anticipated. And that's particularly worrisome because we're at a time when governments have so much debt, they can't do much to fight recession if we get another one. And central banks, like the Federal Reserve, have rates so close to zero that there's not much more they can do.
INSKEEP: You know, I'm wondering how big a role China plays here. This is an economy that not only is in trouble, but that's in transition - that was trying to keep itself out of the Great Recession with massive, massive investments. And that's changing now.
WESSEL: Right. One huge worry in the world economy's that China is so big, when it slows a little bit, everybody else gets affected. So China is making a transition from an industrial to a service economy. That means less demand for commodities. And the pace of growth is slowing there. They just reported the pace of growth in 2015 was the slowest in 25 years. So that reduces demand for stuff from places like Australia and Africa and Canada. So the whole world is feeling that slow-down.
INSKEEP: Given all of this, though, can American consumers at least enjoy the low prices for a while?
WESSEL: Well, I don't know what's going to happen with commodity prices. Sometimes when something falls a lot, it then - the markets change their mind and it goes up. But for now, if you're working in the oil industry or mining or agriculture, things are just bad. But the U.S. as a whole is more of a commodity buyer than a seller, so low prices are a plus, as long as they don't fall so fast and so far that they trigger some big financial problems. Like, we've seen some banks say that they're worried if oil prices keep falling, they're going to have a lot of bad loans.
INSKEEP: A reminder that so much is it interdependent from David Wessel of the Brookings Institution and Wall Street Journal. David, thanks as always.
WESSEL: You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And let's turn from the economy to politics and the challenge for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. To win the Democratic presidential nomination, he'll have to do really well beyond the first votes in Iowa and New Hampshire. On March 1 comes Super Tuesday, when a dozen mostly Southern states will hold presidential primaries and caucuses. And in many of those states, African-Americans are key voters. Sanders spent last night in Birmingham, Ala. celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. From member station WBHM, Gigi Douban reports.
GIGI DOUBAN, BYLINE: Back in 1963, when he was a college student, Bernie Sanders attended the March on Washington. That left an impression on him. And in a way, he sees himself keeping the mission of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. alive.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
BERNIE SANDERS: We must fight to carry out his radical and bold vision for America.
DOUBAN: At a rally in an arena in downtown Birmingham, Sanders said the country must confront what he called institutional racism.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
SANDERS: To create a country which provides economic, social and environmental justice for all.
DOUBAN: At the end of his speech, he spoke out against police brutality, calling for an end to, quote, "militarized police." And if this was meant to appeal to African-American voters in Alabama, there was just one problem. In an audience of thousands, there were relatively few African-Americans there.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: This way unless you want to go on the floor.
DOUBAN: Just before the rally, I caught up with Margaret Kidd of nearby Shelby County. She's 64, and this is her first political rally. She might not have been there if not for the fact that her son is heading the Sanders campaign in Alabama.
MARGARET KIDD: And he is really spreading the news in the African-American community. So we are here to see for ourselves what Bernie Sanders is really all about.
DOUBAN: She says as candidates go, she knows Hillary Clinton better. But that's mostly because of Bill Clinton. Kidd says hardly anyone in her neighborhood or at her church knows about Sanders.
KIDD: Vermont, those cold states up there, we don't know very much about down here in the nice warm South.
DOUBAN: Christina Wilson is a freshman at Alabama State University, a historically black college. She came to the rally on a charter bus with about 30 other students. What does she know about Sanders?
CHRISTINA WILSON: Honestly, I don't know much. That's one of the main reasons why I'm here because I don't know much.
DOUBAN: At least some African-Americans at the rally knew about Sanders. John Roberts, a college student in Birmingham, has been following him for a while. Roberts is pretty sure Sanders' plainspoken style can win support in the African-American community over time. So where were most of the African-Americans?
JOHN ROBERTS: I don't have no idea, but I'm here. (Laughter).
DOUBAN: And for now, that was good enough. For NPR News, I'm Gigi Douban in Birmingham.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SPACE ODDITY")
DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) This is Major Tom to ground control.
MONTAGNE: And the stars do look very different today. Belgian astronomers have honored David Bowie with a constellation. Look up and see it near Mars - seven stars shaped like a lightning bolt - a tribute to the man who brought us "Space Oddity," "Starman" and "Life On Mars." Bowie may now be in the great unknown, but his constellation shines on. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Obama's presidency nears its end, reporter Jane Mayer is thinking of a moment at the beginning. She says a group of people gathered on the weekend of Obama's inauguration in 2009.
JANE MAYER: Out in California at a resort, there were some of the wealthiest conservatives in America who had gotten together to deal with what they regarded as a catastrophe, which was the election of Obama. And they were organized by Charles Koch, who is one of the two brothers known these days as the Koch brothers, who owns Koch Industry, which is the second-largest private company in America.
INSKEEP: Mayer says that in that meeting, multiple billionaires discussed how to use their money to offset the election results. Jane Mayer's book is called "Dark Money: The Hidden History Of The Billionaires Behind The Rise Of The Radical Right." Charles and David Koch are at the center of her story, big Republican donors who are not always fans of Republicans.
MAYER: People think that the Kochs are going to just line up straight behind the Republican Party. It's not so. They have a very distinct and interesting worldview. Charles Koch in particular, much more so than David Koch, is an ideological true believer in some of the most hard-line libertarian philosophy that you can come across in American politics. It's kind of - marks the far right poll, in some ways, of American politics. And he wants the Republican Party to go where he is.
INSKEEP: Critics of the Koch brothers will argue that they are spending lots of money in the political process to create a political and regulatory environment that's good for their business interests, that it's all about making more money for them. Charles Koch, if you were to talk to him, would argue that he's actually just arguing for his beliefs and sometimes even argues for beliefs that would be bad for his business, like saying that subsidies that is companies get are bad. Having investigated him, which do you think it is? What's his motivation?
MAYER: You know, I don't see it as an either/or situation. His feeling is, to put it in a sort of virtuous way that he thinks of it, he's a job creator. He's a creative force in the economy and that the free market is what makes America great. And so he sees this - anything that's good for Koch Industries is really good for America. And so that includes policies that are very controversial, at least in the eyes of liberals.
INSKEEP: How long has he been politically engaged?
MAYER: Charles Koch has been politically engaged since the 1960s. I've got documents in here, including a paper that Charles Koch wrote in 1976, in which he describes how he wants to create a movement to destroy the statist paradigm. And if you take a look at the group that Charles Koch and his brother gather around him, it includes a number of very important people - Supreme Court justices, well-known members of the media on the right, people like Glenn Beck and a number of intellectuals on the right too. And so he's achieved a surprising amount of what he set out to do long ago, when he was just dreaming about it in Wichita, Kan.
INSKEEP: So in describing this 2009 meeting and other meetings, you've given us an idea of where the money comes from. Where does it go?
MAYER: It goes through a network of groups, organizations, mostly nonprofit groups. And it's funny. The libertarians had their own word for it long ago. Some libertarian wag (ph) called it the Kochtopus 'cause it's got so many arms and tentacles. It's very hard to keep up with all the things it does. But it encompasses both charitable groups and more political groups. The charitable groups create position papers. The political groups mobilize voters and advocate for positions. And the even more political groups back candidates. And so the largest of these groups is something called Americans for Prosperity, which is the Kochs' main political advocacy group now. And by now, it's become a rival power center to the Republican Party in size.
INSKEEP: How often do they just contribute to candidates?
MAYER: Well, in more recent years the Kochs have put together something that's called Freedom Partners. You can't see who belongs to it. But it has a wing that gives directly to candidates. They've given tens of millions of dollars over the years to campaigns. And what they've said is, in the coming 2016 election cycle, of the $889 million that they hope their group will raise, they hope to spend about $300 million of that directly on elections.
INSKEEP: So you described this 2009 meeting where the goal was to oppose President Obama's agenda. One can make a case that they blew it. Obama got a lot of his agenda through Congress before it changed hands. And then he got reelected.
MAYER: What people need to understand is the Kochs have been playing a very long game. And it's not just about elections. It started four decades ago with a plan to change how America thinks and votes. So while some elections they win and some elections they lose, what they're aiming at is changing the conversation in the country.
INSKEEP: Is there any way that you think the Kochs are any different - or, for that matter, worse - than more liberal wealthy people who've spent a lot of money on elections over the years - George Soros, Tom Steyer or, for that matter, other conservative figures who've spent a lot of money on elections?
MAYER: You know, I think that the huge donor issue is a bipartisan, or if you want to say it, nonpartisan issue. I think most Americans really don't like the idea that 400 of the richest people in the country are going to pick the next leaders no matter what their point of view is. The story now is the money on the far right. That's where most of it is collected, and it's in the hands of the Koch network because they've built something that, as they tell their own donors, is unique. It's not just campaign money. It's a full-service operation. It's a pipeline that runs from universities and colleges, where they recruit kids. They've got programs now in somewhere between 200 and 300 universities and colleges. It goes from there to state think tanks in every state in America. It's Koch Industries itself, which is a tremendous company with $115 billion of revenues which lobbies members of Congress to push its point of view. And then it's all these dark money organizations. So they all kind of working in concert and create a phenomenal machine.
INSKEEP: The book is called "Dark Money: The Hidden History Of The Billionaires Behind The Rise Of The Radical Right." The author is Jane Mayer. Thanks very much.
MAYER: Thanks so much for having me.
INSKEEP: And Koch Industries is responding to Mayer's book, saying that she is describing, quote, "every action or good deed of the Kochs," as a, quote, "conspiracy."
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
For decades, Alaska has relied on oil to pay its bills. Now that the price of crude has plunged to prices not seen since the early 2000s, Alaska is facing a $3.5 billion deficit - that's two-thirds of the state's budget. As Alaska Public Media's Rachel Waldholz reports, lawmakers gathering in Juneau today face some unpopular choices - like charging Alaskans an income tax.
RACHEL WALDHOLZ, BYLINE: To understand why Alaska has a budget problem, stop by any gas station. In Anchorage, gas sells for $2.30 a gallon. A year and a half ago, people here were shelling out more than $4 a gallon. And that's the problem. Tour guide Lynn Jablonski stopped to fill up her car.
LYNN JABLONSKI: It's a mixed feeling, right? Because it's a great thing when I look at my credit card bill, but it's not so good for the state that oil prices are so low.
WALDHOLZ: As crude price have dropped, the state's state budget has tanked, so America's most oil-dependent state is trying to figure out what to do. Alaska always knew this day would come. When companies struck oil in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, leaders worried how to manage the windfall.
JAY HAMMOND: You've got to remove the money, put it behind a rope where you cannot utilize it for flamboyant expenditure.
WALDHOLZ: That was Jay Hammond, Alaska's governor, speaking in 1980. Hammond helped create the Permanent Fund - call it Alaska's retirement account. Each year, a share of oil money is set aside, and the fund has grown to about $50 billion. And the state isn't allowed to touch it - just the earnings. Hammond saw it as a source of income for when oil ran out. In the last 40 years, those earnings have been used for pretty much just one thing - everyone in the state receives an annual share. Last year's check was more $2,000. If the state wants to use the fund's earnings to cover the deficit, it will reduce that dividend. Back at the gas station, Dave Neibert filled up his tank. He puts his daughter's check each year into a college fund.
DAVE NEIBERT: I'm a long-term Alaskan - been here my whole life. And I've gotten every one of the Permanent Fund checks. So I think they can look elsewhere.
WALDHOLZ: There aren't many places to look. Alaska remains the only state without either an income or a sales tax. Even if it had both, the tax base isn't big enough - only about 740,000 people live here. With oil down, earnings on the state savings are now the single largest source of income. Alaska Governor Bill Walker wants to turn those savings into a kind of endowment to generate a fixed income.
BILL WALKER: It basically puts Alaska on an allowance, and so we stop making our day-to-day decisions in government based upon the price of oil.
WALDHOLZ: The plan wouldn't solve all the budget problems, so Walker has proposed new taxes, including the first income tax since 1980. That's a tall order any time, and this is an election year. The legislature's Republican majority opposes new taxes and wants deep cuts first. Democrats, like State Senator Bill Wielechowski, argue that before the state goes after Alaskans' PFD - or Permanent Fund Dividend - it should demand more of its biggest industry.
BILL WIELECHOWSKI: So I have a hard time going back to my constituents and saying, yeah, I'm sorry, we've got to take your PFD so I can continue giving tax credits to the largest, wealthiest corporations in the history of the world. That's not going to fly in my district.
WALDHOLZ: It's not clear it will fly anywhere. But if it does, the last frontier could find its feet a little less tied to the price at the pump. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Waldholz in Anchorage.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And in his State of the Union address, President Obama made America's opioid epidemic a national priority. Republican presidential hopefuls Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush have talked in personal terms about their own children's drug problems, and it isn't just an issue for families. As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, it's also creating costs and challenges in the workplace.
YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Three decades ago, the treatment Michele Zumwalt received for severe headaches involved a shot of the opioid Demerol. Very quickly, Zumwalt says, she would get headaches if she didn't get her shot. Then she began having seizures, and her doctor considered stopping the medication.
MICHELE ZUMWALT: I didn't know I was addicted, but I just knew that it was like you were going to ask me to live in a world without oxygen. It was that scary.
NOGUCHI: Zumwalt did not cut back. In fact, over two decades, the Sacramento resident got an ever-increasing number of opioid prescriptions, all while working in corporate sales.
ZUMWALT: I could show up at Xerox and put on a presentation, and I was high on Percodan - I mean, fully out of it. I don't know how many I had taken, but so many that I barely remember the presentation. And do you know that people didn't know?
NOGUCHI: Her addiction worsened, eventually forcing her on medical leave. Now sober a dozen years, Zumwalt wrote a book about recovery called "Ruby Shoes." Her story highlights, among other things, the many challenges employers face in dealing with prescription drug abuse. According to one study, prescription opioid abuse alone cost employers more than $25 billion in 2007. Other studies show people with addictions are far more likely to be sick, absent or use workman's comp benefits. Patrick Krill directs a treatment program at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation that targets lawyers and judges, a profession he says has twice the addiction rate of the general population.
PATRICK KRILL: The more of a professional stature you have, the less likely you are going to be forced into recovery and, you know, the longer your addiction is probably going to go on unchecked.
NOGUCHI: He says most patients come because work forces them to, but sometimes the job is also a hindrance. Last month, the advocacy group National Safety Council released a survey showing 4 out of 5 employers in Indiana said they've confronted painkiller abuse in the workplace.
DON TEATER: Many times they're showing up to work late if they can't find their pills because they're starting to have withdrawal symptoms. They know they can't work.
NOGUCHI: That is Don Teater, medical adviser for the council. He went from family physician in Clyde, N.C., to addiction specialist after seeing prescription opioids and heroine rip through his rural community. Three-quarters of his patients have lost their jobs. Some managed to hide prescription drug abuse for years, he says. But it does affect brain function and productivity.
TEATER: You know, they're just not as sharp. They're not thinking as quickly. For people that are working in safety-sensitive positions - you know, driving forklifts or something - their reactions might not be quite as fast.
NOGUCHI: One of the biggest problems, Teater says, is that many employers aren't even testing for prescription opioids.
TEATER: You know, I'll be talking to 50 or 60 HR people, and I'll say, how many of you test for oxycodone? And, you know, a third of the hands will go up, maybe. And, you know, oftentimes I'll say, how many of you don't even know what you're testing for? And a number of hands will go up.
NOGUCHI: According to Quest Diagnostics, only 13 percent of the roughly six-and-a-half million workplace drug tests screen for prescription painkillers. Even federal government workers in public safety positions who are required to undergo periodic drug testing are not currently tested for prescription opioids. Ron Flegel is director of workplace programs for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
RON FLEGEL: Within federal agencies we don't test, so we can't see exactly what the positivity rate would be in prescription drugs. But we know from the private employers the percentage is quite high as far as people that are testing positive.
NOGUCHI: Flegel says, in coming months, new rules will include prescription painkillers in federal drug testing. Meanwhile, tables have turned for Michele Zumwalt, the recovering addict. She now helps manage her husband's construction firm.
ZUMWALT: Through the years we've seen, you know, lots of people with addiction. We can almost recognize it in the workplace now, you know, as employers.
NOGUCHI: They urge them to get into rehab, she says, and hope they turn around. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Spend some time around elementary-school-aged kids, and you will hear these two things. First, someone will say, I really want a hoverboard - you know, those things that are like scooters but without a handle. You just kind of hover above the ground. Second, you will hear this - I want a hoverboard as soon as they stop catching fire. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says it's been investigating dozens of reports of fires associated with hoverboards, fires likely caused by problems with lithium batteries. NPR's Joe Palca has been exploring new inventions as part of his series, Joe's Big Idea. And today, he has the story of a chemical engineer who invented a way to prevent lithium battery fires.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: Lithium batteries are popular because they're lightweight and can store a lot of energy. They're used in everything from computers to jet aircraft. But lithium can be nasty. Get it hot enough, and it'll catch fire. Now, under normal operating conditions, lithium batteries are perfectly safe. But if they overheat, if, say, the battery is overcharged or develops a short circuit, then watch out.
ZHENAN BAO: The problem we're trying to solve is to come up with a very simple solution that can prevent the catastrophic failure of battery before such accident will happen.
PALCA: That's Zhenan Bao. She's a chemical engineer at Stanford University. Bao's simple solution involves a thin plastic sheet.
BAO: Looks just like a normal plastic bag, but it's black in color. And we insert this sheet of plastic inside the battery on top of the electrode.
PALCA: Batteries are essentially a sandwich - two electrodes with a substance called an electrolyte sandwiched in between. Bao's thin plastic sheet goes between the electrodes and they electrolyte, like a slice of cheese on a sandwich. There are carbon-coated nanoparticles of nickel embedded in Bao's plastic sheet. These allow the plastic to conduct electricity so the battery can operate normally. But the plastic has a remarkable property - it expands when it heats up. And when it expands, the carbon-coated nickel nanoparticles in the plastic sheet are pulled apart, and they can no longer conduct electricity. So if the battery starts to overheat...
BAO: ...The plastic will sense the temperature rise and basically stops the battery from operating.
PALCA: And when the battery stops operating, it cools down all by itself. Bao describes her research in the journal Nature Energy. Bao says others have tried similar approaches, but she says the plastic she and her colleagues have developed reacts more quickly than other plastics, making it that much safer. Joe Palca, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Four years ago, the Iowa caucuses were very, very good to former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICK SANTORUM: Game on.
(CHEERING)
INSKEEP: Things are very different this time for the 2012 caucus victor. He is struggling for attention in a crowded field - struggling but not ready to quit. NPR's Scott Detrow reports.
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: With poll numbers low and consistent relegation to undercard debates, the 2012 Republican runner-up often finds himself justifying his campaign's continued existence.
SANTORUM: People say, why are you still doing this? And I remind people I was in the low single digits, you know, four years ago at this time three weeks out.
DETROW: And Santorum has to be thinking that he has a lot of the qualities Republicans are looking for this year. They're angry, and often so is he, even when he's talking to a small town hall of a couple dozen people in Des Moines.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANTORUM: You know why Donald Trump is connecting? Because people are sick and tired of being lied to. They're sick and tired of political correctness.
DETROW: In fact, when he talks about the Middle East, it's not an exaggeration to call Santorum's talk apocalyptic.
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SANTORUM: Both ISIS and Iran are fundamentalist Muslims who believe that soon, the Mahdi, their savior, is coming back at the end of times for the purpose of leading the final conquest of the West.
DETROW: Santorum has been focused on terrorism and Iran policy for decades. And that's what the race is all about right now. But so far, that 2012 success hasn't translated to this race. But he's right. He didn't really gain momentum last time until the final days.
ANNE SELZER: I remember kind of stopping dead in my tracks going, oh, Rick Santorum is in double digits.
DETROW: Ann Selzer conducts the Iowa poll for The Des Moines Register. She says last-minute surges or collapses aren't uncommon in Iowa. But Santorum's 2012 rise still took everyone by surprise. The paper had already mocked up its headline when she brought the final poll numbers in a couple days before the caucuses.
SELZER: And when we came in and said, you need to add Santorum to the picture, their jaws just dropped open.
DETROW: Santorum prevailed by earning support from evangelical voters, a powerful block in the caucuses. But this time around, those people appear to be looking elsewhere. Among people who caucused for Santorum in 2012, Selzer says...
SELZER: They are more likely to say that they are supporting Ted Cruz than any other candidate by 4 to 1.
DETROW: Cruz has many of the same characteristics as Santorum. He's a hawkish sometimes-bomb-thrower who plays well with evangelicals.
SANTORUM: Look, I understand this is a very, very, very, very, very different environment than four years ago. And people say, well, that's not going to work this time. Well, we'll wait and see.
DETROW: The former senator still has his backers. Des Moines lawyer Bill Brown says he's wary of the relative inexperience of the candidates on top of the Iowa polls.
BILL BROWN: We need somebody that really can deal with what they're dealt with in the Congress and work their way through it.
DETROW: Buoyed by people like Brown, Santorum is determined to keep plugging in Iowa, doing town hall after town hall, even if only a handful of voters show up.
SANTORUM: And hopefully, you know, impressing people enough so they'll go out and say, hey, you know, now I know why I voted for that guy last time around.
DETROW: He's got two weeks to make that case. But Santorum knows from experience that can be enough time to turn things around. Scott Detrow, NPR News, Des Moines, Iowa.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to commentator Frank Deford, who has some thoughts on NFL teams and change.
FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: Dear people of St. Louis, I want you to be good sports. Yes, you lost an NFL franchise. But that's just the way it is in America. Owners own teams so that they might move them to another municipality with better luxury boxes. So get over it. Even New York, premiere city of the world, has lost teams - so too ditzy, glamorous LA, Chicago. Hey, it was St. Louis that took the football Cardinals from Chicago before Phoenix took the Cardinals from St. Louis so that St. Louis could take the Rams from Los Angeles and so on. You want to know something really bizarre? What large American city has suffered the most in the last last few decades? All together now, Detroit - no argument - yet, the Motor City is the only old-line metropolis never to have lost one of its teams to another city in any of the four big-time sports. The Tigers, Lions, Red Wings and Pistons are there today as sure as they were back when what was good for General Motors was good for the country. Would you rather have a basketball team, or would you rather be Detroit?
See, losing or gaining a franchise really doesn't have a thing to do substantively with your city. It only has to do with an owner trying to make more money for his own self. Yeah, veritable legions of owners have found more welcoming metropolitan venues since I first started doing these essays in 1980, shortly after MORNING EDITION first intruded upon the morning. Not long thereafter, I swore off regularly railing about greedy owners and poor, put-upon cities. You can only occasionally draw water from that same old well. Alas, as universal as sport is, it's pretty finite. I do get very envious of my general news colleagues who are always being handed sexy new stuff, like global warming, China and Donald Trump while my sports colleagues and I must be eternally satisfied with the same old home-court advantage, soccer and momentum.
Notwithstanding, as someone who has by now delivered more than 1,600 of these weekly commentaries - which must be some sort of arcane broadcast record - I hope that in these 35 years I've introduced some greater understanding and appreciation about an institution that is often derided as merely vulgar. I do honestly believe that in the 21st century, sport is the most significant cultural element in this imperfect world of ours. It calls for serious attention. No, sport is surely not the purest human expression, nor that which will leave the deepest mark. But sport is an art. It has incredible appeal everywhere on this earth. And it fills so many human breasts with passion that it's impossible to dismiss it as simply the familiar junior partner of bread. Sport is more a devotion than a circus. Others may well disagree with opinions such as that, so NPR will now fairly enough allow other diverse voices to also rise above the roar of the arena. And henceforth, rather than every week, my venerable opinions will be confined only to the first Wednesday of every month. Who knows? Maybe the longer time between my orations might possibly produce more wisdom. And so with my apologies to Detroit, I now button my lip and take my leave 'til February 3.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's look now at something that's supposed to protect immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally but who also want to help police by reporting crimes. Congress created the U visa so they don't have to fear deportation if they come forward. It offers legal status to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes if those victims help in the investigation. But as NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports, getting the visa is not easy.
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Who gets a U visa is decided at the federal level by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But if you want to apply for one, you often have to start locally at the police department.
(SOUNDBITE OF PUBLIC HEARING)
C.J. WANG: Hi, thank you. Thank you for holding this public hearing.
LO WANG: Immigration attorneys like C.J. Wang recently gave testimony to officials at New York City's police department. That's because police can play an important part in the U visa process. A law enforcement officer or a government official must sign a form as part of the application, certifying that an immigrant suffered from a serious crime and was helpful with the investigation.
WANG: All certification is is attesting to the fact that the victim has cooperated.
LO WANG: Wang says the NYPD has been slow to certify applications. And for immigrant advocates like her, that means...
WANG: A lot of paper chasing, a lot of even going to headquarters to just find out who deals with this.
LO WANG: Zoey Jones is an immigration attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services. She says the wait for certification can sometimes last more than a year.
ZOEY JONES: The delay can result in somebody's deportation. It can result in a delay in somebody getting work authorization and not being able to support their family.
LO WANG: The NYPD declined to be interviewed, but some immigrant advocates outside of New York are now looking at the NYPD as a test case. That's because it recently proposed a rule with new deadlines to streamline the U visa process.
DEBORAH WEISSMAN: It could very well be a model for other law enforcement agencies.
LO WANG: That was Deborah Weissman, a professor at the University of North Carolina's law school. She's conducted a nationwide survey of U visa policies.
WEISSMAN: What we see is a real mishmash of policies, so much so that it seems that this federal statute has no uniform application whatsoever.
LO WANG: Weissman says some police departments refuse to sign off on any U visa applications.
WEISSMAN: They seem to think that if they certify, they are granting an undocumented immigrant legal status in the United States. And that is just not true.
LO WANG: Only federal immigration officials can grant a U visa after a background check. Still, other police departments may be reluctant to certify applications because of politics, according to Jim Pasco, the executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police.
JIM PASCO: Police chiefs, after all, are not free agents. They work for mayors or a city manager or city councils. And they are going to reflect the judgment of that executive who employs them.
LO WANG: In California, a new state law now requires police and government officials, like prosecutors and judges, to certify U visa applications for eligible immigrants. And in Arizona, the Phoenix Police Department is working on plans to allow immigrants to ask for certifications online, says Lieutenant Ed DeCastro.
ED DECASTRO: If they're willing to assist us to catch a murderer or an armed robber or a home invader, then they deserve the benefit of the doubt that they will ultimately be a good citizen.
LO WANG: Though it's one thing to be a good Samaritan who applies for a U visa, and it's another to actually get one. Right now, there's a backlog of almost 64,000 applications, but only 10,000 can be approved a year. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News, New York.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a news story that commands the attention of parent, and especially expectant parents - news of a mosquito-borne virus linked to brain defects in infants. It's called Zika. U.S. officials have warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to places where the virus is present, and that includes Brazil, the country we visit next. Brazilians are wrestling with the virus just as they'd rather focus on next month's Carnival or this summer's Olympics. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports from the northern Brazilian city of Natal.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Arthur is continually fretful. His mother, Marilia Lima, says he's been hard to soothe ever since he was born two-and-a-half months ago with microcephaly.
MARILIA LIMA: (Through interpreter) We are living with this terrible thing. It's still something that doesn't feel real to me yet. But I'm at the point where I can't think. I just have to act.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: She's a civil servant who's a sociologist and a lawyer. Arthur is her second son, and she cradles his tiny body against her chest as we talk. He has a markedly small head, almost like it was placed in a vise at the top, which is typical of the condition. He also has problems with his eyes, his hip and the bones in his legs and arms.
LIMA: (Through interpreter) I've had to walk this road alone - chase down one doctor who refers me to another. The doctors don't understand much about situation either because it's all very new.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Lima caught Zika in the early stages of her pregnancy, which her doctors now believe caused the microcephaly in Arthur. She says, ever since Arthur was born, she's been fighting to get him the help that he needs
LIMA: (Through interpreter) We have had no follow-up from the government and bad service at the hospitals. We know that there is a ticking clock with these babies. They need certain stimuli at certain points in their lives if they're going to survive.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Brazil is now funding research into a vaccine for Zika. It sent the army into certain cities to help eradicate the mosquito that carries the virus. But Lima says the more than 3,500 babies who were born with microcephaly here in Brazil have been forgotten.
LIMA: (Through interpreter) It is as if they see us as a lost cause. The government's attitude seems to be, they have been contaminated, so let's focus on the ones that haven't been yet. It's just devastating.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: She says, when she falls asleep, she wonders if she will wake up to find Arthur dead. Most children born with this condition have limited life expectancies. As we're talking, she starts to cry.
LIMA: (Through interpreter) This has changed my life completely. I also now understand and have experienced firsthand the government's negligence. I wish I could help all those other mothers out there who have been abandoned.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Januario Cicco Maternity Hospital in Natal is where all of the cases of Zika-related microcephaly are being dealt with in Natal. Dr. Nivea Arraes is a neonatal pediatrician here, and she currently has 17 infants with microcephaly under her direct care. She says we are seeing a huge demand, but we have to deal with microcephalic children as well as all the other high-risk cases. The health services need to be reorganized to deal with it. She says they need more geneticists, physical therapists, specialized pediatricians. The list goes on.
NIVEA ARRAES: (Speaking Portuguese).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: "The families come here very anxious for help and for answers," she says. "To have to tell these mothers that they have to do it all themselves because we don't have the capacity to help them is so sad. We have few answers for them," she says. We took these concerns to the state health secretary of Rio Grande do Norte, where Natal is. Dr. Ricardo Lagreca, the state health secretary, seemed surprised that the health system was overwhelmed in his state.
RICARDO LAGRECA: (Speaking Portuguese).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He tells me, if the mothers and their microcephalic infants go to their local government health clinic, they will get the help they need from the health network, he asserts. When pressed, he says this is all very new for us. And he says, so far, there have been no extra funds disbursed for dealing with the microcephalic infants. He says he hopes that that will change soon. Back at the apartment, mother Marilia Lima says she will continue to fight for her son Arthur.
LIMA: (Through interpreter) I never saw myself as strong, but I have no choice now. I will keep going.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's all I can do, she says - keep moving forward. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Natal.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Yesterday was an important holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church. It was the epiphany, which celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan. Russian believers mark this event by re-enacting the baptism in ponds and rivers. Now you may note that Russia is a little bit north of the Jordan. As NPR's Corey Flintoff discovered, that means plunging into freezing water through holes cut in the ice.
COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: Big cities like Moscow often set up elaborate stations where people can take the plunge, but this is Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia. The church sits on a busy road in an industrial zone.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking Russian).
FLINTOFF: It's a former restaurant below concrete building that doesn't look much different from the auto shops and tire dealers that line the road. It does have a small gold onion dome that perches on the roof like a party hat.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHURCH CONGREGATION: (Singing in Russian).
FLINTOFF: Inside, though, it's already packed with people, bowing and crossing themselves before the icons. In contrast to many churches in Russia, there are lots of young adults here together with their kids. People move about, lighting candles or placing 5-liter plastic water jugs near the altar where the water will be blessed. The service starts at 9 p.m. and lasts nearly four hours. Around midnight, people who plan to take the plunge start to gather on the icy slope above the pond. It's a few degrees above freezing, so the ground is a slurry of ice and mud. Most people wear their swimsuits under their clothes, swinging their towels and underwear in plastic bags. Twenty-nine-year-old Artur Guzanov says this is his fifth year taking the plunge and his second time at this church.
ARTUR GUZANOV: (Speaking Russian).
FLINTOFF: "Epiphany is purification," he says. "My soul is cleansed, and I'm charged with a good mood for the whole year ahead." The place where people will take the plunge is a small wooden platform over the ice with a hole cut in the shape of a cross that opens into the freezing waters below. At 1 o'clock in the morning, the service ends with a peal of bells, well, not bells exactly but lengths of steel tubing hanging from a frame.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS)
FLINTOFF: The priest and his deacons make their way down the slope, carrying the candles in gilded banners from the church.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Singing in Russian).
FLINTOFF: The priest, Father Vladimir, is the first to take the plunge.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
FLINTOFF: He ducks under the icy waters three times, crossing himself each time he rises. A couple hundred parishioners follow, giving themselves to the power of the ritual and the shock of the water. How does it feel, I asked one man. Good, he said, absolutely good. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have an update now on the story of a city in a war zone, a city in Syria where people have been starving. Many thousands more are desperate.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The city is Madaya. It's one of several besieged communities where civilians were cut off from supplies. Aid trucks were finally allowed to roll in the last week.
INSKEEP: So we've been asking what, if anything, has improved. We called Elizabeth Hoff of the World Health Organization, and she began with the city as she saw it last week.
ELIZABETH HOFF: It was dark in Madaya. There was no electricity. And it was raining, so it was difficult. There was a whole crowd on the marketplace. They all were complaining about the lack of food. And they said that they hadn't eaten for several days. What we also observed were boys running after one of the lorries after they had emptied the bags - the food bags. And they were trying to lick their fingers and take the small grains of rice and corn that was left on the back part of the lorry after they had removed the bags.
INSKEEP: So signs of real desperation there a week ago. What improvements, if any, have you seen reported in the last week?
HOFF: What I have seen is that the people have received the food. But also, what we have seen in the clinic has been also signs of what they call re-feeding syndrome. These people threw themselves over the food, and they hadn't for a long time, so they got cramps in the stomach at the best, but also some of them got sick.
INSKEEP: Listening to you, I'm reminded that when you're starving and you get an opportunity to eat again, if you don't do it the right way, you can actually kill yourself, can't you?
HOFF: That's true. And we made sure that we were actually distributing leaflets in Arabic to inform people of this. But, you know, in this kind of situation, if you are tired like this, you don't have the energy even to read. You just throw yourself over the food. So this is always a risk.
INSKEEP: Have you considered taking the opportunity to get some or all of the civilians out?
HOFF: Well, this is not in WHO's hands. What we have done is issued a press release, and we have discussed with the authorities in Syria and the different parties to say that the only sustained way forward to making sure that there is continued access is to lift the siege.
INSKEEP: How does the situation in Madaya compare with other parts of Syria?
HOFF: We know that 450,000 people live in a besieged area. And we have 15 areas they are classified as besieged. And I'm also, at the moment, very much concerned about the Deir Ezzor city, in which there are almost 200,000 people, and they are besieged by ISIL. We haven't been in there for a couple of years. And we don't really know the situation, except from a starting point Deir Ezzor was much more deprived than Madaya. But we are seriously alarmed by the situation in all the besieged areas.
INSKEEP: You just described a city that you said has been cut off by ISIS for a couple of years. And while you may have heard rumors and so forth, you really don't know what's going on in there.
HOFF: No, we have contact with medical doctors who are there. And they are actually reporting to us that the situation is serious. There have been a couple of airdrops of food and medicine to the city. But unless you go in and observe the situation - like, what I saw in Madaya was really, very, very heartbreaking. So I don't want to say this is better, this is worse. What we are appealing for is lifting the siege in all these areas.
INSKEEP: Elizabeth Hoff of the World Health Organization in Damascus, thanks very much.
HOFF: Thank you.
INSKEEP: She's coordinating aid efforts in Syria.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're also tracking this story. Pamela Anderson is in France. The actress-turned-activist is targeting an iconic French food, foie gras, the fattened livers of geese and ducks. She says it's made using cruel methods. Here's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Pamela Anderson showed up at the French Parliament Tuesday to speak out for animal rights. She said she was following the example of Brigitte Bardot, who inspired her as a young girl by condemning the slaughter by clubbing of baby seals.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PAMELA ANDERSON: In many national cultures, there seems to be at least one cruel tradition that stands out as identifying that culture, be it the bullfight in Spain, the slaughter of dolphins and whales by Japan or the bloody and obscene massacre of seals in my own native Canada.
BEARDSLEY: In France, said Anderson, it's the making of foie gras. She described how 80 million ducks and geese live out their final weeks in caged anguish as they are force-fed through metal tubes shoved down their throats to fatten their livers. French Congresswoman Laurence Abeille is pushing a bill to ban force-feeding. She says a recent poll shows 70 percent of the French now oppose the practice.
LAURENCE ABEILLE: A lot of young people are vegetarians. A lot of young people want to have a different relationship with the living world, which is not only men and women. It's also animals. And it's a new conception, I think, that is gaining.
BEARDSLEY: Abeille admits it will be an uphill battle, but she wants the debate to start. It did. Foie gras producers and the powerful hunting and fishing lobby lashed out immediately at what they called a phony publicity assault on a wholesome tradition. France produces 22,000 tons of foie gras a year and exports around the world. So far, 20 countries and the state of California have banned the making of foie gras, but it doesn't look as if France will be joining them anytime soon.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: Around the corner from the Parliament, two friends enjoy a meal at a cozy bistro. The young women say even though they're against what they've heard is a cruel practice, they're not going to give up their foie gras.
GARANCE JOURNOT: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: "It's too much a part of French culinary tradition," says Garance Journot. "And when we eat it, we don't even ask ourselves the question." Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. North Korean scientists come up with amazing breakthroughs. Last year, it was a vaccine that could cure AIDS, drug addiction and Ebola. This year, they've outdone themselves with a hangover-free alcohol. The Pyongyang Times reports the secret of the amber-colored blend is aged ginseng and scorched rice instead of sugar. Of course, dark liquors are more likely to give you a killer hangover, so it's that much more of a miracle. This is MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Asian markets fell today after the International Monetary Fund scaled back its estimate for global growth this year. That followed word yesterday that China's economy grew last year at its slowest rate in a quarter century. It looks bad, but some Chinese investors don't seem to think it is. Markets in Shanghai are still up slightly for the week. To figure out what's going on, we turned to NPR's Frank Langfitt, who is in Shanghai. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And why, Frank, is the Shanghai market not down?
LANGFITT: Well, it's interesting. You know, the GDP numbers which came out yesterday, those were really big news in the West, but they were pretty much expected here. People here are very close to the economy. And what investors figure is that the government now looking at it is going to feel that it has to cut interest rates, pump more money in the economy. And that, actually, the hope is that'll spark some growth at least in the short term. So, you know, markets are always often really looking at the short term, and so that's why they responded the way they did.
MONTAGNE: Well, what about other numbers out this week that we might be focusing on to understand where China's economy is headed?
LANGFITT: Well, there were two really interesting ones that I think probably, to some extent, were overlooked, which I think are really important when you want to look at the long-term health of the - and the future of the Chinese economy. The first one is we saw, for the first time, services are now over 50 percent, providing 50 percent - more than 50 percent of GDP. This used to be very much a heavy industry, trade-driven economy. And for the long run, this is very good news. Over time, you know, services, they tend to produce higher value growth, better white-collar jobs, hopefully, and better wages. And this a really big change. If you go backstage to the '90s when I first started covering the Chinese economy, this nation was mostly factories and farms. When I was in Beijing, there was this gigantic steel plant on the western edge of the city. Today, when you look at these cities, the big ones, there are services everywhere. In Shanghai, you got a lot of banks, tons of restaurants, five-star hotels. It looks a lot like New York City. The second figure that's also really important and it's related is consumer spending is now making up two-thirds of gross domestic product, and that's up 15 percent from last year. So what we're seeing is the economy is actually moving in the right direction, going away from construction and kind of the dirty industry model towards a more sustainable economy driven by consumer spending and services.
MONTAGNE: But if - when you get right down to it, China's economy is, as you say, headed in the right direction. Why have Western stock markets reacted so negatively to news out of China over these past months, bad news but...
LANGFITT: Yeah, there are a number of reasons for that. One is, you know, consumer spending hasn't been growing fast enough to make up for the fall off the old industrial economy. It's basic math. China also contributes about one-third to global growth, and people are worried that they're not going to be able to depend on China the way they have in the past. There's also, frankly, concern about China's leadership. They've made some pretty big mistakes on currency devaluation and the stock market in the last six months. And party's always been known for strong managed the economy. People always thought that was a short bet. And some economists are worried, though, the party leadership is divided or they're not quite sure of what they're doing.
MONTAGNE: Well, then as growth slows, what are the political implications for China's communist government?
LANGFITT: Well, I think the government is concerned. There hasn't been a lot of publicity on this, but this is something that people should watch for in the coming months. We saw at the end of last year there was a big spike in worker protests and strikes, and this was as the stock market tanked and manufacturing and construction were slumping. And we saw that labor protests actually doubled to 2,700. Cops were called in on 800 of those cases, more than 800. This was mostly over unpaid wages. And the party's generally handled labor unrest very well over the years. But if growth keeps slowing, that could get harder. And also keep in mind that China's Communist Party, their claim-to-rule is really built on the management of the economy. They're not elected. And the management now is looking a little shaky, and I think the last thing the party wants to see is lots of people in the streets criticizing the party and questioning their authority.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Frank Langfitt speaking to us from Shanghai, thanks very much.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Renee.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In the 2016 race for president, one man who's not on any ballot probably gets mentioned more than anyone who will be, and that's President Barack Obama - negatively, of course, by Republicans. But also, for a president whose poll numbers have been underwater, Democratic candidates are hugging him awfully tight. NPR's Tamara Keith explains why.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: So it's not at all surprising that the Republican candidates for president are running against President Obama. Here they are at last week's debate on the Fox Business Network.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARCO RUBIO: Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: This guy is a petulant child.
JEB BUSH: The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law-abiding citizens.
TED CRUZ: The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama.
KEITH: But it was a very different story at the NBC Democratic debate over the weekend.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HILLARY CLINTON: I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office.
MARTIN O'MALLEY: We need to come together as a people and build on the good things that President Obama has done.
BERNIE SANDERS: I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing.
KEITH: In recent weeks, with the race tightening, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been pitching herself as the best person to carry forward President Obama's legacy. And she hit that theme again and again in the debate, even going after her chief opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, for not supporting Obama enough.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CLINTON: President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Sen. Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama.
KEITH: But Sanders wasn't about to let that stand, moments later playing up his ties to the president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SANDERS: 2008 - I did my best to see that he was elected. And in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was re-elected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion.
KEITH: Embracing the current president isn't an obvious campaign strategy. Democrats running for Senate in 2014 ran away from - and fast. But look under the hood of Obama's middling national approval rating, and you find the answer to why Clinton and Sanders are heaping on the praise. In the latest Gallup survey, among Democrats, his approval rating is 84 percent. It's similarly high among African-American voters and over 60 percent for Latinos. Margie Omero is a Democratic pollster at Purple Strategies and co-host of a podcast called "The Pollsters."
MARGIE OMERO: If you're talking to a primary audience, that's what they're going to want to hear. I mean, we call it red meat. The candidates in a democratic primary debate are talking about the Democratic president who is popular with Democratic primary voters.
KEITH: And it's no accident that this love-fest broke out at a debate in South Carolina, a state where African-American voters dominate the Democratic primary and where they helped cement President Obama's victory eight years ago. Corey Ealons is senior vice president at VOX Global and a former communications adviser to President Obama.
COREY EALONS: I think this is very much a short-term play as well as a long-term play in courting African-American voters this cycle.
KEITH: Whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, Ealons says that person is going to have to win over and motivate the so-called Obama coalition - African-Americans, Latinos, young people - people who President Obama brought out to the polls in record numbers and who, eight years later, still like the president.
EALONS: You're not going to be able to run away from that presidency, so the best thing to do is to take the best pieces that you have, build on those, and begin to lay down what you stand for and who you would fight for.
KEITH: As for the president, his spokesman said yesterday, at this point, Obama is not prepared to offer up an endorsement. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And as Americans head into the actual voting in the 2016 presidential contest, one famous name has reemerged, Sarah Palin. The one-time vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor had been offstage. Now Palin is hoping to have an impact on the race alongside Donald Trump.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SARAH PALIN: Are you ready to make America great again?
(CHEERING)
MONTAGNE: She joined him at an event in Ames, Iowa. And NPR's Don Gonyea was there. Good morning.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: What does a Palin endorsement get a candidate Donald Trump? I mean, obviously she's popular with some Republicans - but not so much with the general public. So what's going on here?
GONYEA: There is a lot of debate about what she - what he, he actually gains, if anything. She may help some in Iowa, where another conservative, Ted Cruz, is well organized and trying to beat Trump there. He would have loved her endorsement, we should add. Trump, we do know, once mentioned Palin as a possible member of his cabinet. Here he is on stage with her yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: This is a woman that from day one, I said if I ever do this, I have to get her support. She feels it. She understands it better than anybody.
MONTAGNE: Well, Trump and Palin certainly share a lot of the same targets, going back to when she first hit the national scene as John McCain's running mate.
GONYEA: Absolutely. And in this regard, it really does make perfect sense why she's joined the Trump bandwagon. So at every event - right? - Trump goes after the media, calling reporters dishonest and treacherous. Palin takes the stage in Ames yesterday, and her very first line was aimed at the reporters in back.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PALIN: Mr. Trump, you're right. Look, back there in the press box. Heads are spinning. Media heads are spinning. This is going to be so much fun.
GONYEA: And Renee, there are also the attacks on Obama that they share. They ridicule him. Trump does it. Palin has done it for years. So yesterday, Palin - at the same time she seemed to be channeling her own past remarks and Trump's recent ones when she talked about that incident when U.S. sailors were briefly detained by Iran.
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PALIN: Just last week, we're watching our sailors suffer and be humiliated on a world stage at the hands of Iranian captors in violation of international law because a weak-kneed capitulator in chief has decided that America will lead from behind.
MONTAGNE: Well, there - Sarah Palin, she certainly shares with Donald Trump a penchant for getting personal. She also launched a broadside against the other Republicans running for president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PALIN: Where the rest of some of these establishment candidates, they just wanted to duck and hide. They didn't want to talk about these issues 'til he brought them up. In fact, they've been wearing this political correctness kind of like a suicide vest. And enough is enough.
MONTAGNE: Well, OK, that was aimed at the Republican establishment. But what about the charge - and this leveled by Ted Cruz, someone whom Palin has cheered in the past and endorsed in the past - that Trump is not a true conservative, that he is shifting views, that he's got New York values? Did she address that?
GONYEA: She went on and on and on about how Donald Trump is a true conservative, a self-made man, a billionaire, she said; and there's nothing wrong with that, that he wants the whole country to succeed. She didn't mention Cruz in those attacks by name. And recall, she has supported Cruz in the past in his - in his run for the Senate. And they've been close. They're both - both, you know, strong Tea Party advocates. Cruz yesterday, in advance of the announcement, said his campaign said that this endorsement would only diminish her and call into question her conservative credentials. But for Trump, her support is really a strong answer to such charges. You could say that Palin, from '08 on, has really helped make room for a candidate like Trump. He takes it further, certainly. But to see them side-by-side onstage, they were a lot like bookends.
MONTAGNE: OK, Don, thanks very much.
GONYEA: Thank you.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's check on Ted Cruz, who's brought enough volunteers to Iowa that they need housing. Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters stopped by Camp Cruz.
CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: How you doing?
JERRY DUNLEAVY: I'm all right.
MASTERS: On a Monday night, a pack of Ted Cruz volunteers returned to their temporary home. It's a three-story unused business college dormitory that sleeps up to 100 people. Jerry Dunleavy has never been involved in politics but says Cruz is different. He left everything behind at home in Cleveland.
DUNLEAVY: Yeah, quit my job (laughter) and came out here, nothing lined up after. So it's all about just helping Cruz win here in Iowa, and then we go from there.
MASTERS: There are people here from Florida, Tennessee and of course, Texas, where Cruz is the junior senator. Alan Drennan came from Grapevine, Texas.
ALAN DRENNAN: I retired in May, and I had some time on my hands, and I saw the volunteer - be a volunteer for Ted Cruz message came in the email, and I said, well, I'll think I'll go do that.
MASTERS: Bryan English is Cruz's Iowa state director.
BRYAN ENGLISH: We had so many volunteers that wanted to come in from out of state the idea of trying to find a way to house them in a hotel was going to be just cost prohibitive.
MASTERS: For the role of managing this place or RA if you will, English says he wanted someone like a camp counselor to pump up Camp Cruz every morning. He hired a wiry 64-year-old named Ken Brolin from Long Island.
KEN BROLIN: And I'm banging on the doors at quarter of 8, making sure everybody's getting ready. And I usually scream something like, who's going to be the next president of the United States, and you hear the roof lift off.
MASTERS: He walks through his morning routine that ends with everyone standing on the stairwell for a huddle and prayer.
BROLIN: And then I ask them why are we here, and they said to go out and get undecided voters. And then we open the doors and go get them.
(LAUGHTER)
BROLIN: Am I right, Jerry? Is that what I do?
MASTERS: The dorm hallways are filled with pictures of Ted Cruz and red, white and blue streamers. Maggie Wright is up from Texas. Her room is pretty bare, except for the essentials, lots of Cruz signs and a picture of him hugging her taped to the door. She says she supported him way back when he was Texas solicitor general and running for the Senate.
MAGGIE WRIGHT: Ted fought for the nation to have under God on our pledge and for our Second Amendment rights, so Ted had a record before he ever run for Senate. So he's just proven himself, and so I'm ready - we're ready to all in, any expense.
MASTERS: The state director says they're moving into a second dorm to house even more volunteers. For NPR News, I'm Clay Masters in Des Moines.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's get an update on Volkswagen now, which is facing hundreds of lawsuits over its cheating on emissions standards. The Environmental Protection Agency is a suing, so are the company's investors.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And, of course, there are the car owners themselves, people who bought the tainted diesel vehicles, some of whom are now driving around in cars that violate environmental laws.
MONTAGNE: VW presented a plan to recall those vehicles, but California regulators rejected that plan last week. When VW does manage to come up with a plan agreeable to the government, the man who will push it through is Kenneth Feinberg. He oversaw the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and BP's settlement over its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Here's how Feinberg described the challenge faced by VW.
KENNETH FEINBERG: Volkswagen will have to come up with a remedy for those automobiles currently being driven that are in violation of certain emissions standards required by EPA and the California regulators. And whatever that remedy might be, whether it's fix the automobile, buy back the automobile, trade in the automobile, provide compensation to the owner, any - some - different options, that's what has to be finalized.
MONTAGNE: Is Volkswagen dragging its feet?
FEINBERG: I don't think - I don't know. I don't know if Volkswagen is dragging its feet. I can only say that technologically there's a complicated issue as to the extent to which many of these half a million automobiles here in the United States can actually be fixed. And that is what I think Volkswagen is now trying to determine much to the frustration of the regulators.
MONTAGNE: You know, this was such a startling story when it first emerged, partly because of the apparent planning that was involved in, you know, in making this fraud. How does this fit in to the sort of larger picture of recalls? I mean, it seems much - somehow more complicated.
FEINBERG: In one sense, it is more complicated. In another sense, I must say, it is less complicated. We do not have, unlike GM or 9/11 or even the BP oil rig explosion, we do not have a situation here involving death. This is an automobile fix, and in that sense, I hope it will be somewhat less emotional than it would be if you're visiting with a family that lost a 19-year-old driver or a family that lost a youngster who was killed in an automobile accident or in 9/11 or anything like that.
MONTAGNE: In big cases like this, what are the biggest sticking points that emerge?
FEINBERG: Human nature, emotion - the dollars and cents aspect of this, the claims processing aspect is not rocket science. The real difficulty in all of these cases is the emotion in dealing with somebody who feels they're victimized, whether its property or injury or even death of a relative. And that's what you have to try and get around by offering a program that will encourage people notwithstanding their unhappiness to come into a program like this.
MONTAGNE: And to feel that they've been compensated.
FEINBERG: That is correct. That is correct. This is appropriate compensation for my wrong, and in that sense, it's voluntary and you just have to try and make the program as generous as you can to encourage people to feel that way.
MONTAGNE: Kenneth Feinberg is the administrator of the anticipated VW claims program. Thank you for joining us.
FEINBERG: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In a world where companies depend on supply chains that extend deep into other continents, child labor can be out of sight. Amnesty International, for one, says it shouldn't be. It's accusing Apple and other electronics makers of failing to check the children aren't involved in mining a key mineral used in lithium-ion batteries, the batteries in your smartphone and also in hybrid cars. That mineral is cobalt. And as NPR's Gregory Warner reports, much of it comes from what economists call artisanal mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
GREGORY WARNER, BYLINE: Artisanal mines, sounds almost boutique, handmade, the artisanal mines of Katanga in southern Congo are handmade.
MARK DUMMETT: Literally hand dug.
WARNER: Mark Dummett of Amnesty International has seen this. The ground is so mineral rich.
DUMMETT: We saw how the residents of this area had dug tunnels even through the floor of their homes to get to the cobalt.
WARNER: Cobalt sells cheap in a place where it's so plentiful, so cheap, he says, that whole families pull their efforts to search for the dark gray stones, even children, he says, as young as seven.
DUMMETT: They're working with their families to collect enough rocks to survive. They crush them. They sort them. They wash them. They transport them.
WARNER: And they sell them to a Congolese middleman, basically a guy with a burlap sack.
DUMMETT: Yeah, it's a guy with a bag and a wad of cash who's bigger than the children.
WARNER: He sells the rocks to independent Chinese-owned buying companies. And so it moves up, up, up the supply chain onto the large mining companies which export them to smelting operations in China.
DUMMETT: Which then sell on to the factories which actually make the batteries, so we identified that there are at least seven steps in the supply chain from the child collecting rocks and the companies which are making the smartphones that we buy and use.
WARNER: Apple did not respond to requests for comment. The Chinese company, Huayou Cobalt, that processes the ore told Amnesty that none of their suppliers employ children.
DUMMETT: But that misses the point. It's not that they're being employed by companies, local companies or foreign companies to do this mining.
WARNER: In the informal economy at this far end of the chain, almost no one is technically employed. Dummett says that companies that use Congolese cobalt should take steps to ensure that Congolese children are in school, not digging holes or sorting rocks. Gregory Warner, NPR News, Nairobi.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with a step forward in graduation gown equality. Glastonbury High School in Connecticut is changing gowns. Boys used to wear blue. Girls wore white. The two colors look great in past graduation photos, but to some it felt like baby colors. Should it really have to be pink for girls and blue for boys? On a request from the school's Gay-Straight Alliance Club, the school will blend its colors. Everybody will now wear blue gown with a white sash for style. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In the story of today's attack on a Pakistani University, the details stick with you. We're told there were four attackers. They targeted a university that had recently built up its front wall for security - but apparently not a back wall. Once the gunmen were inside and shooting, reporter Jonathan Boone of The Guardian tells us they had a technique to lure students out of hiding.
JONATHAN BOONE: The attackers would call through the doors claiming to be from the Pakistani army, claiming to be coming to rescue them but actually there to kill them.
INSKEEP: Authorities say at least 20 people are dead, including now the four attackers. It all happened in a city called Charsadda. NPR's Philip Reeves has covered Pakistan for years. He has some perspective on the place and the political situation. He's on the line. Philip, what is this region like?
PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Well, it's part of the northwest part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. And of course, that is the area where most of the militant violence in recent years has been generated. And indeed, it was there that just over a year ago a massacre took place, carried out by the Pakistani Taliban at an army-run school in the city of Peshawar, where they killed more than 130 school kids. And of course, today's attack, though the death toll is happily significantly lower, is reviving, for many Pakistanis, very painful memories of that.
INSKEEP: Last time they were attacking children, kids really, quite young people, this time a university. What is this university like?
REEVES: Well, its a state-run institution. There are about 3,000 students on the books, both male and female. This means basically that it's not one of those establishments, of which there are many in Pakistan, which are solely focused on religion.
INSKEEP: So a little bit more of a secular environment, and this is the environment in which the gunmen appeared. Now, Philip, we did hear from Jonathan Boone, the reporter on the scene, that there had been an effort at least to increase security at this university after the attack that you mentioned. Was that common all across Pakistan?
REEVES: Yes, the authorities introduced measures across the country to try to beef up security at schools and universities for fear of another attack. And this attack today will likely cause a big debate in Pakistan over whether those measures - whether they are also sufficient. That was part of a really fundamental change that took place after the massacre in Peshawar just over a year ago. You know, the military became far more powerful in exerting its influence over the elected civilian government. Military courts were introduced. A moratorium on capital punishment was lifted. And since then, hundreds of people have been executed, although human rights activists say a lot of - most of those, actually - were not in cases related to terrorism. And I think now that trend will probably continue.
INSKEEP: In just about 20 seconds or so, Philip Reeves, did it seem like the Pakistani military, whatever its tactics, was making progress against the Taliban up to now?
REEVES: Well, a lot of people had begun to feel more relaxed. The economy was beginning to pick up off the mat, particularly after an operation launched just over a year and a half ago in the tribal belt to drive militants out of there. But lots of people were displaced by that operation. And there'll be a debate now about whether they need to be attended to and to get back to their homes because being outside their homes and very unhappy is likely fueling militancy in Pakistan.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Philip Reeves.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
An annual speech by Michigan's governor yesterday became a very public apology. Governor Rick Snyder spoke of a water contamination crisis in the city of Flint.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICK SNYDER: To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight, as I have before, I am sorry and I will fix it.
INSKEEP: That's from Governor Snyder's State of the State address. Rick Pluta covers the state capital for Michigan Public Radio. He's back again. Rick, good morning.
RICK PLUTA, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What did the governor say besides sorry?
PLUTA: Well, you know, this is Governor Rick Snyder's most comprehensive response yet to the issue of lead contamination in much of the city's drinking water. He promised to fix these problems created as a result of decisions made while the city was under state emergency management.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SNYDER: We will not stop working for the people of Flint until every single person has clean water every single day no matter what.
(APPLAUSE)
PLUTA: Flint is a majority black, high-poverty city. It was only recently returned to the control of local elected officials who still have to have their decisions OK'd by a state oversight board. And this is a big change for Rick Snyder since this time last year.
INSKEEP: You mean his statements are a big change. In what way?
PLUTA: Well, you know, he was just re-elected to a second term at this time last year, winning high praise for his work on getting the city of Detroit through bankruptcy, so much so that he was considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination based on a can-do record. He juxtaposed his record against what he called Washington's broken political culture. Well, now he's on defense, and he's actually asking Washington for help to bail out Flint.
INSKEEP: What help does he want from Washington exactly, Rick Pluta?
PLUTA: Well, you know, the president gave Michigan - gave Flint an emergency declaration but not a disaster declaration. And so there are millions of dollars more in federal assistance that may be available. The governor says that he is going to appeal that decision. And so he's sort of playing defense and offense - multiple apologies, promising many millions of dollars in aid for the city, more work to rebuild water infrastructure across the state. But he's also spreading the blame, saying every level of government - local, state, federal - has failed Flint.
INSKEEP: OK. So he's saying he's not the only one who should be blamed here, but just...
PLUTA: Exactly.
INSKEEP: ...Just to be clear because you listened to the full apology - you listened to the full speech - there's so many ways to say I'm sorry. One of them is I'm sorry you were offended. I'm sorry people were bothered. But there's also I'm sorry, I take responsibility. What kind of a sorry did this feel like to you?
PLUTA: You know what? The early ones were a lot like - exactly what you were talking about. And this is one where he said - even though he spread the blame, he said there's a problem. I'm responsible, and I'm responsible for fixing it.
INSKEEP: There have been calls for Governor Snyder to resign. Is he going anywhere?
PLUTA: He says that he is going to stick it out and go - he is going to fix this problem.
INSKEEP: That's Rick Pluta, of Michigan Public Radio, reporting on an apology by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for water conditions in Flint, Mich. Rick, thanks very much.
PLUTA: Always a pleasure, Steve.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Syria is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders. Still, independently produced, local and other news important to Syrian's is starting to thrive, thanks to a team of Germans and Syrians running a pirate radio network from the heart of Europe. Esme Nicholson has the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ESME NICHOLSON, BYLINE: This is Syria Radio Network, or SYRNET for short. It broadcasts news and shows from nine Syrian pirate radio stations, most with studios in neighboring Turkey.
(SOUNDBITE OF SYRNET BROADCAST)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (Foreign language spoken).
NICHOLSON: They all have reporters on the ground, but because of the bloody civil war in Syria, they have problems getting their dispatches to the Syrian people. Najat Abdulhaq is from the German NGO Media in Cooperation and Transition.
NAJAT ABDULHAQ: They have the day-to-day local services, like which borders are open? What is the exchange rate of the Syrian lira? What is the price of diesel? And - or if the schools are open.
NICHOLSON: While the network is opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and so-called Islamic State or ISIS, Abdulhaq says SYRNET strives to produce accurate and balanced reporting. The Berlin NGO says it only works with members of moderate opposition groups.
ABDULHAQ: There's always the debate about what is news and what is propaganda. And we really work on them to avoid to have any broadcasts to encourage violence or to encourage any bloody actions.
NICHOLSON: But without this German NGO, SYRNET's reporting wouldn't reach Syria at all. Frequent electricity cuts and erratic Internet connections make online broadcasting difficult. So the group's engineers in Berlin have resorted to using old-school, analog technology.
PHILIPP HOCHLEICHTER: Satellite and FM radio are very robust, analog and passive technologies - right? You do not need to have a good working Internet. You basically need to have a radio.
NICHOLSON: Philipp Hochleichter heads up the technical side of SYRNET. He says that most people in Syria have access to a radio, whether it's a transistor radio, a car radio or even the FM receiver inside a cell phone. To reach their listeners the old-fashioned way, SYRNET needed FM transmission towers. And they've managed to gain access to five of them inside Syria's rebel-held areas. But these large towers are difficult to maintain in a war zone, so SYRNET invented Pocket FM.
HOCHLEICHTER: This is the current version of Pocket FM, the - version two.
NICHOLSON: The device Hochleichter is holding looks a lot like a kitchen radio. But it doesn't receive signals, it sends them. Pocket FM is a micro-transmitter with a radius of about four miles. It downloads SYRNET's online broadcast from a satellite and rebroadcasts it as an FM radio signal. So far, nine of these pocket transmitters have been smuggled into Syria. Easy to set up, they run on solar power and require no maintenance. The oldest has now been up and running for 10 months.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
UNIDENTIFIED ARTIST: (Singing in foreign language).
NICHOLSON: Pocket FM even searches for a new frequency should the Assad regime jam SYRNET which, according to Najat Abdulhaq, it frequently does. She says they are offering many Syrians their first chance to hear an independent voice.
ABDULHAQ: This country had at least 40 years of one TV station and one radio station, which is the state radio station and which broadcast the thing government or the system is interested to broadcast.
NICHOLSON: Abdulhaq estimates that thanks to Pocket FM, roughly 3 million Syrians can tune into something different. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nicholson, in Berlin.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We now have an eye-witness description of a Pakistani university that was attacked by gunmen today. The university is in a city called Charsadda, which is near the border with Afghanistan. It's been the scene of attacks before. And when gunmen struck this university they left around 20 people dead, including some of the attackers we are told. Guardian reporter Jonathan Boone was on the scene at Bacha Khan University. He's on the phone. What did you see?
JONATHAN BOONE: Well, there's clear evidence of this horrific attack, which is really focused in two of the boys hostels at this co-educational university. And you can see where the individual bedrooms, the dorms, have been smashed in by the attackers. Some of the students attempted to barricade themselves in. And I'm told by some that the attackers would call through the doors claiming to be from the Pakistani army, claiming to be coming to rescue them, but actually there to kill them. We also saw the back wall, the rather poorly defended back wall of this campus, that despite the threats to educational institutions was really very easy for these men - these four we think militants - to clamber over and simply push away the barb wire to gain access to this campus.
INSKEEP: OK, you said that it's believed that there were four attackers. We've also heard reports that it's believed that four attackers were killed. Is that what you're hearing? And do authorities believe they have everyone?
BOONE: That's correct. The Pakistani Taliban put out a statement claiming responsibility and they named four attackers. And the Pakistani army has said that they killed four attackers. The campus was essentially opened up to the great scrums of the Pakistani media a few hours ago. So, yes, as far as the authorities are concerned, it's now a secure area.
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask about that because you mentioned a wall, you mentioned the defenses are poor defenses of this university. This is a country where people are on the alert for terrorism, where you have guards with guns everywhere. Do you have any sense of how well-guarded this university was before the attack?
BOONE: Well, it has an extremely imposing and impressive front wall, but the back walls are, as I say, really not so difficult to climb over. What's interesting is you can actually see evidence on this back wall of where it was heightened after the attack - you might remember - a year ago on the Army Public School in Peshawar...
INSKEEP: Oh, yeah.
BOONE: ...In which 130-plus pupils were massacred by this same group. After that, the government ordered all educational institutions to build walls and to increase the defense. And you can see where this has happened. A five-foot wall has gone up to nine foot, and they put some barb wire on the top. But it just wasn't remotely adequate to stopping a few people climbing over.
INSKEEP: Well, Mr. Boone, thank you very much for your help. Appreciate it.
BOONE: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Jonathan Boone is a reporter for The Guardian. He is in Charsadda, Pakistan, a city in the northwestern part of the country where gunmen attacked a university today, killing around 20 people.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We return now to an ongoing NPR and ProPublica investigation of workers' compensation. It's a system that's long been regulated by individual states. There's a growing effort to shift workers' comp to federal control instead. That is now possible to do in Texas and Oklahoma, but NPR's Howard Berkes has found that federal law doesn't protect injured workers as promised.
HOWARD BERKES, BYLINE: Fifty-four-year-old Kevin Schiller sits in the dark in his apartment outside Dallas, holding a doctor's note addressed to police. He may seem drunk, it says, due to a head injury. Schiller was a building engineer at a Macy's department store five years ago when a mannequin fell 12 feet from a shelf.
KEVIN SCHILLER: All I heard was a loud crack, and I found myself looking up on people looking down on me. They saw the mannequin hit me in the head, and it drove my head into another shelf. And then after that, the cement.
BERKES: Stuttering, memory loss and confusion persist, along with headaches from bright light. But Macy's downplayed the injury, according to legal documents including medical records, witness statements, internal e-mails and depositions. The company's doctors said Schiller was psychosomatic or faking. Macy's implied the accident was staged.
SCHILLER: I'm next to poverty. I have made $80,000 a year at times, and I'm going to give that up to be on a Social Security check or food stamps? Who would want the life that I've got now? I sit in a dark room. I watch TV like an old 80 or 90-year-old person.
BERKES: Schiller is among 1.5 million workers in Oklahoma and Texas who are not protected by state workers' comp. Their employers complained about expensive benefits, litigation and lengthy appeals. They were allowed to dump state regulation. But workers are still protected by federal law, they say - the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA.
BILL MINICK: ERISA comes in and says the benefits must be administered in the best interest of employees.
BERKES: Bill Minick and his company, PartnerSource, sell and service benefits plans that are alternatives to workers' comp. ERISA is key to their sales pitch as they also try to export the option to a dozen states.
BILL MINICK: And there are very detailed claim procedures that must be followed to make sure that the employee gets a full and fair review of their claim, including opportunity to appeal any denial of benefits, and then access to state and federal courts.
BERKES: But ERISA didn't help Schiller when Macy's cut off his benefits. He wasn't able to appeal to the independent Texas Workers' Comp agency because Macy's had opted out of the state system. State court was cut off by mandatory arbitration, a feature of most Texas plans we've reviewed. ERISA blocks state action, says attorney Richard Faulkner.
RICHARD FAULKNER: Because this is a federal question. ERISA says we're the federal law. We're superior. State law, you're irrelevant.
BERKES: ERISA also strictly limits the role of federal courts when they consider benefits denials according to Karen Handorf, a former ERISA official at the Labor Department.
KAREN HANDORF: You really have to show that it was irrational or contrary to the terms of the plan.
BERKES: So employers will likely prevail no matter how unfair their plans may seem, as long as they don't violate the plans. Even if workers win in federal court, they only get the benefits their employer denied. There are no multi-million dollar rewards for pain and suffering. And if they lose, they can be forced to pay the legal costs of their employers. Attorney Richard Faulkner.
RICHARD FAULKNER: Consequently, you have to think long and hard about what exposures you may be generating for a client if you attempt to pursue some of these ERISA remedies because ERISA can be incredibly dangerous for an injured worker.
BERKES: So Schiller was stuck with the Macy's appeals process, where people paid by Macy's decide whether Macy's is fair. They rejected his appeals. Employer-controlled are common in dozens of alternative injury plans in Oklahoma and Texas, where Jeffrey Dahl is an ERISA attorney.
JEFFREY DAHL: ERISA's been turned on its head, really, in my mind, because initially, it was passed for protection of workers, but it in fact has become a shield for employers that operate these ERISA plans.
BERKES: Many plans directly defy ERISA. In Oklahoma, most plans contain mandatory settlements. Employers decide when to settle claims and how much to pay. And if workers refuse, they get nothing. They also get nothing in Texas and Oklahoma if they don't report injuries right away, even if they seem minor at first or are witnessed by supervisors. Former Labor Department official Karen Handorf calls these rules -
HANDORF: An impediment to bringing claims, and really isn't what ERISA is designed to do. ERISA is based on the idea that you get your right to make the best claim you can for benefits.
BERKES: But Bill Minick of PartnerSource says employers who defy ERISA risks sanctions from federal regulators.
BILL MINICK: And the U.S. Department of labor has enforcement authority over that, so there are a variety of checks and balances in the process.
BERKES: That's if the Labor Department is paying attention. Faulkner says it isn't.
RICHARD FAULKNER: The Department of Labor has civil and criminal authority that, if it chooses to exercise it, can go in, look at these things. They could stop it.
BERKES: Labor Department officials declined to be interviewed. A spokesman says they're aware of and studying the issues we've raised. He also confirmed that the agency has never had an ERISA case involving this alternative to workers' comp. If Schiller's case made it to state court, he would have won big, says his attorney, Ted Lyon.
TED LYON: He would have worked 'til he was 65, so that's a million and a half dollars at least. In addition to that, pain and suffering damages and the egregious way that they treated him. You know, I could have easily gotten $5 million from a jury in this case.
BERKES: The case went to an arbitrator instead, who awarded $700,000. Most of it paid legal fees, arbitration expenses, medical bills and living costs, and most of it's gone. The arbitrator did find that Macy's was negligent and failed to thoroughly examine, diagnose and treat Schiller's traumatic brain injury.
SCHILLER: I'm just getting by. Thank God for Social Security Disability. And after dealing with the whole process I went through and nowhere to go, I have gotten no justice.
BERKES: If the case had gone to court, these details would be public. Arbitration is secret. It hides cases like Schiller's, and protects employers like Macy's, which did not respond to NPR. We only know about Kevin Schiller because he decided to talk about the failed promise of ERISA protection. He says he'll run out of money before he runs out of time. Howard Berkes, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
America has a new pro sports league - the National Women's Hockey League, launched last fall. The league has four teams in Boston, Buffalo, Connecticut and New York, and it's drawing the best female hockey players in the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Duggan shoots and scores. It's one-nothing USA - Meghan Duggan.
GREENE: Like U.S. Olympic team captain Meghan Duggan scoring right there in the gold medal game at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The women's league recently shared the stage at the Winter Classic, the NHL's annual outdoor game, over New Year's. The founder and commissioner of the NWHL is Dani Rylan. She is 28 years old. She spoke to us from an ice rink in New York City, and I asked her what inspired her to start this league.
DANI RYLAN: I used to say that after the 2014 Winter Olympics was really the best time to start a professional women's hockey league. You know, that gold-medal game out Sochi was the most-watched event on NBC with 4.9 million viewers.
GREENE: Yeah, it was amazing.
RYLAN: And people weren't watching it because it was a women's game. They were watching it 'cause it was an amazing hockey game.
GREENE: And so tell me - you have four teams now. And I wonder, I mean, where the money is coming from and how some of these players are - how much money they're making.
RYLAN: Each team has a salary cap of 270,000.
GREENE: OK.
RYLAN: So the average salary is 15,000 a year. And we've had investors come in and support our business plan. And this first year, we've also had our first corporate sponsor sign on - Dunkin' Donuts - and a few broadcast deals, as well, with a streaming package with ESPN3 and then New England Sports Net. So broadcast and sponsorships make the sports world go round, and we've really made a big splash in the first couple months here.
GREENE: And I guess we should say in the world of professional sports - when we think about some of the salaries, like, in the National Hockey League, I mean, 15,000 probably doesn't sound like all that much.
RYLAN: Yeah. I mean, but it's a great start, and you don't want to compare a league in its infancy to a league that is about to have its centennial.
GREENE: And do most of the women who are playing have other full-time jobs - like, they're doing this and then going to work at other points?
RYLAN: They do. This is such an amazing group of women playing in this league. You know, we have everything from coaches to teachers, nurses, mechanical engineers. We try to accommodate their schedule as much as possible. All of our games are on Sundays, allowing the players to have those jobs during the week.
GREENE: And, Dani, what are the crowds like?
RYLAN: We have a really consistent passionate fan base. We're averaging around a thousand fans a game, which is close to capacity for our facilities.
GREENE: But what's the gender breakdown in the crowd?
RYLAN: We're actually about 50-50 - male to female. Actually, a couple weekends ago, a little boy was running around the stands, telling people to vote for Madison Packer into our all-star game. And it was just really cute to see that this little 12-year-old boy was just as passionate about the women's game as you would assume some girls would be.
GREENE: I guess just before I let you go, reflect a little bit on what this year means and, you know, after one successful season, what sort of message you've sent.
RYLAN: This year has been amazing. I mean, it's crazy to think that on January 1 of 2015, we hadn't even announced the launch of the league yet. And then December 31, 2015, we're playing on the biggest stage at an event, partnered with the NHL. So it has been an incredible year, and I think what's really special about it is the number of generations that this has affected. One of my favorite moments to date is actually a young girl with a sign that says NWHL 2027 first-round draft pick. And I think it's really special to think that that dream can become a reality for her.
GREENE: That's Dani Rylan. She is commissioner and founder of the new National Women's Hockey League. Dani, thanks so much for talking with us.
RYLAN: Thank you so much for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHOOT TO SCORE")
NANCY BEAUDETTE: (Singing) Tryouts were on Thursday night. College girls out on the ice, all suited up under lights, making it look easy.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
All right, let's dial back the calendar to 1984. That's when the first Mac computer came out. It cost nearly $2,500, and you got a computer that had a floppy drive for storage. Well, fast forward to 2016. A spate of computers, complete with storage included, at a price tagged as low as five bucks, are hitting the market right now. As NPR's Laura Sydell reports, low-cost hardware might open up an era of experimentation with new products.
LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: I didn't know what to expect when I came to look at CHIP, a $9 computer.
DAVE RAUCHWERK: Why don't you - why don't we open one of these boxes so you can see what the actual box process is?
SYDELL: This is Dave Rauchwerk, the CEO of Next Thing Co. that makes CHIP.
RAUCHWERK: So we'll take the CHIP out - right? - which is in a little, tiny, anti-static bag.
SYDELL: CHIP is very basic. It fits in the palm of my hand, and has various electronic components soldered on it. Frankly, it looks like something you'd find in a repair shop. But it has four gigabytes of storage, and it's actually really easy to set up. It can connect to Wi-Fi. It has Bluetooth.
RAUCHWERK: When you take it out of the box, you can connect a keyboard, Bluetooth and mouse, like, really easily. And it also has a USB port so if you wanted to, you could just plug in any old keyboard you could find.
SYDELL: The keyboard, mouse and screen are not included, so that would add to the price. But getting those on the cheap is pretty easy these days. CHIP was funded with a Kickstarter campaign that got the backing of nearly 40,000 people and raised $2 million. One pledge of $150 came from a teacher at the Nelson County Area Technology Center, a technical high school in Kentucky. Its principal, Jeremy Booher, says cost has always gotten in the way of giving computers to all of his 400 or so students.
JEREMY BOOHER: Any of my programs, it's - that costs too much, you can't buy it. You can't buy it because it costs too much. But with a $9 price point, that - you know, it almost virtually eliminates that excuse.
SYDELL: Booher and a class of IT students at the school spoke with me on Skype. And CHIP is really easy to use, says 17-year-old Jacob Smith.
JACOB SMITH: With a normal computer, we have to pull the case apart and work around all of these big pieces, so this has just been much easier to learn and work off of.
SYDELL: Smith's class got to see CHIP before most people because his teacher helped back the Kickstarter. The class took apart a "Star Wars" toy, the Millennium Falcon, and wired it with LED lights using CHIP. Principal Booher says what's great is that the students can learn something while they're having a lot of fun.
BOOHER: And this is one way to do it, by intriguing their interest and seeing what's on the cutting edge of technology and where technology's going. If we were still using typewriters and using Microsoft DOS, then obviously people come in and fall asleep.
SYDELL: And students are just the start of who might be excited by this cheap little computer. The CHIP is one of several very low-cost, basic computers - like, under 100 bucks - that have hit the market in the last year or will be on the market in the coming year. Most can be purchased online. There's the BeagleBone, the Endless Mini and the Raspberry Pi Zero. All this is possible because the prices of microprocessors and other computer components have fallen. Tom Petrocelli, an analyst with Neuralytix, an IT market research firm, thinks that we're at a moment similar to the one that happened about three decades ago with software.
TOM PETROCELLI: When software became a more open endeavor, when anyone could afford to buy a PC and write code in their basement or in their den, we saw all kinds of software come out. All kinds of applications.
SYDELL: With really cheap hardware, it can open up new possibilities in the developing world and here at home for investors and tinkerers to find uses we can't even imagine. Some of them could even come from that group of students in Kentucky. Laura Sydell, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
I'm Renee Montagne with news of a writer who had to tell his story twice. Sunil Yapa wrote a 600-page novel, and then he lost it. His laptop was stolen. He summoned the will to write it all over again - shorter this time. This repeat performance turned into a newly published novel about reoccurring themes in American history. Here's our colleague Steve Inskeep.
STEVE INSKEEP, BYLINE: This book re-creates an event from the 1990s, the memory of which has almost washed away. It happened before 9/11.
SUNIL YAPA: Here's a moment that we forgot about or that got lost in the news cycle that I think was a very important moment in American history.
INSKEEP: Novelist Sunil Yapa is referring to the 1999 protests in Seattle. Thousands of demonstrators disrupted a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Badly outnumbered, police resorted to using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets. Sunil Yapa's novel inspired by those events arrives just in time to see seem current. We are in a presidential campaign that's often focused on trade deals, big corporations and other features of globalization that people were protesting back then. And that is just the first resonance that Yapa found when he looked into the past.
YAPA: I came across a picture of a woman on the streets in the protest, and she has long, red hair. She's on her knees. She's clearly been hit by a baton. She has a wound on her forehead. And I just thought, wow, why is this woman here? What world are we living in that she's protesting for the rights of - I don't know - someone who makes shoes in Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, where my father's from. And what I wanted to do was sort of unpack the soundbite that we hear all too often - violent protesters clash with police.
INSKEEP: Why do that by building your novel around a character who is neither a cop nor a protester, but a young man who's really hoping to sell some drugs to some protesters?
YAPA: You're talking about Victor, who's a 19-year-old biracial son of the chief of police who's run away, traveled the world and now he's back in Seattle. And he has no interest in the politics. And he's really - you know, he's estranged from his father, he's lost his mother, and he's really looking for a family. And he's so desperate to belong somewhere that he's willing to join these protests without any training and put himself into the most vulnerable of positions, which was lockdown, which was one of the protest strategies. It's people in the center of an intersection in a circle, locked in chains and pipes, waiting for the cops to come to clear the streets. So he's so desperate to belong to a family, he's willing to put himself in that position. And that's a novelist's dream - if you find a character like that.
INSKEEP: How did you research these protests of what seems like long ago?
YAPA: Yeah, it's both a curse and a blessing to be writing about a recent historical event. It's a blessing in the sense that there was an amazing amount of resources. So starting with the University of Washington has an archive in the basement - diaries that people have sent in. There's boxes of VHS tapes from the day. One of my favorite resources - I went to the archives at the city hall in Seattle, and I found recordings of all five days of the police scanner traffic. So it's just - it's obviously very intimate - just the cops talking back to each other or talking to the command center. And very quickly, because they were so outnumbered, they start to sound very nervous and frankly scared. And I think the first time I heard one of their voices being scared - that was the first moment I thought here's a human moment. I can start to write some officers as real characters, as real humans.
INSKEEP: And did you - did you find yourself feeling like you were commenting on the present day when you got into the past because you're writing this over the last years when there's an increasing movement against overbearing police, for example?
YAPA: You know, I wasn't directly speaking to Ferguson or Baltimore or some of the other protests that we've seen in the U.S. I think if there's a connection, it's that when people feel cut off from decision-making and, in a democracy, aren't included in the decisions, they take to the streets. And what I see when I look at that is that it's a - it's a very desperate measure. It's almost an expression of grief - people feeling powerless, in a way.
INSKEEP: Can I get you to read a passage from this book from early on?
YAPA: I would love to.
INSKEEP: Page nine - and this is a description of Victor watching the protesters coming his way.
YAPA: Yes, sure. I love this one. (Reading) Here came the defenders of democracy, riding the ferry in from the islands, climbing down from the haze of an interstate bus, crossing the bridge in their Subarus, their aging Toyotas, their cheap American rolling junk. And Victor, bestowed with the unenviable gift of geography and sight, saw the merino wool scarves twisted at the neck, their T-shirts and flannels and fleeces, their backpacks and jeans. And he thought of the factories he had seen along the border in Mexico, the lines of women waiting for work to begin, the razor wire fences behind which the things of the world were made, the smoke curling into the sky like a pencil drawing of a drowned woman's hair. How do you protest this?
INSKEEP: That gets to what you were just saying about grief - doesn't it? - because you are describing people who are very unhappy about the state of things, but can't propose a direct solution to it.
YAPA: That's exactly right. And I guess I feel that way about this amorphous thing we call globalization or global capitalism. And there's some facts of the world that are a little uncomfortable. And I think there's a lot of people - and I really felt it writing about the protest - this sense of sadness about the way the world works, but a real sense of - what do I do about it? What else can I do but take to the streets?
INSKEEP: How does it affect your thoughts about globalization that you have a global story for yourself - a global family story?
YAPA: Well, I guess one of the important things for me is that my father's from Sri Lanka, but even more importantly, he was a consultant for the World Bank. So when I grew up, every summer, my dad would be in the Philippines. He - I remember him, you know, coming back from Bolivia. And these are in the days before the Internet, so we didn't have a lot of pictures of Bolivia. So he came back wearing a poncho with a cassette tape of pan flutes. And I thought, whoa, what is this mountain music? I must have been six years old. And I think that really instilled in me a real sense of the world as one place and the world as being an interconnected place. For me, if there's anything about the book when I reread it, it's the idea that caring about people in this country and outside of this country can be a radical act. We're - we live in an age where revolution - you don't need to pick up a rifle. Sometimes empathy is enough. Sometimes empathy is a revolutionary thing.
INSKEEP: Sunil Yapa, thank you very much.
YAPA: Steve, thanks so much. It was a pleasure.
INSKEEP: His novel is called "Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of A Fist."
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And we are learning more about why ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft are so popular. There's new data suggesting that suits - professional people - are relying on these services heavily - so heavily, in fact, it's becoming the new normal, as NPR's Aarti Shahani reports.
AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE: A new normal, as in replacing an old normal. Say you landed at O'Hare Airport - Chicago. You've got a work meeting twenty minutes away. You might head to the rental desk to pick up a car, or you might call an Uber instead.
ROBERT NEVEU: More transactions coming through our system are in Uber than there were in all the rental car transactions.
SHAHANI: Bob Neveu is CEO of Certify, a company that businesses use to book travel and track receipts.
NEVEU: So if you think about it, it's a simple popularity contest. Uber is much more popular than using rental cars or taxis.
SHAHANI: Certify has analyzed millions of client transactions. That's all business travel. And in the last quarter of 2015, rental cars were 39 percent of total rides, compared to Uber, which was 41 percent - two points more. Taxis lag behind at 20 percent. While ride hailing has put some yellow cabs completely out of business, Neveu doesn't think that rental cars face the same dark fate.
NEVEU: There's always going to be a need for that marketplace when you have to drive longer distances, further away.
SHAHANI: Technology analyst Alexandra Samuel says the rental car industry needs to catch up. People don't want to be locked into a reservation days in advance. They want convenience - an app that knows your credit card number, not a form that makes you type it in. They want to write emails in the car. Samuel says incumbent companies - take Hertz, for example - they should consider offering rentals that come with drivers. And she asks...
ALEXANDRA SAMUEL: Why do I have to go to Hertz parking lot and pre-book and make sure there's a car there? Why can't I just use a Hertz app and find a Hertz car anywhere in the city?
SHAHANI: Automakers are moving in that direction. Today, General Motors announces they're rolling out a new car rental service called Maven, starting in Ann Arbor, Mich., where customers can use smartphones to reserve nearby cars and get in without keys. Aarti Shahani, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The uproar over lead contamination in the water in Flint, Mich., got louder yesterday with sharp words from President Obama on the state's handling of the crisis. The president met with Flint's mayor and promised continued support for the city during the crisis. This was a day after Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder apologized to the people of Flint. But in an interview airing this weekend on CBS, Obama complained that residents of Flint, who are mostly black, were not immediately told of the danger in their water. Joining us is Rick Pluta of Michigan Public Radio, who's been following the political turns in this story. Good morning.
RICK PLUTA, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: And where has Flint's mayor been during all of this time? And I'm not speaking here of Karen Weaver, really.
PLUTA: Although, well, Flint has a new mayor, Karen Weaver. The former mayor, Dayne Walling, was swept out of office amid voter anger over this water crisis. You just referred to Gov. Snyder's state of the state address. Karen Weaver actually skipped that, even though it was largely devoted to Flint. She was in Washington for a meeting of the national conference of mayors. She met with the president, Michigan's congressional delegation. And in a public forum, she asked if this would've happened if Flint wasn't a community that was poor and wasn't a community that's mostly African-American. And it's worth pointing out that now, Gov. Snyder says he wants to take a lot of the authority that was seized by the state in Flint and actually transfer it back to the Flint mayor.
MONTAGNE: Well, that's interesting. And also though, Gov. Snyder released emails related to the Flint water crisis. Why did he do that?
PLUTA: The governor says he wants people to have a sense of what he knew and when he knew about the water crisis. Remember, this started when Flint was under the control of a series of state-appointed emergency managers. And so he is hoping that by releasing 274 pages of electronic messages between him and his advisers related to Flint that, you know, this can help explain what's going on.
MONTAGNE: And what then did we learn from these emails that the governor released?
PLUTA: That Rick Snyder was informed in late September, there might be a problem. That was 17, 18 months after the first complaints from Flint. But, Snyder's aid seemed to think that it wasn't the state's job to do something about it, that it was serious but that the responsibility rested with Flint officials even though, under local emergency management, the state treasurer had to sign off on the drinking water switch that caused the problem in the first place. Also these same aides to the governor kind of dismissed the early complaints about lead contamination. His chief of staff said they were coming from the, quote, "against everyone crowd." And they were concerned that critics were using the lead issue as a political football.
MONTAGNE: That's Rick Pluta of Michigan Public Radio. Thanks very much.
PLUTA: You bet, Renee, a pleasure.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
There is still oil coming to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico a decade after a spill there. Yesterday, for the first time, the company responsible spoke publicly about what's been done to contain the pollution which dates back to hurricane Ivan in 2004. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott.
DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: The briefing in Baton Rouge was part of a court-ordered settlement of a lawsuit brought by environmental groups in 2012. Larissa Liebmann is a staff attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance. She says they just wanted public disclosure.
LARISSA LIEBMANN: We had heard reports about this oil sheen, and once we started digging, there was - it was almost impossible to get any information. Everything we tried to get from the government was said to be confidential, so we brought this case largely because we had no idea what was going on.
ELLIOTT: Taylor Energy President William Pecue opened the unusual session by declaring that an act of God created the ongoing oil leak about 10 miles off the Louisiana coast. Hurricane Ivan toppled a production platform and buried a cluster of 25 oil wells beneath a mudslide. Even though Taylor has spent $480 million to clean up the site, miles-long oil slicks persist. Now, the New Orleans-based company says there's not much more it can do, and there's no ecological impact. Experts report that the sheen seen near the site is coming from remnant oil that's trapped in the mud on the ocean floor, not from actively leaking wells. No recordings were permitted, and Pecue was unavailable for comment afterward. Taylor attorney Mike Beaty acknowledged the extent of the pollution remains a mystery.
MIKE BEATY: There is no one that has been able to come up with a number for what that oil would be or what oil remains in the soil right now.
ELLIOTT: An Associated Press investigation last year revealed the spill was likely 20 times worse than the company or government had publicly reported. Even so, this is no gusher like the BP well blowout in 2010. The Taylor site is estimated to be leaking of thousands of gallons of oil as opposed to millions of barrels. But, Beatty says, there's no sense of how long it could be a problem.
BEATY: As long as we've got oil down there, there will no doubt be hydrocarbon bubbles that will percolate through the sand and bring it to the surface.
RUSSELL HONORE: This is an act of man, and we need to figure out how we're going to fix it.
ELLIOTT: That's retired Army Gen. Russell Honore, leader of Louisiana's Green Army, which has been taking photographs of the oil on the surface of the Gulf.
HONORE: You see the oil sheen? You see the boat going across? And on any clear day, you can go see the same thing. How can somebody say this amount of oil has zero impact on the environment?
ELLIOTT: Honore tried to pose that question at the meeting, but was repeatedly informed that only written questions would be entertained. He walked out after a tense exchange with William Pecue. Environmentalists thanked the company after the meeting yesterday, but Larissa Liebmann with Waterkeeper Alliance remains unsatisfied.
LIEBMANN: Really, we would be satisfied if we saw the oil completely cleaned up, and the leaks stopped, and the federal government changing its program to stop things like this from happening again.
ELLIOTT: New federal oil and gas leases in the Gulf will be up for bidding in the spring. Debbie Elliot, NPR News, Baton Rouge.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Fashion may change from season to season, but fashion editors do not, at least not at Vogue magazine. So it's big news that the American edition of Vogue is losing its legendary creative director, Grace Coddington. She's been there since 1988. At 74, she's branching out but not severing her ties. Jacki Lyden, founder of the Seams, our occasional series about the fashion culture, has more.
JACKI LYDEN, BYLINE: Tall with flaming red hair, Coddington stepped into the spotlight after the 2009 movie, "The September Issue..."
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE")
GRACE CODDINGTON: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Ms. Coddington.
LYDEN: ...About putting together an epic issue of the magazine, 840 pages. Vogue was always a part of her life. Decades ago, it took a formerly gawky isolated Welsh kid and opened her eyes to the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE")
CODDINGTON: I never dreamt to be a model or never, never dreamt to be a fashion editor. But I just loved the pages and the pictures.
LYDEN: Coddington headed to London where she modeled for a decade. At Vogue, she was the resident free spirit with the dreamy layouts. In London or New York, she styled those pages with the best fashion photographers in the world, including Annie Leibovitz and Bruce Weber. Fashion critic Robin Givhan of The Washington Post says you always knew her work.
ROBIN GIVHAN: Grace always remembered and celebrated the romance and the fantasy of fashion.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
CODDINGTON: Those huge shoots that I do are the most fun.
LYDEN: That's Coddington in 2012 talking to NPR's Fresh Air about her memoir and why she enjoys fantasy-themed fashion shoots.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
CODDINGTON: Because you can really go to town. You can forget about being commercial. You can use all your creative juices, you know. It's like making a movie or a little play.
LYDEN: She and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, who hired her in New York, seemed the perfect duality. Fire meets ice. But they did spar. In this clip from "The September Issue," Coddington allows herself to be shown depressed after losing a battle over one of her special photo shoots.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE")
CODDINGTON: They've probably thrown out $50,000 worth of work. I care very much about what I do. I do, or I wouldn't be still doing it, you know. But it gets harder and harder to see it just thrown out.
LYDEN: Mary Davis, dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, says she's excited to see what Coddington does next because she's a survivor who still wants to do a lot of things, a perfume, animation, another book.
MARY DAVIS: Someone who's had a career like hers and is a brand like she is has something to offer in the world of perfume or in the world of design. This seems like a natural next move.
LYDEN: Coddington will still do a few Vogue shoots each year as creative director at large. And if there's one thing she's learned from all the photographers she's worked with, it's this from "The September Issue."
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE")
CODDINGTON: Always keep your eyes open, you know. Never go to sleep in the car or anything like that. Keep watching because whatever you see out the window or wherever, it can inspire you.
LYDEN: Fashion thrives on change and yet needs its wise elders. Coddington seems to be leading the way gracefully. For NPR News, I'm Jacki Lyden.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The mood in Germany, which has been so welcoming to migrants, is changing now. On New Year's Eve, groups of young men assaulted women in Cologne and other German cities. And some of the suspects are recent migrants from North Africa. In Dusseldorf last weekend, police launched a huge raid on a largely North African neighborhood looking for gangs of petty criminals. All of this is leading many longtime immigrants from North Africa feeling stigmatized, and they are speaking out. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Dusseldorf.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Departure 15. Fifteen...
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: Steps from Dusseldorf's main train station is the city's so-called Maghreb quarter, named for the part of Northwest Africa that includes Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. German police suspect the neighborhood of being a hub for gangs of thieves and pickpockets and more recently predators who grope and harass their female victims. It is here where 300 police officers raided coffee shops and other popular hangouts last Saturday night in what they called Operation Casablanca. The six-hour raid led to 40 people being arrested, most on suspicion of being in Germany illegally. Within the Maghreb quarter, many residents who've lived here for decades say they feel their reputations were destroyed in one night. Elders like Husaian Fannoua who runs a travel agency agree that crime and sexual harassment here are on the rise.
HUSAIAN FANNOUA: (Foreign language spoken).
NELSON: But the Moroccan native who immigrated to Germany 57 years ago says the raid was badly handled and that given the widespread media coverage, it tarnished their community.
FANNOUA: (Through interpreter) They pulled people out of cafes or stores like animals and made such a scene. It was so bad. What are our German neighbors going to think about us?
NELSON: Many German politicians have been loudly calling for the deportation of all North African asylum seekers. Police have blamed migrants for widespread sexual assaults that occurred in several big German cities on New Year's Eve. Fannoua says they forget most of us here are citizens who can vote. At one of the neighborhood's more popular restaurants, Moroccan-born owner Badr Haddad says he also feels the backlash from the new, acerbic portrayal of North Africans across Germany.
BADR HADDAD: (Foreign language spoken).
NELSON: Haddad, who moved here 13 years ago to attend university, says he was out last weekend at a bar in the old town where he began chatting with a young German woman. She asked him where he was from, and when he told her, Haddad says she became frightened and stepped back.
HADDAD: (Foreign language spoken).
NELSON: Haddad says that kind of reaction is just not acceptable. It's why he and other business owners and Maghreb community leaders say they are demanding city and police officials as well as the German media help end the stigmatization of North Africans. They are also launching an outreach program in the Maghreb quarter this weekend to teach newcomers about German culture and laws, especially on how to interact with women.
HADDAD: (Foreign language spoken).
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Haddad says, "it's normal for a German woman and Moroccan like me to stand together and just talk. But there are boundaries, and some of the new migrants just don't get that." Despite the neighborhood's outrage, Dusseldorf police defend the operation.
ANDREAS CZOGALLA: (Foreign language spoken).
MONTAGNE: Police spokesman Andreas Czogalla points to the 69 women who came forward to accuse the foreign gangs of groping them here on New Year's Eve. As to the 40 people arrested in the raid last Saturday night, he says they were mostly asylum seekers, and once they showed their documents, they were released. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Dusseldorf.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Time now for Snapshots 2016, a series of audio portraits of people we're meeting on the campaign trail, people who have been swept into the momentum of the election year. Every campaign has volunteers who passionately support their candidate for president. Some of them have unique stories, like the couple who moved from Hawaii to Iowa to participate in the caucuses. NPR's Tamara Keith has their story.
ROB HOST: I'm Rob Host
CLAUDIA HOST: And I'm Claudia Host.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: And they are the Hawai-Iowans (ph), Hawaii Iowans. When they were both 44 years old, Claudia and Rob Host set out on an adventure. They spent 11 years sailing around the world, then stopped to repair their boat in Hawaii.
R. HOST: Six months turned into 10 years. We decided the sailing was over.
KEITH: After a decade, it was time to move again to someplace truly exotic - Iowa.
R. HOST: Believe it or not, it was actually on our bucket list to do this.
C. HOST: Yeah, we've never lived in a state that caucused. So we were always wondering what must it be like to have all the presidential candidates come.
KEITH: So last spring, they sold their car, boxed up their things and moved to the mainland, to West Des Moines, Iowa, which seems completely insane.
R. HOST: We're now going to tell people we're on the witness protection program.
C. HOST: That they believe.
R. HOST: The business about moving from Hawaii to come here to caucus, people just go, you got to be crazy.
KEITH: They wanted a front-row seat to the parade of candidates. And they've gotten it.
R. HOST: Because we got here in April, we've seen every candidate and many of them two and three times.
KEITH: Democrats, Republicans, all of them.
R. HOST: Of all the years, can you imagine? I couldn't have picked a more incredible political year.
KEITH: And their candidate is Hillary Clinton because of her work on health care reform going back to the 1990s. On a recent weekend, the couple discovered hand warmers as they put in nine hours knocking on doors in freezing temperatures.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Everybody, if you want to get another round of beverages or a little more food, and then we're going to get started here.
KEITH: I met the Hawai-Iowans at a mock caucus event. That's where people practice for caucus night.
C. HOST: I'm Claudia. You're unruly.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: Claudia Host will be a precinct captain, so she tried out the speech she plans to give.
C. HOST: Tonight's the night. Tonight's the night we've been fighting for. And I want to thank you.
KEITH: Her voice cracked, the emotion building up.
C. HOST: I want to thank all of you for your hard work. I'd better not do this.
(LAUGHTER)
KEITH: She was crying, then laughing at the ridiculousness of getting so emotional at a mock caucus.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That's why we practice. So when you have the emotional surge, you got it out of your system.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: And then you say all the - you came all the way from Hawaii.
KEITH: Claudia and Rob Host plan to stay in Iowa, at least through November's general election. Then they expect to get that travelers' itch again and move on to their next port of call. They're thinking Thailand. Tamara Keith, NPR News.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm David Greene. Up for sale, one Fiat 500L, slightly used by the pope - yes, Francis is ditching the car he rode around in on his trip to the U.S. last fall. The modest vehicle is up for auction at the Philadelphia Auto Show Black Tie Tailgate next weekend. The proceeds will go to charity, as you might expect. The compact Fiat gets 33 miles to the gallon and retails for around $20,000. Auctioneers expect it to get a lot more than that. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
An official investigation into the murder in London of a former Russian spy is out today, and puts the blame squarely on the Russian government. The British report says President Vladimir Putin likely personally approved the assassination of former spy Alexander Litvinenko. This statement was read out by his friend after his death.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protests from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.
MONTAGNE: The findings are explosive, and will deepen the tensions between the U.K. and Russia. NPR's Leila Fadel joins us now to discuss this. Good morning.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So tell us more about the Litvinenko case.
FADEL: Well, Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who sought asylum in Britain. And in Britain, he publicly denounced the Kremlin and became a strong critic of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. He was also believed to be consulting with Britain's MI6 spy agency. And in 2006, he was poisoned in a swanky hotel in the heart of London with a cup of green tea laced with radioactive polonium-210. The culprits named in today's report as his assassins are two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun. Litvinenko's widow said the words her husband spoke on his deathbed, the words you just heard accusing Putin of his murder, have finally been proven.
MONTAGNE: And so what exactly did the inquiry find?
FADEL: Judge Robert Owen, who's a retired British judge and conducted the inquiry, found that Litvinenko was definitely poisoned by a cup of polonium-210-laced tea. He also says there's a strong possibility that Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, probably approved the assassination himself. And he says he believes this because the two Russian men, Lugovoi and Kovtun, who he concludes carried out the assassinations, used polonium-210. And it was manufactured in a nuclear reactor, and only a state body can provide that, the Russian state. And so that's the conclusion of the inquiry.
MONTAGNE: OK, the results of this public investigation, they - it blames the Russian state, it implicates the Russian president. I mean, big stuff. What happens now between the two countries?
FADEL: Well, just to show how seriously Britain is taking this, Theresa May, the - Britain's Home Secretary, gave a statement on the findings to the House of Commons.
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HOME SECRETARY THERESA MAY: It goes without saying that this was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilized behavior.
FADEL: She reiterated the demands for extradition of both Lugovoi and Kovtun. She says the Treasury has decided on an asset freeze for the two men implicated in Litvinenko's death. She says that the U.K. is deeply disturbed by Putin's likely involvement, but says the U.K. will continue to guardedly engage with Russia over mutual interests like Syria. She's calling on Russia to engage responsibly with the world.
MONTAGNE: So, Leila, how will this affect relations between Russia and Britain?
FADEL: Well, of course it's already deepened tensions. Russia has said this inquiry is politicized, biased, opaque. It quoted an official in its state news agency saying that this will definitely have repercussions for the U.K.-Russian relationship. But Britain's walking a tight route - rope and is under a lot of pressure to respond. Litvinenko's widow, Marina, has said - has called for targeted sanctions on Russian officials.
MONTAGNE: All right, NPR's Leila Fadel speaking to us from London. Thanks very much.
FADEL: Thank you.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And this past month has not been a good one for Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel. A recent poll puts his approval rating at 18 percent, and there are widespread calls for his resignation, all largely because of his handling of the investigation into the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald Let's hear now from a prominent critic of the mayor. Pastor Corey Brooks at the New Beginnings Church of Chicago is one of many African-American clergy who boycotted the mayor's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast. Mr. Brooks, good morning.
COREY BROOKS: Good morning, thank you for having me on the show. I greatly appreciate it.
GREENE: Well, thanks for coming on. We appreciate your time. Tell me why you skipped the breakfast.
BROOKS: Well, we skipped the breakfast because we felt as if it was an injustice to be there, to - you know, in honor of Doctor Martin Luther King, we think that if we're going to eat breakfast with the mayor on Martin Luther King's birthday, it should be centered around justice. It should be centered around being equal for all people. And here in Chicago, that's just not the way that it is.
GREENE: You know, you were such a vocal supporter of Mayor Emanuel. You even backed his bid for reelection, and, I mean, those are incredibly harsh words to say he is not someone who supports justice in your city. What - at what moment did you realize that you could no longer support him?
BROOKS: Well, at the moment that that - it was - the video was released and then we got all the emails talking about the different meetings that he was having with his leadership and his cabinet and people around him that knew about the video but...
GREENE: This was the video, we should say, of Laquan McDonald...
BROOKS: The video of Laquan McDonald, and - but he still yet says that he did not see the video. Even though a lot of the people around him saw the video and reported to him, he still wants to make us believe that he did not hold that video back as - for political gain. And there's a lot of us who just don't believe that. We just don't buy that story.
GREENE: And tell me why that is such a huge, huge deal to you. Just articulate why him saying that he hasn't seen that video means so much to you.
BROOKS: Well, because it affects the outcome of the election. You know, if that video comes out at the time of the election, there is no Rahm Emanuel being mayor of Chicago, definitely. And we believe - a lot of us believe that that video was held back for political reasons. And if that is true, that's something that we cannot tolerate in a time like this. And, you know, people need to know we're not only just facing Laquan McDonald. There was a video that was released after the election of the young man who was Tasered some 18 times and drug like a doll out of a jail cell. And he was - he was killed. There was another video of a young man who ran from a car, and he was shot and killed. And that video was held. So it's more than just one incident.
GREENE: You know, I read a comment from one person protesting the police there in Chicago, and he suggested in a news story that it is not about who the mayor is. He said the police force, in his words, has been messed up before Emanuel's time; it will be messed up long after he's gone. And it makes me wonder. Do you worry that focusing on the mayor - I mean, is that the best way to bring the change you want in the city?
BROOKS: Well, the mayor has had enough time to change the culture of the police department. He brought in the superintendent, and their - recently, he fired the superintendent of police. So, you know, we believe the culture of the police department - it could have been changed. There are a lot of issues that need to be fixed, and there are a lot of things that have been done under his watch. And at the end of the day, he is the leader. And at the end of the day, he's responsible, not just for the good things that happen in the city of Chicago, but for the bad things as well.
GREENE: Just about 20 seconds left or so. I know, you know, Mayor Emanuel is a man with a long political career. He has apologized. He has acknowledged this happened on his watch - anything he can do to change your mind and make you support him again?
BROOKS: Well, you know, as pastors, we - at least I do, and I'm sure my comrades do as well. We believe in reconciliation. We believe in forgiveness. And we want all of that to take place, but we're not - we're not willing to have reconciliation without action. And until the mayor puts action behind his words and his tears, we're going to continue our stance and continue to do what we do and continue to ask him to step aside. And until then, we hope that things can be rectified.
GREENE: All right, pastor, thanks very much.
BROOKS: Thank You. I appreciate it.
GREENE: That's Corey Brooks from Chicago's New Beginnings Church. And we should say, Mayor Emanuel has been on our program before. We've reached out to his office to chat with him about all of this, and we are ready to welcome him again.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
She has long been considered the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. That's meant months of attacks from Republican presidential candidates on her right. But with the Iowa caucuses approaching, she's now really feeling the heat from the left. Sen. Bernie Sanders is closing the gap, and he recently made a surprising comparison between Clinton and a prominent member of the GOP. Our colleague, All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro, caught up with Secretary Clinton during a stop in San Antonio yesterday and put some of those criticisms from both sides to the candidate.
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ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: On foreign policy, President Obama's approval ratings are in the 30s. You were the face of Obama foreign policy for four years. Don't those numbers suggest that people, in fact, want a change from the foreign policies that you represent?
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I don't agree with that. I think that people are rightly concerned about ISIS. I'm the only candidate on either side in this race who has put forth a comprehensive plan about what we need to do to deprive them of territory on the ground through air support of fighters, not Americans but Arab and Kurdish fighters, what we need to do to go after their foreign funding, foreign fighter flow, take them on online and how we keep America safe. And first and foremost, it's not by demonizing Muslims and particularly American Muslims. So we need to make it clear. These are complicated problems. We need a very steady hand. We need to have people who understand the complexity of the problems because we have to make some hard choices going forward.
SHAPIRO: Sen. Sanders suggested yesterday that your experience is not enough and that there's a difference between experience and judgment. Part of what he said was, Dick Cheney had a lot of experience, George W. Bush's vice president, of course. A whole lot of people have experience but do not necessarily have the right judgment. How do you feel about being compared to Dick Cheney?
CLINTON: (Laughter) Well, since I spent eight years in the Senate fighting against a lot of what he represented and four years as secretary of state cleaning up the mess that he left, I think it's, you know, fairly far out there. But it is fair to say, OK, let's compare experience. And certainly, President Obama, when he was elected, immediately turned to me. He trusted my experience and my judgment to be his secretary of state because we inherited so many problems from the kind of attitude and actions that were manifest in the Bush-Cheney administration, and I really did have to get around the world reassuring people that the United States would conduct ourselves in accordance with our values. Yes, we would pursue our interests, but we wanted to do so in concert with others. That's why when I negotiated the sanctions against Iran, I had to get countries as difficult as Russia and China on board. And then I had to go convince countries that felt like, you know, that's a long way away. We want to keep buying their oil and their gas, why that was not in their interest, in order to advance global security. So I have a very clear idea of what we need to do, and I know it goes beyond sloganeering and political one-liners.
MONTAGNE: That's Hillary Clinton speaking in San Antonio with Ari Shapiro of All Things Considered. You can catch more of that conversation on our website, npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Caltech astronomer Mike Brown helped prove Pluto is not a true planet. Brown tweets under the handle plutokiller. But his young daughter does not approve. She wanted Pluto to stay a planet, and she said she wouldn't forgive him until he discovered a brand new one. Now he thinks he has. Brown and another astronomer say small bodies appear to be orbiting a giant icy planet far beyond Pluto called Planet Nine. Thanks, Dad. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's talk now about the Republic presidential campaign, not the candidates but the calendar. Changes to the process made by the party mean it could be a long time before we know who the Republican nominee is. Benjamin Ginsberg is a Washington, D.C. attorney, who was national council for both the George W. Bush and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns and joins us to talk about it. Good morning.
BENJAMIN GINSBERG: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now, you wrote in Politico this week that in every presidential election in the last 20 years, the GOP settled on its nominee by early March. That sounds like a dream right now. Do you - but what's different?
GINSBERG: Well, a number of things are different. There were some fundamental changes made to the rules process by which the nominees are selected that moved back the process. You've got an uncommonly crowded field this time around. You've got an angry electorate that is stirring things up, really, on both sides of the aisle. The establishment is uncharacteristically divided in coalescing around a candidate. So it's a yeasty mix, all in all.
MONTAGNE: So lots of things - so process just being one of them.
GINSBERG: Yes, process just being one of them. The candidates and the issues and the mood of the country all play into it, as well.
MONTAGNE: Well, one thing that you write is that typically, there are two lanes in the Republican nominating contest - the establishment lane and the conservative lane. But this time, you see a possible viable third lane that you call the Trump lane. What will that do to this season?
GINSBERG: Well, what it does is have the possibility of extending it. You need to have a majority of delegates at the convention. A majority is pretty easily achieved with two candidates. Things get messier if there are three viable candidates or three lanes of candidates amassing delegates.
MONTAGNE: Now, when we talk about lanes, though, it's still, again, within the party, not, say, third candidate. I mean, actually, those are functioning areas of interest.
GINSBERG: Yes, I mean, if you look at the polls right now, Donald Trump has a bit more than a third of the vote. Ted Cruz, who would represent the conservative lane along with a couple others, has about a third. And the four leading establishment candidates right now have a bit less than a third.
MONTAGNE: Fine. So when you sit here and you look at these three lanes and how that's breaking down, you do the math, you look at the calendar, where do you think the Republican Party is likely to be going into the Republican National Convention this summer?
GINSBERG: I think you have to go back to what historically happens if you were to place odds on this, which means that there will be one candidate who has a majority of delegates at the convention. But the chances of that not happening this time - of something really of an historic and unusual nature - is certainly greater than it's been for an awful - an awful long time.
MONTAGNE: Everyone always gets excited about that, though. Every year - I mean, every four years - the possibility of, effectively, a fight on the convention floor. Any chance of that?
GINSBERG: Yeah. Oh, sure. Again, because there are - at least at this point, appear to be - three viable lanes of candidates. The - just the mathematical chances of arriving in Cleveland in - on July 18 without a majority is increased than if there were the traditional establishment and disruptor candidates fighting it out.
MONTAGNE: Well, just briefly, what's your take on why the voters are so unhappy this particular time around?
GINSBERG: It seems to be a combination of things. They expected a great deal of hope and promise out of the current administration and Congress. That, I think, has not been delivered to anyone's satisfaction on either the left or the right. There's a great deal of unease about the U.S. economy. There is a great deal of unease about our standing in the world as a whole. And Washington itself has presented people with a feeling of dysfunction. They're not listening to me, and that - and that's all combined together to give us an angry electorate that's picking candidates out of the mainstream in both parties.
MONTAGNE: All right, well, thanks very much.
GINSBERG: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Benjamin Ginsberg is a longtime counsel to Republican campaigns.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK, now, we've been exploring what might happen now that sanctions have been lifted against Iran. As we've been doing that, we found a rug maker who has been anxiously waiting for this day.
KHASHAYAR NIROUMAND: Actually, I'm a news guy, and I always follow news about sanction, and I always hopeful to have all sanction removed.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Khashayar Niroumand is the general manager of a rug workshop in Isfahan, Iran, and he knows what he's going to do next.
KHASHAYAR NIROUMAND: The first thing - I want to send one shipment to the United States because I really interested to do it soon (laughter) because we are ready.
MONTAGNE: That shipment will wind up in a showroom in San Francisco run by a couple named Melina and Dodd Raissnia.
GREENE: Dodd was born in Iran. Back in 2002, he and Melina founded Peace Industry. That's the felt rug company Niroumand works for back in Iran. Felt rugs are among the oldest types of rugs in the world, and Peace Industry makes them using the same methods that have been used for thousands of years.
MELINA RAISSNIA: It's a very primitive technology. Basically, it's just pressing wool fibers with water - hot water. So there's all different techniques for doing that, from stomping, hammering - like with mallets - kicking. It's a very physical process.
GREENE: Now, Melina is excited about what the lifting of sanctions means on many levels.
RAISSNIA: I really hope that this means that our business can thrive. And if I may speak for everyone, I think that this is really a game changer, you know, in geopolitics.
MONTAGNE: And for Niroumand back in Isfahan, the lifting of the sanctions is also more than just economics.
KHASHAYAR NIROUMAND: We don't sell much at our work just as a business. Actually, it is something cultural because felt rug is one of the ancient handcraft in Iran. And when we import it into the United States, they'll look at it something cultural.
MONTAGNE: And for the customers in San Francisco...
RAISSNIA: We don't really talk that much about politics with our customers. When they come into the store, they're really just looking for a nice rug.
MONTAGNE: A nice rug, imported from Iran.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Well, one of the great rivalries in sports might have its final act this weekend when the Denver Broncos host the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. This will be the 17th meeting between the team's two quarterbacks, Tom Brady from the Patriots and Peyton Manning from the Broncos. They're arguably two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. And for more on the importance of this meeting, we reach Gary Myers. He's football writer for the New York Daily News and also author of the new book, "Brady Vs Manning." Welcome.
GARY MYERS: David, how are you doing today?
GREENE: I'm good, thank you. So you thought this rivalry was so important you wrote an entire book about it. What makes it special?
GARY MYERS: (Laughter) Well, I think when we look back on this time in the League, we're going to think of Brady and Manning. They've both been tremendously successful, and what's made this so unique is that rivalries in the NFL are usually more about teams than individuals. It's very unusual that players who are not in the same division have faced each other so often. Sunday's game will be the fourth time they've met in the AFC Championship Game with the winner going to the Super Bowl.
GREENE: Well, tell me this. I mean, you make a really good point here that a lot of times we think of rivalries in team sports between teams. I mean, I think of maybe Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as one other that might be comparable. I mean, Brady-Manning - are we at that level?
GARY MYERS: Yeah, I certainly think it's at that level. And then you have, you know, Chamberlain and Russell, also, in basketball. But in a team sport like this, especially because these two players are never on the field at the same time, it just shows you how unique and tremendous this has been that two quarterbacks have been grouped together like this, even though one is obviously not defending against the other.
GREENE: What is the rivalry? I mean, you said that it has defined the era in the NFL, but, I mean, you've also said it's really transformed the League. What exactly do you mean by that?
GARY MYERS: I think Brady has become the ultimate underdog story who has gone on to be just an amazing player. And Peyton has helped change the game in just his style of play - the quick passes over the middle and being able to be given the responsibility of changing plays at the line of scrimmage, almost calling the play from the line of scrimmage.
GREENE: Why do you call Brady an underdog?
GARY MYERS: Well, just because of his background. Brady never felt respected or appreciated in Michigan, despite the fact he was 20-and-5, starting over two years in the Big Ten. He lasted until the 199th pick of the 2000 draft. He was the seventh quarterback taken in that draft. He was the seventh player taken by the Patriots, so not even New England knew he was going to be anything close to what he's become. So his whole career has been defined by having a chip on his shoulder and feeling he has something to prove. And I think that's really driven him for the last 16 years.
GREENE: Before I let you go, it's worth noting that these two guys, they don't just play each other on the field and have this bitter rivalry. They're really good friends, right?
GARY MYERS: Yeah, I think that developed early on in their careers. And you watch a game, you always see quarterbacks kind of chatting on the field before the game, and they always shake hands after the game. But they have a friendship that goes way beyond that. They speak on the phone frequently. They play golf in the off-season. They've had dinner with their wives. And, you know, David, their fathers have become good friends. They text each other the last five, six years, every Monday during the season, just to check up on each other, see how the kids are doing, that kind of stuff. But they've never met, which is really kind of interesting.
GREENE: Their fathers have a text relationship?
GARY MYERS: They have a text relationship. That shows you the age that we're in, right? (Laughter) If you told Archie Manning and Tom Brady Sr. about 20 years ago they'd become friends, but they never have met and their relationship would be by texting on cell phones...
GREENE: ...Yeah...
GARY MYERS: ...They'd say, what's that? You know?
GREENE: They'd think we were crazy.
GARY MYERS: (Laughter).
GREENE: I would love to get a copy of that text exchange this coming Monday. Gary Myers, thanks so much for talking to us.
GARY MYERS: Thank you very much for having me on. I really appreciate it.
GREENE: He is football writer for the New York Daily News and author of the new book, "Brady Vs Manning," and the two of them will be on the field in the AFC Championship Game this Sunday.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's look now at what happens when you put fewer lawbreakers in jail. Voters in California approved an experiment in 2014 when they approved Proposition 47. It reclassified some nonviolent felonies as misdemeanors. The law has been in effect for a little more than a year, and there are fewer people behind bars, but some police say there's also more crime. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: Brad Smith is a police officer in Huntington Beach. It's a decent-sized town on the coast of Orange County. He's eager for me to meet some of the drug addicts who live in the street there.
BRAD SMITH: Simon, I'll be out with an occupied vehicle...
KASTE: He pulls up behind a parked Volvo. This car is pretty much home for Sierra Meysami. She's a slightly built, sharp-witted woman who says she first tried heroin at age 18. Now she's 23, and she's completely hooked.
SIERRA MEYSAMI: I used to cry right before I'd use just because I felt like I had to use in order to feel normal.
KASTE: She's a good example of someone who would be in jail right now if it hadn't been for Prop 47. One of the crimes that reclassified is possession of heroin. Now that it's a misdemeanor, it's easier for her to stay out of jail. And she thinks that's as it should be.
MEYSAMI: I personally think in jail, I mean, it's just such a intense consequence. It's too much for, let's say, you know, drug addicts.
KASTE: But, Officer Smith sees it differently. A couple of weeks earlier, he says he caught Meysami and a friend with heroin and stolen property in this car. He arrested them, but they were back out on the street before he could even finish the paperwork.
SMITH: So in essence, what's happening is they're getting released the same day I arrest them. There's no incarceration time before they go to court. And then if they do, are found guilty, the time that they have to do for the crime is also less.
KASTE: He thinks when addicts are out on the street more, they steal more. He points to increases in auto theft, car prowls and garage burglaries. They're all up 20 percent or more in Huntington Beach since Prop 47. Some other California cities are also seeing some upticks, and a lot of police are grumbling. At the ACLU of California, Margaret Dooley-Sammuli is well aware of the cops' hostility toward Prop 47.
MARGARET DOOLEY-SAMMULI: I have certainly heard perspectives that perhaps there are some in law enforcement that are still running an opposition campaign to Prop 47. So that's certainly a perspective that's out there.
KASTE: She says the critics are ignoring other California cities where property crime is stable or even declining. Statewide crime stats are not available for 2015 yet, and she says nobody should be jumping to conclusions. There are other people, though, supporters of reform, who say it is worth keeping an eye on these localized crime spikes.
MAGNUS LOFSTROM: I don't think it is right to just brush it off as being nothing.
KASTE: Magnus Lofstrom is a senior fellow with the Public Policy Institute of California. He's also waiting for statewide statistics, and he says we can't yet judge the overall effect of Prop 47. But he recalls that a similar prison release a few years ago did push up the number of auto thefts. And he says reformers need to be honest about the possible negative consequences of letting people out of jail.
LOFSTROM: It is important to recognize that it might have an impact in crime. It might very well have an - put some upward pressure on crime rates. And the key, then, is to think of what are, then, the alternative strategies.
KASTE: Reformers say the justice system needs time to retool itself, to figure out, for example, how you get drug addicts into treatment without the threat of prison time. In downtown Huntington Beach, police chief Robert Handy mixes his criticism of Prop 47 with an acknowledgment that he's now expected to do things differently.
ROBERT HANDY: It's a pretty big hill to climb when, for us as police officers, our - the old way of handling that's just putting them in jail. But we can't do that anymore.
KASTE: So they are trying other things, such as dedicating one of their officers to working with the homeless full-time. But chief Handy says that people should also remember that American police have spent the last two decades cracking down on these quality-of-life crimes because that's what society wanted. And he says he'll be interested to see the reaction if petty crime goes back up. Martin Kaste, NPR News, Huntington Beach, Calif.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We've heard about massive flooding in Paraguay, drought in Ethiopia, all linked to El Nino. It crops up in the Pacific every few years and alters world weather patterns. This current El Nino is one of the strongest on record and is expected to go on for months. But as NPR's Nurith Aizenman reports, there's also an opportunity here.
NURITH AIZENMAN, BYLINE: The last time the planet was hit by an El Nino this big was in 1997. That event was particularly devastating to poorer countries. Lisa Goddard is a climate scientist at Columbia University.
LISA GODDARD: A lot of people were looking around at the climate impacts and starting to create lists of how expensive that El Nino event was - how much damage it was costing.
AIZENMAN: There was a lot to add up. The tab reached into the tens of billions of dollars.
LISA GODDARD: The conclusion that was coming out was that El Nino events were very costly, were very damaging, were very extreme.
AIZENMAN: But Goddard, who heads Columbia's International Research Institute for Climate and Society, had her doubts. After all, she notes ...
LISA GODDARD: ...Different parts of the world experience extreme climate in any year.
AIZENMAN: Were extreme weather disasters really more likely to occur across the world during El Nino years?
LISA GODDARD: And what we found was that they weren't.
AIZENMAN: In fact, what Goddard and a colleague concluded, after an extensive review of the data, is that El Nino-produced disasters are more predictable. See, scientists know an El Nino is coming when the waters of the Pacific become unusually warm. That warming...
LISA GODDARD: ...It reorganizes the seasonal pattern of weather, like, where the jet stream is carrying the storms.
AIZENMAN: That signature pattern of an El Nino has been well documented. And the stronger the El Nino, the more pronounced the effect, and therefore, the more accurately scientists can predict the impacts. So this current, extra powerful El Nino has offered governments and aid agencies a rare opportunity to prepare. Take the United Nations World Food Programme. Richard Choularton is overseeing a groundbreaking shift there. They're monitoring the El Nino forecasts, identifying places where a natural disaster might hit and sending in aid money proactively. For example...
RICHARD CHOULARTON: ...If you need a certain amount of rainfall for a maize crop to grow and the forecast says there's a 60 percent chance that you'll get less than that, we trigger funding for communities to do things that will help them deal with a drought.
AIZENMAN: Now in this scenario, that would mean there's a 40 percent chance there won't be a drought. The WFP could end up spending money that wasn't needed, but Choularton says it's worth the risk because preventive aid is so much cheaper than emergency aid.
CHOULARTON: We know that we'll save money in the long run.
AIZENMAN: WFP is setting up this pilot effort in five countries where El Nino-related weather could create food shortages in the coming months.
CHOULARTON: That's never happened before. So it really is changing the fundamental way we do our work from one which is reactive to one which is anticipatory.
AIZENMAN: Still, forewarned hasn't always meant forearmed in this scenario, especially in Indonesia. Every fall, everyone from small farmers to big companies set fires for palm oil production there, but this past year, the El Nino created extra dry conditions. Any fires were bound to get out of control, and the government did spread the word.
RIZALDI BOER: Of course, they tell the people about the situation.
AIZENMAN: Rizaldi Boer person is with Indonesia's Bogor Agricultural University. He says in many cases, the warnings only encouraged people to set fires.
BOER: Because fire will be easily burn, and they can clean the land very quick. They really make use of the situation to get more land.
AIZENMAN: The result? Fires that raged for weeks, choking the region with smoke, sickening hundreds of thousands. Boer says the solution is to give people a better reason not to set fires like offering financial rewards to villages that resist the temptation. Nurith Aizenman, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Back when migrants were pouring into Europe, a Hungarian TV camerawoman was caught on video tripping a Syrian refugee and his son as they scrambled across the border between Hungary and Serbia. That video went viral. The woman lost her job, and the man she kicked - well, his life has also changed drastically since then. Reporter Lauren Frayer caught up with him in Spain, where he's been granted asylum.
LAUREN FRAYER: Last September, Miguel Angel Galan was working in his office south of Madrid when he happened to glance up at the TV...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LAUREN FRAYER: ...And first laid eyes on Osama Abdul Mohsen being tripped by a Hungarian TV camerawoman.
MIGUEL GALAN: (Speaking Spanish).
LAUREN FRAYER: "It made me so angry I started searching the Internet," he says. "I found out he was a soccer coach back home in Syria, and that's the moment when I realized I might be able to help." Galan runs Cenafe Academy, the biggest soccer coaching school in Europe, which was looking for someone to boost its ties with Arab coaches. He started working the phones, finally reached Abdul Mohsen in Germany, and offered him a job. Weeks later, he was here with two of his sons, aged 17 and 8.
OSAMA MOHSEN: I'm very happy - very, very happy. Thank you.
LAUREN FRAYER: They've become local celebrities and got to meet their idol, soccer superstar Cristiano Rinaldo.
LAUREN FRAYER: Hello, salam aleykum.
LAUREN FRAYER: Abdul Mohsen and his sons now live in a furnished apartment paid for by the soccer academy.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: I think at first it maybe a joke. But another telephone, telephone, telephone, and your job and your house and anything - just come here. That is better for my future.
LAUREN FRAYER: He says he rarely thinks about Petra Laszlo, the Hungarian camerawoman who has since apologized for tripping him.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: I don't know, but I think this woman don't like refugees.
LAUREN FRAYER: The whole journey was traumatic. Abdul Mohsen says his youngest son, Zaid, still cries every night.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: That's very small. He need mama always. He need mama always. In night, when you sleep, baba need mama. Baba, I need mama. It's very, very, very difficult.
LAUREN FRAYER: Abdul's wife and two other children are stuck in Turkey. Spain won't grant them asylum without papers that they haven't been able to get from the Syrian Embassy. Abdul Mohsen says he's grateful for Spain's hospitality, but if he can't be reunited with his family, they might have to go elsewhere.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: I hope Washington, New York, Chicago - direct I go. (Laughter) Yes.
LAUREN FRAYER: For now, though, this 52-year-old man is adapting to life here and learning to cook.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: I ask my wife, and she told me, take this chicken and - I cooking. Yes.
LAUREN FRAYER: Is he a good cook?
MOHAMMAD MOHSEN: Yes, if he needs.
LAUREN FRAYER: His son Mohammad says he's not a bad cook, actually. The boys are learning Spanish. They all go to Mohammad's soccer practice together. His dad is the coach, of course.
OSAMA ABDUL MOHSEN: (Speaking Spanish)
LAUREN FRAYER: Short pass, long pass, run - Abdul Mohsen knows the most important Spanish words here, he says, laughing, and heads back onto the field, his one real refuge where language doesn't matter. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Getafe, Spain.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Time again for Story Corps. Today again, an encore presentation of a story from the Military Voices Initiative which records post-9/11 servicemembers and their families. Marine Corporal Zach Skiles served in Iraq at the start of the U.S. invasion. When he came home, he had trouble holding a job and ended up homeless. He had never spoken with his family about what happened to him until he sat down with his father, Scott, for Story Corps. The story starts on the day that Scott drove Zach to his base just before he deployed.
SCOTT SKILES: I remember saying to you, every gift that I've been given, I don't have a better one than to be your dad. And I remember you smiling, saying, I love you, too, Dad. And then you got out of the car and went to war. So what was life like after you came home?
ZACH SKILES: I was pretty sure someone was going to kick down my door, and I was scared to go to sleep. I couldn't sustain employment. I couldn't pay rent and pay for groceries. It all just kind of fell apart. And then I was homeless. And the crazy thing was that I didn't think that there was anything super wrong. You know, at night time, I stayed on coastal trails and hiking trails, and in the daytime, I could just pass out at a park.
S. SKILES: There was a time period where I didn't know where you were, and it is difficult to watch anyone let go of hope, but when it's your son, it's excruciating. I remember great relief that you decided to go into inpatient treatment. And I remember one night you getting out of the car to walk back into the treatment building. It was dark, and your head was kind of down. And for a moment, I could feel the weight you were carrying. As I watched you walk into that building, I uttered these two words that - I don't know if they were some kind of prayer or not, but they just came out - my son. And I was absolutely overcome with grief and love and the beginning of hope. What is life like for you now?
Z. SKILES: It's pretty cool. (Laughter).
S. SKILES: You graduated undergrad.
Z. SKILES: Yes.
S. SKILES: I heard summa cum laude. I'm just asking.
(LAUGHTER)
S. SKILES: That's what I heard.
Z. SKILES: Yeah.
S. SKILES: I remember my dad saying this to me, and I feel it is so true between you and I. It is your life, so you have the last word. But then, as your dad, that gives me the second to the last word. And the second to the last word is I believe in you, and I'm on your side.
MONTAGNE: Scott Skiles and his son, Marine Corporal Zach Skiles, in San Francisco. Zach went on to work with veterans with PTSD. He is now enrolled in a doctoral program in clinical psychology. This conversation is archived at the Library of Congress. Hear more on the podcast, on iTunes and npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to some questions raised by the shooting of a police officer in Philadelphia earlier this month. The suspect claimed he tried to kill the officer on behalf of the Islamic State, and the attack has been called ISIS-inspired, which indeed does pose some interesting questions, like what does inspired mean, and are authorities making common criminals more than they are by linking them to terrorists? Here's NPR's counterterrorism correspondent Dina Temple-Raston.
DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: According to captain James Clark of the Philadelphia Police Department, the man who repeatedly shot a policeman in his cruiser earlier this month was quick to tell arresting officers why he did it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JAMES CLARK: He pledges his allegiance to Islamic State. He follows Allah, and that is the reason he was called upon to do this.
TEMPLE-RASTON: The problem is apart from that declaration, investigators haven't been able to find even the most gossamer connection between the suspect, Edward Archer, and the terrorist group. Will McCants is a terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution and just wrote a book about ISIS. And he's uncomfortable with saying attacks like the one in Philadelphia are ISIS-inspired.
WILL MCCANTS: Sounds like we need a new category.
TEMPLE-RASTON: A new category because these recent attacks are very different from those traditionally launched by al-Qaida. Al-Qaida terrorists typically went to Pakistan or Yemen to train. They had email connections to known terrorists. Those markers are noticeably absent from the so-called ISIS-inspired events. The ISIS-inspired attacks in this country appear to have been launched by what law enforcement officials call classic injustice collectors. These are people who have been nursing various resentments for years and then in the heat of the moment appear to reinvent themselves as ISIS followers. Again, Will McCants.
MCCANTS: If you have individuals who have no sustained interest in the group and have no organizational ties, it seems like their interest in ISIS is much more opportunistic than it is ideological.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Clint Watts, a Fox Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, has been tracking the Philly case. And he says it's possible that news coverage about ISIS, not the group itself, was behind Archer's claim of responsibility.
CLINT WATTS: I think it was mostly what would be described as a headline-inspired terrorist attack.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Saying he had done it for ISIS might have been a convenience. Archer's mother told police he had mental problems and had been hearing voices. That, says Watts, shouldn't be dismissed.
WATTS: Someone who has deep psychological issues, some sort of problems in their local environment, picks up a weapon and conducts an attack and then attributes it to a group like ISIS or even before that al-Qaida. And so the connections to the actual terrorist group are nonexistent, and so it's more inspired by current events than it is by any ideology or motivation.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Consider the San Bernardino shooters. They appear to have been longtime followers of al-Qaida. The FBI says Syed Farook thought about going to Yemen to fight with the group. And allegedly, he planned an attack five years ago before ISIS even existed and then decided not to go through with it. Watts says the ISIS propaganda after the San Bernardino attack shows how distant the connection might have been. ISIS had no details about the operation.
WATTS: And they were just as surprised by the San Bernardino attacks as anyone was.
TEMPLE-RASTON: Of course, a closer link between ISIS and the recent attacks could be discovered as investigations continue. FBI director James Comey has said all the evidence gathered so far points to the Philly shooter, Edward Archer, having acted alone. Agents are still searching for two hard drives removed from home computers in San Bernardino. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.
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In Europe, it is not uncommon for zoos to euthanize animals as a method of population control. Most zoos are not anxious to publicize that fact. Denmark is different. Zoos there often go a step further by dissecting the animal in front of an audience, including children. This past weekend, one zoo did just that with a lion, and Sidsel Overgaard paid a visit.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Foreign language spoken).
SIDSEL OVERGAARD, BYLINE: It's a cold day, and the brightly-colored snow suits worn by Danish children makes it easy to pick them out of the crowd here at the Odense Zoo. There are dozens, all ages, many of them standing as close as possible to the lion laid out on the table.
LIV: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: Six-year-old Liv and her grandmother Dorit Boshau are discussing whether they can see the beginnings of a mane.
LIV: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: "We're here to see the lion cut open," Liv explains. Her grandmother says they talked about it yesterday and decided they should come.
DORIT BOSHAU: (Through interpreter) I feel like it's good for children to see how it really works. They aren't hurt by that. I really don't think they are.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: After talking for a while about the lion's coat and claws, the zoo's educator, a biology student from the local university, begins to cut. At this point, a handful of children walk out. But for the most part, the audience stays put, covering their noses as the smell becomes overwhelming but apparently riveted by what they're seeing.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: The student points out the many similarities between the lion's anatomy and our own. At one point, she pulls out an air compressor, and everyone watches as the sponge-like lungs, nothing like the simplistic balloons of children's books, fill with air.
(APPLAUSE)
ANNE-DICTE: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: Seven-year-old aspiring zookeeper Anne-Dicte and her dad Jan Pedersen give the event two thumbs up.
JAN PEDERSEN: It's a natural part of living. We're eating meat almost every day. I know we don't eat lion, but to see how animals look inside, that's being a part of growing up and getting wiser.
OVERGAARD: Given the international media storm that followed the killing and dissection of a giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo two years ago, Danes are well aware that the rest of the world does not always share this perspective. Critics argue that these displays are desensitizing at best and traumatizing at worst. But this is the culture of Denmark, says Jessica Alexander, American co-author of "The Danish Way Of Parenting."
JESSICA ALEXANDER: Danes are very, very honest with their children about life.
OVERGAARD: She says while some may see a lion dissection as shocking, most Danes see it as an educational opportunity.
ALEXANDER: Maybe kids are going to come out of this and become animal activists and vegans. We don't know what kind of effect it's going to have on them, but they're going to be free to make up their own mind about it.
OVERGAARD: Alexander says she trusts Danish parents to know whether their children can handle events like this. Another spectator, Jens Jessen, says he had a chat with his nine-year-old son Rasmus before they came to the zoo today.
JENS JESSEN: I said to him, if you think it's too much, then tell it to me, and then we'll just go away. But he was totally absorbed by it. The little one - I had a little one. He thought it was too much, so we went over to the playground.
OVERGAARD: Rasmus chimes in.
RASMUS: (Foreign language spoken).
OVERGAARD: "That's just how it is for the little ones," he says. "Sometimes they don't think it's so interesting, and they'd rather do something else." For NPR News, I'm Sidsel Overgaard in Denmark.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Today, the North Korean government announced that a couple of weeks ago, it had detained a U.S. student from the University of Virginia who was in their country on a tour. For more, we reached NPR'S Elise Hu, who is on the line from Seoul. Good morning.
ELISE HU, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: And what do we know?
HU: Well, not a whole lot. North Korean state media say the student is Otto Frederick Warmbier. He was in the North and is now being held as he's being investigated. The tour company based out of China says Warmbier was on a New Year's tour to Pyongyang and detained January 2. That's a key date because it's four days before the North's most recent nuclear test. The tour company says Warmbier's family and State Department officials are working to secure his release at this point.
MONTAGNE: And what is, according to that report, this UVA student being accused of?
HU: It's very vague right now. The North is calling it a, quote, "hostile act." The state media report is also quite brief. It has no details of his alleged actions other than to say Warmbier entered the country, quote, "for the purpose of wrecking the foundation of North Korean unity." It also mentions that the act was, quote, "tolerated and manipulated by the U.S. government."
MONTAGNE: Well, this type of detention of Westerners has happened in the past in North Korea. Besides this student, how many others are being held right now?
HU: Well, earlier this month, North Korea actually presented on CNN a man who claimed to be a naturalized American citizen who said he used to live in Fairfax, Va. Besides him, a Canadian pastor was arrested. He was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor at the end of last year.
MONTAGNE: Well, Elise, how does this fit into the larger context of tensions between North Korea and, not just the U.S, but in the international community generally?
HU: Well, this is all happening as the U.S. and South Korea are pushing for a stronger way to isolate and punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test. And, as you mention, North Korea has certainly, in the past, used detainees to initiate diplomatic exchanges with the United States. Recently in 2014, the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, went to Pyongyang. He returned with two American prisoners. So this is being seen as North Korea's latest attempt to win some leverage.
MONTAGNE: Elise, thanks.
HU: You bet.
MONTAGNE: Elise Hu is NPR's correspondent in Seoul.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Each winter in the Swiss Alpine village of Davos, many of the world's leaders in government and business assemble for several days to talk economics. This year, the World Economic Forum coincides with what's been a wild ride on the world's markets, and China is at the center of it all. To delve into China's message there at Davos, we turn to Amy Wilkinson. She teaches at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and she also has a book out called "The Creator's Code," which is all about entrepreneurs. Good morning.
AMY WILKINSON: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now from where we sit, it's been kind of a scary week. Markets in Asia finished up today but had huge, huge losses earlier. China, both its entrepreneurs and its top politicians, obviously, they're trying to sell their story. They're trying to control their economy. Nobody's absolutely sure they can. Are you seeing, say, economists and entrepreneurs seeming to relax? Are people buying it?
WILKINSON: So I participated yesterday in a panel on made in China. The question is what does that mean, the brand of made in China? The Chinese officials were trying to put forward the idea that made in China is a high quality type product, and the cost advantage of China is still there, and that what you see is what you get.
MONTAGNE: So the message is China is trans - has to and is transforming itself.
WILKINSON: Yes, I think the message that the Chinese here at Davos are putting forward is that they are in a transformational period for their economy. They're moving towards more of a consumer and consumption-driven economy. That's a bumpy ride, but they will get there. And they are taking the steps to try to make the world feel like it's going to work.
MONTAGNE: You have spent a lot of time interviewing Chinese entrepreneurs. I'm wondering what characteristics you've found in them and, you know, what you draw from those conversations about China's future.
WILKINSON: I feel very encouraged about the innovation economy in China. In fact, if you look at some of the examples, WeChat, their messaging and text voice company, it's an unbelievable innovation platform where you could order a car, find a date, make a doctor's appointment, order food, track your fitness goals. It is really ahead of the United States in many ways. And so, you know, an example like that or EHang, which is a drone company, the Chinese have designed a drone that can actually fly a person in it. We don't see that in the United States, and so the innovation economy in China is certainly rapidly moving forward.
MONTAGNE: And generally speaking, what is the mood there this week in Davos? Because again, it has been a rough few weeks.
WILKINSON: It has been an up-and-down few weeks, and I would say the commentary is coming in from all different angles here. Some people are doom and gloom. Some people are quite optimistic. It really depends on who you are speaking with here.
MONTAGNE: All right, well, thank you very much for joining us.
WILKINSON: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: Amy Wilkinson is the author of the book "The Creator's Code: The Six Essential Skills Of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs," and she was speaking to us from Davos, Switzerland.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to the escalating tensions in Harney County, Ore. That is where Ayman Bundy and a group of armed men are occupying the headquarters of a federally-owned wildlife refuge. There are reports of new talks between those men and the FBI. But as the occupation drags on, nearby residents are growing increasingly anxious and exhausted. Those sentiments were on full display at a recent community meeting. Les Zaitz is an investigative reporter with The Oregonian newspaper, and he attended that meeting.
LES ZAITZ: Ayman Bundy and some of the other occupiers on the ranch came in after the meeting had started. And when the crowd realized who was there, the comments became very pointed, directed at Ayman and the others, including the local county judge who walked up to where Ayman was sitting and very dramatically said, it's time for you to go home. And the crowd began chanting, go, go, go. It was a remarkable scene.
MONTAGNE: I think that would surprise some people who are listening simply because, you know, when you're not there, the feeling is somehow that there's a lot of local support.
ZAITZ: Well, there is local support for the idea that the federal government is just overreaching and hard to deal with and cumbersome. What is really clear in recent days is that the community is very anxious to get back to normal life, you know. Federal offices have been closed for over two weeks now. That's disrupting the hiring for the summer fire season. And people are just very frustrated and angry that the government is not acting and that Bundy and his friends will not abide by what they've said, that if we tell you to go, you will go.
MONTAGNE: Where does this seem like it's headed?
ZAITZ: Well, this - it's interesting that the change in the climate added the refuge for the Bundy and his group are - and they've entered their daily news conferences, which struck all of us, has given them daily oxygen to get out their message. But the other notable thing about what's happened is that Ayman Bundy has stepped up the rhetoric. And the most dramatic example of that is he issued a warning to federal employees not to interfere with what they're going to do for ranchers and miners and loggers in this county to restore what they believe are their rights.
MONTAGNE: Is there any question of this turning violent?
ZAITZ: Well, you have a lot of people with a lot of guns at the refuge. They're proud of bearing their arms. They contend they are there for defensive purposes. But it will take just one person making one mistake with one gun to trigger what could be not a very pleasant scene. But, you know, that's all speculation. There's no direct threats on either side that, you know, we're coming for you with guns blazing. But there's a significant concern that this could turn bad very quickly.
MONTAGNE: Les Zaitz is an investigative reporter for The Oregonian newspaper.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to Greece, where the economy, you might remember, was in the news nearly every day last summer, though over the last few months - not so much. So Jacob Goldstein from our PLANET MONEY team checked in with a Greek businessman he spoke with at the height of the crisis and got an update that took him by surprise.
JACOB GOLDSTEIN, BYLINE: When I talked to Miltiades Gkouzouris last summer, he told me he was keeping his car full of gas at all times. That way, he said, if the country collapsed completely - no food left on the grocery store shelves, chaos in the streets - he could pack up his wife and kids and drive across the border. A few weeks after we talked, Greece worked out a deal with the rest of Europe, kept the bailout thing going, and that acute sense of crisis passed. The other day, I called Gkouzouris back, just to check in.
Are you still keeping the gas tank in your car filled up?
MILTIADES GKOUZOURIS: Well, actually, tomorrow I'm leaving the country permanently.
GOLDSTEIN: Wait, so you're leaving Greece?
GKOUZOURIS: Yes, I'm leaving Greece.
GOLDSTEIN: Did you say you're leaving tomorrow?
GKOUZOURIS: Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow at around 11 o'clock, I'm on the plane on my way to the Netherlands.
GOLDSTEIN: Just by coincidence, the day I called him on the phone was the day before he left Greece for good.
GKOUZOURIS: Well, I'm fed up with this country. That's the reason.
GOLDSTEIN: You're fed up.
GKOUZOURIS: Yes. Listen, in the next year, our two little daughters will have to go to school. One of the public schools nearby our place where we live now has no teachers, so they let the cleaning lady take care of the kids. And the kids are watching television inside the school.
GOLDSTEIN: This is a really clear reminder that even though Greece made that deal with Europe last year - got those bailouts - the country is still broken. And the way the EU is set up, it is really easy for Greek people to move to other EU countries, especially if they're highly-educated, highly-skilled people. Gkouzouris went to school in the Netherlands. He speaks multiple languages, and he runs a consulting company that already does a big chunk of its business outside Greece. Of course, that doesn't mean leaving is emotionally easy.
GKOUZOURIS: My mother was crying today. My mother was crying on the phone. She said, my son, you're leaving again? I said, mom, it's for the sake of our children. We need to provide them a much better future than this one. She understands that. Still, it's painful.
GOLDSTEIN: Lots of Greek professionals are doing exactly what Gkouzouris is doing - they're leaving Greece for EU countries with stronger economies, which makes sense. But this is really bad news for Greece. The loss of all these highly-skilled workers will make it even harder for Greece to rebuild its economy. Jacob Goldstein, NPR News.
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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Kids in Chattanooga, Tenn., were begging for a snow day all week. They flooded a local news station with tweets pretending to be school officials and proclaiming that school was canceled. The station wasn't buying it, tweeting back, kids, closings don't work like that, and we're not that dumb. But pranksters got the last laugh. As a giant winter storm intensified yesterday, the real administrators canceled classes. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
This week, we've heard a lot about the water crisis in Flint, Mich. Lead was discovered in Flint's water supply shortly after the city got a new water source in 2014. It is now known that lead poisoning goes back to Roman times, which left us wondering about lead's history. So we turned to Howard Markel. He's a pediatrician and the director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. Thank you for joining us.
HOWARD MARKEL: Thank you for having me.
MONTAGNE: There was a time when lead was pretty common. I know that little toy soldiers back 80, 90 years ago were made out of lead. Was there a turning-point in time where it became really clear to everybody that lead did not need to be in the vicinity?
MARKEL: Yes. It was used for toys, and a real big culprit was it was in paint because it flakes off so easily. So if you had a stain on the wall, you could just wipe it off. But that makes the lead fine and particulate and easy to breathe in and ingest. The thing about lead chips, by the way, is they taste very sweet. So if you remember those old Necco wafers - those little tiny discs of sugar - a lead paint chip taste quite much like that. You know, as early as 1913, we knew that very high doses were extremely toxic. But it's really been since the 1990s by some very brave pediatricians who really put their careers on the line that discovered that these very low doses causes behavioral problems. And for many years, there were some people who were contesting this. But as time has passed since the 1990s and every year since, we have learned that lower and lower levels of lead are toxic. I would say that zero is the only normal number for any child.
MONTAGNE: What's taken the U.S. government so long to reduce the amount of lead it deemed safe, and then why isn't it zero?
MARKEL: That's a political, social, racial and economic question where the lead really does exist today - in older housing. So any house that was built before World War II is likely to have lead paint on its walls, even though it may have been painted over many times. Well, those homes happen to often be in urban centers. They are often inhabited by poor people. And they're owned, frankly, by slumlords who don't take care of the houses. It would cost maybe $30 or $40 billion to rip all these homes in inner-city Detroit or inner-city Baltimore or what have you and then to build new homes where people could live safely. But we've never had the political will to get rid of that problem. And instead, we've kind of minimized or abated certain houses at certain times. That is not good enough.
MONTAGNE: Is there treatment - good treatment - for lead poisoning?
MARKEL: No. For kids with really high lead levels, we give a chelating agent. It's a chemical that will bind to the lead, and then you will get rid of it. But that's for very high lead levels. And so the best treatment is absolute prevention. And, you know, prevention is something we have really favored for so many diseases in the 20th and now the 21st century. I think lead is the next problem we have to attack.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much for joining us.
MARKEL: Thank you so much.
MONTAGNE: Doctor Howard Markel is director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now let's hear from someone working overtime to figure out what kind of business U.S. companies can do with Iran now that international sanctions have been eased. Even as other countries relax the rules, there are still U.S. trade laws on the books aimed at pressuring Iran on human rights and links to terror. American companies can now import things like pistachios and carpets, but many are eager for more opportunities. And as NPR's Jackie Northam reports, they're turning to their lawyers for answers.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Zachary Brez is a sanctions and international risk lawyer at Ropes and Gray in New York. He says he's been swamped with calls since the nuclear deal lifted U.N. economic sanctions against Iran last weekend.
ZACHARY BREZ: Since Saturday, it's been a little nuts.
NORTHAM: Brez's phone lines have been lit up with clients asking about the possibility of doing business in Iran.
BREZ: On Tuesday, I was on the phone with clients from 8 a.m. through 11 p.m., advising on the issues, thinking about next steps, thinking about how it's going to impact their business and trying to give them some guidance on where to go from here.
NORTHAM: The problem is that American companies still face more restrictions on trade with Iran than other countries. That's because of U.S. sanctions still in place, and the government will go after companies violating those sanctions. But the Treasury Department did loosen some restrictions on what U.S. companies can do through foreign subsidiaries. Brez is fielding calls from an array of industries.
BREZ: Medical device commodities, pharma, retail, shipping, you name it.
NORTHAM: Brez says navigating the sanctions can be tricky. For example, any Iranian employee or a vendor, even a customs officer, could be on the list of banned individuals, a list that's updated by the Treasury Department every night.
BREZ: And that list reflects who you can and cannot do business with. And while over the weekend some 200 names were removed from it, there are still another 5,000 names that are on it.
NORTHAM: There are other challenges in dealing with Iran. Corruption is endemic, U.N. sanctions could snap back if Iran defaults on its nuclear agreement, and European and Asian companies face fewer restrictions, giving them an edge. It makes you wonder if doing business in Iran is worth it.
BREZ: That's literally the million dollar question. Iran, at least anecdotally, is a country with Western tastes for the arts, for entertainment, for retail with a young population that has money to spend. Some consider it maybe the last untapped developing economy.
NORTHAM: Brez tells clients they better make sure any venture is going to be worth the money.
BREZ: There's a lot of ways to have a foot fault, and so I often say to clients, look, there's a lot of ways you're going to mess this up, lot of ways you get can into trouble. It's not worth doing it for $10,000.
NORTHAM: Brez says some clients will tell him if there's even a 1 percent chance they'll get in trouble, they won't do it.
BREZ: I've had other clients who say, it's just as risky for me to do business in Illinois or in New Jersey, I might as well do business in all the markets in the world where I've got a chance to make a buck.
NORTHAM: Brez says those business folks are obviously more willing to take a risk than the lawyers who advise them. Jackie Northam, NPR News.
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Americans are buying more and more trucks, record numbers. And with gas prices falling, they are getting bigger, faster and fancier. NPR's Sonari Glinton takes us on a tour of three new trucks and tells us what's new for consumers.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: I'm at the big car show in Detroit. And here not only at the Detroit show do we have pickup trucks, we have monster, ridiculous pickup trucks. We're going to do a little tour of some of the more interesting ones, and we're going to start here at a company that's not really known for their pickup trucks, Nissan.
RANDY RODRIGUEZ: My name's Randy Rodriguez. I'm a project lead designer for Nissan Design America.
GLINTON: And so you designed what looks like the transformer truck from Nissan. What does it - describe it for me.
RODRIGUEZ: When we were looking for inspiration, it goes back to that Greek mythology. And we really wanted to play that out with this truck. And, like, the front end of the truck is actually designed from me watching all these movies, like "300," "Spartacus," "Gladiator," "Troy." And, like, that helmet, it just really looks tough and menacing, and that's really what we wanted to put on the front end of this truck.
GLINTON: I can't imagine driving this. I mean, who are you designing this for?
RODRIGUEZ: So I think it would appeal to anybody who loves this, you know, off-road adventure, or even likes this image of looking super tough and kind of like, you know, a bad boy, just having the biggest, baddest truck out there.
GLINTON: The next stop on our truck tour is the place that sells the most trucks, Ford. We're coming to look at their super truck. And I'm going to meet a guy named Eric Peterson.
ERIC PETERSON: But this customer, they use their truck sometimes as toys, as something that enable their recreation. So it enables adventures that - in something that they can't do anywhere else.
GLINTON: I can go off-roading in an F-150.
PETERSON: You sure can.
GLINTON: I can drive an F-150 in the snow.
PETERSON: Yeah, you can't take it at 60 miles an hour and bogging through the sand and not worry about getting stuck. And it's that kind of ultimate capability that people want.
GLINTON: And now we're at Honda with Davis Adams. And we're going to look at their truck, which is not a super truck, but...
DAVIS ADAMS: It is a super truck.
GLINTON: Oh, look at you.
ADAMS: (Laughter).
GLINTON: If those trucks were for people who are racing, who is this truck for?
ADAMS: You're looking at someone who can commute every day. They're going to get good gas mileage. They're going to be able to park it nicely. It's going to be comfortable the entire time they're moving around. And it comes with all the amenities they expect from the SUVs they came out of.
GLINTON: OK, so now we found the person who doesn't work for a car company to talk to us about the trucks. I'm here with David Zenlea, and he is with Road and Track. Fuel economy standards are - the regulations say, some more cars, some more fuel-efficient vehicles. I know when - so when you look at the trucks, you're like, what are you guys doing?
DAVID ZENLEA: It seems like they're using the money from the trucks and the profits that they're making to invest wisely in future technologies. You have autonomous technologies. You hybrid technologies. All this stuff costs a lot of money to develop. And meanwhile, you have one thing, trucks, that don't cost a lot to develop and that people want. So they're making money on those things now, and it's kind of a good insurance policy. Even if everything crashes tomorrow, the money they're making today on these trucks will help them.
GLINTON: So you heard it here, folks, tomorrow's future hybrids brought to you by today's monster pickup trucks. Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Fox TV's classic science fiction series "The X-Files" returns on Sunday with the first new episodes in 13 years. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans says the revival may leave fans wishing the network just aired the best reruns from the old show.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: When it comes to Fox's new version of "The X-Files," my attitude is a lot like one of the show's best-known mottos, I want to believe. I want to believe that gobbledygook history about UFO sightings that David Duchovny spouts as disillusioned, now former FBI agent Fox Mulder.
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DAVID DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) In 1947, Kenneth Arnold saw nine unidentified craft out the window of his small plane, followed by the historic crash at Roswell and its legendary cover up.
DEGGANS: I want to believe there's a special chemistry between Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Dana Scully, even when the two former partners have their 10,000th argument about a cockamamie theory that Mulder believes and Scully doubts.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
GILLIAN ANDERSON: (As Dana Scully) I have seen this before. You're on fire, believing that you're onto some truth that you can save the world.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) This will finally be their undoing.
ANDERSON: (As Dana Scully) It'll be your undoing, Mulder.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) This is my life. This is everything. This is everything I believe in.
ANDERSON: (As Dana Scully) You want to believe.
DEGGANS: But there's a limit to how much you can believe, even when the conspiracy is detailed as the one behind this revival of "The X-Files." If you don't know the show's history or you need a reminder, Mulder's convenient habit of talking to himself makes it easy for the first episode to catch you up.
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DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) Since my sister disappeared when I was 12 years old in what I believe was an alien abduction, my obsession took me to the FBI, where I investigated paranormal science cases through the auspices of a unit known as the X-Files.
DEGGANS: Fans know that in the classic series, Scully, a skeptical physician and scientist, was paired with Mulder by superiors who hope to derail his theories of alien sightings, but she wound up immersed in them. As the first episode of the new series opens, Mulder and Scully are no longer partners, but there's obvious recent history between them, which I can't reveal because, you know, spoilers. Their former boss at the FBI asked them to meet with a character to chase down new information about aliens. Just like the old days, Mulder suspects his former boss is working with the government to keep him from the truth. Assistant director Skinner quickly sets him straight.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
MITCH PILEGGI: (As Walter Skinner) There hasn't been a day since you left that I haven't reached my phone to call you, Mulder, wishing that you were still down here. Since 9/11, this country's taken a big turn in a very strange direction.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) Well, they police us, they spy on us, tell us that makes us safer. We've never been in more danger.
DEGGANS: The show has lots of clunky ominous lines like that, which mostly make Mulder sound like a candidate for the tinfoil hat brigade. What works here are the stars. Duchovny and Anderson slide into their old roles like they never left them. They finally seem at ease with being Mulder and Scully in a way that wasn't true toward the end of the series original run. But even though I only saw three of the six new episodes in this limited series, I saw enough to know that these new stories come up short. The plots feel overstuffed and a bit too self-important. Nostalgia and the thrill of seeing old characters return may help longtime fans overlook these problems, but I fear new viewers will leave these episodes convinced all the fuss over "The X-Files" was overblown the first place, and that would be a regrettable thing to believe. I'm Eric Deggans.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
I'm Renee Montagne with the story of one of the oldest Christian monasteries in Iraq, which has been destroyed. Satellite photos commissioned by the Associated Press show a grey pile of stone and dust where the walls of Saint Elijah's monastery once stood for 1400 years. Turns out, it was destroyed by the Islamic State more than a year ago. Archbishop Bashar Warda is a leader of Iraq's Chaldean Christians. We reached him in the northern city of Erbil, where he was out to dinner with a group of his priests. Welcome.
BASHAR WARDA: Thank you.
MONTAGNE: And tell us about this monastery in its long history.
WARDA: In 609, a monk called Elijah - Elia - he went in the city of Mosul and established this monastery, which became a place and shrine. And the spiritual importance of this monastery remained quite strong among the people of Mosul. And in Saddam's regime, it was part of what we call a military camp. But it survived because it was hidden and not to be exposed. Just recently, there was quite a lot of renovation going on.
MONTAGNE: What did you think when you saw the pictures? It must have been pretty awful for you.
WARDA: I was shocked, really, because at least we still have these old monasteries there to witness to the history of the Christianity - to the contribution that our ancestors made to the whole culture. The monastery also was a shrine not just for Christians - for so many Muslims also. They went there, sought the prayers, and it's really sad. It's another page of the genocides - where you kill people, kill their history, make them leave and displace. The whole story, it's a genocide story.
MONTAGNE: Well, the number of Christians in Iraq has shrunk to about 300,000 from a population of about 1 million and a half. I don't even know what to ask about that, almost, because how do you experience that?
WARDA: My community was saying this morning, Bishop, I mean, look to the destruction of our humanity. It's not just destruction of the stones, but look what they've done. So when you consider it all together, you could see the death on the faces of our community because everything is being demolished, in a way. They try very hard, really, to tell that Mosul, Iraq - it's not a place for the Christians. But we are committed to keep going. And the history of the church in Iraq is a history of persecution - of witness by blood to the faith of our ancestors. So this monastery, yes, it was demolished. But they cannot demolish the faith and take the faith from the hearts of the people.
MONTAGNE: Is that essentially what you tell your people when these events keep happening?
WARDA: It's what we tell each other. The encouragement - it's a spirit among the community. It's not just we tell the people. It's we share this hope and encouragement with each other.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you for taking a break from your dinner with your fellow priests, and good luck to you. Thanks for talking to us.
WARDA: Thank you for telling the story.
MONTAGNE: Bishop Bashar Warda - he is a leader of Iraq's Chaldean Christians.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Hillary Clinton is sharpening her criticism of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, her chief rival for the Democratic nomination. And in those attacks, there is an echo of the 2008 race she ultimately lost to President Obama. NPR's Tamara Keith was on the road with Clinton in Iowa.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Pop star Demi Lovato served as the warm-up act at Clinton's last event of the night, belting out her hit song "Confident" to a standing-room-only crowd.
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DEMI LOVATO: (Vocalizing).
KEITH: But for those watching the polls, "Confident" probably wouldn't be the adjective they'd choose to describe Clinton's campaign headed into the Iowa caucuses. By all accounts, the race here is tight, and so Clinton is turning up the contrasts with Sanders, as she sees them, talking more and more about what it takes to be president.
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HILLARY CLINTON: I'll tell you, I'm not interested in ideas that sound good on paper but will never make it in the real world. I care about...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I care about making a real difference in your life, and that gets us to the choice that you have to make in this caucus.
KEITH: On Sanders' single-payer healthcare plan, just unveiled over the weekend, Clinton painted it as unachievable.
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CLINTON: Now, in theory, there's a lot to like about some of his ideas, but in theory isn't enough. A president has to deliver in reality.
KEITH: This focus on pragmatism and the challenges of getting things done in Washington is vintage Clinton. Here she was using a similar line of attack against the then Senator Obama eight years ago.
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CLINTON: Maybe I've just lived a little long, but I have no illusions about how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear.
KEITH: Clinton is a more seasoned candidate and campaigner this time around. But last week in Ames, Iowa, the magic wand came out again to make the very same point.
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CLINTON: This is hard work, my friends. I wish that we could elect a Democratic president who could wave a magic wand and say, we shall do this and we shall do that. That ain't the real world we're living in.
KEITH: There are echoes of the 2008 campaign on foreign policy, too. When Obama said he'd sit down with the leaders of North Korea and Iran without precondition, Clinton pounced in an interview with the Quad-City Times.
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CLINTON: And I thought that was irresponsible and frankly naive.
KEITH: And now she and her campaign are responding in a similar way to Senator Sanders, saying he would normalize relations with Iran.
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CLINTON: Now, Senator Sanders doesn't talk very much about foreign policy, but when he does, it raises concerns because sometimes it can sound like he hasn't really thought it through.
KEITH: But Clinton isn't the only one bringing back themes from 2008. Four years as secretary of state may have given Clinton more authority on foreign affairs, but one thing that hasn't changed is her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq War, something Sanders brings up regularly. Here he is this week in Iowa.
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BERNIE SANDERS: On the crucial foreign-policy issue of our time, it turns out that Secretary Clinton, with all of her experience, was wrong and I was right. Experience is important. Dick Cheney had a lot of experience. A whole lot of people have experience but do not necessarily have the right judgment.
KEITH: For Sanders and many Democrats, that vote remains a line in the sand. But these are different times with a different opponent, and Clinton and her allies are hoping for different outcome. Tamera Keith, NPR News, Des Moines, Iowa.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We have more on the fate of a former police officer in Oklahoma City convicted of sexually assaulting women. He is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Yesterday, a judge sentenced Daniel Holtzclaw to 263 years in prison. Jacob McClelland of member station KGOU reports that, while on the job, Holtzclaw preyed on African-American women in a poor Oklahoma City neighborhood.
JACOB MCCLELAND: Daniel Holtzclaw's victims and their supporters emerged from the courtroom declaring justice had been served. Moments earlier, officers had led a silent Holtzclaw, shackled and wearing prison orange, to serve the rest of his life in prison. Prosecutors say Holtzclaw searched for black women in the poor Oklahoma City neighborhood he patrolled while in uniform - women with arrest warrants or drug problems - women he likely believed wouldn't report the assaults. He used his power to coerce them into sexual acts. That all changed after he assaulted Jannie Ligons, a grandmother who was driving home. She says it was hard to see him in the courtroom.
JANNIE LIGONS: Actually, when I saw him, my heart dropped. I thought I was going to be a little braver when I saw him, but I was not.
MCCLELAND: Ligons was the first victim to report Holtzclaw to the police - a complaint that led to 12 more women coming forward. Holtzclaw's defense attorney tried to discredit the women who testified, citing their criminal records or drug use. Victim Sade Hill says it's no surprise the women didn't report the assaults sooner.
SADE HILL: We thought the police are the police. We didn't know the first thing to do or where to start, besides telling our loved ones who knew us personally and knew that we wouldn't make up such a thing.
MCCLELAND: Last month, an all-white jury convicted Holtzclaw, who is of white and Asian descent, on 18 charges related to sexual assault. He was acquitted on 18 others. Grace Franklin of the activist group Oklahoma City Artists for Justice says it took courage from the women to go public.
GRACE FRANKLIN: Black women and black girls are preyed upon when they live in certain neighborhoods - when they don't pose that squeaky clean image that makes them untouchable.
MCCLELAND: Franklin hopes the 263-year sentence will inspire other women to come forward and get justice. For NPR News, I'm Jacob McClelland.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne with a tale of sheep aiding an arrest. In New Zealand, police were in hot pursuit of a speeding car with no plates far into the back roads for 90 minutes until a flock of sheep being herded along the road forced the runaway car to a presumably screeching halt. A reporter noted the sheep weren't aware they had become duty police, or maybe they did have a sense of duty. Turns out the flock was owned by a local policeman. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Afghanistan is always a difficult place for journalists to work. Then last fall, it became even more dangerous after the Taliban announced it was specifically targeting Afghanistan's two largest media networks. It called them Satanic networks that were putting out propaganda, and the insurgency would treat them as military objectives. Over the past 15 years, those TV and radio networks have filled the country with news and entertainment, opening up a world far different from the harsh life under Taliban rule. This week, the Taliban delivered on its threat. A suicide bomb attack on Wednesday killed seven employees of the MOBY group, the media company that owns the popular Tolo TV. I reached its CEO, Saad Mohseni on a scratchy line in Kabul.
SAAD MOHSENI: They were all in their 20s, all of them very aspirational. They were very enthusiastic. There was a young lady who was about to get married in the next couple of weeks. She had just been appointed as the head of creative for MOBY in Afghanistan, which is a huge division, especially for a female. To date, we've only had foreign creative heads, and she was going to take on this role. She was talented. She was ambitious. She was smart. She was good. You know, they all had parents. They all had siblings. They all had dreams, and these dreams have been taken away from these individuals and their families.
MONTAGNE: It is the case that back in October after the Taliban and leveled this threat on you, the network, another large TV network, you and I spoke, and you said, we're not in any way taking this likely. These are the lives of our people. And now that the Taliban has delivered on this really terrible promise to attack, what does that mean for how you do business there?
MOHSENI: Well, I mean, at the time, we had to be prepared and, you know, obviously we need to show our resolve and we have to persist. These are dark days for us, but we have to get through them. And what's interesting is that the support has been overwhelming. All day today, we've had people coming into the stations talking about the victims, talking about the importance of free press. But we're also very frustrated because there was a special national security meeting shared by the president to see what we needed, and our hope at the time was that we would be protected. And as recently as a couple of weeks ago, we had to go back to the government and say, listen, all the (unintelligible) - all the help that you had promised in terms of escorts, in terms of extra security of our facilities - we think they have not been delivered. So I'm not putting blame, but I'm just saying that our frustration over the last few weeks has been the fact that the promise made to us by the (unintelligible) government were mostly not fulfilled.
MONTAGNE: You know, we are doing this story because it's a terrible tragedy, but also because it specifically involves the Taliban threatening the Afghanistan media. What does this mean for media?
MOHSENI: You know, what we take for granted - you know, there's a lot of hard work over the last 14 or 15 years, and we will persist - I mean, I don't know about the other media organizations. We're not going to be (unintelligible). If anything, it will strengthen the resolve of our news people. You know, these - most of these kids have grown up in an environment that they realize what they have is special. They realize that they enjoy today - their parents did not enjoy. And for them, protecting and defending this is of paramount importance. You know, they seem just as determined, in a bizarre way, as the Taliban. The Taliban are there to destroy them, but they're there to protect what they have built over the last 15 years.
MONTAGNE: Saad Mohseni is the head of the MOBY group and cofounder of Tolo TV. Thank you very much for joining us.
MOHSENI: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Florida Senator Marco Rubio is holding steady at third place in the latest polls for the Republican nomination. But at least in one area, he is gaining. Rubio trails only one of his opponents, Jeb Bush, when it comes to endorsements from members of Congress. NPR's Susan Davis reports on the presidential favorites on Capitol Hill.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: Congressman Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Congresswoman Barbara Comstock of Virginia both credit the same people for helping make their decisions to endorse Marco Rubio.
BILL HUIZENGA: My kids - I have a senior in high school who's very enthusiastic about Rubio.
BARBARA COMSTOCK: When I found out, too, like, my kids asked me, so when are you going to endorse? You know, they knew that's where I was, but they were asking, you know, when are you going to, you know, move forward?
DAVIS: Many Democratic lawmakers said it was their children who influenced them in 2008 when they were looking for next-generation candidate and endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. In 2016, that candidate for many Republicans, at least on Capitol Hill, is 44-year-old Marco Rubio. Another young Republican, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner, explains Rubio's growing support on the Hill.
CORY GARDNER: It is a function of opinions - how people feel about him, how people feel about his leadership, how people feel about his workmanship. And I think in that respect, it's a very telling measure of who people believe would make the best president of the United States.
DAVIS: Gardner is one of 27 members of Congress who have endorsed Rubio so far. He trails only Jeb Bush in endorsements. Bush has 31 supporters in Congress. While Bush's endorsements have largely flatlined since early December, Rubio has picked up four times the number of supporters in that same time period. Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz says endorsements aren't a major factor in deciding the nomination, but they do send a message to voters about who their representatives in Washington think would be the best president.
JASON CHAFFETZ: I hope people look at it and say, why are all the people that actually know the candidates going to Marco Rubio? That should tell some people some stuff.
DAVIS: In this alternate universe on Capitol Hill, the candidates leading in the national polls are tanking here. Texas Senator Ted Cruz - he has about half the endorsements that Rubio has, and none of his Senate colleagues are backing him. And while Donald Trump has captured the nation's attention, the people's house is unimpressed. Trump has zero endorsements from members of Congress. Rubio backers say he is a better messenger than the Donald for the Republican Party in 2016. Here's Chaffetz again.
CHAFFETZ: He's not going to say the ridiculous, sensational thing that will grab every headline, and - but he is the right person to convey the conservative message, and that's what this younger generation of conservatives want.
DAVIS: What excites Republicans like Utah's Mia Love the most about Rubio is what she hears from Democrats in Congress.
MIA LOVE: When I go on the other side of the aisle and I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle - which should be telling - who would they least like as the GOP nominee, it's 100 percent of the time Marco Rubio.
DAVIS: Historically, the candidate with the most endorsements from members of Congress usually wins the nomination, but in this anti-Washington climate, it's unclear whether being one of the most popular candidates in one of the least popular institutions can get you as far. Susan Davis, NPR News, the Capitol.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In Fresno, Calif., two elderly Sikh men were brutally attacked in the last month. One of the men was fatally stabbed, the other badly beaten. It's believed the men were attacked because they were mistaken for Muslims.
NPR's Richard Gonzales went to Fresno, and he talked with members of the Sikh community there. They say there's a feeling of unease, but also there's talk of opportunity.
RICHARD GONZALES, BYLINE: The unprovoked and apparently unrelated attacks on two Sikh men are a hot topic of this California radio station.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This is the Central Valley's number one Punjabi weekend radio station, AM 900, KBIF, Fresno.
GONZALES: Gurdeep Shergill and his wife Sonia co-host a program on Saturday mornings that brings the latest news to some of the 35,000 Sikh-Americans who live in Fresno.
GURDEEP SHERGILL: This morning we were talking about the hate crime. I was giving them the definition - what is hate crime, why they happen.
GONZALES: The subject is ripe because the day after Christmas, a 68-year-old farmworker Amrik Singh Bal was wearing a turban as he waited to be picked up for work when he was attacked and beaten by two white men.
Then on New Year's Day, another 68-year-old man Gurcharan Singh Gill was fatally stabbed in the liquor store where he worked. In that attack, Gill was not wearing a turban indicating he was Sikh, says Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer.
JERRY DYER: But we are looking at this as a potential hate crime as well.
GONZALES: Dyer asked the FBI to help their investigation. He says Sikhs have lived in Fresno for more than a century. As Dyer talks about what's happened in his hometown, his eyes become red and moist.
DYER: I was at a community meeting last week with a number of those individuals, and you could just sense the fear. Are they being targeted as a result of being mistaken for a terrorist or an extremist? Are the - is it because of what occurred in San Bernardino or Paris? And those are all legitimate concerns.
GONZALES: National advocacy groups are concerned. The Sikh Coalition says since the San Bernardino massacre last month, it's received three times as many reports of hate backlash than in previous years.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking Punjabi).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Speaking Punjabi).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: (Speaking Punjabi).
GONZALES: Outside a Sikh house of worship in Fresno, three Sikh men sit, wearing pastel blue and green turbans. One man, who identifies himself as Mister Singh, says he won't stay at home or be intimidated from wearing a turban in public.
Do have concerns about your own security?
MISTER SINGH: Anytime - anytime maybe it happen (laughter).
GONZALES: Singh shrugs and says anything could happen at any time. That he says Americans need to be better educated on the differences between Sikhs and Muslims.
But would the attacks on Sikhs stop if people realized they aren't Muslim? That question troubles many in the Sikh community, especially among younger people.
NANDEEP SINGH: The problem with that kind narrative is it actually implicitly says that there is a proper victim.
GONZALES: Nandeep Singh is the executive director of the Jakara Movement, a youth-oriented nonprofit based in Fresno.
NANDEEP SINGH: When we see rising Islamophobia, are we to back away from our fellow Americans or to embrace them that much tighter and to say attacks against all is wrong? It isn't just attacks against Sikhs that are wrong, but it's really attacks against anybody.
GONZALES: Singh expects attacks on Sikhs to continue for now. He also sees an opportunity for those in the Sikh community not just to educate people about who they are, but remind them they are Americans too.
Richard Gonzales, NPR News, Fresno Calif.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Those who suffer from Parkinson's disease struggle with stiff limbs, tremors and poor balance. With these kinds of symptoms, it might seem counterintuitive to get people with Parkinson's out on the dance floor, yet thousands battling the illness are finding that dancing helps them, both physically and emotionally. Dance classes for people with Parkinson's began in Brooklyn and have spread around the country and the world. The fox trot and boogie dancing have also attracted the interest of scientists. NPR's Ina Jaffe covers aging and has this story.
LINDA BERGHOFF: Now both arms.
INA JAFFE, BYLINE: Linda Berghoff is teaching a routine at a dance class for people with Parkinson's in Venice, Calif.
BERGHOFF: Very nice.
JAFFE: Everyone is seated, but bodies are pulled upright, arms are stretched and fists pump in time to the music. It's a challenging routine, keeping a one-two beat with one arm and a three-part rhythm with the other.
BERGHOFF: Up and down.
JAFFE: Linda Berghoff is lean and fit and looks much younger than her 65 years. She was never a professional dancer, but she's danced all her life. That's continued, despite the fact that she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 10 years ago.
BERGHOFF: And when I was diagnosed, the thought that I would no longer dance again terrified me. It seemed like I'd be stripped of the thing I love the most.
JAFFE: The diagnosis was also a blow to Laura Karlin, who's known Berghoff so long she calls her her second mother.
LAURA KARLIN: And we were talking and I said, well, you know, what can we do? Do you want to do yoga together? Do you want to dance together? Do you want to start a dance class together? We should start a dance class together. And so we did.
JAFFE: Which wasn't that much of a stretch because Karlin is the artistic director of the Invertigo Dance Theatre, which has a performing company and also offers classes. Invertigo's Parkinson's class began in 2011. They now have five of them around the L.A. area. And it's a real dance class, says Karlin.
KARLIN: We don't dumb it down. And I believe very much in making this a really joyful and challenging experience. But it has to be both challenging and kind of satisfying.
JAFFE: Karlin's class began 10 years after the program Dance for Parkinson's was founded at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn. David Leventhal is the director of the program. He says in the beginning it was trial and error.
DAVID LEVENTHAL: There's no one type of Parkinson's. There's no one set of symptoms.
JAFFE: There are some small studies that show that some of those symptoms improve after taking dance, especially ease of walking. But Leventhal says the class was never intended just as physical therapy.
LEVENTHAL: There's also an artistic quality that we're hoping that people are able to say something with those gestures. And it's particularly relevant, I think, to people with Parkinson's who often lose those means of expression and start to feel themselves pull away from who they thought they were.
JAFFE: The program at the Mark Morris Dance Center began as a partnership with the Brooklyn Parkinson's Support Group. But for the past eight years, Mark Morris instructors have been training other dance companies, like L.A.'s Invertigo Dance Theatre, to conduct classes of their own. There are now programs in 40 states and 13 other countries.
PIETRO MAZZONI: It's such a natural, intuitive idea that dance should be a good thing for Parkinson's, that people have just gone ahead and done it.
JAFFE: That's Dr. Pietro Mazzoni, who teaches neurology at Columbia University Medical Center and heads the Motor Performance Laboratory there. He says a few small studies that have been done don't explain why dancing can help people with Parkinson's or what routine might be better than another or how long the effects last. So he's beginning a larger study that may answer those questions. One of the theories he'll be testing is that people with Parkinson's move less because the disease doesn't just cause the tremors and other physical symptoms. It also robs them of their ability to enjoy moving.
MAZZONI: I've heard patients spontaneously describe the beginning of their symptoms using language like I didn't enjoy walking with my husband anymore. I could do it, it just wasn't fun.
JAFFE: So Mazzoni's work will look at psychological factors as well as physical ones and compare the dancers to people getting traditional physical therapy.
MAZZONI: It may be that dance is not just a nice form of physical therapy. It may be that it has the key to producing long-lasting changes.
KARLIN: Pivot, good, Willie, now we go forward.
JAFFE: Seventy-six-year-old Willie Marquez has been coming to the Venice class for three years, ever since the day he was diagnosed and his doctor told him about it.
WILLIE MARQUEZ: We got in the car and ran over here. And I says, is this the Parkinson's class?
JAFFE: He comes to the class with his wife, Lenore. They've been dancing together since they met 52 years ago when Willie taught salsa. So they move confidently across the floor with their fellow students, side by side. It's a new routine and pretty rough, but as Laura Karlin always tells them, there are no mistakes in dance, just solos.
KARLIN: There you go. Step, step, step, step.
JAFFE: Ina Jaffe, NPR News.
KARLIN: We're going to go forward, we're going to go inward and back around. Here we go, and step.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Yes, the truth is out there. "The X-Files" is back. The FBI's Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are back on the TV, taking on unsolved cases of the paranormal ilk.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
DAVID DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) You know, this Oregon female, she's the fourth person in her graduating class to die under mysterious circumstances. Now, when convention and science offer us no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility?
MARTIN: Of course, Gillian Anderson is Dana Scully. David Duchovny is Fox Mulder. There are also some other familiar characters in these new episodes. And the show is still under the helm of creator Chris Carter, who is writing and directing. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson spoke with my colleague Scott Simon. And he started the conversation by asking if there was something about our times that makes this a good moment for "The X-Files" to return. Gillian Anderson jumped in first.
GILLIAN ANDERSON: I think it's the right time in terms of political climate, but I also think that people are ready for this, and the only way that David and I were able to make it happen was if it was going to be in a short amount of episodes. And networks have only just in the past couple of years become willing and able to do shorter stacks.
SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: David Duchovny, do we live in a time that bristles with conspiracy theories?
DUCHOVNY: Well, I don't know. I think we always do. I think, you know, when the show was ending back in the early 2000s, it was right after 9/11 and I do believe that even though that's still ripe for conspiracies, I think it was all too real at that point. And now, you know, somewhat removed from that, in a way we're back to a time where there's a lot of speculation over world events. But I think that's just in human nature to be drawn to conspiracies. People want answers. Sometimes things happen without a reason. Sometimes chaos happens that's not satisfying to people. People want a villain, they want a cabal, they want a conspiracy
SIMON: That nicely sets up a clip we have from the first episode. Let's listen to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE X-FILES")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Like yourself, I'm a true believer.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) No, I only want to believe. Actual proof has been strangely hard to come by.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You ran the X-Files. You were the X-Files. You all but wrote the book.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) I'm afraid that book is closed.
ANDERSON: (As Dana Scully) As are the X-Files, for better or worse. We've moved on with our lives.
DUCHOVNY: (As Fox Mulder) Yes we have. For better or for worse.
SIMON: How do you project Dana Scully right now, Gillian Anderson? What do you think time has done to her?
ANDERSON: Well, I think she has refocused herself and her wants and her desires. And I think that she has seen Mulder become extremely impassioned and risk his life and risk their lives. And I think that she's decided that she can't do that anymore. And even though she's kind of getting on with getting on, there's a certain sadness there.
SIMON: And, David Duchovny, how do you pick up a character that you haven't inhabited for a few years or is it like doing "Macbeth" again?
DUCHOVNY: It's daunting at first. But then when Gillian and I kind of started working together just on that first day, it's really something that is kind of unspoken and unconscious and intuitive in many ways. We did it for so long that there is something that just kicks in, as well as the fact that we are older than when we started and that we get to play with as well. That's an interesting thing for us as actors to play the same characters but in a much later part of their lives, which you don't normally get to do as an actor. It's very, very rare, I think, that an actor gets to do that.
SIMON: And, Gillian Anderson, (laughter) have people come up to you over the years and said, look, Scully and Mulder are perfect for each other. Why don't they - why don't they just try and be happy together?
ANDERSON: I mean, I've had people say to me, why don't you and David get together? I don't they've come up to me and said why don't, you know, why aren't Mulder and and Scully together.
SIMON: David Duchovny, do you get that?
DUCHOVNY: Well, it's always interesting to me, people get very invested in fictional characters that way. I can't say that I've ever had that - I've ever had that experience in my life where I wanted people that didn't exist to end up together (laughter). But I think it goes back to Chris's conception of the show. I think he made - he made two characters who were complementary to one another and kind of completed one another in a romantic comedy sense. And I think because it took so long for them to be physical in any way, there was a certain ache to the show. And also that wasn't what the show was about. The show was about the cases. The shows was about the quest. And that's kind of, I think, the magic of the relationship in the show is that it was never the point of the show. It always happened in the spaces of the show.
SIMON: Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, "The X-Files" on Fox, Mulder and Scully, thanks so much for being with us.
ANDERSON: Thank you so much, Scott. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
DUCHOVNY: Thank you, Scott. It was a pleasure to be with you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Scott left us with this musical treat, so stay with us and enjoy.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "THIRST FOR LIFE")
SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: Yanni. Just say the name - his one name - you know we're talking about one of the most popular recording artists ever. More than 40 platinum and gold albums since the 1980s and epic concerts from some of the world's most historic sites...
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "THIRST FOR LIFE")
SIMON: ...Sites that include the Forbidden City, the Taj Mahal, the Kremlin, the pyramids - I could go on. And of course, Yanni may have raised more money for PBS than Oscar the Grouch (laughter).
Yanni has a new album. It's called "Sensuous Chill," and he joins us from the studios of WLRN in Miami.
Thanks so much for being with us.
YANNI YANNI: It's my pleasure, Scott. How are you?
SIMON: I'm just fine, thank you. What is a sensuous chill?
YANNI: It was a concept. I've had it for quite some time. I wanted to create an environment for the listener that was a sensuous environment, a melodious environment and a sexy environment at the same time. And I...
SIMON: Excuse me. I think I'm getting a sensuous chill.
(LAUGHTER)
YANNI: They didn't tell me you're funny. (Laughter) I'm in trouble now.
SIMON: No. Nobody really thinks that, but I'm glad you and I can.
YANNI: (Laughter).
SIMON: That's very nice.
YANNI: And so it's taken me five years to create something like that. It didn't come easy, and I took a long, long time figuring out which songs to pick and which order to present them in. So it is meant to be - you put it on your CD player or whatever else you have you're listening to, put it on repeat and forget about it. It's not a demanding album. Somebody's not going to jump out in the middle of the album and pull your shirt and say listen to me. I'm doing a guitar solo.
SIMON: (Laughter).
YANNI: Or listen to me - I'm doing a violin solo. It's not the idea. The idea is to put you in a mood that's consistent, that is enjoyable and keep you there.
SIMON: Let's listen to a piece. You know, after that, we should just begin (laughter) number one and play all 17 sections. But you know, this is the news business, so we're contrary.
Can we listen a bit to "Our Days"?
YANNI: Anything you want.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "OUR DAYS")
YANNI: Oh, yeah.
SIMON: Some of this music has been kind of inspired by your travels around the world?
YANNI: Of course. Everything is inspired by my life experiences. Everything I have been through, every country I have been through, everything that I have felt.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "OUR DAYS")
SIMON: Do I have this right? You taught yourself how to play the piano?
YANNI: Yes, you do have this right. I was very stubborn when I was a kid (laughter). I would not - I refused to take lessons. What it did for me - at the beginning, it made it extremely difficult because I climbed up on the piano when I was 6 years old and started banging away at the notes, not realizing what I was doing. But in the process, I created something that's called perfect pitch, which a lot of people know what it is. But what it really means is that any note or chord or anything I hear is an open book to me.
Notes are not merely pitches that go low, high, medium, low, high, medium. They're exactly that, like a do is a do - do, re, mi, fa, so, la, si (ph), do.
(Singing) Do, mi, re, fa, mi, so, la, mi, re, do.
They are words. Each note is like a word. Somebody's talking to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG)
SIMON: How do you feel about that term New Age?
YANNI: I don't (laughter). I don't even know what it is. What is New Age?
SIMON: Well, Billboard - you know, that's where Billboard puts your music.
YANNI: I can see it now. I mean, somebody in Los Angeles in some little office sat around going - what are we going to do with a guy named Yanni? I mean, he's playing classical music. He's playing rock 'n' roll. He's playing jazz. He's playing Chinese music, Middle Eastern music. He's doing whatever the hell he wants. I can see the guy now, standing up going - how about we call it New Age? Well, New Age becomes old age very quickly.
(LAUGHTER)
YANNI: I got stuck with that, and then it became a grab bag category. Anyone who didn't fit in the main categories of music became a New Age artist.
SIMON: Let's listen to a little more of your music, if we could. I'd lot to ask you a lot more. This is a piece "Whispers In The Dark."
YANNI: Oh, I like that one.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "WHISPERS IN THE DARK")
SIMON: I really feel that, "Whispers In The Dark." I mean, I - it's a nice kind of darkness, right? You're with someone you care for, and you're confiding to each other.
YANNI: Absolutely. I feel the reason that I connect with all these different cultures around the planet is there is an optimism inside me. I was lucky. I was raised in a very beautiful environment with a lot of hope and a lot of love. So when I write music, it comes out. You can't help it. It's part of your psyche.
It's not that I don't feel pain or anger, but there is no reason for me to write music out of anger or frustration. I wait until I learn from my mistakes from my difficult times, and I like to write music about the lessons that I learned while I was going through the tough times. So there is always a resolution in my song. It is not out of ignorance. It is out of knowledge, and I think that's what the public gets, and that's why they like to listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "WHISPERS IN THE DARK")
SIMON: Yanni, it's been wonderful to talk to you. Thank you so much for all of your time.
YANNI: My pleasure, Scott. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "WHISPERS IN THE DARK")
MARTIN: And our theme music was also written with love by BJ Leiderman.
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF YANNI SONG, "WHISPERS IN THE DARK")
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
"The Blue Line," Ingrid Betancourt's new novel, is about a woman growing up in 1970s Argentina who sees the world through the eyes of others. The woman, Julia, is a witness to Argentina's so-called Dirty War. This makes her different from millions of other Argentines who say they know nothing about the disappearances, tortures and murders that Argentina's military government used to rule and quash dissent. Ingrid Betancourt grew up in a Colombian political family and was running for president of her country as a candidate of the Green Party when she was kidnapped by revolutionaries in 2002. She was held captive in the jungle for more than six years until she was rescued by Colombian security forces. She wrote a memoir about her experience that was a bestseller around the world. "The Blue Line" is her first novel. Scott Simon spoke with Ingrid Betancourt earlier this week and he began by asking if the story of a young woman in captivity is in some way autobiographical.
INGRID BETANCOURT: Well, certainly there are, you know, influences of things that I have lived. But actually it's like - it's a reverse biography 'cause this girl, she's a leftist kind of revolutionary that's going to be abducted or disappeared by a dictatorship, a military dictatorship. In my case, it was the opposite. I was a Colombian presidential candidate, and I was abducted by a guerilla - communist guerilla group.
SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: At the same time, when you write about characters - and not just Julia - but when you write about characters who are held in detention and tortured, you have some special insight into that. This is not just something you read in a manual, is it?
BETANCOURT: No, no. I think that, you know, human suffering is something that we share. It's easy when you have suffered to feel the link with what others have gone through. That's my case. But what I wanted to narrate and to relive through my novel was the very dire and barbarian abuse and torture that many young people in Latin America suffered during the '70s. And I say this with lots of caution because this is something that we are living today. Before, in the '70s, it was the fear of communism.
Today, we have another ism, which his extremism - Islamic extremism - and whenever we see - it's like, history repeating itself. I was looking very closely to what happened, for example, in Iran of the executions, the harassment against women, all in the name of this political way of seeing the world. I think we have to be very careful.
SIMON: Tell us about Theo, Julia's love since, I guess, she was 15. And as a boy - young man, really - he had posters of both Che Guevara and Juan Peron up in his room.
BETANCOURT: Yeah.
SIMON: How do we explain that duality?
BETANCOURT: I think that what is interesting in the character of Theo is that it was a young man, very bright, very intelligent and with lots of character and wit and who believed he was this kind of leader. And so he saw himself as some kind of a hero in a way. But when confronted to torture, he came to discover that he was frail and that he couldn't cope.
SIMON: That raises an obvious question and I'm going to ask it - I'm going to ask it of you first as a novelist. How do two people recover normal lives after what they've seen and been through?
BETANCOURT: Well, in the case of Julie and Theo, it's two ways. It's parallel kind of motion. Julia will dig into what's important for her, her son, the love she has for Theo, and she will be always walking to the future. She has her path in the future so she has hope. Theo is anchored in his hate, in his thirst of revenge. He cannot forget and he's drawn to the past. But I think that it's also what he chose. And the choices we make define ourselves.
SIMON: So, if I may, is that a choice you had to make after six and a half years?
BETANCOURT: Yes. Yes, I think it's - that's why - you know, a novel, it's also a way of attacking subjects that you cannot confront in the I kind of prose. Sometimes you need other people to embody situations so that you can talk about things that for you are important. And I think that being able to hope for the future is what builds in us the strength to just get rid of things that in the past can hurt.
SIMON: And how are you doing?
BETANCOURT: I'm doing fine. I'm doing fine. One of the things I had to decide when I came to freedom was if I was going to continue doing politics. And I think that during the years of captivity, having, you know - I mean, I lost everything - my life, my father died, I didn't know anything about my children. And when I was in this jungle alone and thinking of my life and trying to summarize the good and the bad, I thought the only thing that is important in my life that I don't want to lose are my children. I mean, I want to be a mom again if I have the opportunity. So when I came back, that's what I did.
I mean - and my reconstruction has been first and above everything, reconstructing the link, the relationship, the love - but more than the love, intimacy and the proximity with my two children. And I'm very, very lucky because after seven years, I think that's something we all have achieved, and it makes us strong, all of us.
SIMON: Ingrid Betancourt's novel is "The Blue Line." Thanks so much.
BETANCOURT: Thank you, Scott.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's easy to get cynical about the presidential campaign, especially with Iowa's caucuses quickly approaching and some of the candidates now on the attack. But see it up close and the process can be profoundly moving - really. That's what a class from Indiana's Manchester University found as it traveled across Iowa last week. NPR's Scott Detrow caught up with the class in Des Moines on its last stop of the trip.
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: Instead of spending their winter break relaxing or earning some cash, 11 students from the small liberal arts school piled into a red van with suspect heating, braving the Iowa cold to experience the caucuses firsthand.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: We started with Sanders, let's see, Ben Carson - Clinton, Carson, Christie, Rubio, Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Santorum.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BERNIE SANDERS: I think it is fair to say that the war in Iraq was the worst foreign policy disaster.
DETROW: They even stood on stage behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, says sophomore Tate Wooding.
TATE WOODING: We got a great view of his head. But it was very interesting to see the crowd.
DETROW: Now, at the end of the week, they're making one final stop to look at an exhibit about caucus history at Iowa's State Museum.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Iowans don't pick the president.
DETROW: One of the most surprising things for students who are used to watching politics on the news - how up close and personal the whole thing is.
ASHLYN LEAMON: It makes politics seem more real here because it's not just on a TV screen. You can actually see them, be with them
DETROW: Ashlyn Leamon says when they're watching candidates shaking hands in restaurants, bars and town halls, she kept being struck by the fact that, hey, one of these people will actually be president.
LEAMON: That kind of encourages, like, oh, yeah, I got to get a selfie just in case.
DETROW: Kathryn Hickman says New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was the most impressive candidate. Most of the class agreed.
KATHRYN HICKMAN: I actually cried at his event because it was really personal.
DETROW: Every four years, there's a lot of talk about whether Iowa should be the first state to have its say in the electoral process. After spending a week here, the Manchester University students all say, yeah, Iowa deserves it.
DANIELLE ROBERTSON: When we were at Chris Christie, there was a kid that asked a question. It was a really good, like, policy question that most kids in other states would have no clue what to do with.
DETROW: That's Danielle Robertson. She and her classmates say they're all struck by how much Iowans care about the whole thing, how early they show up to the rallies to see candidates. Of course, only a small percentage of Iowans typically show up on caucus night. But still, freshman Matt Pritz says all that close-up access to candidates aside, it's the people at the rallies who will really stick with him.
MATT PRITZ: So to see kind of, like, the guts of the campaign, that kind of, like, gave me butterflies because you're like, this guy is up on stage talking, but without the people here right now, he possibly wouldn't be able to be up there.
DETROW: The spring semester will have resumed by the time Iowans vote February 1, but their professor, Leonard Williams, says they're planning to all get together to watch the results come in. Scott Detrow, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Even though winter makes the journey more dangerous, asylum-seekers continue to try to reach Europe by boat. At least 45 asylum-seekers died Friday trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Those on the Greek islands are now accustomed to the horrors playing out on their shores. Joanna Kakissis sent us this report from Lesbos, which is now known as the Island of Refugees.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: January is supposed to be a slow month for sea crossings. That's because the water is rough, whipped up by high winds, rubber rafts capsize, wooden boats sink, and it's cold. You can even freeze to death in the water. But Vassilis Hantzopoulos has already seen 15 boats in one morning. He's a volunteer first responder with the Hellenic Red Cross.
VASSILIS HANTZOPOULOS: (Foreign language spoken).
KAKISSIS: "The boats launch from five or six points from the Turkish side," he says. "We can see really well where the boats are coming from, and we can figure out where they will land." Hantzopoulos reaches the shore in time to help a young Afghan mother and her infant daughter off a rubber raft that's full of people. The mother shivers. The baby girl wails. Later in the day, a 3-year-old Syrian boy freezes to death at sea. At least 173 asylum-seekers have died so far this month trying to cross by sea to Europe. Friday was the deadliest day on record so far. Scores of people drowned around two tiny Greek islands, Farmakonissi and Kalolimnos. At least 17 children were among the dead.
LINA MUSTAFA: (Foreign language spoken).
KAKISSIS: Lina Mustafa gasps when she hears the news. They were running away from war, she says. I meet Lina and her husband at a transit camp on Lesbos. They fled their hometown of Aleppo, Syria, four years ago. They tried to live in Turkey. Her husband found work as a mechanic
MUSTAFA: (Foreign language spoken).
KAKISSIS: "He worked every day," she says, "but he rarely got paid." Unable to make a living, he joined more than 36,000 asylum-seekers who have crossed from Turkey to Greece this month. The number is more than 2,000 percent higher than last January. Mohamma Adoud, who's 25 and also from Aleppo, says that in winter, smugglers offer passage for half price to desperate refugees.
MOHAMMAD ADOUD: They don't have much money. In winter, the trip is cheaper.
KAKISSIS: So how much did you pay?
ADOUD: Nine hundred dollars.
KAKISSIS: You paid $900. But in the summer it's more than that.
ADOUD: Yeah, it's maybe $2,000.
KAKISSIS: Firas Hassan Mohammad-Ali decided to take the risk. Broke and fleeing what he calls never-ending chaos in Iraq, he's with his wife, Mithaq, and their 4-month-old daughter, Nargis. The couple are both 40. They call Nargis their little miracle. Nargis wears a pink fleece onesie and a Hello Kitty hoodie. Her father had strapped tiny life vests on her and then zipped her inside his waterproof parka for the boat trip.
FIRAS HASSAN MOHAMMAD-ALI: (Foreign language spoken).
KAKISSIS: "It was raining and it was cold," Mohammad-Ali says. "The waves were five feet high. Water was getting into the boat, and I prayed to God for help." His eyes fill with tears as he thinks about the fathers who've lost their children on Friday, and he considers himself lucky, even though the road to Western Europe is getting tougher and borders are closing. For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis on Lesbos.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Gas prices in Columbus, Ohio, are among the lowest in the country. Drivers love the savings, but those working to stop urban sprawl say cheap gas is hurting their efforts. From member station WOSU, Mandie Trimble reports.
MANDIE TRIMBLE, BYLINE: At $1.22 a gallon, a gas station on Columbus' southwest side is drawing customers from all parts of the city. Stan Cartwright drove there from across town.
STAN CARTWRIGHT: I came here for the gas price. I live on the east side and so, you know, I had to make a little bit of a commute, but it was worth it.
TRIMBLE: The bargains aren't just in Columbus. Drivers all around the state are saving money. Gasbuddy.com petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan.
PATRICK DEHAAN: Prices in Ohio tend to be very, very competitive.
TRIMBLE: DeHaan says demand is weak because, well, it's winter - think snowstorms. And Canada, just on the other side of Lake Erie, has dirt cheap crude oil.
DEHAAN: The region's refineries have been doing a very good job at processing. Some of the Canadian varieties of crude oil that are being processed cost today as little as $11 to $12 a barrel, and that is incentivizing them to process as much as possible, thereby increasing gasoline supply, which is, yes, weighing on prices.
TRIMBLE: So what are the upsides for Columbus? For one thing, consumers have more to spend, like Scott Stewart who was also buying gas the other day. He hopes to use his savings to spread more money around at other businesses.
SCOTT STEWART: Going out to dinner with my family, I'll - even if it's just ordering pizza or if we're going to the movies, I'll spend it.
TRIMBLE: And it's not just consumers who are saving. Bill LaFayette, owner of Regionomics, a Columbus economic analysis firm, says the cheap gas has lowered costs for grocery stores, distributors and warehouse companies.
BILL LAFAYETTE: That means that your profits go up and you might be able to pass those savings along to your customers and attract more of them.
TRIMBLE: But not everyone here is thrilled to see cheap gas.
CLEVE RICKSECKER: Low gas prices are a double-edged sword, aren't they?
TRIMBLE: Cleve Ricksecker directs two downtown Columbus Special Improvements Districts.
RICKSECKER: People love saving money, but low energy prices, low gas prices are a nightmare for cities.
TRIMBLE: Columbus has made great strides in recent years in attracting more residents and businesses downtown. Now Ricksecker fears a reversal.
RICKSECKER: With the fall of gas prices, in a place like Columbus and most Midwestern cities, it really is going to encourage more sprawl.
TRIMBLE: Sprawl can mean more traffic jams and air pollution, but he says only a spike in the price of gas would change the equation when people are making decisions about where to live and work.
RICKSECKER: It needs to be a lot higher than it is right now to influence decisions people make.
TRIMBLE: And at least for now, expensive gas seems a long way off. For NPR News, I'm Mandie Trimble in Columbus.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The presidential campaigns are in high gear. And in the age of social media, candidates are using all kinds of ways to reach voters. Scott has the story of one person running for a local office who got really creative.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE: Greggor Ilagan, a Hawaii county councilman who's running for the state senate, decided to try to reach that vital demographic of young voters by appearing on social networking sites and Tinder, a dating app.
When he announced his candidacy last summer, Mr. Ilagan told local Hawaii press he would rely more on social media than campaign fundraising to reach voters. Greg Ilagan said on his profile page I bet we can find common ground on issues and make a positive impact around us. That sounds Jeffersonian. But he heard back from a lot of women and men who just want to find a connection.
GREGGOR ILAGAN: Most people go on Tinder because they want to meet someone in their community and be able to go on a date with them. And I thought that if I talk to people and be able to meet them as friends, I'm able to gain support in my campaign and convince others to also get involved in the community.
SIMON: So Greg Ilagan tried to steer those conversations to the issues on which he's campaigning. He wants to extend a bus route into his district. He's opposed to a ban on genetically modified crops. If you go to his website, you might see it and think, in the nicest way, wonk.
ILAGAN: What I've noticed is that the women were very receptive in wanting to talk about the issues. And the men were more direct. So they asked me for a date, and then I'm always trying to refocus to why I'm - I started with Tinder.
SIMON: For all his social media savvy, Greggor Ilagan may have been a little naive about Tinder. It's for dating - Tinder, to strike sparks, or relationships if you prefer. But imagine if you'd gone in search of someone to share your life - or at least a weekend - and found some guy talking about the importance of extending bus routes. There is a reason Adele doesn't sing songs about bus routes. Greg Ilagan may have invested a lot of his campaign hopes into social media, but for the moment, he's taken up a campaign strategy that's more old-style than new media.
ILAGAN: I decided walking door-to-door is the best possible option where I directly talk to the voters in person and get to know their issues and hopefully be able to come up with a solution that can fit everyone.
SIMON: What's next, politicians knocking on doors and shaking hands with voters?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HELLO")
ADELE: (Singing) Hello from the other side. I must have called a thousand times to tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done. But when I call you never seem to be home. Hello from the outside. At least I can say that I tried...
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
When Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president this week, it was a surprise move but one that seemed perfectly logical. In fact, Donald Trump's rise is a natural extension of the kind of politics that Palin herself embraced after her unsuccessful run for vice president, combining populism, rage and celebrity. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: From her very first moments on the national stage, it was clear that Sarah Palin was not your typical politician.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SARAH PALIN: I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull - lipstick.
GONYEA: That ad-libbed line from the Republican National Convention in the summer of 2008 made her a conservative superstar with hockey moms and lots of others. And the campaign would provide glimpses of the VP candidate's future as a political rabble-rouser.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PALIN: Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.
GONYEA: Barack Obama defeated the McCain-Palin ticket, but in many ways that gave birth to the tea party. And Palin was exactly what the movement needed.
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PALIN: The tea party movement is not a top-down operation. It's a ground-up call to action that is forcing both parties to change the way that they're doing business, and that's beautiful.
GONYEA: That's from a tea party convention in Nashville in 2010. Activist William Temple spoke to NPR that day.
WILLIAM TEMPLE: Oh, I love the lady who killed a moose. She's the strongest man in the Republican Party, Sarah Palin. If I can get close enough, I'll give her a kiss.
GONYEA: Meanwhile, Donald Trump watched Palin's rise as she channeled and fueled the anger felt by many voters toward Washington, voters who described President Obama as a socialist or a Muslim or not American. On that latter point, Trump was relentless. This is from NBC's "Today" Show five years ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY")
DONALD TRUMP: He doesn't have a birth certificate or he hasn't shown it. He has what's called a certificate of live birth.
GONYEA: As Trump promoted the so-called birther movement, Palin cheered him on.
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PALIN: I respect what he's doing and putting his money where his mouth is. He's actually investigating his speculation there on Obama's birth certificate
GONYEA: That's from Fox News in 2010 where she also offered some advice to Trump to do even more on more topics
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PALIN: Right now, he's got the spotlight, he's got the megaphone. Now is his opportunity to really force a shift in debate and discussion in this country.
GONYEA: In 2011, Trump and Palin created a stir with a high-profile meeting in New York City, just as the 2012 presidential race was taking shape.
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TRUMP: She's a great woman and a terrific woman and a good friend.
GONYEA: They shared lunch - New York-style pizza. Afterward, reporters asked Trump if Palin should run. He said he'd love her to run. Here's Palin that day.
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PALIN: What do we have in common? A love for this country and a desire to see our economy get put back on the right track.
GONYEA: Hearing Palin's speeches over the years and listening to Trump on the campaign trail, you have two people speaking to the same audience, hitting the same notes - Obamacare, radical Islamic terrorism, Obama's weak foreign policy, poor treatment of veterans, immigration and always the language is proudly politically incorrect.
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TRUMP: I would bomb the [expletive] out of them.
They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists.
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
GONYEA: Both of them, fed up with how the country is being run, even have similar catchphrases
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PALIN: It is time to take our country back.
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TRUMP: We will make America great again.
GONYEA: Trump and Palin both also love attacking what she has labeled the lame-stream media. At Trump rallies, he calls reporters dishonest and treacherous. Now here's Palin grabbing the national spotlight again by endorsing Trump.
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PALIN: Mr. Trump, you're right. Look back there in the press box. Heads are spinning. Media heads are spinning. This is going to be so much fun.
GONYEA: Sarah Palin with Donald Trump, kindred spirits in Iowa this week. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of the complaints about Iowa holding the first caucuses to choose the next president is that the largely white state is not representative of America. Nevertheless, the state is home to a growing number of Latinos. Latinos make up less than 6 percent of the population, but they are twice the size they were during the 2000 caucuses. And this year, for the first time, they're trying to systematically organize themselves to caucus. But as NPR's Asma Khalid reports, that is no easy task.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: At this caucus training session in Iowa City, presidential candidates are replaced by beans - literally bean dishes from Mexico, Puerto Rico and Colombia.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: A couple dozen Latinos are caucusing for these beans.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: So we have four. (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: The event is put on by LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. They've been knocking on doors, handing out flyers and organizing training sessions like this one. The goal is to make an arcane system relatable to new people.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: If your group does not have five, your group is not viable.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: In case you were wondering, there was a tie between pinto beans with bacon and pinto beans Colombian style. One of the people here is Manuel Galvez. He moved to Iowa 11 years ago, but has never caucused.
MANUEL GALVEZ: In the past, there were just few Latinos in Iowa.
KHALID: But now, he says, Latinos have the numbers to send a message if they get involved.
GALVEZ: The Latinos, they don't participate. Nobody pay attention to them. No Democratic Party or the Republican Party. And we believe that we can be here if we mobilize ourselves.
KHALID: Part of the challenge is that Iowa's Latino community is incredibly diverse. There are new immigrants coming from blue-collar jobs and second-generation millennials, like Vitalina Nova, who moved to Iowa in September for a gig as a librarian.
VITALINA NOVA: When I found out that there are majority-minority towns in Iowa, I thought that's really unique. How are they being represented and how come it seems to me that a lot of the white population doesn't know about this?
KHALID: She said just go east and you'll see how Latinos are changing the state. So I hopped in the car and turned on the radio, which in itself gives you a sign of how things are changing.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Spanish).
KHALID: And I drove to Muscatine County, where the Latino population essentially mirrors the country's demographics. Here, Latinos make up 17.2 percent of the population.
KARINA BELTRAN: I haven't heard anything about political caucus or whatever.
KHALID: I met Karina Beltran at a local bank. She's voted in presidential elections and says she wants to caucus but doesn't know how it works or where to go. LULAC's goal is to get at least 10,000 Latinos to caucus, but here in Muscatine County, you get a sense of how hard that may be.
Down the road at a Mexican restaurant, I met Yaridia Sosa and asked her if she knows about the caucuses.
YARIDIA SOSA: I heard the word, yes (laughter). But I don't know what it is.
KHALID: But even if someone did explain the process to her, it's a multi-hour time commitment on a Monday evening.
SOSA: I work here all day so I don't have any time to go. I don't have no one to cover for me.
KHALID: Just as I was about to walk away, Sosa mentioned that her daughter was going to see Hillary Clinton speak. And that level of political engagement in the young population may be a sign because regardless of whether 10,000 Latinos caucus on February 1, the Hispanic community here is young and will likely be a force in campaigns to come. Asma Khalid, NPR News, Des Moines.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin sitting in for Scott Simon. It took months of complaints in Flint, Mich., for state officials to acknowledge there was a very serious problem with the water. High levels of lead have leached into the water from old pipes, poisoning the residents of that city. This week, President Obama declared a state of emergency there. Governor Rick Snyder apologized once again and promised to fix the problem. But lacking confidence in the state's ability to address the crisis, the EPA now says it's taking over water testing in Flint. Yesterday, the state shot back, questioning whether the federal order is even legal. Harvey Hollins is the director of Michigan's Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives, and he's now coordinating the state's response to the Flint water crisis. He joins me now from his home in Belleville, Mich. Welcome to the program.
HARVEY HOLLINS: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: The pressure is obviously mounting on you and other state officials to move quickly to address the water situation in Flint. What's your plan?
HOLLINS: We've been moving. As soon as the mayor of the city declared an emergency and the county followed suit, the state declared an emergency in October and since then we've had a - an emergency operation center. And it's doing aggressive work in that city just to meet the short-term needs of the residents there with water filters and cartridges and test kits.
MARTIN: But, you know, residents are saying, sure, we have access to bottled water. That's a temporary solution. When will the water be drinkable?
HOLLINS: Well, the state switched the city off of the Flint River and put them back on the Detroit system, which is the Great Lakes Water Authority now. And the pipes have to be re-coated with phosphates in order to prevent the leaching of metals into the water. That process takes a couple months and it...
MARTIN: A couple months from now?
HOLLINS: No, no, no. It's - we're not - I'm not prepared to say when. But we've been on - actually, the city of Flint has been on the Detroit system for about a month or two. It took about three weeks or four weeks to flush the system, and then you have to, you know, run the water through. So there are individuals monitoring the water. Dr. Edwards is still engaged in Flint. And we're not going to declare that that water is safe to drink until those external experts basically declare that it is so.
MARTIN: President Obama said Thursday his administration is giving $80 million of aid to Michigan. How much of that do you think will go to fixing Flint's infrastructure?
HOLLINS: Well, we're looking at, what can we use that $80 million for? And so that's being discussed right now. The - you know, we requested that that this aid come. However, the White House hasn't shared the parameters of this funding with us yet. And so that's what we're working on right now. And whether or not that - those funds have to be used for drinking water or those funds can be actually used for infrastructure.
MARTIN: So you have no idea yet how much or any - how - if you will get any of that $80 million (unintelligible).
HOLLINS: Well, we'll get the $80 million. That's not - that's not the issue. The issue is, you know, how can we use it that $80 million? And that's what we're negotiating with the White House today.
MARTIN: My colleague, Ari Shapiro, spoke with the mayor of Flint this week. And she said that the trust between the state and the city has essentially been broken and that residents of Flint have felt abandoned. How do you, as the man tasked with leading this effort to fix this problem, how do you start to rebuild that trust?
HOLLINS: Well, trust has to be earned. And those residents and every person who is in that city has to - have every right to be upset and frustrated. Our trust has to be earned to by tangible actions to correct the problem. Talk is cheap, and it's going to take actions to correct this.
MARTIN: Harvey Hollins is the state coordinator for the Flint water crisis. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.
HOLLINS: You're welcome. Have a good day.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
What was the first thing you did this morning? Chances are you used water to do it. But if the water coming out of your faucet isn't safe, what precautions would you take just do the most basic of tasks? That's the issue people in Flint, Mich.. are struggling with because, as we've heard, they're dealing with these high levels of lead in the city's tap water. Michigan Radio's Kyle Norris followed one Flint resident to find out just how stressful avoiding tap water can be.
KYLE NORRIS, BYLINE: Inside the bathroom at She'a Cobb's house, there's a stack of towels wrapped with a bow, a bag of seashells and a bright green fake plant.
SHE'A COBB: This is my bathroom. My mom is a really great interior designer.
NORRIS: This is where Cobb has mastered the two-minute shower. First, she's got to get the perfect temperature.
COBB: So I jump in real quick, get wet real fast and I turn this head away from me.
NORRIS: She pushes the showerhead aside so the water does not hit her and instead streams down the wall. Then she scrubs herself.
COBB: Do the soap thing, you know, make sure I get my toes. And then turn it back on and rinse off.
NORRIS: That short shower is not relaxing. She can't use Flint's water because it might have high levels of lead. The city switched it's water source from Detroit to the Flint River to save money almost two years ago. That new water was more corrosive and wasn't treated properly. It corroded the pipes, which caused lead to leach into the water. Thirty-one-year-old Cobb is a bus driver. She lives with her daughter and mother in Flint, which is a struggling blue-collar town where 40 percent of people live in poverty. Cobb's family has been buying a lot of bottled water lately. In fact, they brush their teeth using one small container - a few mouthfuls per person. They do this because Flint residents have been told not to drink or cook with tap water and to use lead filters and bottled water instead, which means Cobb has to stop doing something she loves.
COBB: Man, I love cooking, you know, vegetables, and I like baking my chicken, you know, it used to be so juicy. And my daughter love it. And cheese, eggs and turkey bacon (laughter) I love cooking. I do not cook now 'cause I can't use the water.
NORRIS: These days, Cobb eats almost exclusively at restaurants, usually outside the city limits. At every restaurant, she quizzes the staff where they get their water from. If it's from Flint, she doesn't drink it because she doesn't trust it. Cobb snacks on crackers and granola bars throughout the day. She rations her bottled water intake and has been getting headaches because she's dehydrated. She's even stopped exercising because that takes extra water, extra water she doesn't have. Residents can pick up one free case of bottled water per day at fire stations around town, given out by the National Guard.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hello, can I see some ID please? All right, where would you like your water?
COBB: Behind me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All right. All right, aave a great day.
COBB: Thanks.
NORRIS: This was the first time Cobb had stopped here. Normally the line is long. Cobb says she just doesn't trust the government.
COBB: Oh, man I hate them (laughter) because before this happened I lived my life every day with no worry and no stress about whether or not what I ate and how I lived and what I did was going to actually affect my long - the longevity of my life.
NORRIS: Now she thinks about this stuff all the time
COBB: I want to know when they going to fix infrastructure of the city. When are you all going to fix the pipes? Like, you can only give out bottled water for so long.
NORRIS: Cobb says people in Flint want new pipes. So they can live like anyone else in any other American city. For NPR News, I'm Kyle Norris in Flint, Mich.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This week was a big one for weather forecasters. The buildup was huge.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Winter Storm Jonas is set up to be a historic storm for parts of the mid-Atlantic...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: A historic storm, maybe a top five...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What could be a historical storm...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Eighteen to 24 inches...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Some whiteout conditions out there...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: Overnight Friday is going to be a mess. Saturday, an absolute mess. Travel will be literally impossible...
MARTIN: Whatever you want to call it, historic, historical, it's bad news for the mid-Atlantic, and it's got meteorologists all fired up. This week, we talked to two experts about their predictions. The first - Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel told us signs pointed to something big.
JIM CANTORE: Seventy mile-per-hour gusts - 50 mile-per-hour gusts with horizontal snow. This is the real deal. And, you know, there's a lot of people in harm's way, a lot of people that, if they don't play by the rules, are going to be in danger.
MARTIN: We also spoke with Angela Fritz. She's deputy editor at the Capital Weather Gang, the weather blog of The Washington Post.
ANGELA FRITZ: We're kind of on the low-end of forecasts that are out there, so we tend to be a little bit conservative about this storm.
MARTIN: But she still thought things would get nuts.
FRITZ: We are predicting snowfall totals of anywhere from 18 to as much as 24, maybe 25, inches right around the immediate D.C. metro.
MARTIN: But she added it was one of the highest confidence predictions her team had ever had. So here we are mid-blizzard, and we wanted to have them back and ask how did their models play out. Jim Cantore, you first. Did you get it right, Jim?
CANTORE: I think everything is working out as planned.
MARTIN: (Laughter) For better or for worse, right?
CANTORE: (Laughter) Yeah, I mean that helps, you know, to actually nail it. You know, two things that stand out, I mean, we've had the 75 mile-per-hour plus wind gusts in Sussex County, Del., this morning. Dewey Beach, as a matter of fact, recorded that. We've already got Montgomery County reporting our first 20-inch total. We're already top ten snowfalls in both - at Reagan and Dulles. So, I mean, we're well on our way to what we thought was going to happen. And really in my professional experience, the best on track and unchanging forecast - the longest unchanging forecast that I've ever seen certainly - especially for Washington, D.C. I mean, this thing has played out exactly how the models showed it to. Now, that doesn't mean that's going to be the future.
MARTIN: Yeah.
CANTORE: But this one at least has played out very well.
MARTIN: Angela, do you agree?
FRITZ: Oh, absolutely. We're looking at a top 12 right now at this very moment, closing in on top 10. So we might even hit top 5 here in D.C. And, of course, the winds are starting to pick up right on schedule. And so we're probably looking at whiteout conditions this afternoon in the metro area. And we're just glad that everybody is hunkered down. Everyone did exactly what we wanted them to. We're not seeing anyone on the roads except for emergency vehicles and people who absolutely need to be out there. So everyone played by the rules, as Jim said.
MARTIN: No offense to either of you, but sometimes you don't get it right. So why were you so right this time? We'll start with Jim.
CANTORE: I think that the synoptic or the large-scale pattern set up was very favorable to lock in the cold air much farther to the south where we weren't really playing with a rain-snow line, even though we did see Baltimore this morning mixed in with a little sleet. But I think that was the key is the fact that we knew how much liquid we were going to get and we knew how much cold air we were going to keep through the storm, and where it was going to go - the track of the storm - kept us with a pretty high confidence forecast.
MARTIN: Angela.
FRITZ: I think it will be interesting to look back and see how this El Nino comes into play here because having a very big El Nino signal means that the weather pattern can be sometimes very easy to predict for the model. So it'll be interesting to see how that all shakes out in the research going forward.
MARTIN: Angela Fritz of The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang and Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel. Thanks to you both.
FRITZ: You're welcome.
CANTORE: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Iowa is known for corn, the Hawkeyes and for being first in the county to choose who they want to be president. With the Iowa caucuses little more than a week away, we wanted to revisit how this small state plays such a big role in American politics. Here's NPR's Sam Sanders.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: Simple question - why are the Iowa caucuses first? I asked that all across the state of Iowa recently, including at Duncan's cafe in Council Bluffs.
Do you know why Iowa caucuses are first in the nation?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: No, I do not.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I don't know, myself why they're number one really (laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I'm not really entirely sure how it - how it came to be that way.
SANDERS: Have you ever caucused?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't think so.
SANDERS: You don't think so?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't know anything about this. I'm sorry.
SANDERS: So you don't even know if you've caucused.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't even know what a caucus is, to tell you the truth.
SANDERS: Clearly, this calls for an expert - or several.
So first things first.
DAVID YEPSEN: OK.
SANDERS: Tell me your full name and your title.
YEPSEN: OK. I'm David Yepsen. For 35 years, I was a political writer for The Des Moines Register.
SANDERS: Yepsen is the Iowa politics writer of a record. He helped answer a few questions. First of them being what exactly is a caucus?
YEPSEN: In a caucus - it's a neighborhood meeting. In fact, the term caucus is thought to be a Native American term - an Algonquin term for meeting of tribal leaders.
SANDERS: It's more than just a vote. People gather and talk about why they're supporting their candidate. And they try to convince other people to support their guy or gal. The process can sometimes take hours. I also spoke with Kathie Obradovich.
KATHIE OBRADOVICH: Political columnist for The Des Moines Register.
SANDERS: She acknowledges that Iowa didn't really happen on purpose.
OBRADOVICH: The really important thing to remember about Iowa is not that it's fist because it's important. Iowa is important because it's first.
SANDERS: It all began in 1968.
OBRADOVICH: It happened after the 1968 National Convention - Democratic National Convention, which is marred by violence over the Vietnam War and racial tension. And the Democratic Party nationally and in Iowa decided they wanted to change their process to make it more inclusive
SANDERS: Part of that meant spreading the schedule out in each state. Because Iowa has one of the more complex processes, they had to start really, really early.
YEPSEN: And precinct caucuses would have to be in, my gosh, February.
OBRADOVICH: And it turned out that they were going to be first in the nation.
SANDERS: Settled that one. Next question - is it fair? Just a warning, there's probably no consensus for this. But Jim Jacobson (ph) at a diner in Iowa City, he said this.
JIM JACOBSON: Is it fair that Iowa goes first? What's fair in politics? I mean, seriously. Yeah - OK. We're, like, 97 percent white, and we're really rural. And we don't look like a microcosm of America, but so what?
SANDERS: Let's take that first thing he points out, Iowa's whiteness.
JACOBSON: We're, like, 97 percent white.
SANDERS: Officially, non-Hispanic whites make up 87.1 percent of Iowa's population, according to the most recent census data. But J. Ann Selzer, she says it's actually kind of OK.
J. ANN SELZER: The idea that because Iowans are white and older they're going to vote for older white people is not borne out. In both parties, candidates of color have often done quite well in Iowa.
SANDERS: Selzer is the top pollster in the state.
SELZER: Well, look at Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson did well. Alan Keyes did well on the Republican side.
SANDERS: Even Jeff Kaufmann, the head of the Iowa Republican Party. He kind of says the same thing.
JEFF KAUFMANN: And this is going to be awfully odd to have a Republican chair suggest you look at what Barack Obama has to say about Iowa but I'm guessing Barack Obama has no problem with the diversity that we reflect. And I'm guessing if you talk to Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and Ben Carson, my guess is that they're not going to have a problem.
SANDERS: But there's another issue of race, not just who Iowans are voting for but which Iowans are voting. Both parties say they're reaching out more to Latinos, Iowa's fastest growing racial group. But in West Liberty, Iowa, a town that's majority Latino, I met a lot of people that had no idea about any of this.
So you've never heard of the caucuses?
MARIA LUNA: No (laughter).
JACKIE GUZMA: It's new.
SANDERS: It's new.
GUZMA: It's new to us, yeah.
SANDERS: Why's it new to you?
GUZMA: I've never heard it - never heard the word.
SANDERS: Until right now?
GUZMA: Yeah.
SANDERS: Wait, I was the first person to tell you the word caucus?
GUZMA: Yeah.
SANDERS: That's Maria Luna (ph) and her daughter, Jackie Guzma (ph). Maria owns a shop in West Liberty.
LUNA: Right now in Mangolandia (ph).
SANDERS: Mangolandia?
LUNA: Yes.
SANDERS: I like that. What does that mean?
They sell frozen fruit snacks and other stuff with lots of mangos. Luna, the store owner, she's not an American citizen yet, so she couldn't vote in the caucuses even if she wanted to. But her daughter Jackie Guzma says she can caucus. But she told me that no one has ever come to West Liberty to tell her how. Jackie and her mother Maria think that's wrong.
GUZMA: Nobody says anything and nobody talks about it. And we see no nothing - that we're not to be nothing and do nothing.
SANDERS: Another thing with Iowa, the state has a relatively small population - 3 million in the whole state. And it's very rural. A lot of American voters these days live in big urban areas.
DANTE CHINNI: When we get to the general election next November, about 45 percent of the vote is going to come from places that I call big cities or urban suburbs - that's a lot of the vote. There are none of those in Iowa.
SANDERS: That's Dante Chinni. He's the director of the American Communities Project at American University. I asked him, given those numbers, which state would be ideal?
CHINNI: Georgia, maybe.
SANDERS: For two big reasons...
CHINNI: First of all you, have diversity - a much more diverse state. The other thing that Georgia has is it's got Atlanta.
SANDERS: And when you look at states that have that mix - more racial diversity and a mix of rural and urban, there are actually a few options.
CHINNI: Pennsylvania's a very good option. Colorado is an interesting state. My home state of Michigan - Ohio's a really good one.
SANDERS: But here's the thing - if you look to bigger states for more diversity, you could end up with a caucus state that's actually too big. With Iowa, it's small enough for every candidate to make their way across the whole state and advertise on the cheap. Small candidates can compete with the big dogs in Iowa from day one. And there's another thing.
ANDY MCGUIRE: The real reason we're first in the nation now is because of what we do. We take this real seriously.
SANDERS: This is Andy McGuire, head of the Iowa state Democratic Party. She says Iowans can test a candidate like no one else.
MCGUIRE: You know, we ask really good questions. We ask follow-up questions. We look them in the eye like I am you right now. It's real. It's one-on-one vetting of candidates. Are you for real? Not a TV spot, not money - what's in your heart?
SANDERS: Whether you believe that Iowa voters are better at this, that they deserve the privilege more, it probably doesn't even matter. David Yepsen says we're stuck with Iowa.
YEPSEN: Iowa's first because of inertia (laughter). Most people in the country don't like this process, but the country finds it difficult to agree on an alternative way to do this.
SANDERS: And Iowa really doesn't want to let it go. Sam Sanders, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And on the West Coast, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Oscar people, have announced big changes in how the awards will work. This comes after intense controversy and threatened boycotts over nominees for this year's Oscars. For the second straight year, no people of color were nominated in any acting category, and several high-profile movies featuring African-Americans were shut out of the best picture category. NPR's Neda Ulaby has been following the issue. She joins us from our studios at NPR West.
Hi, Neda.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Hey, Rachel.
MARTIN: This is not just about the Oscar nominations this year. The academy has been struggling with issues around diversity for a long time.
ULABY: Yeah, it's really an institutional issues. There's about 6,000 members of the academy. In 2012, the LA Times did a survey of about 5,000 of them, and what the survey discovered was that the membership is about 93 percent white, about 76 percent male and the average age was 63 years old. So this is not a membership that represents either the country or the entertainment industry. The academy has, since then, tried to diversify a little bit. But it's been - it hasn't made a huge, radical push. And that's what it's talking about doing now.
MARTIN: So what will these changes be?
ULABY: So they had a meeting on Thursday night responding to all of the furor about the most recent nominations. And what happened was the academy decided to double the number of women and people of color who can vote in the Academy Awards - by 2020. The academy president Cheryl Boones Isaac (ph) is African-American, and she says the academy needs to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up. They're making changes over who gets to vote. The lot of people in the academy are just very, very old. A lot of them haven't been active in the industry for decades. They're trying to make room for newer, younger people and people from more diverse backgrounds to take part in the most prestigious award in the business.
MARTIN: How long have people been pushing back against the academy on this issue?
ULABY: Well, for a really long time. In 1996, the Rev. Jesse Jackson organized national protests over the lack of African-American representation. And in 1988, Eddie Murphy arguably put his career a little bit on the line when he talked about this issue at length at the Academy Awards when he was giving the best picture award.
MARTIN: So as you pointed out, this is something they've struggled with for a long time. They're now saying they're really going to make changes to how the voting happens.
Is that likely to satisfy people who've been criticizing the academy for a long time about its record on diversity?
ULABY: You know, who knows? Who knows what exactly is going to happen? But some of the celebrities who've been critical have thanked the academy for taking these issues seriously. And to - the thing is, this is going to help the Oscars in other ways. Ratings have been tanking recently, and it's partly because the membership has been picking movies that, frankly, not a lot of people necessarily have enjoyed or even bothered to care about. Movies like "Creed" and "Straight Outta Compton" were pretty much overlooked, and those were movies that people, even younger people within the industry, thought were really terrific movies that should have gotten more recognition.
MARTIN: NPR's Neda Ulaby.
Thanks so much, Neda.
ULABY: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
If self-driving cars kind of freak you out but you like the idea, there's now an alternative. They're called semi-autonomous cars, and you're still the driver, but so much is automated that it may not feel that way.
NPR's Sonari Glinton went for a test drive with Kelley Blue Book's Micah Muzio. They took an average SUV, a Honda Pilot, for a semi-autonomous spin at the big car show in Detroit.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: What's really funny is that Honda is really, like, nervous about it being called anything close to autonomy. They call it Honda Sensing. What is this package of stuff supposed to do?
MICAH MUZIO: So that thing where I'm paying attention to something that's not the road ahead and then the car starts to drift out of its lane - hopefully, Honda Sensing will pull the car back into its lane. Or if I'm just not paying attention and a car pulls out in front of me, hopefully Honda Sensing will stop the vehicle before we impact.
GLINTON: So let's, like, drive around beautiful downtown Detroit.
MUZIO: OK. Yeah, let's check it out.
So how real do you want to get with this? Like, should I try to hit something?
GLINTON: (Laughter) You know what? Luckily, Honda didn't send anybody with us.
MUZIO: OK, OK. We'll just see what happens. Detroit will provide, I'm sure.
So I'm going to do something I don't normally do, which is I'm going to briefly take my hands off the wheel. Honda doesn't recommend this, but I'm a journalist, so I do as I please. And notice we're staying within the lane.
Now here's the fun part. If I do this long enough (unintelligible) drifting a little bit. It's correcting. Notice how it corrected.
GLINTON: Yeah.
MUZIO: Wait for it. Keep your eyes here. You see that?
GLINTON: Yeah.
MUZIO: The car is basically steering itself around a corner right now.
GLINTON: It's very subtle. The steering wheel is sort of moving itself...
MUZIO: Yeah.
GLINTON: ...A little bit. It's - slowly - now when we just took a turn, you grabbed hold.
MUZIO: Yeah, yeah. What you don't want to do is depend on it to make an abrupt maneuver. Yeah, the way to treat these systems, at least at this point, is oh, look, I'm distracted by my phone. Wait a second. Let me see who's - no, thank you, sorry. And while that's happening, the car is gently steering itself, staying in the lane.
GLINTON: That's a thing that happens all the time.
MUZIO: Yeah, that moment there. We're in wintry Detroit. It's not completely unlikely that somebody might pull out in front of us. Or there might be a really compelling reason why I need to steer or break with gusto. By the way, just to reiterate the point that my hands are not on the wheel (clapping) - just for effect.
GLINTON: I tell you. You know.
MUZIO: (Laughter) OK, OK.
GLINTON: No clapping, no more clapping.
MUZIO: Noted, OK. Yes, sir.
GLINTON: Are there downsides to these features that are meant to make us safer?
MUZIO: Yeah. I don't want to be overly pessimistic, but I think once drivers are aware that the car will steer itself and, you know, maintain a distance from the vehicle ahead and all that other stuff that we'll expect it to do that. So what you wouldn't want to do, and what Honda would be very clear to make sure that you don't do, is rely on this for the - like, rely on the car to drive itself. That's not what this technology does.
GLINTON: Another way to think of that is if you're limited because of a disability or you're elderly or something like that, that that will help you sort of stay in the car longer, do more things. There are all these things that help not just the average driver but someone who might be impaired.
So we made it back in one piece (laughter).
MUZIO: We did.
GLINTON: Thanks so much, Micah.
MUZIO: Thanks, Sonari.
GLINTON: Well, from the North American International Auto Show, Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Detroit.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Here's a mashup for you - turf dancing and ballet. The former is a kind of dance born on the streets of Oakland, Calif. It's usually performed freestyle to hip-hop or rap music. And ballet - well, it's ballet. But now one choreographer is bringing the two together for a performance next weekend.
As April Dembosky from member station KQED explains, the creative process has been more difficult than anybody thought.
COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: Four-car San Francisco-Millbrae train now boarding, platform 2.
APRIL DEMBOSKY, BYLINE: Commuters on this morning train are hunched over in an iPhone-induced stupor.
ARTHUR GARDNER: (Clapping) Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
DEMBOSKY: Arthur Gardner, aka Dopey Fresh, starts gliding down the aisle, flicking his ankles in a new kind of moonwalk.
GARDNER: And we have this wonderful dance show for you guys.
DEMBOSKY: His friend Intricate takes over. His feet planted, he contorts his arms into impossible twists called bone breaks.
GARDNER: Oh.
DEMBOSKY: Then comes Krow. He pulls his right foot behind his neck and grabs the handlebars overhead...
GARDNER: Ah.
DEMBOSKY: ...And flips.
GARDNER: And please do not try this at home.
DEMBOSKY: Commuters are seeing typical turf dancing, but My-Linh Le sees echoes of classical ballet. She sees grace in the way the turfers float across the floor, precision in the way they fold their arms.
MY-LINH LE: So if dancers from the conservatory world of ballet could somehow have so much movement-wise in common with these other guys who have never really (laughter) stepped foot in a conservatory or a studio then I think that says a lot about our human nature.
DEMBOSKY: She started talking to the turfers about taking them off the train and putting them on stage with ballet dancers.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
DEMBOSKY: But Le soon confronted her first obstacle. She had a hard time getting the turfers to show up for rehearsals. She couldn't pay them. During the hours they would spend rehearsing, they could be making money on the train.
GARDNER: We're just good kids with good hearts and doing this all for love of dance.
But they say the best nation is...
ALGERION BRYANT: A donation, ladies and gentlemen.
DEMBOSKY: Most days, the guys take home between $100 and $200 each. That's a lot for turfer Hector Ascencio to give up.
HECTOR ASCENCIO: I work at Jamba Juice. Yeah, I go to community college, and you know, it's kind of a struggle right now. I'm not even going to lie, you know. A lot of turfers, a lot of dancers out here come from the struggle.
DEMBOSKY: So choreographer My-Linh Le started a crowdfunding campaign and ended up raising $10,000. Now she pays each dancer 40 bucks at the end of every rehearsal.
LE: All right, ready.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HYPHY")
FEDERATION: (Rapping) With Rick Rock beats, yeah, fella, I'll rock ya.
DEMBOSKY: But the money wasn't the only hurdle. Once the ballerinas and turfers got into the studio together, their two very different worlds collided.
TATIANA BARBER: You know, even in the first rehearsal, it was, like, very eye-opening.
DEMBOSKY: Ballet dancer Tatiana Barber says she was thrown off by how the turfers just launched into a freestyle warm-up.
BARBER: In ballet class, you know, you have a strict technique, start with plies into tendus.
BRYANT: The language.
DEMBOSKY: That's turf dancer Algerion Bryant, aka Krow.
BRYANT: You have the ones with rules and boundaries, and you have the one without rules and boundaries. See somebody color inside the lines. You have this person that did the same thing, but they color outside the lines.
DEMBOSKY: Rehearsals got chaotic, so My-Linh Le had to split them up for a while. Ballet dancers met on Mondays, turfers on Saturdays. She wasn't ready to give up her vision of a stage collaboration. But Le says when she threw the choreography out the window and just had the dancers improv together...
LE: It left everyone in shock. They just had moments where they suddenly thought the same thing, did the same thing, like, at the same time. And it was crazy because you know that that could only happen when two people are so in tune with each other and listening so hard that they could be thinking the same thing.
DEMBOSKY: By the time they finish, the dancers will have a 17-minute piece, a mix of solos and ensemble dances, both improv-ed (ph) and choreographed.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD")
NINA SIMONE: (Singing) Baby, you understand me now...
DEMBOSKY: In one section, Le wants to explore the concept of misunderstanding. She sat in a circle with the dancers at a recent rehearsal to explain.
LE: I wanted to use "The Ugly Duckling," which I think a lot of people misinterpret as, like, a story about transformation, which is kind of funny because the ugly duckling didn't, like, suddenly transform into a swan. He was actually always a swan. So it was actually a story about misperception.
DEMBOSKY: My-Linh Le says it's the same with turfing. The street dance has always been as artful as ballet. By putting it on stage, turfing doesn't change, but Le hopes that the audience's perception of it will.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD")
SIMONE: (Singing) Oh, Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.
DEMBOSKY: For NPR News, I'm April Dembosky in San Francisco.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin sitting in for Scott Simon. Much of the East Coast is shut down today as a powerful blizzard moves through the region. Before the day is over, forecasters say 20 to 30 inches of snow will have fallen in some areas. Officials are warning people to stay indoors, saying gale force winds make this a life-threatening storm. From North Carolina to New York, thousands of flights are canceled. Transit systems in major cities have stopped service or sharply reduced it. NPR's Jennifer Ludden has been out in the elements, and she joins me now in the studio. Jennifer, what is the scene out there? What's the situation right now?
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: You know, really you have city officials across the East Coast trying to keep up with a snow that's still falling, in some places 2 to 3 inches an hour we're told. It's heavy. It's wet. There were snow plows going all night long around the hotel here where I stayed. You've got city officials saying they're trying hard to keep major, you know, passways open for emergency vehicles to get through. You also have, you know, hotels packed across this city with companies and the government that have put in workers overnight for jobs that they really want them to be able to do - grocery stores, pharmacies. I met Waverly Hawkins in a hotel. He works for the company that stocks food on Amtrak trains. We're very close to Union Station here. And Hawkins says his company is transporting workers around the clock from the hotel to the station.
WAVERLY HAWKINS: Under these conditions, not knowing deep it was going to get, they figured it would be there to be safe than sorry. So they asked people to volunteer if they wanted to, like, come, stay. They provided rooms. And so I'm here.
LUDDEN: So there are fewer Amtrak trains today, but they are going to have food on them. You know, in D.C. - Washington, D.C. - the metro system is shut down until Monday. Smithsonian museums, National Zoo, everything closed.
MARTIN: Of course, D.C. has been in the eye of this storm, but it's affected other areas as well. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio this morning said that this storm has the potential to rank in the top five blizzards ever...
LUDDEN: Yes, yes. And they are preparing for I think more than they - was originally forecast there in New York City. Quite a bit of snow. They have just announced that all roads in and around New York City, including bridges and tunnels, are going to shut down at 2:30 today. Underground parts of New York City's subway system will shut at 4 o'clock. Elsewhere, people are really begging people not to get out on the roads. We've had some nightmare scenarios in Pennsylvania. Earlier today in Kentucky, a stretch of I-75 shut down because of multiple car accidents. You had police bringing out food, fuel and water to people and setting up emergency shelters before they resolved that situation. Elsewhere along the coast in New Jersey, some residents have been told to evacuate because of fear of coastal flooding. We've had really gale force wind pushing the storm surge high.
MARTIN: You've had a chance to get out and about and talk to folks here in Washington. How are people dealing with all of this?
LUDDEN: You know, I went to a shelter for the homeless that has been open 24/7 since yesterday at noon. They're bursting - have as many people as they can fit. They're bringing in food and snacks and keeping people warm and safe. People there say they're very grateful. Then you go down a few blocks, and, you know, there's a lot of people out having a great time. I ran into some people who were snowboarding on the back of a Land Rover, kids playing, you know, as long as people are staying safe they're really enjoying it.
MARTIN: NPR's Jennifer Ludden. We'll be sending her back outside, and we'll be hearing more from you later. Thanks so much, Jennifer.
LUDDEN: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin in for my friend Scott Simon, who is home sick today. And I'm pretty sure really sad he does not get to say the following - time now for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: And we're down to the final four in the NFL playoffs. Tomorrow, the Patriots play the Broncos and the Cardinals play the Panthers. Winners go to the Super Bowl. Luckily, neither of those games is taking place in D.C. because they'd be playing on cross-country skis. Here to talk about the games is NPR's Tom Goldman. Hey, Tom.
TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel. And hi, Scott, if you're listening.
MARTIN: I'm know. I'm sure he is. Feel better soon, Scott. OK, so in the first of these two games tomorrow, Tom Brady is going to face off against Peyton Manning for about the kajillionth (ph) time. What's your prediction here?
GOLDMAN: Seventeenth showing between the quarterbacks, to be specific.
MARTIN: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: Sadly probably not going to be much of a showdown. Brady is seemingly ageless at 38. He's as great as ever. Manning, who'll be 40 in two months, is not. He had those neck surgeries a few years ago, and he says since then he hasn't regained the feeling in his fingertips of his throwing hand and his arm strength has really diminished. So he just doesn't scare opposing defenses the way he used to.
MARTIN: But Denver - it's not just about the QBs though, Tom. I mean, they got to this point for a reason, right?
GOLDMAN: Yeah, they did. They are a good football team. Manning can still move them down the field with short passing and directing the running attack. But they've been good this season largely because of defense. And that's why the real matchup in the game tomorrow is Tom Brady versus a 68-year-old guy with a paunch, Wade Phillips, the Broncos defensive coordinator. Sorry, Wade.
Brady has two major weapons back from injury, tight end Rob Gronkowski and receiver Julian Edelman, the toughest 5-10 guy in the league. When those three play together, they're nearly impossible to stop. They played in nine full games together this season. They won all nine. Brady was on fire in those games. It's up to Wade Phillips to figure out a defense that can stop them or at least slow them down.
MARTIN: OK, so speaking of coaches, we're going to move to the NBA because the Cavaliers fired their head coach, David Blatt. What's going on?
GOLDMAN: Yeah, good question. Halfway through the season, the Cavaliers have the best record in the Eastern conference - 30 wins, 11 losses. In his first one and a half seasons in the NBA, Blatt appeared to have made a successful transition from European basketball, where he won a lot. And at least one prominent NBA voice says the firing doesn't make sense. Dallas head coach, Rick Carlisle, president of the NBA Coaches Association says, quote, "he's embarrassed for our league." But Cleveland general manager David Griffin says under Blatt, the Cavs actually have been a flawed team, lacking connectedness and spirit. Those were the terms he used. Griffin also implied Blatt lacked vision on how to use his players.
Now remember, Rachel, the firing came four days after Golden State, the team that beat the Cavs in last year's finals, pasted Cleveland by 34 in Cleveland. Griffin said that wasn't the final straw, but, you know, certainly it didn't help matters.
MARTIN: But remember that game, Tom - I can't remember who they were playing - but LeBron, like, looked like he was pushing David Blatt on the sidelines of the court. And everyone was like, LeBron, what's the relationship? I mean, this is his team. He had to have given the nod to this.
GOLDMAN: You know, of course, that's the widespread belief, the power of the megastar. But Griffin said he didn't consult James and that James doesn't run the organization. Still, expectations are huge when you coach a team that includes LeBron James. Those expectations are in the lap of assistant coach Tyronn Lue now, who's taking over. He'll have his debut today against Chicago.
MARTIN: In happier coaching news, Golden State. The Warriors are getting their coach back
GOLDMAN: Yeah, Blatt is out. Steve Kerr is back in. Kerr missed the first half of the season because of complications after back surgery. The team did OK in his absence. They went 39 and 4. They won their 40th last night, beating Indiana. I'm happy to report that Kerr's sense of humor is back, too. After Steph Curry of the Warriors made one of his impossibly long range 3-point shots, Kerr turned to assistant Luke Walton and said, that's just good coaching.
MARTIN: (Laughter) They've got a good game coming up, right?
GOLDMAN: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's the first meeting with the San Antonio Spurs who've been quietly putting together a fabulous season as well. They play Monday. Spurs are the best defensive team in the league; Golden State the best offense. Both play beautiful, unselfish basketball with lots of passing. Rachel, I'm going to watch the game with a box of Kleenex because I expect to weep openly at the sheer artistry.
MARTIN: (Laughter) NPR's Tom Goldman. Thanks so much, Tom.
GOLDMAN: You're welcome.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Brooke Waggoner finished her new album "Sweven" hours before giving birth to her first child. So it makes sense that on the record, she deals with the big stuff - adulthood, aging and the surprises the future holds. And in the midst of all of that, there's this song that's called "Widow Maker."
BROOKE WAGGONER: It was like a 6 a.m. coffee run. My husband and I went to our favorite coffee shop, and I got a text from a friend who said her husband was having heart problems. And I don't know if it was the early morning, the kind of fumes of pre-caffeinated, you know, mind games (laughter), but that inspired the song. So I went back to my studio immediately and started fleshing it out.
(SOUNDBITE OF BROOKE WAGGONER SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: Straight out of the gate, I wanted it to feel like you just dropped the needle on it.
(SOUNDBITE OF BROOKE WAGGONER SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: I wanted to put, like, a gospel-y (ph) organ as the foundation, something that you would typically hear at a funeral.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) Widow maker, undertaker, please understand. You see the Harvey (ph) had a brief attack, and now he is dead. I've got a loss on my hands. The future now...
The bassline is just kind of a straightforward, walking down a minor scale.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) Speculator, generating panic inside. You see his body's gone. And now I'm all alone and deprived. I've got a loss on my hands.
I wanted to talk about the term widow maker in and of itself. It's truly, like, the textbook definition is what I'm reciting.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) Widow maker is a nickname used to describe a highly stenotic left main coronary artery or proximal left anterior descending coronary artery of the heart.
So here I felt the need to, like, in a drop-down, low tone (laughter), octave-lowered voice, talk about what that term actually means scientifically.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) Instigator, see you later (unintelligible). The widow maker (unintelligible). His ashes are dust. I've got a loss on my hands, no future now to regret. Oh, how I'm missing my man. I keep on missing my man.
It has just this feeling of let's get in. Let's get out. Let's have a quick reaction, not even thinking it through.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) I've got a loss on my hands. No future now to regret.
MARTIN: That was Brooke Waggoner. Her song "Widow Maker" is on her new album "Sweven."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WIDOW MAKER")
WAGGONER: (Singing) I've got a loss on my hands. No future now to regret. Oh, how I'm missing my man. I keep on missing my man.
MARTIN: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
One of the world's most inventive guitarists and composers has recorded a tribute to some of his favorite music from TV and film. Bill Frisell's "When You Wish Upon A Star" covers the screen from "Bonanza" to "The Godfather" to the poignant themes of "To Kill A Mockingbird."
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL FRISELL SONG, "TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD")
MARTIN: Bill Frisell joins us from the studios of KUOW in Seattle. Welcome to the show.
BILL FRISELL: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: Did you grow up watching a lot of TV and movies for that matter?
FRISELL: Yeah (laughter), I think there was no escaping it. It was such a - you know, growing up in the '50s - I was born in 1951. And you know, I still remember, vividly, when my father brought home this big box and opened it up and there was a TV in there. It was, like, wow. This is - I couldn't believe it.
MARTIN: That's huge, yeah. So even when you were young, was it the soundtracks to these shows that stood out to you?
FRISELL: Maybe it was more subliminal or something. It's not just the film or the TV show, even. There's all these memories associated - I remember, whatever, going to - getting my driver's license and on one of my first dates, driving my parents' car to go see a "James Bond" movie. And so when I hear that "James Bond" theme, it brings back all kinds of stuff, you know?
MARTIN: So let's talk about that cut on the album. It's a cool one because you have a pretty awesome vocalist on this Petra Haden, one of the daughters of the late, great bassist Charlie Haden. She sings the theme. Let's listen to this and talk on the other side.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE")
BILL FRISELL AND PETRA HADEN: (Singing) You only live twice or so it seems. One life for yourself and one for your dreams. You drift through the years.
MARTIN: And of course, the film was called "You Only Live Twice," but I will cop to not knowing which film this was. Who was the James Bond in this movie?
FRISELL: It was Sean Connery who, for me, is still the real one, you know? Sorry for all the...
MARTIN: (Laughter) You're not a Daniel Craig guy?
FRISELL: I like him, too, but there's something about those first ones. That's the stuff for me.
MARTIN: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL FRISELL SONG, "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE")
MARTIN: Is there a song on here that really resonates with you, that actually conjures up some kind of specific childhood memory?
FRISELL: There's a great combo here (laughter) - "When You Wish Upon A Star" and "Bonanza." It was - like...
MARTIN: I'm so glad you said "Bonanza."
FRISELL: Well, one of my real strong memories is, when I was a kid, my best friend who lived across the street, he had a guitar over there sitting around. That was, I think, the first time I tried to pick up a guitar. But his family also had a big color television set. And so it was Sunday evening. It was sort of a routine that I'd go over to his house, and his mom would cook dinner and then there would be the - I guess it was called "The Wonderful World Of Disney" or something like that - would come on.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR")
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Walt Disney presents...
UNIDENTIFED PEOPLE: (Singing) The wonderful world of color.
FRISELL: But there - it would - I remember it starting off with Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon A Star." I guess "When You Wish Upon A Star" was sort of the theme music for that - a lot of that Walt Disney stuff.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR")
CLIFF EDWARDS: (As Jiminy Cricket, singing) When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are.
FRISELL: And so that's just way, way back in my DNA.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR")
FRISELL AND HADEN: (Singing) Anything your heart desires will come to you.
FRISELL: So then right after that - I think it was right after.
MARTIN: It was a double-header (laughter).
FRISELL: Yeah. Then "Bonanza" would come on and it was, like, man.
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL FRISELL SONG, "BONANZA")
FRISELL: That I heard so many - that - you know, how many times have I heard that theme? But I didn't actually try to play it until just in the last couple of years.
MARTIN: Is it hard?
FRISELL: It is - for me (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL FRISELL SONG, "BONANZA")
MARTIN: It sounds like you are at a particularly reflective moment, where you're kind of looking back. You're trying to figure out how it is you became who are you and the kind of music that you make. What'd you find out?
FRISELL: Well, it's not like I want to go backwards so much. I'm also looking for, maybe, some keys to some mystery about - what was it when, you know, the first time I heard some of these song? - or the first time you hear something extraordinary, something new and something amazing. Like, what made that thing work?
(SOUNDBITE OF BILL FRISELL SONG)
MARTIN: Guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. He joined us from the studios of KUOW in Seattle. His new album is called "When You Wish Upon A Star."
Bill, thanks so much for talking with us. It's been great.
FRISELL: Oh, thank you. Thanks for listening.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's 1977, and an 11-year-old dancer named Mira is struggling to find her place in the competitive world of New York City ballet. Dance is her escape from her parents' failing marriage. But instead of a sanctuary, Mira finds the opposite - a dark threat intermingled with her dreams of being a star ballerina. Sari Wilson gives us a glimpse into this world in her new novel. It's called "Girl Through Glass." Sari spent her own childhood dancing and, like her protagonist, found it exhilarating in the beginning.
SARI WILSON: I began not feeling that pressure. I really fell in love with the world of ballet. It just captured my girlhood imagination. And I fell in love with the spaces, the studios. I fell in love with the rituals and the routine. I fell in love with the people who seemed, to me, completely other than any other people I could meet.
MARTIN: Ballet people?
WILSON: Ballet people.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
WILSON: Exactly, ballet people. And it was my life. And I hit puberty, and then this - sort of the dark side of things revealed themselves. And I struggled through for a long time, and then finally left that world after a second career-ending surgery. And then I spent a long time trying to figure out what had happened. And this book was really my investigation into that.
MARTIN: I'd like to ask you to read a little bit from the book. This is a passage that's about 150 pages in and it's a lovely, although dark, kind of portrait of this young girl and what she desperately wants as she aspires in this world of ballet. Would you mind reading that section?
WILSON: Oh, I'd be happy to. Thanks. (Reading) Mira nods. She's going to be a ballet dancer. She feels it. Her bones will knit together in new ways. Her torso will lengthen. Her hands will grow strong, her fingers blunt, and her feet rough and calloused as tree bark. You will see the tendons in her neck, and her elbows and her knees easily hyperextend. Her hip ligaments will become so loose that whenever she sits on the floor, her legs will roll outward and her heels will touch. Her breasts, when she grows them, will remain as small foothills with no real valleys. She feels Maurice's eyes on her, pricking her skin, buttressing her. How simple it all seems. She will stay this way forever. Her head is shining. She is buzzing with light.
MARTIN: In that paragraph, you reference this character who is so important to Mira. His name is Maurice. Tell us about him.
WILSON: He emerged out of my fascination with some of the storybook characters in ballet. So for example, Drosselmeyer from "The Nutcracker," he's a fascinating figure if you really look into the story. He's kind of both good and bad, light and dark. And then there are also in ballet lore these balletomanes, who are legendary for their passion.
MARTIN: And explain what it is they - what is their role in the world of ballet?
WILSON: I think their role is to believe passionately in ballet and ballet represented by the female ballerina mostly, the prima ballerina. And so much so that they, like, deify them. And there are all these stories - I don't know if they're true or not, but, like, of making soup out of the pointe shoes of famous prima ballerinas and then drinking it.
MARTIN: Whoa.
WILSON: So I think it's a fascination with that level of passion, and...
MARTIN: ...That sounds obsessive, yeah.
WILSON: Yeah.
MARTIN: Are they professional mentors? Are they just fans who kind of latch themselves onto young dancers?
WILSON: Well, I have to say that there was no Maurice my life or even a Maurice figure in my dance experience. He really is a purely fictional character. And I think, however, there are many adults who come through the life of a child dancer who - in my case, they were perceived as sort of these mysterious eyes that would come into our classes and they would watch us. And then certain things would happen or maybe not happen, or you might be picked for this role or asked to audition for this. And most of them were men. And so I think he personified this sense of a young female body in space being watched. And things happened because of sort of the power of your body at a very young age.
MARTIN: We don't want to give the story away, but I will say that Maurice develops a horribly inappropriate relationship with this young girl Mira. There is a power dynamic at play here, too. Understanding that this abusive kind of situation didn't happen to you, but did you witness that power relationship when you were a dancer?
WILSON: Yes. There is a kind of sadism or masochism that can develop between the people who control the bodies of dancers or who are having their creative vision come through the bodies of dancers. And as a dancer, you must give up a certain aspect of your own will. And there's a beauty in that, and I wanted to capture that, but it's also very dangerous. And sometimes, that trust is abused.
MARTIN: There was no Maurice figure in your life, but what in your past were you trying to reconcile?
WILSON: I did suffer from an eating disorder, and I think a kind of body dysmorhpia that persisted. Yet, I was still very connected to my dance past, and I missed it passionately after I left. And I became a writer and I finally thought, I need to investigate that because it won't leave me alone. And so I think I allowed these characters to take me to places where my childhood fears and fantasies had persisted unconsciously. And, you know, I finally came to this place where I understood that your experience of the past can be both dark and light. So there could be a deep beauty in my past, as well as pain and a destructive quality, and that they can exist side by side. And we can call that humanity, we can call that light, we can call that literature. And it was OK.
MARTIN: Sari Wilson, her debut novel is called "Girl Through Glass." Thanks so much for talking with us.
WILSON: Thanks so much for having me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There's a statue that stands in front of one of the colleges at Oxford University. It's of Cecil Rhodes, the namesake of the prestigious Rhodes scholarship. The successful South African businessman started the De Beers diamond company. He was also a colonialist who believed in the superiority of Anglo-Saxons, and he enforced a policy of racial segregation in South Africa. Now, a growing number of students on campus at Oxford say it's time to take down the Rhodes statue. Our next guest is a student at Oxford and an organizer with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign. Her name is Tadiwa Madenga. Thanks so much for being with us.
TADIWA MADENGA: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: When you see this statue, what does it represent to you?
MADENGA: To me, it represents two things. First, as a Zimbabwean person, I've known about Rhodes's legacy and there's never been this oh, he was a wonderful, successful businessman. We understood that he came and plundered the land as many colonizers did, and that a lot of people died from what he did. And there's a lot of structural injustice that resulted from the acts that Rhodes committed. And so when I look at the statue, I know of that legacy. But I also see the way Oxford wants to imagine itself today because they have not tried to reflect on Rhodes's legacy prior to the movement. It is only now that we have made them engage with this history that they have decided that perhaps, you know, they don't condone his actions.
MARTIN: The chancellor of Oxford, Lord Chris Patten, has said that the statue should stay. He told the BBC - and I'm quoting here - "People have to face up to facts in history which they don't like and talk about them and debate them." How do you respond that?
MADENGA: The comments from the chancellor were surprising to us and, quite honestly, scandalous because on one hand, he was saying that we should have a generosity of spirit and we should be open-minded, but he's not open-minded to anyone who disagrees with his opinion. We think that debating means really seriously engaging with issues of colonial legacy and taking action to make sure the university is not institutionally racist, as opposed to just discussing over tea what our opinions are. And so Patten's comments, to me, just show this entitlement that certain people in administration have where if you disagree with them specifically, they feel like you should leave.
MARTIN: Well, I imagine an extension of his argument is that learning from history means confronting sometimes very uncomfortable truths and ugly realities, and that removing the statue could potentially silence those conversations or symbolically erase history instead of having the statute there to promote debate.
MADENGA: First, I want to say that once again, the university was not confronting this history prior to the movement. We want to say - what is a public space, and what are statues for? Statues are there to commemorate and to honor particular people. We do not put up statues of people we demonize for the sake of, you know, thinking of history or just debating. And so we are saying that you can remove the statue, you can put it in a museum where you can continue to discuss and debate. But where it is, at the entrance of Oriel College, at the very highest position above kings and provosts, is just ridiculous. It is not appropriate, and it is not the place where we should try to debate history. I think a museum would be a better place for that statue to be in.
MARTIN: What has your experience at Oxford been like as a minority student?
MADENGA: I think that it's been a shocking in terms of how much people in England really truly believe that colonization was a good thing. For example, one of our first actions for Rhodes Must Fall was at matriculation. That is your formal introduction to the university. And so we were outside and we were kind of trying to get engaged with students, see where they were at in terms of what they know about Rhodes. A lot of people don't know Rhodesia was a country. A lot of people really think colonization was this project to bring civilization in the form of schools and hospitals. And I think part of the problem in England is that a lot of people maybe who haven't traveled outside of England have not seen the consequences and the legacies of colonialism. So for some of us students who come from southern Africa, who still know about the racial inequality from particular economic structures, find this shocking when we come to England and people are not aware of the other side of colonization.
MARTIN: Why is this movement happening now?
MADENGA: First, our movement started with different types of protests happening. So you had the Black Lives Matter coming up. You had the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa. And we see these connections, and we say this is also connected to how people look at history. So the fact that the university cares more about Rhodes being a benefactor as opposed to the lives that were lost because of his actions shows the way that people don't care about black lives. And I think globally, there has been a movement to kind of reveal this uncritical way of looking at history and the way that this uncritical reflection of history has led to some of the situations we have now, where black people are still dying over institutional oppression.
MARTIN: Oxford student Tadiwa Madenga is an organizer of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign. Thank you so much for talking with us.
MADENGA: Thank you for having me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these players from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Sure, the East Coast is totally snowed in, and we here at WEEKEND EDITION have been eating out of the vending machines for days. But nothing stops the puzzle.
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MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Hey, Will, good morning.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: So what's your favorite blizzard activity? Don't say puzzling. Don't say crossword puzzles or table tennis.
SHORTZ: No, no, no. What I love to do is make a fire in my fireplace. What about you? What do you like to do?
MARTIN: Eating. I like to eat.
SHORTZ: That's good for any time, though.
MARTIN: (Laughter) That's true. But there's something about a blizzard. All rules are off.
SHORTZ: Calories don't count during blizzards.
MARTIN: No, not at all - negative calories, in fact. OK, remind us of last week's puzzle.
SHORTZ: Yeah, I said think of a category in three letters in which the last two letters are the first two letters of something in that category. And the thing in the category has seven letters. Both names, I said, are common, uncapitalized words. What are they? Well, there was only one answer, as far as I know. It's gem to emerald.
MARTIN: Very clever. So let's see. Almost 600 of you got the correct answer to the puzzle this week. Our randomly selected winner is Josh Park of Tustin, Calif. He joins us now on the line. Hey, Josh. How's it going?
JOSH PARK: Hey, what's up y'all?
MARTIN: Where's Tustin, Josh?
PARK: It's in Orange County, in Southern California.
MARTIN: Cool. So you been playing the puzzle a long time?
PARK: Actually, no. So this is crazy, but I've only heard about you guys three weeks ago from my friend. It's crazy. And then he's like, hey, you should play this game. It's really fun. And then it's my third time submitting the answer.
MARTIN: Very cool. So do you happen to have a question for Will Shortz?
PARK: Yeah, I do. It's kind of a little bit of a long question. But I was going to ask, Will, have you heard or played any of those Escape The Room puzzle games?
SHORTZ: Right. You know, I've been hearing about them for a long time, and I haven't played one yet. But my annual crossword championship that's coming up in April, we're going to have a giant escape room on Friday night.
PARK: Wow.
MARTIN: So OK, is this this thing where you get a group of people, and you...
SHORTZ: Yes.
MARTIN: It's like this live thing where you try to escape from a room?
SHORTZ: Yes.
PARK: Yeah, I've actually done this, like, four or five times.
MARTIN: Oh, you're into it.
PARK: Yeah.
MARTIN: See, this sounds horrifying. But I guess - I don't know. I guess it's fun - like teamwork, you, like, try to figure out how to get out of a room?
PARK: Yeah, yeah.
MARTIN: Interesting. So I'm not going to do that. But you can tell me how it goes, Will, when you try it for the first time.
SHORTZ: Will do.
MARTIN: OK, Josh, you ready to play this puzzle?
PARK: I'm ready.
MARTIN: OK, Will, let's do it.
SHORTZ: All right, Josh and Rachel, I'm going to give you a clue for a word that has two O's. Change both O's to E's to get the answer to the second clue. For exampl, if I said a sport played on horseback and a Brazilian soccer legend, you would say polo and Pele.
MARTIN: OK, you got it, Josh?
PARK: Yeah.
MARTIN: OK, let's give it a go.
SHORTZ: Number one is a portal. And you're second clue is a doe or buck.
PARK: Deer - door to deer.
SHORTZ: That is correct. Number two, part of the body between the neck and the waist. And your second clue is succinct.
PARK: Torso to terse.
SHORTZ: That's it. Select and a dairy product.
PARK: Choose to cheese.
SHORTZ: Good. Here's your next one. Fill in the blank. Chicken blank soup, and your second clue is a sewing item.
PARK: Noodle to needle.
SHORTZ: That's it. Member of the Church of Latter-day Saints and mythical male creatures that look like fish from the waist down.
PARK: Mormon to merman.
SHORTZ: That's it. One of the smallest countries in Europe and to threaten. It's on the Mediterranean. It's where Monte Carlo is.
PARK: Oh, oh, oh, Monaco to menace.
MARTIN: Great.
SHORTZ: That's it. Good. Sciences and some sad poems.
PARK: Sciences...
SHORTZ: And they're poems written after someone dies.
MARTIN: Oh.
PARK: Do you know, Rachel?
MARTIN: Elegy? No...
SHORTZ: Yeah, elegies is right. And then change the E's to O's - or the first two E's to O's.
PARK: Oh, -ologies.
SHORTZ: -Ologies to elegies is right.
MARTIN: Tricky.
PARK: That was a good one.
SHORTZ: All right, here're your last one. Advertiser and English poet Edmund who wrote "The Faerie Queene." Uh-oh (laughter).
MARTIN: Double sigh. (Laughter).
SHORTZ: Advertiser - I'll give you a big clue for that first one. And now, a word from our...
MARTIN: Sponsor?
PARK: Oh, sponsor to Spenser.
SHORTZ: Yes, to Edmund Spenser is it.
MARTIN: Oh, man.
PARK: Oh, my gosh (laughter).
MARTIN: Josh, you did great though.
PARK: It all right.
MARTIN: You did pretty well. I mean, that was pretty good for beginners' luck. And you are going to be very excited to hear that for playing the puzzle today, you get this really awesome WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin. I expect you to wear it all the time.
PARK: I'm so excited.
MARTIN: It's really, really amazing. And you get all kinds of puzzle books and games. You can check out your prizes at npr.org/puzzle. And before we let you go, Josh, where do you hear us?
PARK: I hear you all on KPCC.
MARTIN: KPCC in Pasadena. Josh Park of Tustin, Calif. Thanks so much for playing the puzzle, Josh.
PARK: Thank you.
MARTIN: OK, Will, what's up for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes, this may be one of the most challenging challenges I've presented.
MARTIN: Challenging challenges, wow.
SHORTZ: Here we go. It has a very elegant answer, though. And it's from listener Fred Piscop of Bellmore, Long Island. Take these three phrases - turkey breast, ski slope, cash drawer. What very unusual property do they have in common? So again, the phrases are turkey breast, ski slope, cash drawer. What very unusual property do these three phrases have in common?
MARTIN: When you have the answer, go to npr.org/puzzle. Click on the submit your answer link. Limit yourself to just one entry per person, please. Our deadline for those entries is Thursday, January 28 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to include a phone number where we an find you at around that time because if you're the winner, then we give you a call. And then you get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks, Will.
SHORTZ: Thanks, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. We're just about a week from the first contest in the presidential campaign, the Iowa caucuses. Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton all have Iowa events scheduled today. Ted Cruz plans to be on the ground there tomorrow, and that there is the list of front runners.
NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins me now to chew over that list. And I'll throw in former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg toward the end.
Mara, good morning.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: Now let's start with the Republicans. Looking at the polling averages, Donald Trump is in the lead in Iowa, 29 percent to about 26 percent for Ted Cruz. Can someone else pull an upset here?
LIASSON: I think that would be very, very difficult. I think it will be one of those, Trump or Cruz, in Iowa. Cruz was leading. He has a lot of support from Iowa's well-organized Christian conservatives but then Trump unleashed a relentless series of attacks on him and his numbers dropped.
Plus, Cruz is a small-government conservative. And because of that, he's against Iowa's sacred ethanol subsidy, so Governor Terry Branstad has come out against him, and Iowa senator Chuck Grassley recently introduced Trump at a rally.
MARTIN: The race in Iowa is echoed in South Carolina. And the choice Republicans see in those two races, between Trump and Cruz, seems to be weighing heavily on the party writ large, right?
LIASSON: Oh, you betcha, as Sarah Palin (laughter) would say. And Sarah Palin endorsed Trump this week.
The GOP establishment, in particular, is facing a pick-your-poison kind of decision. Many establishment Republicans dislike Cruz personally. He has no Senate endorsements, and you have establishment figures like Bob Dole, K Street Republicans like Trent Lott, saying Trump would be more flexible. They could work with him. They think that Cruz would be like Barry Goldwater. He'd lose in a landslide and pull the party down with him. They'd lose Senate and House seats.
On the other side, you have the conservative intelligentsia - magazines like National Review, which has a big anti-Trump issue; Weekly Standard editor, conservative talk show hosts - they're mounting a big anti-Trump effort, pro-Cruz effort because they think Trump is dangerous and he's not qualified to be commander in chief. As one conservative intellectual said to me - he said if the choice is between Stalin and Hitler, I'd pick Stalin, meaning Ted Cruz because he's more predictable. So there's real civil war inside the Republican Party.
MARTIN: Well, let's talk about this idea of the establishment and where it's at right now. When Republicans talk about the establishment these days, it's laced with a little bit of derision in some camps. If there is such a thing as a Republican establishment right now, what's its state?
LIASSON: Well, its state is pretty bad. Jeb Bush was supposed to be the establishment candidate, but he didn't catch on. And the extraordinary thing about this Republican primary is that the establishment, moderate wing of the party has sidelined itself. They're not coalescing around one candidate as they have in the past. The Republican Party, right now, is a conservative populist party.
You have Trump and Cruz battling it out, and the moderate establishment candidates like Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich - they have formed a circular firing squad. They're not attacking Cruz or Trump. They're attacking each other. And at least in New Hampshire, their support altogether is greater than Trump and Cruz's, so it shows you that if they could unite behind one candidate, maybe Marco Rubio who recently got the Des Moines Register endorsement - he might get a third place finish in Iowa. That shows you that the establishment maybe could make a difference.
MARTIN: Let's turn to Democrats. They started the campaign season with this presumptive front-runner in Hillary Clinton and then Bernie Sanders happened. What do you see? What's the lesson you draw in the momentum he's got right now?
LIASSON: Well, the lesson is that voters in both parties are in a very anti-establishment, populist mood. Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate. She just got the Des Moines Register endorsement, which traditionally has not been a very good indicator of the eventual Democratic nominee. But Hillary Clinton is also not a very exciting, inspiring candidate to a lot of the left-leaning Democratic base, especially in Iowa.
MARTIN: Which is why Michael Bloomberg apparently sees an opening at this point? Just briefly.
LIASSON: Yes, I think so. I think it depends on whether the Republicans - who the Republicans and Democrats nominate. Bloomberg aides says he's more likely to run if it's Trump or Cruz versus Sanders, then there would, presumably, be space in the middle for him. But he's less likely to go if Hillary Clinton is the nominee. And he is said to be planning to make his decision by March.
MARTIN: Mara Liasson - thanks so much, Mara.
LIASSON: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There are a lot of very big consequences to the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. Here's one. Iran had billions of dollars' worth of funds that were parked in banks, unable to be accessed. Now those once-frozen assets are flowing again. Iran's economy had been crippled by economic sanctions related to its nuclear program, so those now-unfrozen assets are going to be most welcome.
To better understand where this money goes now, we reached Elizabeth Rosenberg. She's a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security and a former senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Treasury. Thanks so much for being with us.
ELIZABETH ROSENBERG: Glad to be with you.
MARTIN: How much money are we talking about here?
ROSENBERG: Well, there have been different estimates out there about how much money Iran now has access to. People have said 150 billion. The treasury secretary of the United States said 55 billion. But the Iran central bank governor said recently that they moved 32 billion, so it's not clear what's going on with the rest of the money. Have they not had access to it yet? It's still waiting to get unwound as the plumbing of the international financial system gets put back together after Iran's been unfrozen. Or maybe more of it is tied up than we thought in some of these terrible assets and nonperforming loans.
MARTIN: Let's talk about the nature of this money. Where did it come from in the first place? Is this oil revenue? What generated it?
ROSENBERG: So mostly we're talking about money that's frozen that was associated with people who were blacklisted on the U.S. sanctions list. People and companies that were on that list, their assets were frozen. And now, after about 400 entities have been taken off that list last Saturday, on implementation day, their assets are now free to go, free to move around.
MARTIN: This was money, though, that was linked to specific individuals. So does it go back to them, or does it go to the Iranian government?
ROSENBERG: Also linked to the Central Bank of Iran. And in a highly state-controlled economy, the government has access to or control over plenty of it.
MARTIN: Can you give us an economic picture of Iran right now? The country had been in severe recession, in part because of these crippling economic sanctions related to the nuclear program. What are the most acute economic needs there?
ROSENBERG: Iran's economy is in pretty rough shape. Import's falling. Inflation is a concern. Unemployment is a concern. That's a pretty poor outlook for a country that's just been brought in from the cold.
MARTIN: Do we have a sense of, then, where this money is going to be used? I mean, there's been a lot of criticism from people on Capitol Hill who have pointed at this deal and said it's a bad idea, in part because all this money is now going to flow back into the Iranian government, and we can't be sure how they're going to use it. And critics have said - what's to prevent the government from using this money to build up its military and further destabilize the region, instead of using it domestically for - to create jobs programs, to build up infrastructure?
ROSENBERG: Right. And they have a track record of doing so. It's a state sponsor of terror. We're clear about their financing for Hezbollah, their financing for the Houthis, their active involvement in destabilizing the region. And it doesn't necessarily take a lot of money to fund low-level conflict that can be a major problem in the region. It's not possible to ensure that Iran won't spend a penny on that kind of destabilizing, concerning activity, although what's abundantly clear is that they have lots of needs for infrastructure investment, for access to this liquidity to help them manage their currency as well as, you know, basic jobs development, subsidy rollbacks. There's more needs than that 55 billion or 100 billion, if you're so inclined to think that way, can help support.
MARTIN: Elizabeth Rosenberg of the Center for New American Security, thanks so much.
ROSENBERG: Thanks very much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Polish government is in a standoff with the European Union over human rights. EU officials are investigating whether new laws in Poland weaken judicial independence. The new government in Poland is outraged, accusing the EU of meddling. Among the many stuck in the middle, women seeking to have babies.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Warsaw.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: Many judicial experts say it's become nearly impossible to protect civil liberties in Poland since the Law and Justice Party took control there last fall. The party, which won a solid parliamentary majority in national elections, has moved quickly to adopt laws that critics say weaken the power of the country's constitutional court. But Malgorzata Gosiewska, a senior MP of the ruling Law and Justice Party, says they were actually trying to protect the court from political interference.
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MALGORZATA GOSIEWSKA: (Foreign language spoken).
NELSON: She accuses the constitutional court of siding with the Civic Platform party, which ran the previous Polish government. The new Parliament sought replacements for nominees selected by the rival party to fill five vacancies on the 15-seat court. Critics say the court's been paralyzed by a new mandate that at least 13 judges must be involved in every constitutional case. With only 10 members on the court at the moment, it can't rule on anything.
Last Tuesday, the embattled head of the Constitutional Tribunal, Andrzej Rzeplinski, tried to compromise.
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ANDRZEJ RZEPLINSKI: (Foreign language spoken).
NELSON: Looking pale and tired, he agreed to throw out two of previous nominees for his court, which means the new government would fill those two vacancies. Rzeplinski told NPR the political crisis is impeding Polish justice.
RZEPLINSKI: Without those judges, we cannot work normally because there's no final decision about who can be a member of the court.
NELSON: Critics of the new law say they threaten a quarter-century of democracy in Poland. Adam Bodnar is the country's official ombudsman charged with protecting civil liberties.
ADAM BODNAR: I think this situation of the constitutional court is dreadful for human rights.
NELSON: He says those affected include Polish women undergoing in vitro fertilization. They are now subject to a new law requiring them to be married or have a partner in order to get pregnant by artificial means.
BODNAR: The problem is that there is a number of women who started procedure before this law was adopted. They have frozen their embryos, and they would like to continue.
NELSON: Bodnar says he would normally have gone to court to seek an exemption for the women, but with the courts stalled, the ombudsman says he has no idea how long it will take for these women to get legal relief.
Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Warsaw.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The snow has stopped falling, and New Yorkers who had been under a travel ban are now being allowed back on the streets. What they'll find is a whole lot of snow.
That's true for everyone from Tennessee to Massachusetts. On the Jersey shore, several feet of icy water flooded into the streets of Atlantic City and neighboring towns. Michael Lerro is the manager of the Bolero Resort in the Wildwoods.
MICHAEL LERRO: You're actually seeing waves forming in some of the roads here. That's how deep the flooding has become, specifically on Park Boulevard. It is substantial. There's debris floating everywhere. We have some serious damage to a lot of the structures in town. Our neighbor's roof landed in our parking lot. Some signs came down - some heavy-duty signs are down throughout the town.
MARTIN: Joining us now with more on this record-breaking storm is NPR's Joel Rose on the line from northern New Jersey. He joins us from outside in the elements. Right, Joel?
How much snow are you looking at right now?
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel. Well, the snow out here is up to about my knee, I would say, so maybe two feet, maybe a little bit more. I can see some of my brave neighbors are already out operating their shovels this morning (laughter).
MARTIN: Yeah.
ROSE: Let me give you some more numbers. The preliminary total was 26.9 inches in Central Park in Manhattan. That was just short of the all-time record. In Baltimore, the Baltimore-Washington airport got even more snow - 29 inches, which would be the record if that preliminary total holds up. Even bigger totals as you look west at central Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia - some spots got as much as 40 inches of snow.
MARTIN: What other effects of the storm happened? I mean, there were all kinds of concerns about power outages. Did that transpire?
ROSE: Yes. We saw power outages all over the place. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power at the height of the storm. At least 18 fatalities are being blamed on the storm. And there was pretty serious coastal flooding on the South Jersey shore, as we heard a moment ago.
MARTIN: What about transportation?
ROSE: Well, the travel ban has been lifted this morning in downstate New York, as you mentioned. Bridges and tunnels across the Hudson River into New York City are open, but that does not mean it will be easy to get around because, of course, there's still lots of snow on the ground.
MARTIN: Yeah.
ROSE: The airports here are technically open, but airlines have cancelled basically all flights yesterday into Philadelphia and Washington and the New York area. Authorities say there will be a limited number of flights leaving today from the New York airports. But it's going to be a long time before we see them get back to normal operations. And that means that thousands of people who are stranded by the storm, it may take them, you know, a few more days to get to where they're going.
MARTIN: And everyone on the East Coast is wondering if people are going to be able to go to work and school tomorrow.
ROSE: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, today is the big dig-out, so authorities will be trying to clear out major highways and arterial roads. And they're asking drivers, of course, to stay out of the way, if at all possible, while they do that.
And as far as Monday's commute, you know, that will probably depend a lot on where you live. I suspect that the mass transit in the New York area may be close to a normal schedule by tomorrow morning, but there could very well be lingering effects in other parts of the country for a few days.
MARTIN: I would bet on it.
NPR's Joel Rose. Joel, go help those people who need you to shovel and snow blow, yeah.
ROSE: OK, Rachel. Thanks.
MARTIN: Thanks so much, Joel.
ROSE: Bye.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Last month, the Pentagon announced it would open all combat jobs to women - this, despite concerns ranging from deep-seated opposition to genuine worry about the safety both of female service members and the men serving alongside them.
Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie has been researching the health needs of women in the armed services, including in combat situations. She says more needs to be done to address the issues important to female troops so they can succeed on the battlefield.
ELSPETH CAMERON RITCHIE: Women have been in the military for quite a while, since the Revolutionary War. They've been 15 percent, approximately, of the service since as long as I was in so, really, from the '80s. There is, indeed, a lot of misinformation about women's health needs. My basic premise is that if you talk about them, you can meet them and make sure that everybody can function effectively.
For example, one of the problems that women face at times are urinary tract infections. Well, that's something that we can fix in terms of not fancy, but just decent places for women - and men to urinate.
MARTIN: You also looked into pregnancy because critics pointed to the fact that a woman could get pregnant as, again, some kind of justification for why women shouldn't necessarily be integrated into all the combat arms. But you found something interesting in your research.
RITCHIE: Yes. Women service members have twice the rate of unintended pregnancy than civilians. That's not a good thing. That's a problem, but it's also a fixable problem. So one recommendation is we talk to everybody, both men and women, about birth control and then we provide it easily, both in the terms of short-term contraceptives and then considering longer-term contraceptives. Another good thing, by the way, about birth control - oral contraception, especially - is if you go on it, you can suppress your menstrual cycle and then you don't have to worry about having a menstrual cycle in the field.
MARTIN: There were a couple more interesting findings, though. You looked into women's physical capabilities. And the standards are supposed to be the same, so if a woman can meet the test then she can get the job. But you found that if a woman is injured, she may require more time to heal than her male counterpart.
RITCHIE: Yes. So let me give you an example. When we looked at basic training back in the beginning years of the war in Iraq, we were all of a sudden putting everybody into heavy armor right away, and we found that women were more likely to develop pelvic stress fractures. But what we found is that if you build women up gradually so that their bones have a chance to adapt, which may take a little longer than for men, then their rate of injury goes way down. Again, it's not rocket science. It's sort of common sense.
MARTIN: We've just spent several minutes talking about how it takes women longer to heal from certain injuries than men, that infrastructure needs to change in order to address women's health needs. So that's a lot of research that points to the difficulty of integrating women into combat. A lot of people who have maintained that position might look at your research and say - exactly, that's why women shouldn't be in combat.
RITCHIE: Rachel, women are in combat. They have served with distinction, honorably, for a long time and most especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to do it, they really have to struggle at times, and they will because women in the military will hang tough. They won't tell people about the - if they have a urinary tract infection unless they absolutely have to. They'll figure things out on their own, but what I'm trying to lay out a path here for is let's make it more likely for women to succeed in both the occupations they've been in and they've been successful in and the really strenuous occupations that are open to them now.
MARTIN: Retired Army colonel Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie talking to us about her research into women's health in the armed services. Thanks so much for talking with us.
RITCHIE: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
How much is a year of your life worth? How about a decade or two decades? This past week, the city of Los Angeles agreed to pay $24 million to two men who were imprisoned for years for crimes they did not commit. One of the men, Bruce Lisker received over $7 million in the settlement. He joins us now from our studios at NPR West to talk about this. Thanks so much for being with us.
BRUCE LISKER: Absolutely, Rachel. It's my pleasure.
MARTIN: You spent 26 years behind bars before you were released in 2009. You were convicted of murder when you were just 17 years old, charged with killing your mother. Bruce, I'm sure it is a long and complicated story. But how was your conviction eventually overturned?
LISKER: Well, it wasn't a DNA case. It was just good hard reinvestigation of every single fact that was presented at trial, most of which were fabricated and on the part of Paul Ingles, a private investor who was a cop for 10 years in Pomona, an amazing human being who came on the case - paid - and then, after I ran out of money, continued on for another - what? - 10 years just because he believed in it and a couple of amazing reporters at the LA Times, a hero at the LAPD, a sergeant named Jim Gavin who reinvestigated my case essentially from the ground up.
MARTIN: So you have been out now for several years.
LISKER: Six years.
MARTIN: Six years. So what was last Tuesday like when you found out that you would get this money, $7 million?
LISKER: It was surreal. I was really surreal. I mean, you said in the intro, how do you put a price tag on anything? And it wasn't so much - it's not the money. It's just a vindication and an acknowledgment by the city, literally at its highest levels, that this thing happened to me and not just me, my father, our family - this tragedy compounded by rampant corruption on the part of a few officers.
MARTIN: What happened to those officers?
LISKER: They retired with full pensions.
MARTIN: Huh.
LISKER: Yeah. You know, I volunteer at a juvenile hall. And a lot of the kids that I - a creative writing class - there's a creative writing class I volunteer teach at the LA County juvenile halls. And some of the children that I teach are the age that I was when I was framed. And I look at them, and I can't conceive of how a human being, an adult, could look across an interview room table at a 17-year-old kid, scared - me, scared, having just found his mother - and decide, you know what? I'm going to - I'm going to shortcut this thing. I'm going to jump to a conclusion that because this kid has long hair, he's got nothing coming from me and, you know, least of all an honest examination of the facts. And I'm going to frame him. I can't conceive of harming a child like that. But it happened.
MARTIN: What's life been like since you got out?
LISKER: Well, gosh. (Laughter).
MARTIN: (Laughter) It's a big question.
LISKER: Yeah. I mean, stepping through the gates is literally like touching down on another planet, in a lot of ways - a planet that when I left it, I was a child and I come back to as a middle-aged adult. And - and you look around. And it's a world that's continued on without you. It's developed. It's - it's matured. Before I went away, I'd never used an ATM, never used a credit card. They didn't have cell phones. (Laughter) I mean, on and on and on - there was no such thing as the Internet. Then I got out, and I went, oh, my god, this is... And then taking a drive past the house where my mother was killed and where I grew up before that. And that and a number of other visits to different places and meeting different people in a way have allowed me to, like, take back from this nightmare, this lie, my actual life.
MARTIN: How do you negotiate anger? Do you...
LISKER: Well, yeah, that's going to come up, isn't it? I don't do recrimination. I don't do bitterness. I don't do, you know, carrying that around because that would damage me. And I came up with something that I repeat as often as I have a voice. It's impossible to travel the road to peace unless you first cross the bridge of forgiveness. And, you know, the only hope of peace and happiness that I have is to, the minute something like that comes up - and it does. Forgiveness is not a light switch; it's a dimmer. And, you know, somebody keeps sneaking over and turning it up. But you have to be - you have to be mindful. You have to not go to the fear, not go to the anger, not go to that side, but go to the love of yourself, of your family.
MARTIN: How does this money change anything for you? Are you going to continue to work? What do you do now?
LISKER: I've been doing a bit of voice over and web design and struggling at it. I - you know, at any rate, it's - what the money means to me - and it's not about the money. I think to focus on the money is to trivialize it a little bit, what actually happened. The money allows me to continue to do the things that I like to do - doing the teaching in the juvenile hall, speaking out against the death penalty and, you know, enjoying the rest of my life. I mean, I had a big chunk taken out of the middle. I have to make every minute count, is how I view it. And, you know, it does give me that luxury. And I'm thankful for that. But I think the acknowledgment is what I am more grateful for.
MARTIN: Bruce Lisker served 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. He was released in 2009, received a $7 million settlement this past week. Bruce, thanks so much for talking with us.
LISKER: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Many Europeans can travel to the U.S. without the hassle of a visa - same with Americans and much of Europe. But new security measures now require citizens of Iran, Syria, Sudan and Iraq to obtain a visa before they head to the U.S., even if they are dual citizens of a country where visas aren't required. Some are criticizing the new rules as discriminatory and say they could create problems for Americans who want to travel abroad. Here's NPR's Leila Fadel.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Rana Rahimpour was at Heathrow Airport in London with her daughter this week waiting for a flight to Newark, N.J. But her visa waiver for travel to the U.S. - she's a British citizen - still hadn't come through. She called the office that oversees the visa waivers.
RANA RAHIMPOUR: And they said the reason it has been pending is because of my other nationality, which is Iranian. They said because of the new legislations, I can no longer enjoy the visa waiver services. And I have to go to the U.S. Embassy and apply for a visa.
FADEL: She couldn't get on her flight. She couldn't surprise her brother. And her fully British daughter couldn't go to her American cousin's birthday party.
RAHIMPOUR: You become British, and you pay taxes in Britain. And you think that you can benefit from the visa waiver program. And then suddenly, they tell you that, no, you're not British anymore. You have to apply for a visa.
FADEL: Her two cousins couldn't fly either, even though they haven't been to Iran in more than two decades and can't read or write the language.
RAHIMPOUR: I think this is racial discrimination. You feel that you're being punished for something that sometimes, you don't have anything to do with.
FADEL: And she says it will dissuade tourists who might want to visit Iran now that sanctions have been lifted because the new rules not only bar dual citizens from the 38 countries who could travel to the U.S. visa-free but also anyone who has visited the four countries in the last five years. The legislation was rushed through Congress last year with the support of President Obama on the heels of the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino shootings. Joanne Lin from the ACLU actively fought the legislation.
JOANNE LIN: The American Civil Liberties Union strongly opposed this law, which discriminates based on national origin, parentage and ancestry. And these new travel restrictions are fundamentally wrong and un-American.
FADEL: There are exceptions - for example, if you're a journalist or aid worker traveling to the countries. Many Europeans are angry. European ambassadors warned that the law would be counterproductive, might trigger reciprocal measures and would do nothing to increase security while hurting the economies of both their countries. And dual nationals from places like Syria or Iran may never have set foot in those countries. The nationality is automatically passed down through the father. And European officials have pointed out that it's not like ISIS members get their passports stamped when they slip in and out of Syria or Iraq. Lin says it looks like both the White House and Congress seem to be trying to fix problems with the new rules.
LIN: Even now in the new year, in 2016, there has been new legislation introduced to fix the discriminatory travel restriction.
FADEL: The biggest concern for Americans is reciprocity. Iranians, Syrians, Sudanese and Iraqi-Americans are worries that foreign countries will do the same thing to them, treat them less American than fellow citizens.
LIN: That is a huge question of concern for Americans. And they're making their fears and concerns known to Congress and to the White House. And what was just introduced in Washington last week has the potential to fundamentally shake up international travel.
FADEL: Leila Fadel, NPR News, London.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Hey, are you freezing your pants off? A genial Minnesotan named Tim Grotting has an idea for you. When the temperature drops below freezing in Minneapolis, as it is often wont to do this time of year, he freezes pants. Yep, freezes them, standing up. And then he creates these vignettes throughout his neighborhood.
Here's how you do it. You submerge the pants in water then shake them outside in the cold. Grotting says it takes about a half an hour. His teenage sons call the pants the fellas. Tim Grotting challenged his neighbors to the north to try it too since Canada is, as he says, a, quote, "mecca for frozen things." I guess the next step is to freeze a shirt alongside it or overalls or leggings. In fact, in pictures, it looks like a couple of the fellas would like some company - maybe from a skirt.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "COLD AS ICE")
FOREIGNER: (Singing) Oh, ah, you're as cold as ice. You're as cold as ice.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It is rare for a publisher to halt distribution of a book. But last week, Scholastic Publishing announced it would pull a children's book called "A Birthday Cake For George Washington." The book caused an outcry because of how it portrayed Washington's enslaved household cook and his daughter, showing them as happy, smiling workers.
The controversy continues. This past Friday, the National Coalition Against Censorship released an objection to Scholastic's decision, saying the book can be used as a teaching tool to discuss a tragic chapter in our country's history.
So we wondered what the answer is. Put simply, how do you read a book to your kid that has problematic, maybe even racist, material in it? Should you just skip it altogether?
Jeremy Adam Smith says no. He spoke with me from Berkeley, Calif., where he edits Greater Good science magazine for the university there. And I asked him why he thinks we should tackle these books with our children head-on.
JEREMY ADAM SMITH: Mainly because history of slavery and racial inequality in this country exists. But more than that, I think encountering this kind of imagery in children's book is an opportunity for parents to talk specifically about how, if we're not aware of secret messages in books that they're reading or aware of our unconscious impulses, then we become slaves to those messages and those impulses. And that's fundamental with parenting. You know, it's a form of teaching impulse control.
MARTIN: So let's walk through a couple of different examples, or situations, rather. There is a kind of book that a parent might, you know, want to pick up because they want to share it with their child.
SMITH: Right. Yeah.
MARTIN: One of our editors here had this happen with a book that she was reading to her child, "The Little House" series.
SMITH: Yeah.
MARTIN: And this is something she has, you know, a strong emotional attachment to. She wanted to share it with her kids, and you know, you start reading those pages and all of a sudden, Pa Ingalls is going to a minstrel show.
SMITH: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I read those books aloud to my son. And I also felt ambushed by some of the racist imagery in the books, which nobody had done anything to prepare me for (laughter). You know, what I did was I closed the book, and I said - how do you think it would make you feel if you were black and you were reading this? And we talked about that. And this was a lesson - I think I - we had this conversation when my son was about 7 years old. A lot of it went over his head. However, it was the beginning of a discussion that continues to this day, as he approaches 12 years old.
MARTIN: So we've been talking about race and how it can be embedded in children's literature. But gender issues - gender discrimination is also something that can pop up when you...
SMITH: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Pluck a children's book shelf.
SMITH: Right.
MARTIN: Is this something you've noticed?
SMITH: (Laughter) The short answer is yes. I have noticed. You know, I think, in some ways, gender is even more complicated because people don't agree about what constitutes discrimination. Many people are very wedded to the idea that there are just fundamental differences between boys and girls, men and women. You know, and that can be actually really hard to talk about because girls who depart from that script about what a girl should be or boys who depart from that script about what a boy should be, are often teased mercilessly in school.
I think for us as parents, that causes a lot of anxiety. You know, I think that the key is to be brave about it (laughter). I think that if you believe that gender equality is something worth pursuing, then it's very well worth it to take a moment and to talk about these things and to talk in a conscious way about what happens to boys who don't act like, quote, unquote, "boys" or girls who don't act like, quote, unquote, "girls." This is an opportunity to talk about being brave in that context and standing up to bullies who tease people for things that are just inherent in their identity.
MARTIN: What about books that try to use it as a teachable kind of experience like you're talking about? I mean, for example, I sat down with my 3-year-old with a book that is part of this series. They're called "Value Books" that I grew up with, and I love these books. And we - he picked out a story about Ralph Bunche. And all of a sudden, we're reading about how this young kid had to face segregation...
SMITH: Right.
MARTIN: ...And all kinds of racial discrimination.
SMITH: Oh, yeah.
MARTIN: And I found myself skimming through these pages really quickly and, like, summarizing the story and feeling like oh, man, you're 3, and I don't think we should be talking about this stuff. But maybe we should.
SMITH: Well, you know, I think one of the terrible secrets of adulthood is that we often just forget to be brave. A moment comes and it's a moment when we're called upon to be brave, and sometimes we're just not paying attention. Or that impulse to protect our children - I mean, I would argue that what you were experiencing springs from something that's just fundamental to human psychology, which is to protect your child from the harshest things in life. So think about this as a parenting issue the same way you think about potty training or sleep training. This is part of life. It's part of American life. And I think that it's incumbent upon parents to think beforehand how they're going to deal with these issues when they come up because they will come up.
MARTIN: Jeremy Adam Smith is an editor at Greater Good magazine. He's also the author and editor of the anthology "Are We Born Racist?".
Jeremy, thanks so much for talking with us.
SMITH: Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
I was in Germany last fall, reporting on the migrant crisis there, when I met a gentle and determined man who had fled from Syria. His name is Mohammed Eh'tai, and he had been in Germany for about three-and-a-half months when we met. He told me that he had traveled through five countries on his journey from Syria, kidnapped once and robbed twice. He barely knew anyone in Germany. And when he and I met, he was about to move into an apartment provided by the German government.
MOHAMMED EH'TAI: I will live there because it's near Berlin, so that I can find work. I can go to school. I can make friends. It's good for me. But I hope I can bring my family here.
MARTIN: His wife and daughter are still in Syria. I wanted to know how Mohammed had been doing, so we gave them a call this past week.
Mohammed, it's so nice to hear your voice again. Hi.
EH'TAI: Thank you, hi. How are you?
MARTIN: He moved into his new place a few months ago.
EH'TAI: I got my own apartment in first of November. And it's very, very good location, near the S-Bahn station, the tram and the bus station. And my training is not too far. It's just 500 meters.
MARTIN: He's been training as a cashier in a grocery store.
EH'TAI: What I do now, it's like normal job, like normal worker in supermarket. But my real plan for the future, it's to get own business like what I did in Syria.
MARTIN: Mohammed Eh'tai has degrees in accounting and management from universities in Syria. Before he fled, he ran a medical supply store. He liked owning a business, and that's what he hopes he can do in Germany, too - maybe a small restaurant. But he says he needs to be proficient in German before any of that can happen, so he does language study a couple hours a day on his own or with German friends. And he tries to connect with his family back home in Syria whenever he can.
What do you hear from your daughter and your wife? When's the last time you talked with them?
EH'TAI: We got Internet satel (ph) in our house, in my family house, and all day, I got contact with them.
MARTIN: All day, you can talk with them? Because...
EH'TAI: Yes...
MARTIN: ...They have Internet satellite now in your house in Syria.
EH'TAI: Yes. But they don't use it, just one hour in the day because the electric - for one hour electric, and one hour Internet, and one hour water, you should pay $300 monthly. It's great, but it's too expensive for them.
MARTIN: The German government has told Mohammed he can apply for visas for his wife and daughter, and he's got an appointment in November to begin the application process. He wants to build a life in Germany for his family. At the same time, he knows there's a strong anti-refugee sentiment taking hold there, especially after the widespread sexual attacks that happened in the city of Cologne on New Year's Eve, attacks authorities say were carried out by refugees. Mohammed Eh'tai says he has felt welcomed by the German people he meets, although not without hesitation.
You still feel that you are not part of the German community? You still feel on the outside?
EH'TAI: Yes. I saw in the eyes - in some eyes for German people, you shouldn't be here. You should come back to your country. But the mouth not speaking - just the eyes.
MARTIN: In other words, that criticism isn't always spoken, just inferred by a look that says you don't belong. That doesn't deter Mohammed Eh'tai. He has risked too much already, and all he can do now is keep looking forward.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It's been a week since the deadly attack by suspected extremists in Burkina Faso claimed at least 30 lives, mostly foreigners. The regional al-Qaida franchise says it was behind the raid. There was a similar siege in nearby Mali two months ago and as NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports, other West African nations fear they might be next.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: The modus operandi of the gunmen at the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino Cafe in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, mirrored the storming of the Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital, Bamako, in November. Both times, al-Qaida-affiliated militants selected targets to inflict maximum damage and death in West Africa. Westerners were singled out.
ALASSANE BAGUIAN: When I first got the gunshot, I didn't know that I still alive. I was thinking that, you know, I'm a dead man.
QUIST-ARCTON: Waiting for another checkup, survivor Alassane Baguian spoke from his hospital bed in Ouagadougou. The 33-year-old Burkinabe-American, who lives in New Jersey, told reporters he was back home for talks on the future of Burkina Faso, his troubled home country emerging from two years of political turbulence. That discussion was rudely interrupted.
BAGUIAN: Two people came and they shot the door (imitating gunshot sounds). Yeah. And when I stand up, one bullet crossed me here and I fall. And the guy saw me, he came with his gun, and (imitating gunshot sounds) he shot me by the leg. He shot everywhere.
QUIST-ARCTON: The assailants sprayed the restaurant with bullets, set fire to cars and motorbikes, then stormed the hotel opposite, firing on people in the street, including those who tried to escape. Lying in a pool of blood, Baguian managed a desperate call to the American Embassy.
BAGUIAN: The first France forces and American forces, they became through the back. And they said OK, get out, get out, get out.
QUIST-ARCTON: An al-Qaida-linked extremist franchise called Al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility. A web post said the deadly assault was revenge on infidels, especially France, the former colonial power in both Burkina Faso and Mali.
ANDREW LEBOVICH: There's been a shift in the region in how people are targeted and the kind of attacks that militant groups are engaged in, especially since the French intervention in Mali in 2013.
QUIST-ARCTON: Andrew Lebovich is a doctoral student in African history at Columbia University. He's referring to when French commandos led an offensive to end the occupation of northern Mali by radical Islamist groups three years ago. Lebovich monitors the rise of Islamist militancy in West Africa.
LEBOVICH: These are the first organized, devastating, really large-scale attacks on foreign or foreign-linked targets in the region. These attacks are aimed at disruption, throwing some of these states and the security apparatuses off-balance to show that these groups can attack in the heart of these countries themselves.
QUIST-ARCTON: Lebovich describes complex dynamics of supremacy rivalry and shifting alliances among Islamist militants in West Africa, including al-Qaida and ISIS-inspired fighters. He says the threat to the unstable region has existed for some time now, but warns other West African countries to become more vigilant.
LEBOVICH: The context of expanding activities from jihadist groups to create spaces in which they could operate.
QUIST-ARCTON: Lying on his hospital bed in Ouagadougou, New Jersey resident Alassane Baguian reflected on staying alive.
BAGUIAN: Nowhere in this world is safe anymore because those people, what they want - they want us to be scared. They want us to talk about them. They want us to not be able to sit outside, to not be able to go to the hotel no more.
QUIST-ARCTON: And if we do that, says Baguian, it means the terrorists win and we lose. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Every parent's worst nightmare. That's how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the school shooting that left four people dead and several more injured in remote La Loche, Saskatchewan. The La Loche Community School serves children from kindergarten through high school. The shooting happened after lunch Friday, and eyewitnesses described chaos. A 17-year-old male suspect is in custody. Reporter Jason Warick has been covering the story, he joins me now. Thanks so much for being with us, Jason.
JASON WARICK: No, thank you.
MARTIN: What can you tell us about the shooter or a possible motive?
WARICK: Well, it is a 17-year-old male. And under our criminal justice system, he's considered a youth. And therefore, we can't identify the youth. Even if we do know who he is, we can't say his relation, or possible relation, to any of the suspects or motive. But definitely at a prayer vigil last night, there was a lot of talk of issues ranging from bullying to addictions, which are not uncommon in other communities, but it definitely seemed to be part of the focus.
MARTIN: What about the community? Can you describe La Loche for us and what reaction's been there?
WARICK: Sure. It's located about 800 kilometers, or 500 miles, north of the Montana border with Canada. It's in the boreal forest. Most people here are Dene, indigenous people who still speak their language. And there's about 3,000 people here who mostly hunt with their firearms. Almost everyone has a gun, but it's not for protection or many of the other reasons our neighbors to the south might purchase one.
MARTIN: Canada does have much stricter gun control than the U.S., but how often does something like this happen?
WARICK: It does get a lot of attention when it happens because it is exceedingly rare. Although Canada has experienced gun deaths and other mass murders, whether it's on Parliament Hill, in our nation's capital, or in La Loche here, when you look at the big picture, the numbers are still comparable to that of Switerland or other European countries - much more similar than to those of our neighbors to the south and the U.S. And the tragedies in - recent ones in the U.S., in Sandy Hook and San Bernardino, wherever it is, are even more rare in Canada here. The number of gun deaths is a fraction of what it is there, and that's why it seems to be hitting everyone so hard.
MARTIN: Jason Warick is a reporter with the Saskatchewan StarPhoenix. Thanks so much for talking with us.
WARICK: Take care, thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This weekend's winter storm has moved on, but not before leaving some record flooding along with all that snow. One of the hardest-hit places was Cape May, N.J., where water levels topped those of Superstorm Sandy. Gerald Thornton is an official with Cape May County. He joins me now on the line. Thanks so much for talking with us.
GERALD THORNTON: You're welcome.
MARTIN: What does the morning look like in Cape May today?
THORNTON: Well, fortunately this morning looks a lot better, and last night - the last night's tide also. So although we still are experiencing flooding because we still have, you know, high surges - but not like we had yesterday and Saturday. That was really a major problem. We had some tide gauges that read, like in Stone Harbor, 10.55 feet, which is a record for us. And down in Cape May, we had 9.62 feet in Stone Harbor, so - excuse me, in the harbor area. So - and it was about four or five feet higher than a normal tide, so that has a significant impact on Cape May County.
MARTIN: Do you have any idea at this point the level of damage?
THORNTON: No, and we wouldn't because we do damage assessment after the storm. You know, during the storm and right now, our problem is making sure that everybody's safe and people that we had to shelter overnight, trying to get them back home as soon as the tidal waters go down, and things like that. So - and it takes some time because we have 16 municipalities in Cape May County, and 14 of those municipalities are either on the ocean or the bay. So we have to get together with all the local officials and then get all that - assess all that damage. So it will take some time for us to just go through and assess everything and what we've had. We have had, of course, water damage in a lot of areas. We had wind damage with some roofs blowing off. The airport - we had a roof blow off a building at the airport, things like that. We had - in Sea Isle City, we had a six-alarm fire that went on - was going on all night. In fact, they finally had to knock the building down in order to get the fire out. So -
MARTIN: I know the water levels yesterday exceeded those during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, but how do you compare the two weather events?
THORNTON: Well, it was much different because in Superstorm Sandy, we - our towns in the northern end of the county were impacted significantly, but in the southern part of the county, although we had some impact - but it wasn't as bad. And we didn't get hit like the northern counties did - Atlantic County, Ocean County, Monmouth County. So we were somewhat - I can't say fortunate, because we had damage from Superstorm Sandy, but this time, those levels were higher as far as flooding and - or the tidal gauges that we were watching on the ocean side.
MARTIN: Well, Gerald Thornton of Cape May County, good luck getting all of your residents back home safe, and best wishes as you begin the recovery process there.
THORNTON: Thank you very much. Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
At age 36 Paul Kalanithi, a brilliant neurosurgeon, was just finishing his training when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He decided to write about his illness and about grappling with mortality. His memoir, titled "When Breath Became Air," debuted last week and was immediately a bestseller. Dr. Kalanithi did not live to see it published. "When Breath Became Air" is one of many books written about dying that is finding an audience. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch was also a bestseller, as was "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. Writer and critic Michelle Dean was struck by the popularity of these books. And in a recent article in the Guardian newspaper, she asked - why do we keep being drawn to this subject? She joins us from our studios in New York. Michelle, thanks for being with us.
MICHELLE DEAN: No problem.
MARTIN: What's the answer? Why do we keep coming back to these very personal narratives about dying?
DEAN: I think there are really a couple of reasons. One is the gravity of the subject. There's a certain seriousness and gravitas that attaches to somebody who is facing the end of their life. I also think, though, that there are a couple of social factors that are working here above and beyond the subject.
MARTIN: Like what?
DEAN: One of them is social media, in the sense that social media has transformed the experience of illness in this country. And my sense is that - as a critic is that you can see that people go online to find information about their disease and often to find support because people who are ill can actually interact with each other online in a way where, in a former era, they would have been isolated by their illness. And so sharing these personal stories has become a part and parcel of the American experience of illness in a way that it probably wasn't before.
MARTIN: And, you know, death, and dying, it is the universal experience, you could say. Yet each of these of stories - and I'm someone who counts myself in this group of people who kind of - I can't stop reading them. I find myself really drawn to these very intimate narratives. And they are each unique.
DEAN: There is a certain uniqueness to each experience, also some commonalities. And I feel that what gives these stories their power is the universal themes that they touch on rather than the particularities of their individual experiences.
MARTIN: Is there an inherent optimism that you can find in these stories?
DEAN: I think actually that the aspect of posthumous publication is where a lot of people find the hope in that it suggests that this person was able to find some kind of deeper meaning in facing their mortality and then was able to convey their deeper meaning to other people. And that's the inspirational part of it and the part that kind of puts these books in a similarly self-help, kind of religious space.
MARTIN: You wrote that these memoirs - and I'm quoting you now - "Hold out the promise that you, too, will be able to cope once the eye of Sauron falls on you." Is this true for you?
DEAN: You know, it's funny because when you read things as a critic you're mostly thinking about their larger implications, and what often happens is you don't really think about yourself. But of course, almost anybody who writes at all is drawn to the articulation of experience - right? - and finds that inspirational, in a way, no matter what. So these books have a way of inspiring.
MARTIN: That's writer and critic Michelle Dean. She spoke with us from our studios in New York.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
In the presidential campaign, few issues have been as fiercely debated as immigration and border security. But in New Hampshire, famously host to the first-in-the-nation primary, the small-but-growing Latino community there is largely invisible. New Hampshire Public Radio's Natasha Haverty reports.
NATASHA HAVERTY, BYLINE: Olmer Villavicencio talks to his 14-year-old daughter, Jocelyn. He tells her stories, like the one about leaving Ecuador and risking his life to cross the border or the one about the day he got to New Hampshire and walked into his first U.S. supermarket.
OLMER VILLAVICENCIO: So I come to New Hampshire first. I remember I go to Market Basket. And I say, wow, that is America. That is America. (Laughter).
HAVERTY: He also talks to his daughter about what he's struggling with. These days, it's how to get his neighbors to see their voice matters this election. Olmer's not an organizer or a politician. He's a guy who knows everybody and, living in New Hampshire, has a front-row seat to the presidential race. He says it's just about getting fellow Latinos to see it that way.
VILLAVICENCIO: And I don't care what side the person - you know, Democrat, Republican - but both sides need to find a way how can...
JOSE INAYA: Reach out.
VILLAVICENCIO: Reach out.
HAVERTY: Olmer's buddy Jose Inaya's over, sitting on the couch. He says he's so disappointed with President Obama's failure to pass immigration reform, he may not even vote this time.
INAYA: I voted twice for him because of the same thing. He let me down.
HAVERTY: As Jose goes on, Olmer just kind of shakes his head. But across the apartment, Jocelyn skinny with braces, steps in.
JOCELYN: So you're saying you're going to give up.
INAYA: Nothing gets accomplished.
JOCELYN: No, no, no, are you saying you're going to give up?
INAYA: No, we don't got to give up. But it's not going to get accomplished.
JOCELYN: No, you have to, like... Just that one vote, you might say it' a little...
HAVERTY: Jose tries to remind his friend's daughter of the 2 million people deported under Obama, all the protests he says led nowhere.
INAYA: What did he accomplish? What did we accomplish?
HAVERTY: But she doesn't back down.
JOCELYN: But I want to tell you something. If you want to prove that we're all equal, then why stop? If you're saying you're going to give up, then maybe I one day am going to say, oh, I'm going to give up too. If you're going to keep on doing that, everybody's going to start giving up.
HAVERTY: Jocelyn knows her community faces kind of a double challenge. There's the isolation of being a minority in a mainly white, rural state. Then there's the instinct to be invisible. Olmer and Jocelyn drive me to a salon across town. We run into their friend, Luz Betancur. Sitting in her chair, hair still in curlers, Luz admits that seven years after becoming a citizen, she'd like to be more involved in politics here.
LUZ BETANCUR: (Speaking Spanish).
HAVERTY: "I don't want to be defined by those candidates who say Latinos come to damage the country," she says. But most of the time, when a candidate is in town, she doesn't know about it. And if she does, she stays away because her English isn't good enough.
BETANCUR: (Speaking Spanish).
HAVERTY: Jocelyn says she sees that fear of embarrassment all the time, in adults and even her friends at school. She always says to them, who cares if people laugh?
JOCELYN: (Speaking Spanish).
HAVERTY: On the way home, Jocelyn says they've been learning about the pilgrims in school. She thinks it's a lot like what Latinos are going through here in New Hampshire.
JOCELYN: They came here for freedom. They sacrificed. Why can't we have that opportunity too?
HAVERTY: I ask Olmer how he feels about his daughter's future in the U.S.
VILLAVICENCIO: You see how she is. She has her own opinion when talking about rights, you know? So always I talk to her, what do you do for a fight with our rights?
HAVERTY: In the weeks ahead, Olmer says he'll be standing out on Main Street whenever he can, handing out flyers in Spanish telling people to go vote. In big words across the bottom, the flyers read, don't be invisible; get counted. Jocelyn says she'll be out there too. For NPR News, I'm Natasha Haverty in New Hampshire.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
As you might have heard, some of us on the East Coast are snowed in this weekend and it's hard not to go a little bit stir-crazy. But one way to make the most out of a blizzard is to eat. That's right, I'm talking about turning lemons into lemonade - or rather, snow into snow cones. We asked you, our listeners, if there are any favorite recipes you like to make with freshly fallen snow. Before we get to those, a quick disclaimer because some of you might be thinking wait, is snow even safe to eat? We consulted an expert in the field. Her name is Staci Simonich.
STACI SIMONICH: I'm a professor of chemistry and toxicology at Oregon State University.
MARTIN: And according to her, it is A-OK to eat snow with this caveat.
SIMONICH: I think it's important to eat snow when it's freshly fallen. Soon after it's fallen, not after it's sat on the ground and, you know, maybe picked up contaminants from cars and that sort of thing if you're living in the city.
MARTIN: Simonich is from Wisconsin, so she knows what she's talking about. And with that in mind, we'd like to share some of your favorite snow recipes.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JEN SMITH: My name is Jen Smith, and I live in Philadelphia, Pa. I really enjoy making snow cream. You go and get a lot of snow. And ideally, you would take the top layer off if you can, and then you mix that with milk. And you can use as much or as little as you want, depending on how you like it. And then you add vanilla and sugar, also to your liking.
LORELEI BASSEY: My name is Lorelei Bassey, and I'm from Woodbridge, Va. You know, I have ice shavers that I've bought to make Hawaiian ice with, but snow is the perfect consistency for Hawaiian ice because it's so fluffy, it's so light, and it takes a lot of syrup, which is really kind of the most important part of making Hawaiian ice.
BOB BALABAN: This is Bob Balaban from Lexington, Mass. I make maple syrup candy, where you take the snow and you pack it a little and you drizzle some maple syrup on it. And hopefully, if you do it right, the maple syrup crystallizes and it's like candy.
MARTIN: That maple syrup candy might sound familiar to our listeners north of our border. It's a common Canadian wintertime treat, as well as a literary one. It's one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's snow recipes in the "Little House" series, too. Bon appetit.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, my neighborhood grocery store in Washington, D.C. was pretty much ransacked over the weekend. Photographers even came to document the empty shelves before the storm ever hit. Maybe that was panic, or maybe people just anticipated time at home to cook. You have opportunity on a snowy weekend. So let's take a moment talking about food. We're going to report on a new way of food preparation. Some of the farmers who supply raw material for cooking have become as creative as chefs. The Chef's Garden is a specialty vegetable farm about an hour west of Cleveland, Ohio run by three generations of the Jones family. Eliza Barclay of NPR's food blog, The Salt, recently visited there.
ELIZA BARCLAY, BYLINE: The office of Chef's Garden is like a creative workshop where chefs call in from kitchens around the world to brainstorm with sales reps like Dawn Krieg. One of her regulars is chef Daniel Humm at 11 Madison Park in New York.
DAWN KRIEG: They're starting their menu testing right now, and so Danny emailed this morning. And he said, you know, I'm getting ready to put some spinaches on the menu. Can you give me a sample of all the spinaches?
BARCLAY: So Krieg suggested some new ones he might like.
KRIEG: We have got the petite New Zealand, the petite red malabar, the simply red, the petite green spinach, the petite tropical spinach and then the purple spinach leaves. So he's got a lot of choices.
BARCLAY: Chefs often ask for miniature versions of their favorite vegetables. When they're small, they pack more flavor, and can make for stunning garnishes. And Lee Jones, who runs Chef's Garden with his father and brother, is happy to oblige. He shows me a tiny eggplant.
LEE JONES: It's the shape of a pea, literally the size of a pea. Look at the color on this, literally, the fruit-orange-colored orange. Want to taste one?
BARCLAY: Sure.
Lee, like the chefs, is always looking for surprising varieties. He tries out the latest seeds from plant breeders and combs through dusty agricultural books. This year, he started planting a sugar snap pea with an extra curly tendril.
L. JONES: What we're trying to do is offer new colors of paint to the chef. Now, color, it's not about just about color. It's flavor and texture. It needs to taste good. And if it doesn't, it has no place.
BARCLAY: Back when Lee was a kid, his family grew ordinary vegetables. Then in 1983, they went bankrupt and lost almost all their land. All they could do with what was left was supply the local farmers market. One of their customers was a food writer in Cleveland desperate to find squash blossoms. So they went back to the zucchini patch and picked some for her. She was ecstatic, and they began to realize there was an opportunity in the world of fine dining. They're still growing those squash blossoms, and like everything on this farm, they're grown to order.
L. JONES: Good morning, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Good morning.
BARCLAY: It's 7 a.m., and Lee is dressed as he always is, in blue overalls and a red bow tie. The sun is coming up over the field, and the flowers are beginning to open. But not every blossom is going to make the cut.
L. JONES: You're trying to walk past those ones that are waning, if you will, and pick that one that's ripe today, in this particular moment, in this particular hour - the perfect squash bloom - so that it can go on to the plate and blow the guest away of that chef. There's an art to it. This not commercial farming. We're an artisan farm.
BARCLAY: That attention to detail flows through every step of the process, starting with how the Joneses sort nearly every seed by hand. By the time the vegetables reach the packing room, they're treated like precious jewels.
BOB JONES JR.: Jorge (ph) is packing lettuce for an order going out yet this afternoon. He's packing some smaller 2-pound boxes for one restaurant and then a larger 20-pound box here, bulk pack.
BARCLAY: Bob Jones is Lee's brother. He oversees the shipping room, where lettuce rosettes the color of merlot are carefully packed with insulation. Nearly all of the vegetables that leave here reach kitchens within a day of coming out of the ground. That ground is the responsibility of Bob Jones Sr. He's the patriarch of this family operation and has been working the land nearly all of his 75 years.
B. JONES SR.: If you don't have good soil, you have nothing.
BARCLAY: And actually, Bob Sr. doesn't just want good soil. He wants spectacular soil. And the way to get it is by only planting one-third of the land at any one time. The remaining 200 acres are sown with cover crops that put nutrients back into the soil.
B. JONES SR.: If you would talk to most of the farmers around here, they think we're crazy. They think we're absolutely ready for the loony bin because we do things so much different.
BARCLAY: He wants to show off how deep his topsoil is. So he goes and gets his bulldozer.
B. JONES SR.: As you can see, we've got about a foot of topsoil here, which is fantastic. That's built up over the years.
BARCLAY: It's far from a conventional way to make money farming. But chefs are more than willing to pay for the exquisite vegetables that will come out of this soil next year. A 2-pound box of lettuce goes for about $24. And these vegetables aren't just for chefs anymore. Chef's Garden is starting to sell directly to consumers. Eliza Barclay, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And now we have a word of the cost of childbirth. New research suggests that the services of a doula, a sort of pregnancy and birth coach, can save nearly $1,000 per birth by preventing costly complications. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports.
PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE: The role of a doula's been around for years, starting back in the days when there was no hospital to go to.
STELLA DANTAS: Where were people delivering? They were delivering in their home.
NEIGHMOND: With help from family or friends, says obstetrician Stella Dantas. But today's doulas aren't necessarily relatives. They're hired by mothers-to-be. They don't make medical decisions. But Dantas, who's with the Kaiser Northwest Permanente Hospital System, says they still help smooth the often difficult process of pregnancy and childbirth. In the study, researchers looked at when doulas were involved and when they weren't. Katy Kozhimannil, with the University of Minnesota, headed the research, which found doulas lowered the rate of premature birth by 22 percent.
KATY KOZHIMANNIL: Premature birth is actually the largest contributor to infant death, so any intervention that can be identified, that can really move the needle on preterm birth, is one that's important for a whole range of health reasons.
NEIGHMOND: Kozhimannil also found women who worked with doulas had lower rates of C-sections. Now, her study didn't explore why women had healthier outcomes, but she says both mothers and doulas talk about the trust built over the course of a pregnancy.
KOZHIMANNIL: Doulas provide informational support, emotional support, psychosocial support. And this type of support may be associated with reductions in stress, and stress is a known predictor of preterm birth.
NEIGHMOND: A potential downside - doulas may have different ideas than the medical team, pushing for a natural delivery, for example, when a C-section is necessary. Obstetrician Stella Dantas says she's rarely had that experience.
DANTAS: When it's working well, we're all working as a team. We're all communicating. We're all trusting each other, and we want what's best for the patient and the baby.
NEIGHMOND: Doulas often don't stop with childbirth. Many continue on helping the new mother learn how to breast-feed and care for her newborn.
Patti Neighmond, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Six teenage boys recently volunteered to be pallbearers for a man they did not know. This happened outside of Boston. And there is a story behind their decision, NPR's Arun Rath found as he watched them work.
ARUN RATH, BYLINE: On the drive to Fairview Cemetery in the Boston neighborhood of Hyde Park, the boys sit in silent reflection. Mike Pojman, the school's assistant headmaster and senior adviser, says it's a massive contrast to the rest of their school day and their lives right now.
MICHAEL POJMAN: To reflect on the fact that there are people like this gentleman, who probably knew hundreds or thousands of people through his life and at the end of it, there's nobody there, I think that gets to all of them. And some have said, I'm just going to make sure that never happens to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Gentlemen, I'm going to have three on either side.
RATH: The students, dressed in jackets and ties, are pallbearers for the plane wooden coffin and take part in a short memorial.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Dear Lord, thank you for opening our hearts and minds to this corporal work of mercy. We are here to bear witness to the life and passing of Nicholas Miller.
RATH: Nicholas Miller died back in September. But officials could find no one to claim his body. So he's being buried this day in a grave with no tombstone in a city cemetery.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: He died alone, with no family to comfort him. But today, we are his family. We are here as his sons. We are honored to stand together before him now to commemorate his life and to remember him in death as we commend his soul his eternal rest. (Speaking Latin).
RATH: Each of the young men in turn read a poem, verse of Scripture or passage about death. Emmett Dalton read, "A Reflection On An Autumn Day."
EMMETT DALTON: (Reading) Death can take away from us what we have. But it cannot rob us of who we are.
RATH: After the ceremony, the seniors share their thoughts about an experience that hit them hard in the middle of a school day.
BRENDAN MCINERNEY: I know I'm going back. And I'm going to go to school and take another quiz. But all that work, you can get caught up in it.
RATH: That's 18-year-old Brendan McInerney. He says as solemn as it was, the break to ponder the big questions of life and pay something back is a gift.
MCINERNEY: You get out of that bubble that you're - that you can kind of get stuck in. And you get perspective on what's really important in life.
RATH: Mike Pojman was inspired to start bringing students to these funerals by a similar program at his alma mater, Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland. He turned to the local funeral home, Lawler and Crosby, which by coincidence is one of the very few funeral homes in the state that steps up to help with these kind of burials. Robert Lawler is the director.
ROBERT LAWLER: It's the right thing to do. You know, you can't leave these poor people lying there forever.
RATH: When there are no family members or volunteers available, it's just Lawler by himself, saying a prayer at graveside. After doing this for 42 years, he appreciates the effect it has on people like 17-year-old Noah Piou. Today's ceremony for Nicholas Miller was his first funeral.
NOAH PIOU: It was my first real moment presented with some form of death for me. And I was kind of at a loss for words at the time. I've never met Mr. Miller before, but even within that, there's - I kind of had a connection with him. And I could feel that.
RATH: After the brief ceremony, the students laid flowers and piled back into the van. They had to get back to the school in time for their next lesson. Arun Rath, NPR News, Boston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Today in Your Health, an approach to childbirth that brings down costs and improves care. First, we report on the cost of prescriptions. Millions of people are getting letters this month from insurance companies. The letters say people have lost coverage for their medicines. People are told they need to switch medications. And for some, that's a major problem. NPR's Alison Kodjak reports.
ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: Tim Kilroy is a father of five, and he runs a business out of his home in Arlington, Mass. When he was about 30, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
TIM KILROY: My life was kind of in shambles. I was constantly broke, and it had nothing to do with the amount of money I was making. It's because I couldn't keep track of what I was spending and couldn't remember to make sure that all of the baby stuff was in the baby bag. So we'd be places with kids without coats because I was in charge of getting the coat and couldn't remember to do it.
KODJAK: He spent six years trying medications, adjusting doses, switching and starting over before he and his doctor focused on a long-acting form of Ritalin. He'd finally landed on the drug that worked for him. But about a year ago, he switched insurance and the new company refused to pay.
KILROY: I thought how dare you? How dare this company that I pay money to tell me how to manage my health care?
KODJAK: He paid full price for the Ritalin one time, but it cost more than $120 a month on top of his insurance premiums. So he asked his doctor to move him to another medication that was covered. Kilroy says it does a good job controlling his ADHD, but it has some unpleasant side effects.
KILROY: Apparently in men of a certain age, it makes your prostate swell. So to be indiscreet, it's really hard to pee.
KODJAK: So now he's switching insurance again so he can get back on Ritalin. Kilroy is just one of millions of people affected by a battle between drug companies trying to make as much money as possible and insurers trying to drive down their prices. More and more, insurers are refusing to pay for expensive medications. Ronny Gal is a drug industry analyst at Alliance Bernstein.
RONNY GAL: Drug companies have been pricing their drugs largely along the lines of, you know, whatever you can get away with and still we have the patient get the drug.
KODJAK: He says this year, most insurers will exclude some drugs from coverage.
GAL: So first of all, exclusion becomes standard feature of the industry, which is actually quite - will be quite a shocker for a lot of patients.
KODJAK: This exclusion strategy was pioneered by Express Scripts, a company that manages prescription coverage for more than 80 million people. Two years ago, Express Scripts first experimented with excluding drugs. The company's chief medical officer, Steve Miller, says they essentially offered their customers business to the lowest bidder.
STEVE MILLER: That gives us the opportunity to go the pharmaceutical manufacturers and say who wants my market share? Whoever will give me the best price, I will reward you with an enormous amount of market share.
KODJAK: Right out of the gate, they took on some big-name products, like Advair, the blockbuster asthma drug made by GlaxoSmithKline. Advair's price had risen more than 20 percent the previous year. Then on January 1 of 2014, Express Scripts tossed Advair off its drug list and moved its customers to a cheaper drug. The results were immediate. Sales of Advair dropped $1.8 billion that year, and the prices of both drugs are still falling.
MILLER: When you move that market, the pharmaceutical manufacturer rewards you with better discounts.
KODJAK: Doctors aren't so thrilled about the discounts when the deals get in the way of their patient care. Barbara McAneny is an oncologist in New Mexico. She says very few of the chemotherapy drugs she prescribes are excluded from approved drug lists. But the medications used to help patients get through chemo, like painkillers and hormone treatments, are. This complicates her ability to care for her patients.
BARBARA MCANENY: Some patients will tolerate one pain medicine, for example, but not another. One can cause nausea and the other pain medicine doesn't. If I get a regiment that works for patients and controls their pain, it is entirely inappropriate for some pharmacy benefit manager to rearrange that regimen and cause that patient to have symptoms.
KODJAK: Now most prescription insurers have lists of drugs they don't pay for. They include new expensive medications like the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, as well as older brand-name drugs like Kilroy's Ritalin. Insurers argue their efforts will help keep premiums low, but it also means many patients and doctors no longer have the last word on the medications they take. Alison, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's turn our gaze now beyond the clouds and up to space. The space agency NASA has been working to assemble a huge mirror. They intend this to be the centerpiece of a huge telescope. It'll be far more powerful even than the famous Hubble Space Telescope. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has been watching this come together at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Inside a giant building here sits a hulking metal tank the size of a small house.
LAURA BETZ: This is where the heart of the telescope is inside right now.
BRUMFIEL: NASA's Laura Betz is taking me on a tour to see pieces of the new telescope called the James Webb Space Telescope. In this tank are it's delicate cameras and instruments. They're being subjected to conditions similar to what they will experience when they're launched into deep space.
BETZ: So it's very, very cold.
BRUMFIEL: While engineers test this hardware, the telescope's massive mirror is being built in a neighboring facility that's essentially a giant, ultra-clean gymnasium. We can't go inside for risk of contamination. But we meet crew chief Dave Simm at an observation deck, where we can see the mirror below.
BETZ: And here's Dave.
DAVE SIMM: Hi, how are you?
BRUMFIEL: Hey.
BETZ: Hey.
BRUMFIEL: Nice to meet you.
SIMM: Good to see you again.
BETZ: Good to see you.
BRUMFIEL: Simm's normally in there assembling it. When he is, he has to wear a white bunny suit that covers every inch of his body.
SIMM: The only thing exposed is your eyes.
BRUMFIEL: For months now, he's been working 10-hour shifts. His job is to take 18 hexagonal mirror segments, each about the size of a coffee table, and attached them to the telescope's cob-web frame. When everything is done, the mirror will look like a giant golden satellite dish, two stories high. Simm points to a table covered in books filled with assembly instructions.
SIMM: Each one of those notebooks down there is for one mirror.
BRUMFIEL: And we should say, each one of those notebooks is about the size of a phone book.
SIMM: Yes.
BRUMFIEL: So it's a - it's a little more involved than IKEA furniture.
SIMM: Yeah, definitely.
BRUMFIEL: Or at least the instructions are more thorough.
SIMM: (Laughter). They're more thorough, correct.
BRUMFIEL: And everything has to be by-the-book. At $8 billion, the Webb telescope will be one of the most expensive things NASA has ever built. Its segmented mirror is so big that once in space, it will have to unfold like an elaborate piece of origami. And to make observations, it needs to be a million miles from Earth - so far that no astronauts could fix it if it breaks. So why is NASA building this thing? The answer, says astronomer John Mather, is pretty simple.
JOHN MATHER: Every time we build a bigger or better piece of equipment, we find something astonishing.
BRUMFIEL: Webb is designed to capture light from the first stars and galaxies, light that's been traveling for billions of years across the universe. It will probe the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets outside the solar system. Mather is the telescope's project scientist at NASA, and he's pretty sure it's going to do other things too, things we haven't even thought of.
MATHER: When Galileo pointed his little bitty telescope at the sky, he saw there are mountains on the moon. There's satellites of Jupiter. There's spots on the sun. And none of that was known. It was all a surprise. And we're pretty sure we're going to get some big surprises because it always happens.
BRUMFIEL: But before Webb can discover its surprises, workers are going to have to finish putting the telescope together. Even after they complete the mirror, there's still quite a few instruction manuals to go. It won't launch until 2018. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, in this country an election is right on track, although it's moved in unpredictable directions. It's our presidential election, which is heading toward the first caucus in Iowa and the first primary in New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, Donald Trump's political rise has really disrupted Republican politics. As New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers reports, this could affect races up and down the ticket.
JOSH ROGERS, BYLINE: Little about Donald Trump's approach to courting voters in New Hampshire has been orthodox. Trump favors large rallies over retail politicking. He's never campaigned here two days in a row. And then there's the GOP front-runner's open disdain for some of the state's traditional Republican power brokers, including the New Hampshire Union Leader, the only statewide paper known for its blistering conservative editorials.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: The famous paper, right, you know? Your little paper, the Union Leader. No, it's really a dishonest paper though. It's terrible. So this gets a rag (ph).
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: I guess.
ROGERS: Trump's been a regular target and branded a bully by Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid. Ever since, McQuaid and his paper have become fodder when Trump campaigns here.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: So this guy, his name's Joe McQuaid.
(BOOING)
TRUMP: Now, he's a - he's a lowlife. I'm telling you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOE MCQUAID: Astounding.
ROGERS: That's McQuaid.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCQUAID: In matters large and small about the Union Leader, he lies through his teeth.
ROGERS: Whatever the case may be, Trump's spat with the paper hasn't hurt him. And for Karl Zahn, a longtime watcher of New Hampshire politics who backs Trump, the whole thing - a GOP candidate taking the fight to the Union Leader and possibly winning - seems almost surreal.
KARL ZAHN: We were at the thing in Nashua a couple of weeks ago, and, you know, he spent 20 minutes excoriating Joe McQuaid. I turned to a friend of mine and just said, pinch me. This is like a - in a Ambien dream I'm having here. It's crazy.
ROGERS: And the Union Leader is just one of Trump's high-profile New Hampshire targets. There's also former Governor John Sununu, a White House chief of staff to the first President Bush and top adviser to Mitt Romney in 2012. He's also the patriarch of what is probably New Hampshire's most prominent Republican family. One of Sununu's sons was a U.S. senator. Another is running for governor.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: John H. Sununu has been known - he was fired by Bush. And he was fired like dog. He was fired viciously, and he's such a dumb guy that he doesn't even know he was fired.
ROGERS: Sununu had criticized Trump in print and on television. During a recent appearance on Bloomberg TV, Sununu warned nominating Trump would doom local Republicans in November.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLOOMBERG TV BROADCAST)
JOHN SUNUNU: Here in New Hampshire, if Donald Trump's the nominee, we will not get a Republican governor. We will lose the New Hampshire state Senate. And we could lose the New Hampshire state House. It is that bad. And we could lose Senator Ayotte.
ROGERS: If those Republicans running for office here share that view, they aren't letting on. Ask Senator Kelly Ayotte about Trump - she's being challenged by New Hampshire's Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan - and you get a practiced response and the sense she'd rather talk about something else.
KELLY AYOTTE: Well, listen. I mean, I think it's the favorite question of the press to ask all of us what we think about Trump. You know, I plan to support our Republican nominee. But I think there's a long way to go until that decision is made.
ROGERS: Chris Sununu, meanwhile - he's the Sununu hoping to be governor - claims he's not paying attention to his father's spat with Donald Trump or to what Trump's style of politics may mean for Republicans down-ballot.
SUNUNU: Donald Trump is, as far as I'm concerned, is just another candidate. I don't worry about it too much because I try to control things I can control.
ROGERS: Sensible advice perhaps, even if Donald Trump is proving to be anything but just another candidate. For NPR News, I'm Josh Rogers in Concord.
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And now we attempt one of the most perilous feats in journalism - reporting on the future. That's normally a bad idea, but when it comes to the economy, the future is what it's all about. People's expectations for the future, however right or wrong, influence what they do now. The lousy performance of the stock market so far this year suggest a coming recession. But a closer examination by NPR's John Ydstie suggests that doesn't seem likely.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: As the old saying goes, the stock market has predicted nine of the last five recessions. In other words, sharply falling stock markets are crying wolf about half the time. Dyke Messinger runs a small manufacturing company in Salisbury, N.C. He thinks stock investors have been overreacting during this sell-off.
DYKE MESSINGER: It is bizarre to me when we see what we believe is good core strength in the U.S. market.
YDSTIE: Messinger's market is the construction industry. His company, Powercurbers, manufactures machines that contractors use to build curbs and gutters for housing developments and commercial buildings.
MESSINGER: Everybody is a bit on pins and needles due to the changing world economy. But there's still pent-up demand for housing and commercial construction.
YDSTIE: Those sectors performed weakly in the U.S. coming out of the recession but are doing much better now. Messinger's business is actually a good reflection of the situation facing many U.S. manufacturers. He exports a lot of his machines. About 30 percent of his sales are to international customers, including oil-producing countries in the Middle East, so the plunge in oil prices has hurt his business. His international sales have fallen sharply, so he knows the global economy can hurt as growth.
MESSINGER: I know a lot of what happens in the United States depends upon what's going on in China and other countries. But if I had some spare money, I think I'd be buying U.S. stocks.
YDSTIE: Messinger says, for his company, growth in the U.S. economy will more than offset lost business abroad. Economist Sara Johnson also believes the U.S. stock market is not accurately predicting the U.S. economy in 2016.
SARA JOHNSON: I think financial markets have overreacted.
YDSTIE: Johnson is senior research director for global economics at IHS. She points to strong U.S. job growth as evidence the domestic economy remains on track despite global weakness. And she says concerns that the U.S. is vulnerable to the slow-down in Chinese growth are overblown.
JOHNSON: While it certainly is creating some turmoil in financial markets, the real economic consequences for the U.S. are limited.
YDSTIE: For one reason - total exports represent only about one-eighth of the U.S. economy, and less than 10 percent of those exports go to China. So the vast majority of U.S. economic activity is generated inside U.S. borders. And Johnson sees a positive picture for this year, helped by the deep decline in oil prices. She acknowledges that plummeting oil prices hurt the U.S. economy last year, decimating energy companies and sparking huge layoffs. But she says 2016 will be different.
JOHNSON: The U.S. is a net importer of crude oil, so the drop in prices is a substantial gain to U.S. consumers.
YDSTIE: That's been the conventional wisdom, but some economists have begun to doubt that low oil prices are a net positive for the U.S. economy. After all, because of the shale revolution, the U.S. has become the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas. That means energy price drops have a bigger negative impact on American companies and workers than before. In fact, Goldman Sachs now predicts those negatives will offset the benefits to U.S. consumers, so lower oil prices won't be a boost to the economy this year. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
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The low price of oil has affected many parts of the economy, not least the market for home-heating oil. Northeastern homeowners burn a lot of it during the winter, and they're paying prices that are about one-third of what they were paying in 2011. Still, not everybody's happy. Getting a heating-oil contract is a little bit like playing poker. Bet on the wrong price, and it will cost you. Vermont Public Radio's Nina Keck reports.
NINA KECK, BYLINE: At Keyser Energy in Proctor, Vt., Barb Corliss handles customer service. The company provides heating fuel to about 5,000 customers, and Corliss says it's been a crazy ride.
BARB CORLISS: Four-dollar-a-gallon oil down to $1.799 today. It's been a ride for not only the staff, the drivers, but the customers as well.
KECK: While many customers pay as they go, others prefer to lock in a price for the entire year. Still others pay a bit more per gallon for a sliding scale that caps how high prices go while allowing for price drops.
CORLISS: It's speculation. People are innate gamblers by nature.
KECK: But after watching all the news about volatile oil prices, many of those gamblers are tired of the pricing game. On a recent subzero morning, a Keyser fuel truck backed into Jackie Fetterolf's driveway. Fetterolf is one of many who bet wrong on heating oil and locked in a price last June when it was 23 percent more.
JACKIE FETTEROLF: It's very frustrating because it's like you plan it and, you know, years past it's always gone up. And now it doesn't, and now you kind of go, is this really worth doing?
KECK: While fixed contracts can be great when oil prices are climbing, Matt Cota of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association says unless you bought sliding scale insurance, there are no rebates when fuel drops.
MATT COTA: Any time a heating fuel dealer offers their customer a fixed price or a pre-buy contract, that they have to, within 7 days, go secure that fuel from their wholesale supplier.
KECK: In other words, if a customer buys a fuel contract for $700 in July, that dealer has a week go out and buy $700 worth of fuel. With oil prices at 10 year lows, the popularity of fixed-price contracts has declined. At Keyser Energy, nearly half of customers had been using them. Now it's about a quarter. Keyser Energy's Rob Oberg makes another delivery and says even for people with fixed contracts, he's not hearing many complains because prices are so low.
ROB OBERG: Most of the people I run into are actually rather happy, so, you know, we're actually kind of lucking out pretty good right now.
KECK: A few blocks away, Rhoda Grace says, even though she locked in a price last summer, she's taking it in stride.
RHODA GRACE: You know, I feel safe anyways. If the price happens to sky-rocket, I'm covered.
KECK: Experts don't expect fuel prices to climb this winter, but come summer, all bets are off. And fuel buyers of the Northeast will have to decide if they feel lucky when it comes time to heat their homes.
For NPR News, I'm Nina Keck in Chittenden, Vt.
INSKEEP: Now I've got a Clint Eastwood line bouncing around in my head - you feel lucky?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're going to spend much of this week probing the mood of American voters. It's an election year, when many people are anxious or frightened or angry. We can already sense some of what that means. Strong emotions have shaped the presidential campaign. In the coming days, we'll ask why people feel as they do. By the end of this week, listeners around this country will have a chance to offer their views. We begin with NPR national political correspondent, Mara Liasson.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: You can't talk to voters this year without hearing some pretty powerful emotions. And all the candidates are trying to show they get it. For Republicans like Marco Rubio, it's President Obama's fault.
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MARCO RUBIO: A president that on 10 occasions around the world has apologized for America - apologized. And this is why people are so frustrated. This is why they're so angry. This is why this election's played out so differently.
LIASSON: On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders' angry tirades have found a receptive audience.
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BERNIE SANDERS: This campaign is sending a message to the billionaire class. Yes, we have the guts to take you on.
(CHEERING)
LIASSON: Hillary Clinton has talked herself hoarse explaining that she takes seriously the fears and insecurities of ordinary voters.
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HILLARY CLINTON: They're worried that they're going to be left behind while the people on the top, the guys who always get ahead, keep taking, taking, taking, leaving very little for anybody else. There's a lot of worry.
LIASSON: And no one has identified with or stoked voters' anger better than Donald Trump.
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DONALD TRUMP: I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our health care is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief.
LIASSON: There are lots of good reasons voters are so ticked off this year. Number one, says former White House aide Bill Galston, is the absence of the kind of broadly shared economic growth that makes the American dream possible.
BILL GALSTON: When you consider the fact that household incomes are still thousands of dollars below where they were at the end of the Clinton administration, people have gone a long time without making a lot of progress. And they know it. They're feeling it. And they're not very happy about it.
LIASSON: Another big factor is terrorism. Whether or not you think ISIS poses an existential threat to the United States, after San Bernardino, there was no question that the war on terror has come back home. And that's scary. Then there's demographic change, says Harvard political scientist Danielle Allen, who points out that 2014 was the first year the majority of American kindergartners were minorities.
DANIELLE ALLEN: So we're only a dozen years away from majority-minority voting cohorts entering into our voting ranks. So in other words, in some parts of the country in particular, there's just a sort of incredibly durable tradition of white political and social control. And that demographic transition is forcing to a head the question of what happens now.
LIASSON: This is why immigration has become such a flashpoint, particularly in the Republican primaries. Professor Roberto Suro is an immigration expert at the University of Southern California.
ROBERTO SURO: One of the most illustrative things that has happened this year was in the way that Donald Trump switched from Mexicans to Muslims almost instantaneously.
LIASSON: It was a simple pivot after San Bernardino. Terrorism and labor migration became one thing.
SURO: And what that tells you is that it's not specific immigrants. It's not even necessarily immigration itself. But this becomes the vehicle to touch people's anxieties about a whole bunch of other matters.
LIASSON: This year, immigration became all wrapped up in people's anxieties about jobs, terrorism and the failure of government to perform basic functions, like policing the border. Exacerbating all these anxiety-producing factors is a gridlocked political system that can't seem to solve big problems, no matter which party has control. And here, Republicans are angry at their own party's leaders in Washington in a way Democrats just aren't, says conservative analyst Henry Olsen, author of "The Four Faces Of The Republican Party."
HENRY OLSEN: They've been listening to politicians who have been telling them for decades now that government can and ought to shrink quickly. And they think that when Republicans are elected, that that's what Republicans got elected on. So they are angry for things that they've been told they can have, but most people in politics know they really can't.
LIASSON: Voters in both parties are angry at elites. But just like everything else this year, Democratic and Republican populists are pointing their pitchforks at two very different targets. Again, Bill Galston.
GALSTON: For the Republicans, the anti-elite focus is on government and professional experts of all kinds. And for the Democrats, and especially the more left-leaning Democrats, the focus is on economic and financial elites.
LIASSON: And it's not clear, says Galston, which candidates will benefit most from all that angry anti-elitism when voters finally start going to the polls next month.
GALSTON: Elections serve a number of very important functions. And one of them is to hold up a mirror to society. We learn something about who we are and what we're feeling and what we want through the electoral process. And a lot of things that are beneath the surface come to the surface during the intensity of electoral combat.
LIASSON: And those feelings are defining the 2016 elections. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.
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Let's mark an important anniversary. Five years ago, protesters filled an open space in Cairo, Tahrir Square. It became the center of the protests that soon ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Five eventful years have followed with a democratic election won by a president from the Muslim Brotherhood, whose victory was undone by the military. Egypt is back where it started with a military-dominated government. Rabab El-Mahdi is following on all of this. She is a political scientist at the American University in Cairo. Welcome to the program.
RABAB EL-MAHDI: Hi.
INSKEEP: How, if at all, are people marking this anniversary?
EL-MAHDI: They're not, actually because the military regime occupied Tahrir Square a few days ago, banning any kind of celebrations. They've been barging into homes in downtown to make sure that there are no preparations for celebrating the revolution. So people are not marking it in any meaningful way.
INSKEEP: Is the attitude of the military that this revolution of five years ago - which the military at the time ultimately participated in - that it was a wrong turn, that the last five years were a mistake?
EL-MAHDI: I think it was a mistake for them. They considered it a mistake from day one. They have not participated. They were forced to just sometimes stand and watch how it will unfold. But at no point were they enthusiastic about it. Now that they are back at the top of the regime, they have every opportunity and all the means to try to undo everything that had happened over the past five years.
INSKEEP: So granting that there's no public commemoration on the streets, what does it feel like to reach this milestone?
EL-MAHDI: It's frustrating. It's a little depressive because so many people have participated. So many people have lost their lives over the past five years to move this country into a better place. This has not happened so far. But there are steps that were taken that neither the military government nor the counter-revolution forces inside or outside Egypt can take them away. The fact that people feel that they are part of this country, that they can bring about change, is something that you cannot undo. And when they're not happy with that regime, the idea is always on their minds.
INSKEEP: You know, the prosecution of reporters is just one of the many stories that has reached the United States over the last few years. How open is public debate right now?
EL-MAHDI: It's absolutely not open. In addition to the clamming (ph) down on journalists, we have tens of thousands of detainees - political detainees. Anyone from wearing a T-shirt condemning torture to expressing their views on TV or on university campuses can and will be detained. This is the most repressive moment that we have seen in the past 40 years in Egypt.
INSKEEP: But you're saying that there is this sense, this feeling among the people, that they still do have the power within themselves if they find a way to exercise it. Is that right?
EL-MAHDI: Absolutely. But this has to be in line with the presence of political alternatives that people can rally around. At this moment, we don't have those democratic political alternatives.
INSKEEP: So let me ask about one other thing. There was this revolution. There was a democratic election. It was won by a president from the Muslim Brotherhood who was widely criticized. And when the military finally did shove him out, it was seen that many pro-Western elites in Egypt, if you will, actually favored that move, that they were OK with it. Do the elites in Egypt feel that democracy failed?
EL-MAHDI: I think it's not that democracy failed. I think that they made wrong tactical choices. Those wrong tactical choices have to do with the fact that they are not strong enough to provide an alternative outside the military and outside the Muslim Brotherhood, both of which represent anti-democratic projects.
INSKEEP: Rabab El-Mahdi is a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo. Thank you very much.
EL-MAHDI: You're so most welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, in this country business was disrupted in recent days by a snowstorm. Many places in the eastern part of the United States at least experienced this storm during the weekend, which would be the most convenient possible time. But now it's Monday. It's a time for some people struggle into work and for others to assess the damage. Along parts of the New Jersey shore, the biggest problem was flooding. NPR's Jeff Brady reports from south of Atlantic City.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Littering the streets of North Wildwood, N.J. there's lots of storm debris, beach grass, sand toys, even a surfboard. There are just puddles now. But on Saturday morning, Debbie Young woke up to find her house was surrounded by freezing cold saltwater.
DEBBIE YOUNG: Water - water everywhere, table floating down New Jersey Avenue and the water just kept coming up higher and higher. It was just one big lake.
BRADY: This town sits on a barrier island. The storm-churned ocean destroyed beaches on the east side, and surging water from the bay flooded neighborhoods on the west side. Debbie Young's husband, Tom, says the storm surge receded with the tide.
TOM YOUNG: Nothing got into the house; it come right up to the floor boards. So we lucked out that way.
BRADY: He takes me around to see other damage.
T. YOUNG: This is my backyard. This is my man cave over here (laughter).
BRADY: Oh, and your man cave is right on the ground.
T. YOUNG: Yeah. Well, it used to be a shed.
BRADY: The chairs got a little wet, and it'll take some bleach to get rid of the smell.
T. YOUNG: There's a watermark. Right here I think it was.
BRADY: So you got - what? - about a foot of water in here.
T. YOUNG: Yes. Yeah, I got a foot of water.
BRADY: Your refrigerator is on the ground. Is that all right?
T. YOUNG: I'm going to check it. No, it's not working.
BRADY: Like most communities on the shore, North Wildwood didn't ask people to evacuate. Mayor Patrick Rosenello says that's because they had no idea the storm would be so strong.
PATRICK ROSENELLO: So we knew there was a storm coming. We knew it was going to be a significant storm. We knew we were going to experience some flooding. We did not know we were going to experience the worst flooding we've ever had.
BRADY: Below freezing temperatures make the cleanup and repairs all the more difficult for this town of nearly 4,000 people. On top of that, Rosenello says the storm will be expensive.
ROSENELLO: To the municipal infrastructure, it's in the millions. I mean, beach, dunes, things of that nature, that's millions and millions of dollars. We're not going to have a complete estimate until people start to get into their houses.
BRADY: This is a shore town, which means the tourism business is important. The city looks a little rough now after being battered by this winter storm, but Mayor Rosenello says it'll be cleaned up in plenty of time for this summer. Jeff Brady, NPR News, North Wildwood, N.J.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's report on someone who plunged without fear into the snow and cold. A snow storm, of course, shut down many parts of the eastern United States over the weekend. One resident of Washington, D.C., took a chance to go out and play. Brandie Smith has been watching him.
BRANDIE SMITH: I think a lot of people have seen the video of our male giant panda Tian Tian playing in the snow.
INSKEEP: Smith is associate director of animal care sciences at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The video of Tian Tian has gone viral.
SMITH: Giant pandas, they love the snow, especially Tian Tian. He's 19 years old, but during the first snowfall of the year he acts like a cub. So we know he's going to be outside playing, rolling down the hill, climbing up trees, and he didn't disappoint us this year.
INSKEEP: She would like to think of Tian Tian as a kind of mascot for the storm. Behind every great panda, of course, there is a zoo staff. She says most of the National Zoo's animal care staff counted as essential personnel during the storm.
SMITH: When you work with five animals, you can't fail. Nothing bad can happen. So we had plans, contingency plans and contingency plans for our contingency plans. We were ready for this storm, and all of our animals made it through.
INSKEEP: As did the staff. That's Brandie Smith, the National Zoo in Washington.
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Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with news of Donald Rumsfeld, Renaissance man. The former secretary of defense is considered an unintentional poet. A writer once made a book of poems out of his press conference quotes, like the one about known knowns. Now he's an app developer. His game is based on a card game Winston Churchill once played. The Wall Street Journal asked the 83-year-old if this work helps keep his mind sharp, and Rumsfeld replied that that was not a known known. It's MORNING EDITION.
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Let's travel to a country whose leaders want migrants to go elsewhere. Denmark's parliament is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a bill aimed at migrants. Among other things, it calls for ceasing cash and valuables from asylum-seekers as they enter the country. The bill sponsors say it's to defray the costs of accommodating them. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is covering this story. And, Soraya, where are you exactly?
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: I'm in eastern Denmark in a city called Elsinore, which is famous for being the place where "Hamlet" takes place. But today it's better known for housing asylum-seekers, of which there are about 20,000 across Denmark that came last year.
INSKEEP: Which is a lot of people, granted, but a lot less than other countries in Europe have accepted over the past year. So what makes Danes so worried?
NELSON: Well, you have to remember Denmark is wedged between Sweden and Germany. And both of those countries, which are much larger, have basically extended an open welcome to refugees, which they're now regretting to some extent because so many have been coming. And so what Denmark is worried about is that these asylum-seekers are not going to be allowed to go to Sweden or they're going to be made to leave Germany and they're going to end up in Denmark, which is a place that has a very rich welfare system. And there are a lot of concerns that these migrants and asylum-seekers who are coming are going to overwhelm the system and cause it to collapse.
INSKEEP: So what are people saying about this legislation that would confiscate the assets of asylum-seekers?
NELSON: Well, it's the latest in a flurry of bills. And the controversial element, as you mentioned, is this confiscation or seizure. And it's aimed at those migrants or asylum-seekers who are coming with more than $1,450 in their pocket. And the idea is to take some of that money to help defray the cost of their stay. But the bill is triggering a lot of criticism, both in Denmark and abroad, and of course comparisons to what the Nazis did. Marcus Knuth is a Danish Parliament member and government spokesman on immigration and integration.
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MARCUS KNUTH: I think it's a highly unfair criticism because the fact that we go through refugees bags and so is already taking place in most European countries because, for security reasons, the authorities need to determine where you're from, what travel papers do you have and so on.
NELSON: He says his government isn't really expecting to recoup what it spends on refugees, nor are the police going to be taking any kind of jewelry or sentimental items from asylum-seekers. But what they are hoping is that the word of this will spread to Lebanon, to Turkey, other places where asylum-seekers or would-be asylum-seekers are gathered and perhaps are thinking about coming to Denmark.
INSKEEP: Suppose that some people do still seek asylum in Denmark, what would this legislation mean for them?
NELSON: Well, it makes it really tough for these newcomers to actually stay for any length of time. Danish-Syrian anesthesiologist Haifaa Awad, who works with refugees here and in Syria, says what's even more worrying to her is how long refugees will have to wait to get their families to Denmark and out of harm's way.
HAIFAA AWAD: My uncle had his twin daughters saved out from an area that was heavily bombed in Syria and got them and his wife out of there and was reunificated with them after eight months. But if you were to seek asylum now in Denmark, he would actually have to wait three years to get his daughters and wife out of the bombed Syria.
NELSON: She says that the measure is only going to compound the problems with integration that are fueling Danish fears and xenophobia in the first place.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Denmark. Thanks very much.
NELSON: You're welcome, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It was an eventful weekend in Gerrardstown, W.V.
TRACY GLADDEN: Between the wind being 50 mph and, you know, a dumping of 44 inches all at one time, it was pretty nasty.
INSKEEP: Tracy Gladden (ph) says she has seen 44 inches of snowfall before, just not all at once. She is the owner of Tracy's Corner Grocery and Donnie's Homestyle Kitchen, and her businesses stayed open during the blizzard.
GLADDEN: We're at the base of the mountain and, you know, we're are community store. And we had to be here for the community because some of them just didn't take it serious or just wasn't able to because, you know, leaving - going home from work, they just wanted to get straight home.
INSKEEP: Gladden describes that community as a few churches and a few antique shops and her store. It's the kind of place where people came out in four-wheelers and a tractor to help clear the roads for emergency vehicle.
GLADDEN: We all kicked in. And like I said, there was a lot of shovels flying today and a lot of pushing. And the biggest thing is just where to put it.
INSKEEP: And when the roads were cleared, Tracy Gladden had what her neighbors need.
GLADDEN: Eggs, milk, bread, soda, snacks, of course, you know, the alcohol and the cigarettes. That's - (laughter) that seems to be a main thing, too, when you're getting snowed in, you know - movies, beer and cigarettes.
INSKEEP: Movies, beer and cigarettes - that could be a movie title all by itself. Now, about half an hour away - maybe a bit more with several feet of snow on the ground - is Green Gate Farm near Shepherdstown, W.V. There, Lars Prillaman was focused on his pigs, chickens and sheep.
LARS PRILLAMAN: Making sure that there's plenty of water, plenty of food in the event that we can't get to them was sort of, you know, priority number one.
INSKEEP: Nothing is easy in a storm, and the farm's tractor with the snow plow was broken, making it hard to take care of priority number one. Prillaman's truck couldn't get through the snow either, so he had to go old school.
PRILLAMAN: We hitched our draft horse to what's called a stone boat - it's basically a small sled - and off we went. And she got us out there, fed everybody and - yeah, it's - she's better than any tractor or truck I've ever owned (laughter).
INSKEEP: An OG of transportation, as used by livestock manager Lars Prillaman in Shepherdstown, W.V.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
People in much of the eastern United States can think of this moment as an involuntary long weekend, their world largely shut down by sometime Friday, and it will not return to normal this morning. It's hard to guess how long the pause will go. Snow from the weekend storm is still blocking many roads and mass transit. Airlines canceled thousands of flights over the weekend, but many airports are trying to get back to normal, and that includes a New York's LaGuardia Airport. About 4:30 this morning Eastern Time, NPR's Hansi Lo Wang was with passengers there.
What are you seeing where you are, Hansi?
HANSI LO WANG, BYLINE: Well, I'm at a checking counter for Delta Airlines here at LaGuardia. And I see some travelers checking in their baggage, people lining up for security check. It's a normal scene, but there are still a lot of delays today. I talked to one traveler, Caitlin Blauvelt (ph) of Princeton, N.J. She's on her way to a work trip to LA. But she woke up early this morning and found out her flight at another airport was canceled, so she had to rebook a new flight. Here's what she said.
CAITLIN BLAUVELT: It actually was pretty easy, but I didn't have any options. It was either not get to where I needed to be at the right time or take the 6 o'clock in the morning train - plane - and stopover in Colorado for a little bit then keep going.
WANG: So lots of improvisation for people flying today. And LaGuardia Airport is up and running, of course, and so are others in New York, but a lot of cancellations.
INSKEEP: So are people actually feeling kind of awake and motivated because they really, really want to get that early flight?
WANG: Well, certainly there are those kinds of travelers out here this morning. And there are more than 1,300 cancellations so far just today, another 1,300 that are delayed, and so a lot of unhappy travelers. But in D.C., the airports are reopening this morning. Just a few flights are going out. Also, Baltimore's airport and Philly's airport reopened yesterday. But all the airports are saying, check with your airline before you get to the airport.
INSKEEP: Now some of the cities you mentioned, even the mass transit shut down over the weekend. I believe that was true for part of the weekend even for New York City. Hansi, how'd you get to the airport?
WANG: (Laughter). I actually got here yesterday because I was afraid. But in NYC, subway is up and running, except for some parts of Brooklyn. The same is so in Philadelphia, and also Baltimore's subway is reopening, D.C.'s subway is reopening, although with very limited service. Also, Amtrak is running a modified service between Boston to D.C., from Harrisburg to New York. There are fewer trains on the Amtrak lines between D.C. and Virginia because of the snow. One thing to be aware of is a lot of the regional rail lines - lots of snow being - still being cleared, especially here out in Long Island, where crews are still clearing out snow and ice from the stations and deicing the third rail.
INSKEEP: You keep giving me this valuable information, but I'm interested in your story here. You said you got to the airport yesterday, so I gather you spent the night at the airport. Were you the only one?
WANG: No, there were a lot of travelers there. I suspect many of them had canceled flights and were waiting to get out this morning, which when a lot of new flights have been - a lot of flights have been rescheduled for. But some may be still waiting for a little bit longer because there are still lots of cancellation.
INSKEEP: So is there a sense that New York City - I mean, the biggest city in the country - will be operating sort of as normal today?
WANG: Sort of as normal, but it really depends on where you are. I think out in Manhattan roads are fairly clear. But out in the outer boroughs in Queens and Brooklyn, lots of complaints from folks saying their sidewalks, their local streets are still very messy, very hard to get out of.
INSKEEP: Well, Hansi, I hope you have a safe trip out of the airport whenever you manage to do it.
WANG: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Hansi Lo Wang at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now, Washington, D.C., received a lot of snow over the weekend. It's just hard to say how much.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: In Washington, more than 17 inches according to the Weather Service, making it the fourth-largest storm in history.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Near 20 inches at Reagan National Airport, which...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Our official measuring point - 17.8.
INSKEEP: OK, several different numbers there. This might have been a bigger storm than any of those numbers suggest. We say might because we don't know. The official measurement of the show in Washington could be on the low side. The National Weather Service normally takes its measurements at Reagan National Airport a little bit outside the city. They use what's called a snowboard, which could be little more than a piece of plywood. They just wipe it off after every six hours or so and measure it again. But Saturday night, they lost the board. It got buried under the snow, so the weather observers had to improvise, and they may have been wrong, they say. While Reagan National officially recorded 17.8 inches of snow, other parts of the metropolitan area reported around 20 inches or more. And the National Weather Service says it is investigating.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now let's take some measurements of the presidential campaign. The Des Moines Register made its endorsements over the weekend - Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, Marco Rubio for the Republicans. That's significant at least somewhat because of course, The Des Moines Register is an influential paper in Iowa, which holds its caucuses days from now. We're joined, as we are most Mondays, by NPR's Cokie Roberts. Cokie, good morning.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: And also this morning by Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster, author of the book "The Selfie Vote." Good morning.
KRISTIN SOLTIS ANDERSON: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Cokie, let's start with you. Is this - just help me figure this out here. I want to figure out on the Republican - mainstream Republicans are casting around for an alternative to Donald Trump. The leading alternative is Ted Cruz, so they're casting around for an alternative to Ted Cruz, which takes some of them back to Trump. Is that right?
ROBERTS: Yes, it is. But what you've got is an interesting split between the people who are the opinion writers, the intellectuals in the party and the politicians, the pragmatists. And the intellectuals, for lack of a better word, are saying Trump is not a true conservative. He could mean the end of conservatism. He's really an authoritarian populist. And they are very adamantly against Trump, whereas the pragmatists, the politicians, the people who actually have to run for office and serve in the Senate first of all dislike Ted Cruz enormously because he has made a career of making them dislike him. But they also feel that his positions are so antithetical to what most voters like that he would bring down the party in a big way. So they're more ready to sort of work with Trump, saying maybe he's somebody that, you know, we can make a deal with and the person we have to defeat is Cruz. So there's a really interesting split going on here.
INSKEEP: And of course, the big question for many politicians - and it's a question they have to ask, it's not totally cynical to ask it - is which one of these guys can win, or can some of the other candidates win ultimately? Which gets down to winning a general election in a more and more diverse country with new kinds of voters and younger voters, groups that Republicans have not done well with in the past. And Kristen Soltis Anderson, you have tracked those voters. Do you see anything that Trump, Cruz or anyone else is doing that would appeal to new audiences?
ANDERSON: So Cruz at the moment is mostly focused on winning as many sort of hardcore Republicans as possible. So he has not at this moment focused on the general election. Trump is the interesting wildcard, and I think this is also a piece of why you see some of these, quote, unquote, establishment Republicans starting to think that Trump may be the better alternative than Cruz because Trump is so unpredictable. And because if Trump wins the primary, that's a signal that he's activated new voters. He has reached out and brought in voters - in this case, not necessarily Latino or young voters but rather sort of white working-class voters who may have been turned off by the party in the past but feel something about Trump's message is resonating with them. So in an odd way, even though the polls at the moment show Trump doing very poorly among independent voters, among moderate voters, in a general election context - if he is able to win the general, it just may be an unpredictable enough scenario that he could wind up creating a new Republican electorate out of a lot of those white working-class blue-collar voters.
INSKEEP: You're reminding of a New York Times analysis from a couple of weeks ago finding that many of Trump supporters weren't even formally Republicans. They're registered Democrats who are identifying Republican at the moment, which does suggest reaching out to new people.
ANDERSON: You're absolutely correct. It just doesn't look like the kind of new people that in the Republican sort of post-election report after the 2012 loss - they said, you know, these are the groups we need to reach out to. We need to be doing better with Latino voters. We need to do better with young voters. These are groups that, say, Marco Rubio has done a good job trying to reach out to, even in this primary. The question is will he make it to the general?
INSKEEP: Cokie?
ROBERTS: And of course, the long-term scenario is you have to still reach out to Latinos and young people. If you just look at the numbers in the population, they say oh...
INSKEEP: Cokie, let me ask about the Democratic side. Hasn't Bernie Sanders also, fairly explicitly from time to time, been trying to reach out to disaffected groups, including the white working class so to speak - people who voted Democrat maybe in the past or their grandparents voted Democratic but they're not? Is that part of Sanders' apparent success at the moment?
ROBERTS: Well, it is but it's mainly - his big success is among young people, and it's white people again. And so he is also not reaching out to other groups in the population. But look, there's a huge amount of excitement around Bernie Sanders. And people in the Democratic establishment are beginning to say this looks a lot like 2008, where Hillary Clinton started off strong and then of course lost to Barack Obama. I think it's looking a lot like 1972, where Ed Muskie had all of the establishment behind him and then George McGovern got these young people excited and eventually won the nomination. And - but of course lost the general election...
INSKEEP: Got creamed.
ROBERTS: ...Dramatically. And that's what a lot of Democrats are worried - who are in office are worrying about now is that if you had a Sanders nomination, you could lose everything on the Democratic side. So a lot of concern on both sides - and Michael Bloomberg talking about getting in.
INSKEEP: And we'll see what happens there. Cokie Roberts, thanks as always.
ROBERTS: Thank you.
INSKEEP: And Kristen Soltis Anderson, author of "The Selvie Vote," thanks to you on this snowy morning.
ANDERSON: Thank you.
INSKEEP: She's also a columnist for the Washington Examiner.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. An old idea says, if you put enough monkeys in front of keyboards, one of them may write Shakespeare. Now an artist is testing a similar hypothesis. It's that a computer can write new episodes of the 1990s sitcom, "Friends." Andy Herd wants to explore how machines learn. So far, his computer-generated episodes are gibberish, but Mr. Herd is optimistic. He thinks that with just a bit of editing, he could sell that gibberish to a network. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Haiti was supposed to hold a presidential election yesterday, and it was postponed for the third time. The head of Haiti's electoral counsel says he's delaying the vote for security reasons. People who contend this election will be rigged have been launching demonstrations, and there have been reports of gunfire. NPR's Carrie Kahn is in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Hi, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What's at stake in this election?
KAHN: As everything in Haiti, it's about the government, and it's about power. There isn't a lot of industry. It's the poorest in the Western hemisphere. So it's about going to win this election and who gets the power. It's the second election in this runoff. And there were supposed to be two candidate running. One was from the ruling party, the president - current president's party. He's barred from running again. And the second place finisher in the primary refused to participate, just saying there was just too much massive fraud going on.
INSKEEP: OK. So you have Michel Martelly, the outgoing president, trying to install a successor. You have an opposition to that, and you have allegations of fraud, you said. Is that what's made this election so contentious?
KAHN: Elections are always contentious in Haiti. It's just - it hasn't been able to pull it off. This is a country that has a terrible history of dictatorships and coups. And so it's been very fragile, the democracy here, only a change in power peacefully one or two times. And they just haven't been able to pull it off this year. This would have been the third election - legislative elections and two presidential runoffs. And they just couldn't pull it off. The election officials couldn't do it. And they couldn't agree how to do it. And it has just fallen apart here in the last couple of days. There hasn't even been a date when they're going to hold new elections, and the protests just continue to grow here in the streets.
INSKEEP: So what do the protesters want? Because if you have no election you have no election.
KAHN: Right. Right now, what they're calling for is they want the president to step down. They want him to leave the country, and they want an interim government. And that's going to be very tricky. There is a constitutional deadline that the president needs to leave office by February 7. There's no way that there can be an election before then that can be held peacefully and credibly. And so now we have this constitutional deadline and at a stalemate. And we haven't heard anything from the president, and the international community really wants these elections to be held.
INSKEEP: What's it feel like when you walk around the streets of Port-au-Prince?
KAHN: Well, I was at a demonstration yesterday, and it did seem smaller than the days before. And as you said, there were reports of gunfire and burning tires, as always in protest here in Haiti. There was some damage to businesses. But it didn't - it felt tense, but the protests were not as big as in the last few days. And people didn't seem as eager to create problems. The police here is greatly outnumbered; that's another thing. And so they were holding - I felt like they were very restrained in their dealings with them. They're just outnumbered. And we have not seen the U.N. police force out in any way. So it's just a difficult time here in Haiti right now. And we'll have to see what happens because with no elections being put forth, we don't know what's going to happen with the government right now.
INSKEEP: OK. That's NPR's Carrie Kahn with the latest from Haiti, where an election was postponed to an indefinite time. Carrie, thanks, as always.
KAHN: You're welcome, Steve. Thanks.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's the story of a woman whose racial identity does not match her looks. She is African-American. She also has albinism, a genetic condition causing extremely pale skin and hair. Her experience says a lot about the racial distinctions people draw. Here is Anjuli Sastry, of NPR's Code Switch team.
ANJULI SASTRY, BYLINE: Even though it happened 30 years ago, Natalie Devora still remembers the night she went to an Oakland bookstore to attend a meeting for women writers of color.
NATALIE DEVORA: One of the things that happened that particular evening is someone wrote a piece about how it was a black-only space.
SASTRY: That's when one of the writers told Devora she didn't belong there.
N. DEVORA: And I almost left. And I would have left had a friend not just grabbed my hand and said, we're here.
SASTRY: Devora is African-American. She also has albinism. Her skin and hair are snow white.
N. DEVORA: I'm a white-skinned black woman. That's how I navigate through the world. That's how I identify.
SASTRY: She says often people can't tell what race she is. And growing up, Devora remembers strangers would question her mother about it.
N. DEVORA: People would ask her, why do you have a white child? Are you babysitting that child?
MURRAY BRILLIANT: Human beings define race as an important factor in identity...
SASTRY: Geneticist Murray Brilliant has studied albinism for years. He runs the Center for Human Genetics at the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin. The center researches genetic conditions like albinism.
BRILLIANT: ...So individuals with albinism who lack or who have very little pigmentation are often, you know, kind of a conundrum.
SASTRY: That confusion doesn't just lead to rude questions. Brilliant says it can also result in years of social isolation that can take a toll on a person's psyche.
BRILLIANT: People with albinism often have very low self-esteem, especially fitting in and the idea of being so different.
SASTRY: In places outside the U.S., albinism can have much more tragic consequences. In several countries, men and women with albinism are attacked and dismembered because some people believe their body parts have medicinal value. A 2014 documentary called "The Boy From Geita" chronicles the violent crimes against people with albinism in Tanzania. In a clip from the film, a boy with albinism talks about the violence he faces when he leaves school. He wishes that his skin looked different.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE BOY FROM GEITA")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I would like to have black because if I have white some people they come to kill me.
SASTRY: Back in the U.S., albinism is rarely an issue of life and death. But it can dramatically affect the way people are treated - from job interviews to police encounters. Natalie Devora knows that from experience in her own family, especially after she adopted her daughter, Jewel. Jewel is also African-American, and she doesn't have albinism.
JEWEL DEVORA: I think that my mom having an absence of color is really where it begins in terms of our continued conversation about why color does matter.
SASTRY: For example, when they're out shopping together, only Jewel says she is racially profiled.
J. DEVORA: I do feel an extra set of eyes on me whereas there's not that extra set of eyes on my mom.
SASTRY: As apparent, Natalie can't help but confront salespeople when she notices them watching her daughter.
J. DEVORA: And that usually stops them - go, oh, and they have to stop back and go, huh?
SASTRY: While strangers struggled to understand her condition, Natalie Devora has come to terms with her albinism over the years. She recently returned from an international conference in Tanzania where she advocated for people with the condition. Now when Natalie looks back on that difficult night at the Oakland bookstore, she knows what she would say.
N. DEVORA: I, too, have a right to be in black space.
SASTRY: For NPR News, I'm Anjuli Sastry.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a story of how we learn. We build on the work of those who came before. Musicians make variations on old music. Historians cite or challenge or completely overturn the findings of historians who came before. The same is true in science - or it's supposed to be. It's hard for medical researchers because they often do not share the raw data from their research. Now medical journal editors have called for more access, and that is good news to Harlan Krumholz of Yale, who is an advocate for more openness - a finding that grows out of his experience as a researcher.
HARLAN KRUMHOLZ: Yeah, I've had this experience, especially when I was a young investigator just getting started. I approached a lot of senior investigators and almost resoundingly heard no every time. They had done the studies. They were going to control the data, and they were going to choose who was going to get to touch and use that data. And I was completely walled off from that.
INSKEEP: I can see the importance of this if I just think about journalism, or if you think about research in other fields. People build on the work of other scholars. And you're saying you need the underlying data. You need the basic facts in order to work from and build onto that with your new research.
KRUMHOLZ: Look, one of the basic principles is show your work. Let other people see it. This would be unfathomable in other fields. Imagine an astronomer creating a super-telescope but only a couple of them got to go and look, and everyone else had to hear what the universe was like through the papers that these individuals wrote but never got to see the original data or to actually view the universe with their own eyes. So this is something that other fields have solved a long time ago. And yet in medicine, for some reason, we've developed a culture where people sequester the data. They hold it back.
INSKEEP: You said for some reason this happens. What do you think the motivation is of researchers who hold back data?
KRUMHOLZ: Well, people who do research legitimately spend a lot of time, and the notion for them is that the reward is not only publishing the main paper but having the ability to continue to publish for many years afterwards. So they also may be a little reluctant to allow others to peer into the insides, the inner workings, to see the raw data. It's not that necessarily anyone's done anything wrong, but it's a sense of that. I've also heard some people say, which I think is inexplicable, that only they can understand their own data. And they're worried if other people get in it with their data, they'll draw conclusions that they disagree with, when that's exactly and precisely the point. We shouldn't be afraid of that. In fact, we should be fostering it and encouraging it because it will represent the best of science. And if someone comes out with a conclusion that can't be supported, someone else will have access to the data to be able to demonstrate that.
INSKEEP: Are there drawbacks to having all your information out there?
KRUMHOLZ: Well, first and foremost we have to be sure that patient privacy concerns are respected. I think the concern is that it will add noise to the environment. The people will be going back and forth and no one will know what the truth is. I personally believe that the contrary will be true - that as the data comes out, consensus will coalesce and many people will have seen the data.
INSKEEP: One other thing - if this proposal becomes standard practice, there may come that moment when you receive an email asking for the raw data from your research. Even though intellectually you're going to agree with giving up that data, are you going to have a moment in your heart of just feeling a little tight about it - a little tense about it?
KRUMHOLZ: Well, I've done that. We ran a $10 million NIH trial to look at telemonitoring in patients with heart failure. Within a year of publishing that study, we made that data available. We gave it back to NIH, and we told them they could share it. You know, I wouldn't be honest with you if I didn't say that was hard. And it felt, you know, a little like my baby was being released. I mean, I'd spent so much time on this thing. But we did. And I'm glad we did it. And by the way, many others are doing this. The NIH has a repository of trials. So we're not alone. Many are doing it. So it's not that it's not being done, it's just not being done very much. And this would change that.
INSKEEP: Doctor Harlan Krumholz at Yale University. Thanks very much.
KRUMHOLZ: Thank you so much.
INSKEEP: And you can read his post about data sharing on Shots, NPR's health blog.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne with one of the more unlikely stories of a concert pianist in the making.
At the keyboard is 18-year-old Elham Fanoos, playing for us in a practice room at Hunter College in Manhattan. He has the long, delicate fingers of a natural and, as it turns out, a gifted pianist. He sits perfectly erect, his dark eyes lowered. He seems at one with music and an instrument that are a long way from his home in Afghanistan.
ELHAM FANOOS: I was born in 1997. My father was a singer. At that time, under the Taliban, music were banned and my father was singing quite privately. And he was also practicing privately.
MONTAGNE: So you were born into a world where your father, a classical singer...
FANOOS: Yeah, Indian classical singer.
MONTAGNE: ...Indian classical singer had to hide what he did.
FANOOS: Yeah, and that was a really hard time, even though in Afghanistan everyone is not really safe, but especially musicians.
MONTAGNE: By the time Elham was 5, the Taliban had been driven out, and he was playing the small hand drum that's traditional in the region, the tabla.
FANOOS: I really loved tabla, but when I became older and older, my father encouraged me to choose an international instrument like piano.
MONTAGNE: But did you discover immediately that you loved it?
FANOOS: Yeah, of course. Yeah, because I was searching on YouTube and saw a lot of pianists and audiences - they were playing in front of audiences. I really fall in love with piano.
MONTAGNE: Was there one particular pianist?
FANOOS: Yeah, Horowitz - Vladimir Horowitz. But I didn't know that he was Horowitz. Now I know.
MONTAGNE: Specifically, Vladimir Horowitz playing this recording of Chopin. For a pianist like Horowitz performing at the highest level, starting at age 12, as Elham did, is almost unheard-of. As it happened, Elham's ambitions coincided with the opening of his country's only music academy. The Afghanistan National Institute of Music was the vision of musicologist Ahmad Sarmast. His father also was a musician at a time when Kabul had a rich music scene. Starting in the late 1940s, he was a performer, a composer and a conductor.
AHMAD SARMAST: I was always inspired by the story of my father. He was an orphan. And he grew up in an orphanage. And music made him a superstar of Afghanistan.
MONTAGNE: Which is why five years ago, when Ahmad Sarmast founded Afghanistan's only music academy, he decided half the students would come from orphanages or the streets - like one boy who had supported his family by selling hard-boiled eggs to passersby.
SARMAST: But now, this young man is a wonderful flute player. I've got a student who used to sell plastic bags on the streets of Kabul. But next year, he will be joining us as a junior faculty to teach piano. That's how music changed their life.
MONTAGNE: Coming in as a more privileged student, Elham Fanoos remembers the school's early days, when the academy could only afford a dilapidated building and not much else.
FANOOS: At that time, actually, there was one piano, 25 piano students and practicing, I think, like 10 minutes.
MONTAGNE: Ten minutes each?
FANOOS: So standing in line practicing like that. Yeah.
MONTAGNE: It's a scarce sight in Kabul - a piano.
FANOOS: Maybe I can say including our school, there will be 30 pianos or 35 in all of Afghanistan. That's why we don't have the pianists in Afghanistan.
MONTAGNE: Still, for the Taliban, those pianos were dangerous. As the school's reputation grew, so did the threats from militants. And in 2013, these young musicians got even more attention when the orchestra went to America. It performed at Carnegie Hall and also here at the Kennedy Center.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)
MONTAGNE: But the excitement of these performances was followed by horror just a year later. Back in Kabul, the music students were putting on a performance when a suicide bomber sat down in the audience a few seats away from founder Ahmad Sarmast. In that explosion, Sarmast was seriously wounded. Classes were suspended, and that meant that Elham had to go elsewhere to practice his piano. And he hit on an idea. Kabul's most luxurious hotel had a piano in a lobby that was seldom used. So Elham decided that's where he would play.
FANOOS: I tried to flood the hall with the sound of Chopin, and when I played the security guards came with very heavy weapons.
MONTAGNE: Yeah, and then they run into you and you're playing Chopin.
FANOOS: Yeah.
MONTAGNE: Flooding the room.
FANOOS: Yeah, but after a minute they became relaxed.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
MONTAGNE: Elham's impromptu performance led to a formal concert for the diplomatic community in Kabul. And soon after, he embarked on a mission to enroll in a music academy in America. The Carnegie Hall concert, and his performances on YouTube, had already put him on the radar of New Yorkers in the music world.
GEOFFREY BURLESON: I was pretty gobsmacked by the level of his playing.
MONTAGNE: That's Geoffrey Burleson, director of piano studies at Hunter College, now Elham's teacher there.
BURLESON: I was immediately taken by the level of maturity in his playing, which is not what you usually find with a young pianist. You usually find more of a purer speed-freak aspect with young pianists who are technically very gifted. And Elham does have a speed-freak aspect about his talent as well. But on top of that, his musical maturity and depth is really very, very strong.
How about the opening of the ballad just little through the first section of it?
FANOOS: Yeah (playing piano).
SARMAST: Elham represents the story of our school. And also Elham is a sign of the positive changes in Afghanistan that no one can turn the wheel of history backwards - neither the Taliban or anyone else.
FANOOS: I see myself as a concert pianist (laughter). Hopefully, I want the world to have more Afghan pianists so I can say that I am the first one so far. I want to show the new face of Afghanistan who really can do something for the world.
MONTAGNE: It is possible to say that Elham Fanoos will not be without a piano again. He has a full scholarship to Hunter College and a future in music, wherever that takes him.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to crime and punishment in this country and the trouble with eyewitness testimony. People who saw events with their own eyes are compelling but can also be wrong. So courts in New Jersey have tried something new. They have been educating juries on how to judge eyewitness testimony. As NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports, the effort may be having unintended consequences.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Back in 2012, New Jersey's state Supreme Court did something groundbreaking in an effort to minimize the risk of wrongful convictions. It said when a case involves an eyewitness, judges must give jurors a special set of instructions, basically a tutorial on what scientific research has learned about eyewitness testimony and what makes it more or less reliable.
DAVID YOKUM: And the hope with this was that jurors would then be able to - sort of be able to tell what eyewitness testimony was trustworthy, what sort wasn't, and at the end of the day, it would lead to better decisions, better court outcomes, better justice.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: That's David Yokum. He was doing research into decision-making at the University of Arizona and decided to test the effect of these new jury instructions using videos of mock trials that he showed to volunteers.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Please be seated. Court is now in session.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He and his colleagues made up a fictional trial, a robbery and murder at a convenient store. Actors played all the roles, including an eyewitness.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Mrs. Dun, is the person you saw rob the quick-stop convenience store in the room at this time?
MRS. DUN: Yes, he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Can you please point to this person?
DUN: Yes, that's him over there.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: They made two versions of this video. One had eyewitness testimony that would be considered strong, according to the New Jersey instructions. The other had eyewitness testimony that was weak.
YOKUM: Kind of imagine a best and a worst-case scenario, we deliberately designed the video that way.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Here's one example. Police frequently ask eyewitnesses to identify a suspect using a photo lineup. The New Jersey instructions say it's best if the photos are shown to the witness by a police officer who doesn't know which one is the suspect.
YOKUM: And the concern there is that if an officer knows who is in the photo lineup, they might accidentally give some sort of hint to the person about who it is.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: So in their video with the strong eyewitness testimony, the officer didn't know who was who. But in the video with the weaker testimony, he did. After watching one of these videos, the juror either did or did not hear the long New Jersey instructions. And then the juror had to decide, guilty?
YOKUM: We found that the instruction had an effect, so people that were read from the judge in the New Jersey instruction were much less likely to convict the defendant.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Yokum says that was true regardless of whether the eyewitness testimony was high quality or low quality. It's as if the instructions made the the jurors suspicious of all eyewitness testimony.
YOKUM: Whether this is, like, a good or a bad thing relative to not having the New Jersey instruction, I think it's kind of an open question.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Alan Zegas thinks it's a good thing. He's a criminal defense attorney who handled one of the cases that led to the New Jersey instructions.
ALAN ZEGAS: Our criminal justice system, our Constitution has at its foundation the notion that it is better to let a thousand guilty people go free than to convict an innocent person.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says look at all the people who've been identified by eyewitnesses and later exonerated through DNA testing.
ZEGAS: There should be skepticism of eyewitness testimony.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says it's impossible to know what the real-world effect of these instructions has been so far. After all, most cases involve various kinds of evidence. But for those rare cases that really hinge on eyewitness testimony, the New Jersey instructions could make a huge difference. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And now a short story about a tiny animal, the hedgehog. These spiky little guys are not shy of humans, which is why in England, they are threatened and why some people are trying to save them. NPR's Robert Smith visited this construction of a hedgehog highway outside of London.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: Even in this beautiful, well-kept English backyard, there are hedgehogs - you just rarely see them.
GARY SNYDER: Oh, many people don't realize they have hedgehogs coming through their garden.
SMITH: Because it's all happening while they're asleep.
SNYDER: Yeah, yeah, so they may come at 2 o'clock in the morning.
SMITH: And Gary Snyder (ph) might have missed his big hedgehog epiphany if he had just been a better sleeper.
SNYDER: We were in bed and we heard this funny grunting noise (imitating hedgehog). And we looked out our bedroom window and we saw - there were two hedgehogs, actually, in the backyard. And it was a courting process (imitating hedgehog) kind of noise.
SMITH: And when he went outside, Snyder realized the wonderful thing about hedgehogs - they aren't scared of humans. The noisy little things just rolled up into a ball, spikes out, and Snyder just picked them up.
SNYDER: And if you start stroking their spines gently, they'll actually open up in your hand.
SMITH: This lack of fear is part of the hedgehog problem. Home construction and industrial farms have driven the hedgehogs out of the countryside and into suburbia. They snuffle along roads where they get hit by cars and face other dangers created by humans. It goes back to those spines.
HUGH WARWICK: The hedgehog is an amazingly designed animal.
SMITH: This is ecologist Hugh Warwick. He says the spikes are great for protection against predators. But in suburbia, those spines pick up things like rubber bands that can cause infections. And they make it difficult when hedgehogs encounter trash like those McDonald's McFlurry cups - you know, the ones with the hedgehog-sized hole on top.
WARWICK: Because the spines on the hedgehog all point backwards and a hedgehog can push its way into the cup. It then tries to reverse out of the cup, and it can't because it's head's stuck inside it. So people have then found dead hedgehogs that have starved to death because they've been trapped inside these things.
SMITH: The British Hedgehog Preservation Society started a campaign against the cups, and McDonald's changed them. And now the society is focusing on an even bigger suburban obstacle - fences. When Gary Snyder found those amorous hedgehogs in his backyard, he realized that he was now on their regular commuting path and that his fence was trapping the poor things.
You want to show me your hedgehog superhighway?
SNYDER: Yeah, well, I'll show you. We've got - it doesn't look like anything to you, but to a hedgehog, it's fine. You can see it right there - you see the gap underneath the fence.
SMITH: No, I can't see it. Where is it?
SNYDER: If you look at the bottom of the fence, you see there's a gap there.
SMITH: Yeah, it's, like, two, three inches at the bottom of the fence.
SNYDER: Yeah, that's all we need to do, yes.
SMITH: So now a huffing, puffing hedgehog can trundle right through his yard into his neighbor's yard. And Snyder convinced those neighbors to continue the pathway. And so at night, it's like I-95 out there. Snyder set up a night vision camera to watch.
SNYDER: There's one there.
SMITH: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Look at him. Look at him. Look at him.
SNYDER: OK, there we go. There we go.
SMITH: Oh, he's just sort of scurrying along...
SNYDER: Yeah.
SMITH: ...Through the backyard.
Conservationists are encouraging all British homeowners to do the same thing - to leave a few-inch gap in their fences and garden walls - hedgehog streets and highways - and to do it quickly. Hedgehog numbers in Britain have gone down by a third in the last decade. Robert Smith, NPR News, Chipping Norton, England.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Almost everybody says they'd favor using more renewable energy. Experts quickly add that it's neither cheap nor quick to do that. But that has not deterred the city of San Diego. It has promised to use nothing but power from renewable sources - someday. Getting there may take decades, not to mention political battles. Here's Claire Trageser of member station KPBS.
CLAIRE TRAGESER, BYLINE: An industrial hum surrounds the parking lots of Kyocera, a San Diego solar panel manufacturer. But that's not what has caught the attention of an environmentalist Nicole Capretz. Instead, she stops to gaze at the structures overhead.
NICOLE CAPRETZ: They look like metal trees but with solar on top.
TRAGESER: These are solar trees which suspend solar panels over parking spaces. Their collected electricity runs into Kyocera's adjacent offices.
CAPRETZ: We don't necessarily have to go out into open space miles away and ship energy into San Diego. We can build it right here and use it right here. And that's where we want the future to be.
TRAGESER: Generating solar power is just one rung on a ladder San Diego will have to climb to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. Now is the time in stories like these where you might expect to hear from business groups opposing such an environmentally ambitious plan. But that isn't going to happen.
SEAN KARAFIN: A thriving business environment is one in which the quality of life is high so that we can attract the best and brightest talent from around the nation and around the world.
TRAGESER: Sean Karafin is with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. So everybody's on board now, but there could be trouble brewing on the horizon. The problem is whether to set up an alternative energy program that would put the city in charge of buying electricity instead of the power company. It's called community choice aggregation.
TY TOSDAL: Imagine if you only had a single option for wireless service.
TRAGESER: Ty Tosdal is an energy regulation lawyer.
TOSDAL: It wouldn't present any kind of competitive pressure on the companies to bring their prices down.
TRAGESER: Right now, there's only one place residents can get power - San Diego Gas and Electric. The utility has a lot of influence. It donates to and lobbies San Diego's elected officials and has a strong voice at the Chamber of Commerce. So as the city decides whether to implement community choice, political leaders could take sides. Tosdal says utility have sway in many cities across the country.
TOSDAL: If the city of San Diego started a community energy program, that would embolden other cities and communities who are inclined to start community energy programs.
TRAGESER: San Diego's power company wrote in a statement it will reach 50 percent renewable in 15 years. But that's only half the city's goal. Back in the solar tree-filled parking lot, environmentalist Nicole Capretz says community choice is the only way to go 100 percent renewable.
CAPRETZ: If we do break away from our utility, then we can install the solar locally in our parking lots and our rooftops.
TRAGESER: And that's a model that can scale nationally.
CAPRETZ: We want the mayors of New York, of Boston, of Chicago, of Phoenix, Ariz. to kind of look around and say, oh, well, I want to be in the lead here; I don't want to let San Diego take the mantle.
TRAGESER: Capretz is also hoping her city shows that taking control of its energy is the way to reach that goal. For NPR News, I'm Claire Trageser in San Diego.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
One of Europe's proudest achievements is the Schengen zone. Travel between its 26 member nations is passport and visa-free. But the surge of migrants in Europe has led six countries to impose temporary border controls. And in Amsterdam yesterday, the European Union decided to consider extending those controls for at least two years. Our next guest is a man with a particular perspective on the borders of the EU. Ben Homan is the mayor for the town where the agreement was forged and gave it its name Schengen. It's a tiny place where Luxembourg meets Germany and France. Good morning.
BEN HOMAN: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now the town has only 500 people approximately, and it was chosen for signing - the signing ceremony because of its symbolism, a meeting point of three nations. What has border-free travel meant for Schengen?
HOMAN: Well, for us, it's very important because in our daily life, we has got to travel this frontier every day. You see, we are a winemaking regions, and our winemakers, see, even have one yards on the German and on the French sides. So there have been a lot of contacts in the past between these three countries - France, Germany and Luxembourg. So we travel this border every day, and for us, it was helpful when these agreement came.
MONTAGNE: What do you think is your responsibility to migrants seeking entry?
HOMAN: I actually think the responsibility is a common one. You see, the problem is that, actually, we reacted too late. We - it took too long a time that we reacted, and we left the problems to some single nations. And we now should try to get a solution on the whole community of the Schengen Area to solve this problems because we can't leave those people on the sea. We must bring them to the country, and we must help those people, but I think it should be regulated. And actually, this coming in from the refugees is not more regulated, it's not controlled, and that's a big problem.
MONTAGNE: Well, being there and being the mayor of Schengen where this agreement all started, what is your prediction of what will happen to the Schengen Agreement?
HOMAN: I think that as the ministers put it - actually, in Amsterdam, they are going to have - they have given the order to the commission to close temporarily some borders of the Schengen Area. I think we will find the solution in temporarily closing some of our frontiers or let's controlling them.
MONTAGNE: What has the Schengen Agreement meant to the economies of those countries that are part of it? How important is it?
HOMAN: I think it's very important. If we are going to close this borders, the German Economic Board made the calculation where the cost would be about $10 billion that would come from closing the frontiers just for the country like Germany, which is one of this area. You see, we are working in the industry by just in time. We have no stocks on the industry. So goods travel through this area, and not only the goods, person also but very important part are the goods. So everybody in his daily life will be concerned if we close again these borders.
MONTAGNE: Ben Homan is mayor of Schengen, where the Schengen Agreement on free travel among its members was signed. Thank you very much for talking with us.
HOMAN: Yeah, thank you. You're welcome.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now the threat from ISIS is a big reason Europeans are talking of changing their border rules. We focus next on the surprisingly contentious subject of how to describe that threat. Defense Secretary Ash Carter of the United States has described ISIS as a cancer. NPR's David Welna reports that some critics see that as the wrong metaphor.
DAVID WELNA, BYLINE: Defense Secretary Carter has degrees in theoretical physics and medieval history. But when the subject's the Islamic State, or ISIL as he calls it, he talks like an oncologist. Here is Carter at Fort Campbell, Ky., earlier this month speaking to troops deploying to Iraq.
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SEC OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: ISIL's a cancer that's threatening to spread. Like all cancers, you can't cure the disease just by cutting out the tumor. You have to eliminate it wherever it has spread and stop it from coming back.
WELNA: Carter extended that cancer metaphor further last week at a news conference in Paris. He was talking about what should be the first objective in a campaign against the Islamic State.
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CARTER: To destroy the ISIL cancer's parent tumor in Iraq and Syria by collapsing its two power centers in Raqqa and Mosul.
WELNA: The next day at the French war college, Carter once again invoked the imagery of cancer while describing objective number two of the counter ISIS campaign.
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CARTER: To combat the emerging metastases of the ISIL tumor worldwide.
WELNA: Middle East expert Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma can see why Carter would use the figurative language of cancer to describe the fight against ISIS. But he finds the comparison simplistic.
JOSHUA LANDIS: It makes it seem like we're going to be able to apply our modern techniques of warfare in the same way that you would going into the hospital to fight some kind of skin cancer or something like that. It isn't going to be so easy.
WELNA: Landis says Sunni powers in the region, including Turkey, see the rise of the Sunni-led Islamic State more as a symptom of local Sunni resentment toward Shiite overlords. Their view, he says, is...
LANDIS: You have to destroy the bad Shiite government first, and then the inflammation, the side effects, the ISIS, will dissipate in a sense.
WELNA: U.S. officials insist it's ISIS that has to be dealt with first. Vice President Joe Biden spoke over the weekend.
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VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: We do know that it would be better if we could reach a political solution, but we are prepared. We are prepared if that's not possible to make, to have a military solution to this operation.
WELNA: But operations do go badly both in the hospital and on the battlefield. Philip Gordon was until last year the White House coordinator for the Middle East. Battling ISIS, he says, risks creating even more enemies.
PHILIP GORDON: Like with a tumor, you do have to deal with it, and sometimes you have to cut it out, but you have to do it carefully because it has consequences that can even kill the patient.
WELNA: And the metaphor for that could be the Iraqi city of Ramadi, recently wrested from ISIS' control but left largely a pile of rubble. David Welna, NPR News, Washington.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We've been talking with a man who may influence the 2016 election. Charles Koch organized wealthy donors who pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. Their money is expected to benefit mainly Republicans, though Koch says he is no fan of either party.
CHARLES KOCH: The Democrats are taking us down the road to serfdom at 100 miles an hour, and the Republicans are at 70 miles an hour. On many of these issues like corporate welfare, the Republicans are just about as bad as the Democrats.
INSKEEP: In that statement, you hear a lot about Charles Koch. The phrase the road to serfdom is drawn from a libertarian economist and philosopher. The disdain for both parties suggests how Charles Koch, his brother David, and their allies are a political force unto themselves. You find more clues to Charles Koch in his book published last fall. It's called "Good Profit." He lays out the business philosophy that has grown Koch Industries into a vast company, producing everything from petroleum products to paper. Koch also refers to his political philosophy, and our conversation showed how they are related. Koch recalled a time that environmental regulators examined a Koch subsidiary.
KOCH: A new regulation was passed to better control benzene emissions. And at one of our plants, the engineer responsible didn't know quite how to fill it out or was lazy or whatever, but he falsified the report.
INSKEEP: What makes this decades-old case stand out for Koch is what happened after. The government began a criminal prosecution. It accused multiple employees of setting up a system to cover up pollution. Koch fought back, insisting there was only one rogue employee and in the end admitted only to that one employee's acts. Koch says the experience made him leery of the justice system, so leery that he is now willing to hire convicted felons.
KOCH: Because it was a witch-hunt. It was a vendetta of some kind.
INSKEEP: You've had a number of battles over the years, your companies have, with the Environmental Protection Agency, for example. You do believe in following the rules, but did this cause you to want to change the rules, to alter the rules?
KOCH: No, I wouldn't say that, or you could say that in - to some extent. But our - what drives me on any position on policy is will it make people's lives better? And for example, on environmental regulations, it is definitely a role of the government to set standards on emissions based on sound science. But I think the way they go about it is counterproductive, that is telling you exactly how to meet the standards, stifling innovation, undermining competition and causing poverty.
INSKEEP: Charles Koch says his political ideas go back decades. He is called a libertarian, though that does not fully capture it. He's also a strong skeptic of human-caused climate change. And his distaste for both parties runs deep. He says there's only one big difference between them. Republicans more strongly support the right of people like Koch to spend money on politics.
If there's not much difference between the parties over time, what has caused you to direct your political energies toward defeating Democrats?
KOCH: Well, it's not so much defeating Democrats. It's trying to find candidates who will move us toward policies that will enable people to innovate and contribute. The single main issue is to have the foundations of a free society intact. We need a government that wants to protect and enforce the First Amendment, not to gut it as 54 senators voted to do a couple of years ago to change the First Amendment.
INSKEEP: Limit the amount of political spending.
KOCH: Well, not only that, but the Senate would determine what political speech is accepted. We already have a system where incumbents have a huge advantage. And if we have the Senate determining what political speech is allowed, guess who will always be re-elected?
INSKEEP: Although let's remember the broad trend has been completely in the other direction. Thanks to the Supreme Court and other factors, people like you who have money to spend on politics can spend it more and more freely than ever before to elect candidates that you want, to criticize people you don't like, to have people defeat it.
KOCH: No, I disagree. The trend is completely the other direction, that is as the government can spend more and more money to create this system of control and dependency, that's what we have. If you take all the corporate welfare, the exceptions and so on in the tax code, it adds up to over $5 trillion.
INSKEEP: But you were talking about political speech.
KOCH: Well, this - that - but...
INSKEEP: Political speech - if political speech is money, you can spend a lot more money in politics a lot more easily than just five or six years ago.
KOCH: But I'm saying what the government spends to get people to re-elect them dwarfs any money spent in a campaign. And besides that, those who are in power have the free microphone. We've got to count that. Just as we see with Donald Trump today because he has the publicity and stuff, he doesn't have to spend his own money, so you say, well, he's not spending as much money. He's at a disadvantage. No, he's at tremendous advantage.
INSKEEP: What does it say that a candidate like that, who's not particularly conservative, is getting so much support at least at the moment in the Republican primaries?
KOCH: Because they do not like the direction of the country, so somebody who they think has a better chance of changing it and everybody who runs say they want to change it, but who's got credibility? Just like with George Bush, we believed he would do certain things, and in many ways, he did the opposite. So longtime politicians don't have a lot of credibility and for good reason.
INSKEEP: Trump has also spent a lot of time denouncing people who spend a lot of money in politics, who buy politicians, as he puts it rather boldly, who are involved in business and also involved in politics. Do you take any of that however slightly as a criticism of you?
KOCH: No, I don't. I don't react to criticisms of me. I mean, if I did, I'd go nuts. And I knew when we got involved in the political realm in 2003 that we would have attacks. So I am not guided or driven by that. What I look at is whether I'm right or wrong, do I believe it will make people's lives better or worse, and that's where I favor a policy or politician or not.
INSKEEP: Charles G. Koch is the author of "Good Profit". Thanks for talking with us.
KOCH: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Brooklyn can be a tough place to find dings, so this eye-catching Airbnb listing looked promising. For $200, stay in Snowpocalypse's most desirable getaway. Dripping with alt-lifestyle aura, come experience this chic dome-style bungalow. It was, in fact, an igloo from fresh snow. Airbnb removed the post with a note to the hopeful landlords, asking them to please list a space with a, quote, "roof that doesn't melt." It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's talk about wind power next. More and more wind turbines are creating clean electricity for American homes and businesses. But as Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports, generating wind power is one thing; getting it from remote wind farms to our electrical outlets is another.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Out in western Kansas, big wind turbines, like this one near Spearville, produce lots of electricity, hundreds of jobs and a fair amount of income for farmers like Kermit Froetschner.
KERMIT FROETSCHNER: It's been a boon for this area for sure. School districts, counties - we like them. We'd like to see some more.
MORRIS: A lot of people would. After all, wind turbines don't foul the atmosphere and generate electricity for less money than plants burning fossil fuels. Federal tax credits and mandates to cut pollution can make wind even more attractive. But Michael Skelly, president of Clean Line Energy Partners, says there's a problem.
MICHAEL SKELLY: There's tremendous wind energy in western Kansas - just a phenomenal resource. You can produce wind energy at a very low cost in western Kansas. The issue is that there's not that many people that live out there.
MORRIS: Utilities have built lots of new lines to connect wind farms to regional grids. Skelly wants to go a step further. He started Clean Line to build long, very high-voltage transmission lines from windy states to more populous ones. The company's seeking approval for several projects, including one that Skelly says would carry enough Kansas wind power to energize almost a million-and-a-half homes back East. But none of Clean Line's project proposals have so far been approved, thanks largely to people like Jennifer Gatrel.
JENNIFER GATREL: So here's our rooster. His name is Popeye because he has one eye (laughter).
MORRIS: Gatrel and her family on a hilltop overlooking their 500 acres of pasture and woodlands in rural northwest Missouri. They raise cattle, horses and a few pigs. And they cherish this place.
GATREL: This land is our retirement plan. It's our vacation destination. It's our workplace. It's our school. It's absolutely everything to us.
MORRIS: So Gatrel reacted strongly when Clean Line proposed running a high-voltage line right through the place. The company would pay for the land it used and extra for each tower installed. The Gatrels could still farm in the space between poles. But Gatrel says it's not worth the intrusion, any health worries or the eyesore. She says most folks around here feel the same.
GATREL: Within the rural communities, we see this as an invasion. Many of our members are military veterans. And we are planning this out like a war.
MORRIS: We're not talking about an armed standoff here. But Gatrel helped organize a statewide campaign to stop the Missouri Public Service Commission from giving Clean Line powers of eminent domain for the project - to compel land owners to go along.
GATREL: Eminent domain for private gain is wrong, and it goes against what it means to be an American.
MORRIS: State commissioners agreed and narrowly rejected the plan - not enough in it for Missouri, they said. Rob Gramlich, with the American Wind Energy Association, argues that state commissions have outsized influence on these projects.
ROB GRAMLICH: You may have a transmission line touching or affecting five states. Four of them may say, this is great, and it reduces our rates, and it gives us access to cleaner energy and cleans up our air. But one state can say, no, you know what? I don't want it, so you can't build it.
MORRIS: But Clean Line may have found a workaround - a 10-year-old act of Congress that would give the U.S. Department of Energy jurisdiction over new interstate transmission line projects. It's pursuing DOE approval for a power line proposed to run across Arkansas but hasn't taken that step yet in Missouri, where the company plans to refile its application with the state Public Service Commission - sweetening the deal with promises of low-cost, carbon-neutral power and lots of jobs. Gatrel and her allies are gearing up for another round. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Just ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the Democratic candidates for president met in their last nationally televised forum before voting begins. This wasn't technically a debate, and they did not appear on stage at the same time. Still, voters did get to see them back-to-back on TV answering questions from a live audience. NPR's Tamara Keith was watching, and she joins us now. Good morning.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: OK, so this was hosted by CNN, and the audience, I gather, was filled with Iowa Democrats.
KEITH: That's right, and some of them were even undecided or at least they claimed to be. They asked questions of the candidates that at times really pushed on their soft spots and weaknesses. This race in the final week or so has really, on the Democratic side, come down to a fight between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's pragmatism and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' idealism, and that contrast was really on display last night.
MONTAGNE: Well, let's hear what they had to say, starting, if you will, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
KEITH: Yes, several of the questions that he got really got at asking how he would accomplish the things that he's proposing. The first question was about how he defines Democratic socialism. And he was asked about his Medicare for all health care proposal. In the process of some follow-ups from the host Chris Cuomo, Bernie Sanders was asked about how he would pay for it, and he said something that seems like it will inevitably show up in a negative ad either in the primary or most definitely in the general election if he gets the nomination. And we have this audio courtesy of CNN.
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BERNIE SANDERS: We will raise taxes. Yes, we will. But also let us be clear, Chris. We may raise taxes, but we are also going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and for businesses.
CHRIS CUOMO: All right, next question.
KEITH: And he insists that on net, people would save money. Sanders' overarching answer to all of these questions about whether his ideas are achievable is that establishment politics aren't working and that a political revolution is needed.
MONTAGNE: Well, one person who has said that his ideas aren't achievable politically is Hillary Clinton. What did she have to say?
KEITH: In the audience, she was really pressed by the people there, and they pushed her where it hurts. They asked her about Benghazi, about her private email server, her commitment to economic equality. And she really didn't break any new ground with her answers on Benghazi and emails. Then she got a question from a Bernie Sanders supporter who straight up asked her why young people are so excited about Sanders and why they don't trust her. Clinton insisted that there really are young people who do support her, but she also came off as maybe a little bit defensive on the trust question.
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HILLARY CLINTON: They throw all this stuff at me, and I'm still standing. But if you're new to politics, if it's the first time you've really paid attention, you go, oh, my gosh, look at all of this. And you have to say to yourself, why are they throwing all of that? Well, I'll tell you why, because I've been on the frontlines of change and progress since I was your age.
KEITH: And she kept coming back to this theme that you campaign in poetry but you govern in prose. She was cribbing that from President Obama, who described her that way in an interview, that - basically arguing that Clinton isn't a poetic campaigner at all but that she would be an effective president. And that's now her central argument. Forget the poetry. Focus on, she says, winning in November and governing effectively with a Republican Congress.
MONTAGNE: All right, well, there's lots more to come, but thanks for now, NPR's Tamara Keith.
KEITH: You're welcome.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is hard to overstate the ironies of this next story. It's a story about Planned Parenthood which became a huge political talking point. Undercover videos last year suggested Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue. Afterward, a Texas grand jury was set up to investigate Planned Parenthood. Now it has instead indicted the abortion opponents who made the videos. Here's NPR's Wade Goodwyn.
WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson issued a statement Monday clearing Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing after what she described as a, quote, "lengthy and thorough two-month-long investigation that involved both the Houston police and the Texas rangers." The Republican district attorney issued a statement that said in part (reading) we must go where the evidence leads us. I respect the grand jury's decision on this difficult case. The secret videotapes of Planned Parenthood's officials in Houston were made by abortion opponent David Daleiden's company, The Center for Medical Progress. Daleiden and his employee Sandra Merritt face one felony charge of tampering with a government record, which appears to relate to their alleged use of fake identification. Daleiden is also charged with attempting to purchase fetal tissue, a misdemeanor. In a statement Daleiden said, The Center for Medical Progress uses the same undercover techniques that investigative journalists have used for decades and follows all applicable laws. Texas Governor Greg Abbott who requested the Houston investigation issued a statement which said nothing about today's announcement impacts the state's ongoing investigation. The state of Texas will continue to protect life. Wade Goodwyn, NPR News, Dallas.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to the suburbs east of Los Angeles where thousands of students have arrived recently with one thing in mind, getting into a good American university. China already sends more college students to the U.S. than any other country, but in the San Gabriel Valley, which is known locally as China Valley because of its huge number of Chinese immigrants, it's now high school students studying for a prized university admission. Josie Huang from member station KPCC has more.
JOSIE HUANG, BYLINE: In the halls of Arroyo Pacific Academy, you hear Mandarin accents from all over - Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou. More than 70 percent of the students are from China.
AMBER ZANG: My name's Amber Zang (ph). I'm from the south part of China.
HUANG: Officials at this private school used to recruit in China to boost enrollment. Now they don't have to. In recent years, growing numbers of wealthy Chinese have decided that putting their kids in American high schools will help them get into good American colleges. Amber, who's 17 and the only child of doctors, says it's funny she's going to an American school only to hang out with a lot of other Chinese kids.
AMBER: Right now we just speak Chinese all the time. We should practice English more.
HUANG: They're called parachute kids because they're being dropped off to study in the states while living with relatives or host families. Most are at private schools because U.S. immigration law says international students can go to public schools for just one year and must reimburse the school district. Once here, these students are exposed to a very different kind of education.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: All right, we're going to start by shaking everything out. Shake out, stretch.
HUANG: At practice for a school play, Amber and the rest of the young cast warm-up with their drama coach.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Everybody say, hey, hey, hey.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Hey, hey, hey.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Hello.
AMBER: In China if we have class, for sure we are sitting down like on a chair - not a lot of time to have fun like this.
HUANG: That's because someone her age is supposed to focus on one thing and one thing only - Gaokao. That's China's National College Entrance Exam. It's given just once a year and takes nine hours to complete. Jesitso (ph), a senior at Arroyo Pacific, says when he was in China, he used to stay at school until 10 at night prepping for Gaokao.
JESITSO: If you do not very well in Gaokao, that means your life is done. Most people think that.
HUANG: Your life is done? That seems so extreme. But Yong Zhao gets why Chinese students think that. He's a professor at the University of Oregon who studies China's educational system. And he says where you go to school decides what jobs you get.
YOUNG ZHAO: There's Chinese employers that sometimes say, you know, those who are not graduates of top elite universities need not to apply.
HUANG: Coming to the U.S. does get Chinese students out of Gaokao, but they're still expected to aim for the best universities in the U.S.
DAVID HO: You've got Harvard, you've got Princeton and Yale as a big three. Some would be delighted at UCLA and USC.
HUANG: That's David Ho (ph). He runs a tutoring center in the San Gabriel Valley where Chinese students come for academic help after school. It's one of many tutoring businesses in the area.
HO: Within this two-block frame, there's probably 12.
HUANG: Educating a Chinese high schooler in the U.S. is not cheap. Add up tutoring sessions, staying with a host family and private school tuition and that's going to cost you upwards of $45,000 a year. But money's not a barrier for many families. What can be tough is separation between parents and children. Ariana Sun (ph) is studying at a public school and says she hates saying bye to her parents.
ARIANA SUN: I will feel very terrible for about two weeks or more than two weeks.
HUANG: Sociologists say loneliness can be a problem for parachute kids. Most focus on their studies but some act out. Amber Zang (ph) says some schoolmates ignore homework, preferring to play and spend their parents' money on luxury brands.
AMBER: Their shoes are really expensive - like, average is, like, $1,000 a pair of shoes.
HUANG: But she's the granddaughter of farmers and steelworkers and her doctor parents don't let her forget that.
AMBER: My parents, they were born poor and they work hard. So since I grow up, that they always tell me that you need to try hard.
HUANG: That doesn't mean she'll follow in her parent's footsteps. She wants to go to UCLA film school and make movies. For NPR News, I'm Josie Huang.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's hear now from one of the world's premier film events, the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It's a place from which we hear about movies we may get a chance to see later - independent films in particular. Critic Kenneth Turan gets to see those movies now. He's on the scene. Hi, Ken.
KENNETH TURAN, BYLINE: Hey, Steve. How are you doing?
INSKEEP: OK, so what's catching your eye?
TURAN: Well, what's catching my eye is what caught everyone's eye. It's a new film by Kenneth Lonergan. It's called "Manchester By The Sea." Lonergan was here more than ten years ago with "You Can Count On Me," a wonderful success. And his new film is also set in the American Northeast. It's in a town north of Boston. The hero is a man played by Casey Affleck who's kind of a misanthropic soul. He's really angry at the world. His older brother dies. He ends up having to be the guardian of the older brother's son. He really doesn't want to do this. He especially doesn't want to move back to Manchester-by-the-Sea where he has a really tragic past.
INSKEEP: And Casey Affleck has been in this area before, this sort of North Eastern thriller, and been very effective.
TURAN: Absolutely, and he's really the best he's ever been in this role. It's a film that really mixes heartbreak and humor. This is a film that feels so lifelike, people literally are already talking about Oscar nominations even though The Oscars are more than a year away.
INSKEEP: Wow, OK. So you're also watching at least one documentary. "Eagle Huntress" - what's that?
TURAN: Oh, gosh, I loved "Eagle Huntress." This is really a story - it sounds like it's made up but it's true. In Mongolia, there's a 2000-year-old tradition of men hunting with eagles - training eagles to hunt. And a 13-year-old girl, whose father and grandfather are eagle hunters, decides she wants to do it too. And it's beautiful - just beautiful out there.
INSKEEP: What's the landscape look like?
TURAN: Well, you see it all during the year. Part of it is barren, it's very snowy. You just see forever. It's really - the director said, it's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there.
INSKEEP: And it sounds like the star of this film, to some extent, is, well, the eagles.
TURAN: The eagles are amazing. They're huge. The young girl is really amazing. She and her family came to Park City and they're here and they're doing photo ops. This is really kind of a dizzying place sometimes.
INSKEEP: The photo ops with the eagles?
TURAN: They couldn't bring their own eagles because obviously you can't be transporting eagles, but the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma provided eagles.
INSKEEP: OK, so quite a show there. We've got teenagers, we've got birds and some other documentaries there, right? What are you watching?
TURAN: Yes, there are two documentaries I really like. They are both having to do with film, but film figures in them in an unusual way. The first one's called "Life, Animated." It's about a boy who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3, stopped speaking but returned to being able to speak by his addiction to Disney animated films. He really loved those films, and they brought him back. The other film with film in it is "The Lovers And The Despot." It's about North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il who turned out to have been a major film fan. He was distraught that his country's films were so bad. And being a despot, he kidnapped South Korea's top actress and South Korea's top director, who happened to be husband-and-wife. He brought them to North Korea, and he made them make films for him. And, you know, this is a documentary. This really happened. You hear the people talking. You hear recordings of Kim Jong-Il's voice talking about this. This is really quite a story.
INSKEEP: Really sounds like two pretty amazing stories there. I want to come back to that first one, Ken. You loving films as you do must have loved sitting there watching this documentary of a kid being brought back to his voice, anyway, by watching Disney animation.
TURAN: You are so right. I mean, it really was kind of amazing to see the power of film. It's something we forget so easily, but the power of film to do good really is strong in this film.
INSKEEP: Kenneth Turan reviews movies for MORNING EDITION and the Los Angeles Times. He's at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Ken, thanks.
TURAN: Thank you, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Take Your Daughter to Work Day is great. Calling it take your daughters and sons to work -even better. Francisco Rivera Ordonez went a step beyond. He is a Spanish bullfighter who took his daughter to work. He posted a photo showing him waving the red cape at a passing bull with one hand while holding his 5-month-old daughter in the other. He was criticized, but he says it's a step for gender equality. His father took him bullfighting the same way. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep with news of a change on the battlefield in Syria. The government has taken control of an opposition stronghold. President Bashar al-Assad's forces are making progress against U.S.-backed rebels, and they're doing it with help from Russia as well as Iran. NPR's Alison Meuse is tracking the story from Beirut. Hi, Alison.
ALISON MEUSE, BYLINE: Hello, Steve.
INSKEEP: What did the government capture?
MEUSE: The government captured, according to Syrian state, activist - a town called Sheikh Maskin. Opposition activists say that's in large part because Russia has intensified its airstrikes. A spokesman for the Western-backed rebel alliance says they've had over 200 airstrikes in the past day and a half.
INSKEEP: OK, so let's just underline this. There is ISIS in Syria. There are also these U.S.-backed rebels. This is one clear example, you're saying, where Russian firepower was directed at the U.S.-backed rebels and not at the extremist groups.
MEUSE: Yes. We can say that southern Syria is one of the main bastions for the Western-backed opposition, and one of the few ones at that. So they're certainly trying to shore up their ally - the Assad regime - ahead of peace talks.
INSKEEP: How big a loss is it for the rebels to have lost this city?
MEUSE: Well, Sheikh Maskin sits on the crossroads of two highways - one leading from Damascus to Jordan and another going east to west. So what activists say is that with the regime in control, they're one step closer to severing rebel supply lines across southern Syria.
INSKEEP: OK, so we mentioned the Russian help. We also mentioned Iran's help. How was Iran helping to take this strategically-important town?
MEUSE: Well, Hezbollah troops are involved in this fight, which is very far from their home in Lebanon. And so they've invested themselves really across the country in the same way that Russia has to support the Assad regime against the domestic rebellion.
INSKEEP: I guess we better remind people of the basics here. Iran is a strong supporter of Hezbollah, this Shiite militia in Lebanon that's very powerful there and has lent troops to the Syrian government, right?
MEUSE: Exactly. Hezbollah is the main Iranian proxy operating in Syria. And Iran itself has announced that it's lost some of its big generals on the battlefield in Syria. So both Iran, its proxy and Russia are throwing their weight behind Assad.
INSKEEP: So we have this victory for Assad's side just as the United Nations is getting around to hosting new peace talks, which, without getting into too many details, seem to be starting slowly. And they're anticipated to take many months, if they work at all. How have those peace talks, the anticipated peace talks affected the fighting on the ground?
MEUSE: Well, let's look back for a moment. Last year, it was the rebels that were advancing in southern Syria. They took over the last regime-held border crossing with Jordan and another key town. And what this battle shows is that Russian support has allowed the regime to start clawing back territory however incrementally. And it also comes as the regime makes advances against rebels in Latakia, all ahead of these planned talks.
INSKEEP: Oh, does this mean that the Syrian government is in a stronger position for whatever peace talks are coming?
MEUSE: We can say that. The regime has still lost a lot of the country, whether it's to rebels, to ISIS, to Kurds who've declared autonomous zones. But the fact that they're advancing against rebels shows that they are trying to shore themselves up. And just a moment to clarify about the peace talks - they're being labeled as proximity talks. The sides will be in two separate rooms, not face-to-face. And it remains unclear 'til now if the talks will even proceed.
INSKEEP: OK, Alison, thanks very much.
MEUSE: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Alison Meuse in Beirut.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Now to the source of a different kind of danger - the Ziko virus. It's spread by a mosquito that's found in the U.S. and every other country in the Western Hemisphere except Canada. That means we could face more cases of illness from the virus, which has been blamed for severe birth defects. NPR's Jason Beaubien is with us to talk about how Zika is expected to travel through the Americas. Good morning.
JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Would you tell us about the illness that comes from the Zika virus?
BEAUBIEN: The interesting thing is that in the past, this wasn't considered to be much of a threat. You weren't getting very many human cases and when people were getting sick, it was really quite benign. You're getting sort of a mild flu. But now you've got health authorities in Brazil saying that since May of last year, they've recorded roughly 1 million cases of this infection, which is a huge amount for Zika. And they've found what they believe are about 4,000 cases of severe brain damage - this thing called microcephaly in which the brain and the head don't fully develop. And so there's great concern that there's this link. That hasn't been completely proven, but people in some health authorities in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, have been encouraging women to hold off even getting pregnant because of the concern about what this virus could do. And there's also a concern that microcephaly - this very, very visible form of brain damage - might just be sort of the tip of the iceberg. There's the potential that there's other brain damage with less severe forms that we're just not seeing yet.
MONTAGNE: And what do we know about how it's spread?
BEAUBIEN: So it's a mosquito-borne virus. And people are getting bitten in one part of the world and then flying somewhere else. This is not the mosquitoes flapping their little wings and going from Brazil up to Mexico. This has got to do with our modern transportation infrastructure. And that is why it's spreading so rapidly throughout the hemisphere. People get on a plane in Brazil, they may not even have any symptoms, but they're capable of spreading it in another place where these mosquitoes are present and start an outbreak in a new place.
MONTAGNE: Well, then how does one reduce the risk - and especially, obviously, mothers-to-be?
BEAUBIEN: Yeah, there's no vaccine. There's no treatment. The only way to keep from getting this is to stop the mosquitoes from biting people - either to deal with the mosquito breeding areas, things like that, or to wear DEET and stay in places where there's air-conditioning and screens.
MONTAGNE: A little scary since we know how hard it is to keep from being bitten by mosquitoes, you know, when they're around. But what is the degree of risk then?
BEAUBIEN: So if you're a pregnant woman, there's a degree of risk. If you're going to be traveling to Central or South America or the Caribbean right now - and you have to understand that tour companies are very worried about the potential hit that this could be to them. We've got the Olympics coming up in Brazil. You know, are we going to see this happen in the United States? That is the big question. The mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting it are present in the United States. They also are capable of spreading dengue and chikungunya, however, we have not seen large outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya. So theoretically, we could get Zika spreading throughout parts of the southern United States where these mosquitoes are present. And that is the great concern - that it will get a foothold here, and we could have ongoing transmission here inside the United States.
MONTAGNE: But it hasn't yet.
BEAUBIEN: But it hasn't yet, and it might not.
MONTAGNE: Thank you very much.
BEAUBIEN: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR's Jason Beaubien.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Veterans who end up in prison still do have some rights, like getting the disability or pension benefits they earned in the military. Those benefits are supposed to be reduced while a vet is behind bars, but sometimes, the VA keeps paying the vet in prison the full amount by mistake, a mistake the vet pays for. Because after the vet is out of prison, the VA tries to get all that money back, something that can leave veterans and their families broke. Patricia Murphy from member station KUOW in Seattle reports.
PATRICIA MURPHY, BYLINE: Clay Hull has a stubborn sense of justice. After an IED blast in Iraq ended his time in the military, he fought the Army and the VA over the amount of compensation they awarded him for his injuries.
CLAY HULL: If I'm in the wrong, I'll admit it. But I'm not going to let somebody just push me around, especially the VA.
MURPHY: It was complicated and drawn out, but Hull now gets the maximum the VA pays for disability. The money goes towards his mortgage, support for his young son, and feed for the livestock on Hull's three acres in south central Washington, two and half hours from Seattle. Hull has a day job as a shipping clerk, then comes home to work on his place. These days after dark, he's fixing a fence that runs along his property line.
HULL: I get off work about 6:30, make it home about 7, 7:30, get the animals fed, 8:30, and then start building that fence, redoing all of it.
MURPHY: Four years after he moved in, Hull went to prison on a weapons charge. Hull notified the VA he was in prison. The VA was supposed to review Hull's disability payments to see if they should be reduced until he got out. But during Hull's entire 18 months in prison, the full VA payments kept coming. Jump ahead to February 2014. Hull was settling back into normal life when he got a letter from the VA. It wanted all the money back.
HULL: Thirty-eight grand, and they were wanting it lump sum payment. There was no negotiating with them. They would shut off all benefits until they were repaid.
MURPHY: Hull couldn't pay. While in prison, he'd spent the money on his mortgage and child support for his son. He says he'd done his part. He'd filed the right paperwork. And now the VA was threatening him. He was seething.
HULL: The stress that they caused, I'm sorry to have ever been a vet or serve this country.
MURPHY: Hull was angry and knew he needed help. He heard about a veteran's services event nearby, so he packed up his paperwork and headed over to find a lawyer.
LEO FLOR: I'm Leo Flor, and I'm a staff attorney at Northwest Justice Project.
MURPHY: Flor left the Project but still works with vets. He's a vet himself, eight years in the Army. The first thing he had to do in Clay Hull's case was deal with the threat to cut off his benefits.
FLOR: This is the money that they use to buy groceries. This is the money that they use to, you know, put gas in their cars.
MURPHY: He won that round, but keeping Hull's benefits going was only the beginning. Flor had to prove that the overpayment was the VA's mistake. He works with a lot of vets in this situation. In fact, in 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it overpaid 2,200 incarcerated veterans more than $24 million, money it then tried to get back. The VA puts the burden on the veteran. Vets are expected to file all the right paperwork and do it from behind bars.
FLOR: It's not a system that's designed to be used while you're incarcerated and have your ability to speak by phone limited, to have your ability to use the Internet gone.
MURPHY: When Clay Hull was in prison, he was obsessive about keeping track of his correspondence with the VA. In his letters, he told them he was in prison and explained why he needed the benefits to support his family. He made copies of every note he mailed them. He even kept receipts for money he withdrew to buy the stamps.
HULL: You always are afraid you're going to lose an important piece of paper. And you have duplicates of so many things, I've honestly probably gone through at least a case of printing paper just making copies.
MURPHY: All that paper meant Hull had a chance, and so he appealed. March 5, 2014, Flor, the lawyer, sent the VA all of Clay Hull's records. December 18, 2014, the VA sent Hull another notice of intent to collect the debt. It was as if the VA hadn't read anything he'd sent. December 23, 2014, Flor sent the entire package of records to the VA again. Eventually, Hull received a short letter in the mail.
HULL: June 4, 2015, that's when they sent it. It says, this is to inform you that your request for waiver of your compensation pension debt has been approved by the committee on waivers and compensation.
MURPHY: Finally, the $38,000 debt that Hull was sure would have cost him his home, erased. It had taken more than a year and a half. The VA knows this is an issue.
DAVE MCLENACHEN: Without a doubt, we need to do a better job of making sure that doesn't happen.
MURPHY: Dave McLenachen is the VA's acting deputy under secretary for disability assistance. He says the VA is swamped. It settled 3 million claims for benefits adjustments just last year.
MCLENACHEN: We should be working it quickly and doing the benefit adjustment to keep any data as small as possible. There's no disagreement here. But given the resources that are available to us, we make an effort to get them as quickly as possible.
MURPHY: But that still leaves many veterans like Hull on the hook to prove their case and win or forfeit their benefits to pay back the debt.
HULL: The ones in the back, you want to feed them?
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Yeah, (unintelligible).
MURPHY: Hull kept his home for him and his son, but he's still angry over what he views as a betrayal of a promise by the VA.
HULL: Yeah, I worked awful hard. You know, this place is paid for with blood money, my blood, trying to get a future for him, and these [expletive] at the VA were going to wipe that out in one fell swoop because they didn't open up my mail, didn't read it or just lost it or just didn't care and then thought they had an easy target.
MURPHY: Clay Hull still has one more battle to fight. This time, he's in court trying to overturn the weapons charge that landed him in prison in the first place. For NPR News, I'm Patricia Murphy in Seattle.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's talk about the world's largest fortification. It's a symbol of the world's oldest continuously existing civilization. We're talking about the Great Wall of China. Roughly one-third of its 12,000 miles are in ruins. Now saving the rest may be the world's greatest task of cultural preservation. NPR's Anthony Kuhn met some people who've taken up that challenge.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: We're walking up a new set of steps to the Great Wall. We've just walked through an ancient fortified village, which used to be a garrison for soldiers protecting the wall at an important pass.
The village is where the eastern end of the Great Wall runs into the sea. Qiao Guohua lives here. He's one of the wall's modern-day defenders. The local government gives him a uniform and about $150 a year to patrol a five-mile stretch of the wall. For nearly two millennia until the 1600s, this wall was the frontier, separating the agriculture-based civilization of China from nomadic peoples of the Eurasian Steppe, including the Mongols and the Manchus. Qiao Guohua says the wall is still a sort of internal dividing line. He points to the north.
QIAO GUOHUA: (Through interpreter) On that side is a Manchu autonomous county. On this site are ethnic Han people. Over there, they bury their dead. On this side, we cremate ours. The policies are different.
KUHN: Qiao looks out for and reports places where the wall is in danger of collapsing. He also keeps his eye on tourists who may want to take a piece of the wall home as a souvenir. He says he does this job simply because it's important.
QIAO GUOHUA: (Through interpreter) Every stretch of this wall was built with the blood and the sweat of the working people. After I tell folks how many people died building it, they begin to get in the habit of protecting the wall.
KUHN: Back in the village, Qiao says that when he was a child, the wall's towers and battlements made of brick more than 400 years ago were still in excellent condition. But during the 1970s, under Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution, officials encouraged people to dismantle the wall and use the bricks to build their own homes. Qiao points at a large stone built into the wall of one village home.
QIAO GUOHUA: (Through interpreter) You don't see these stones anywhere else. It's ancient. See that? That piece was taken from the wall.
KUHN: In another village not far away lives a man Xu Guohua. He grew up playing on the Great Wall. A few years ago, he discovered more than 200 large kilns, where bricks used to make the Great Wall were baked. Xu opened a museum full of Great Wall artifacts he's discovered. But he also found something else, a personal connection to the Great Wall. One summer not long ago, a stretch of the wall near his home collapsed. And in the rubble, Xu found a stone tablet, which he shows me.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking Chinese).
KUHN: They're using a cloth to wipe the stone tablet, wiping some of the dust off. We're trying to find the name of Mr. Xu's ancestor on this tablet.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Speaking Chinese).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: (Speaking Chinese).
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking Chinese).
KUHN: Found it. Xu says the tablet confirms what is written in his family's genealogy, that his ancestor was an official who helped build this section of the wall.
XU GUOHUA: (Through interpreter) After four centuries, we descendants are still connected to him. We are still watching over the Great Wall and protecting it.
KUHN: Up on the Great Wall above Xu's museum, I talked to Dong Yaohui, vice chairman of a civic group called the China Great Wall Society. He says the job of saving what remains of the wall is too big a task for China's government alone. His plan is to mobilize society and have companies and individuals sponsor sections of the wall.
DONG YAOHUI: (Through interpreter) See these bricks in the wall? Each one is very ordinary. But together in large numbers, they make a magnificent wall. Protecting the wall is the same idea. Each person or company we get to contribute to the effort is like a brick.
KUHN: Dong Yaohui already has pilot sponsorship programs up and running. The sponsorship money goes to pay local communities and governments to patrol and repair the wall. He's pressing China's national government to adopt his plan nationwide. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Qinhuangdao (ph).
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're now going to take a closer look at the Bundy's father, Cliven Bundy, a figure who looms over this occupation.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The older Bundy made news two years ago confronting authorities over his use of public land in Nevada. Here is NPR's Kirk Siegler.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Ever since federal agents stood down to Cliven Bundy almost two years ago, a vast and sensitive piece of federal public land in southern Nevada adjacent to the Grand Canyon has gone unmanaged and unpatrolled.
JAINA MOAN: We just passed the Bundy Ranch.
SIEGLER: Jaina Moan of the group Friends of Gold Butte, as this area is called, steers her Jeep up a bone-jarring, rutted-out, four-wheel-drive road. I'm with Moan and William Anderson, a former chairman of the local Moapa Band of Paiutes, who consider this desert sacred. Gold Butte is full of ancient artifacts, campsites and tons of petroglyphs.
DEVON ANDERSON: I mean, we're nomadic tribes. And the trek we would be would be through this area.
SIEGLER: Now, we're here on our own. We're not with the government and don't have a marked vehicle. If we did, it could get dicey. The last time there was any known federal presence here was last summer when scientists contracted out by the federal Bureau of Land Management were trying to gather field research.
MOAN: Unfortunately, that also was canceled after shots were fired at one of the contract crews.
SIEGLER: Gold Butte is basically lawless. Trash is dumped here and there. Some of the BLM's designated route markers are torn down. Illegal off-road tracks from ATVs lead into the desert. Some pioneer gravesites were even dug up and their bones scattered everywhere. If no one's patrolling it, who's going to deter the vandals?
(SOUNDBITE OF COW MOOING)
SIEGLER: Before long, we're stopping to let a small herd of mangy looking cows cross the road in front of us.
MOAN: There's only one rancher that has cows out here.
SIEGLER: Cliven Bundy.
ANDERSON: They're out here just roaming the area. And they are stepping on areas that are culturally sensitive to our people.
SIEGLER: Like desert grasses and plants that native people have gathered and used for generations. Court orders have banned grazing out here. But when the BLM arrived to round up Bundy's cows in April of 2014, they were met by armed self-styled militia who would mobilize from around the country on Bundy's behalf. The Nevada state director of the BLM, John Ruhs, says there are still imminent threats and intimidation tactics toward his employees around Gold Butte.
JOHN RUHS: When it comes to having employees on the ground doing things like monitoring or restoration work, it's just not getting done because of the safety concerns that we have for our employees.
SIEGLER: And elsewhere in the state where the BLM is still doing fieldwork? They're ordered to go in teams, never alone. It's a sad climate, Ruhs says. The BLM's mission is to manage public lands for all sorts of uses for everyone, not just cattle ranchers.
RUHS: You know, we don't do anything on our own as personal individuals. We do things that are mandated from Congress, and we follow the laws that are given to us, and we try to enforce them appropriately.
SIEGLER: Ruhs declined to discuss the government's case against Cliven Bundy, neither with the Department of Justice. Now, Nevada has a long and troubled history with these sorts of domestic insurgencies. In the 1990s, bombs were placed on U.S. Forest Service property and the BLM's state headquarters in Reno. As for Bundy, land managers in the late-1990s also planned to round up some of his cows that crossed into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Alan O'Neill was superintendent there at the time.
ALAN O'NEILL: And we're all set to go, and at the last minute, the U.S. Attorney's office told us to back off. And they were concerned of course with, they didn't want another Waco, and they wanted time to perhaps pursue this through the courts.
SIEGLER: Cliven Bundy and his supporters have told me in interviews that their fight is about a lot more than cows. It's been hard times economically in rural Nevada. And Bundy is one of the last ranchers in this corner of the state. Many were forced out or bought out over the years as Las Vegas expanded and federal environmental laws got tougher. Still, this take-back-the-land movement being pushed today is infuriating to people like William Anderson of the Moapa Band of Paiutes.
ANDERSON: Well to me, all I can say is, if they want to say that then, well, they can get in line. We're saying the same thing about our people, too.
SIEGLER: Back in Gold Butte, we're walking down a steep gravel slope to take a look at some petroglyphs hidden away in narrow red rock slot canyons. We discover one of these ancient carvings with two bullet holes pocked through it.
ANDERSON: It's really hard to, you know, to even believe that somebody would come in and try to go ahead and destroy it or remove it. It's something that's been here forever.
SIEGLER: Anderson says Gold Butte should be protected forever and managed by the tribes. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Las Vegas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Let's work through what is known and not yet known about the occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon. We know some militants left their stronghold last evening. We know they were stopped by police, and one was killed. Their leader, among others, is now in custody. We also know of police activity around the refuge where some militants remain this morning. John Selpulvado of Oregon Public Broadcasting has been covering this story all night and, in fact, for many weeks. He's on the line once again. And John, will you describe the situation where you are?
JOHN SELPULVADO, BYLINE: Well, right now there's actually - there's a bit of a wall. So right where I'm standing in front of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, there is mainly just press activity. We see satellite trucks setting up and trying to get a good signal. About a half hour ago, though, Steve, we saw two militants, the last two militant leaders, come out and basically say that they're not leaving. They told us that they were advised by the FBI that if they wanted to leave peacefully, now is the time to do it, and they made it very clear that they're not. And we've been following the live stream from inside the compound, and we're hearing a lot of people talk. When I say a lot, I mean the handful that are there talk about deaths and being willing to die. I should say some of these guys, they're a bit dramatic, so it's unclear how serious they are with regards to those statements.
INSKEEP: OK, you just said the last two militant leaders. Let's clarify that. First, we know that Ammon Bundy and some other leaders were arrested in this traffic stop. Second, how many total are still in that building?
SELPULVADO: I'm estimating somewhere between seven and 12, and that's based on the conversations I've had with Jason Patrick. He is, as of this point, the de facto leader. He was probably about six or seven down until this arrest earlier today in leadership ranks. But by virtue of him being the only person who is part of the planning of this, he has become the de facto leader, and he has become the public point person. He's the one who's talking to the press.
INSKEEP: OK, where, physically, are the law enforcement authorities if, in fact, they are warning people to get out of there?
SELPULVADO: So think of it this way. There are two pressure points to this refuge. There's 187,000 acres is the first thing, Steve. And the second part is there's really kind of two ways from the point where we're standing to get out. They've gone to the south of where we're at, and they've pinched it. It's a military-style blockade of the road. They made it very clear that it's closed. When I was driving up, they had me - they ordered me out of the car - out of my car by loudspeaker, and two very heavily armed men walked out to greet me and let me know that they did not want me there. So there's that, Steve.
And then on the other scene, on the other road up, it's basically there is no law enforcement presence. And so I don't know if you're familiar with the concept of the golden bridge, but that's kind of what this is. It seems like to me that they're offering a way out for these militants if they want to leave peacefully.
INSKEEP: OK, so that is happening. Now let's remember the events that led up to this dramatic moment, this traffic stop, as it's been described last night. What happened, John?
SELPULVADO: So based on what we've been able to tell by our sources and what's been released by law enforcement, the men who were driving with the leaders of this movement, including Ammon Bundy, the son of quiet Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and they were driving to a meeting. They have these meetings pretty regularly around the West. It wasn't just in Oregon, although this was the one they were going to tonight. They have them throughout the West, and they were basically to create political pressure to get political - some political capital for their movement. While they were on a very isolated stretch of road, there was some confrontation. It's unclear at that point whether they were tried to pull over, whether there was a blockade. We don't know. But what we do know according to the law enforcement is that there was some type of gunshot exchange and that one man died. I've been able to confirm LaVoy Finicum. He was a leader in this movement. He was on the Bundy ranch in 2014 in Nevada that some listeners may remember or the armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management, and he is somebody that everyone here is really looking towards as wanting to avenge his death. And when I say everybody, I mean the seven to 12 people who were left here. They've all been talking about him and remembering him and presenting him as somewhat of a...
INSKEEP: Right.
SELPULVADO: ...Martyr, if you will, for the cause.
INSKEEP: OK, John Selpulvado of Oregon Public Broadcasting, thanks very much. We'll be hearing from you again, I am sure. He is on the scene of the wildlife refuge in Oregon where some militants remain inside.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Donald Trump says he's out, not out of the presidential race but out of the final Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses. Here's NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: At a press conference in Marshalltown yesterday, Trump did what he does best. He brawled with Fox News, Ted Cruz and the traveling press corps. He berated a reporter for failing to read in full a quote of his, and he slashed at Ted Cruz, who is battling him for first place in Iowa.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: You have a guy like Ted Cruz who's nervous as can be. I looked at him the other day. He's a wreck. He's a nervous wreck. His polls are going down the tubes.
LIASSON: This was classic Trump, always unplugged. He explained his decision not to show up for Thursday night's Fox News debate, the result of a long-running feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who Trump claims has treated him unfairly. The spat goes back to the first debate in August when Kelly questioned Trump about some of the insulting statements he made about women. Trump demanded Kelly be dropped from the moderators panel, but Fox stood by her.
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TRUMP: They can't toy with me like they toy with everybody else.
LIASSON: Trump, who is leading in the polls nationally and in every early primary and caucus state, was particularly incensed by press releases Fox has sent out, taunting him as being afraid to be questioned by Kelly. One release said, quote, "we learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president."
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TRUMP: When they sent out the wise guy press releases a little while ago done by some PR person along with Roger Ailes, I said, bye bye.
LIASSON: Trump said he would hold his own event Thursday night to raise money for wounded warriors and veterans. He's betting that the ratings bonanza his candidacy has brought to cable television will evaporate in his absence.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Let's see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me, OK?
LIASSON: Trump has threatened to boycott debates in the past but has ended up participating. This time, Trump himself says his decision was, quote, "pretty close to irrevocable." Trump's rivals blasted him for ducking. Chris Christie said voters want a fighter who shows up. Jeb Bush asked if Trump couldn't handle tough questions from Megyn Kelly, how could he handle Hillary Clinton? And here's Ted Cruz on the Mark Levin radio show.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE MARK LEVIN SHOW")
TED CRUZ: If Donald is afraid of Megyn Kelly, I would like to invite him on your show to participate in a one-on-one debate between me and Donald, mano-a-mano (ph).
LIASSON: Yesterday, Trump also received two new endorsements, Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr. and immigration hardliner Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz. And at his rally in Marshalltown, Trump invited his supporters to imagine what it would be like when he was president.
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TRUMP: We're going to be properly led, and we're going to be so proud of our country. After a year, you're going to say, wow, that will happen, and it'll happen pretty quickly.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So I hope you can get out and caucus on February 1. And I love you all.
LIASSON: Previous debates haven't affected Trump's poll numbers one way or another, and it's not clear what a Trump-less (ph) debate might do to the Republican race. But simply by pulling out, Trump has once again dominated the news cycle and reminded everyone that this year's Republican primary is all about him. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Iowa.
INSKEEP: And Mara, of course, is also a contributor to Fox News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We are also tracking the story of a name. The name shows how the experience of Native Americans is woven into the wider American story. Amherst College in Massachusetts has a name loaded with history, which is causing the college to abandon its mascot. Here's New England Public Radio's Karen Brown.
KAREN BROWN, BYLINE: While the elite liberal arts college is named after the town of Amherst, the town is named after Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who, in 1763, called for giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. Students and faculty at the college have debated for years whether to stop using a mascot known as the Lord Jeff for sports teams and other business.
O'CONNELL: That mascot and that name has always been profoundly offensive.
BROWN: English professor Barry O'Connell took part in a unanimous faculty vote in November to abandon the mascot. And while he says the college has made significant progress recruiting students of color...
O'CONNELL: Symbols aren't just empty, but they actually mean something, especially when they're taken for granted.
BROWN: Removal of the mascot was a key demand in a three-day student sit-in for better diversity policies last fall. And a November poll found 83 percent of students wanted the mascot gone. This week, the college trustees publicly agreed. In a long letter to the campus community, Chairman Cullen Murphy wrote that the mascot is driving people apart, so the college will not use the Lord Jeff in any official communications. Sophomore Sydney Tate says it's about time.
SYDNEY TATE: I feel like the mascot itself and the name does more harm than good for this school. That's why I think it's important that we make this a more inclusive environment.
BROWN: Not everyone considers the mascot a pressing issue. Student Corry Wang says he's fine with the change, but...
CORRY WANG: Even before this happened, you really didn't see the, you know, mascot on campus anywhere except maybe in the context of student athletics.
BROWN: Some college alumni have come out against abandoning the Lord Jeff name, claiming the historical record on the general is complex and the mascot represents a long tradition. The college administration declined to comment, deferring to the trustee statement. A spokesperson did say the college has not yet decided how to come up with a new mascot. For NPR News, I'm Karen Brown in Amherst, Mass.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with help for Uber drivers. It's a way to distract a distracting passenger. Drivers in Charlotte are equipped with a kid's toy called Bop It. It's a test of reflexes. You're supposed to press buttons when the toy tells you. It's considered a great diversion, which keeps drunk passengers from bothering the driver. Now the driver just has the problem of having to listen to the game.
(SOUNDBITE OF GAME NOISES)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Bop it. Twist it. Shake it. Flick it.
INSKEEP: It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Two groups that monitor human rights around the world have put out two grim reports. Freedom House says one-third of the world's population lives in areas plagued by repression and rights abuses. One-third, that's billions of people. Human Rights Watch warns of the greatest threat to human rights in a generation because of the fear of terrorism and the fear of popular uprisings. NPR's Peter Kenyon is covering this story from Istanbul, which is where Human Rights Watch is releasing its report this morning. And Peter, why Istanbul?
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Well, they say Turkey represents both the major themes in this report. It's overwhelmed with Syrian migrants, and at the same time, it's cracking down on dissent. The report talks about the migrant flow to Europe, recent terrorist attacks that have European and U.S. governments on edge. We have been tracking this, of course. But when I spoke with Ken Roth, director of Human Rights Watch, he pointed to a second trend going on at the same time and that is authoritarian leaders harshly cracking down on both their political opponents and civil society groups that are trying to make governments more accountable. Here's how he put it.
KEN ROTH: A series of authoritarian governments are increasingly afraid of their societies. And in particular, they're afraid of the possibility of civic groups using social media to mobilize significant numbers in the streets to protest against misrule or corruption by the authoritarian leaders.
INSKEEP: Wow, so a chain of cause and effect here, there's more social media, more free communication. Authoritarian governments feel more threatened, so they crack down more. Is that it?
KENYON: Yeah, exactly. We've had years of chaos and conflict in Syria. Some may have forgotten that it all started as a popular uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Roth says other authoritarian leaders haven't forgotten that at all, and it's by no means limited to Mideast countries in the Arab Spring. There's the Ukraine revolution, the occupy movement in Hong Kong. And he says these social media-fueled uprisings really have grabbed attention in other capitals. Here's how he describes it.
ROTH: Each of these started by a group of NGOs, civic groups, but they were able to magnify their voices and really rally many to the streets by using social media. And that is a combination that autocrats are terrified of. So they have taken the offensive and have tried to shut down the ability of these groups to organize.
INSKEEP: OK, they have taken the offensive. Who's they? Who's doing this?
KENYON: Well, the way he puts it is just as the activists were learning from other uprisings that some of these authoritarian leaders are watching each other and learning new techniques, finding out what works, who's doing it, Russia and China, very familiar names, are high on the list. He says they've been cracking down on dissent even more now as their economies stumble. Anti-terror laws are popular, but so is prosecution of civil society groups or academics as is happening here in Turkey, for example. And then there's the more subtle approach, and that's money. India is cutting off NGO funding. Ethiopia has a rule. You can only have 10 percent foreign funding if you're an NGO. And in a country that poor, that basically cripples civil society there. So it's a lot of countries on the list - Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam. And I'm leaving a lot out. It's a long list.
INSKEEP: I think some people might even be surprised by some of those names. When we hear India, we think world's largest democracy, but this report looks into India and finds a restricted environment.
KENYON: That's exactly right. And he mentioned that it is surprising to see that name on that list, but that's what their evidence shows.
INSKEEP: Now the Freedom House report, the other report that you are seeing today, had this number of one-third of the world's population living in repression. This is - is this actually a spread of authoritarian government around the world is getting worse than it was?
KENYON: Yeah, they've been doing this survey for 10 years, and this is a big decline. They also cited nervous authoritarian rulers and the other factors we mentioned. They did point to a few rays of hope. Elections in Myanmar, Venezuela, Nigeria all rejected incumbents. And that at least suggests that elections might still hold out hope for change at least in some places.
INSKEEP: Peter, thanks as always.
KENYON: You're welcome, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Peter Kenyon. He is in Istanbul, one of two places where reports are being released today, reporting on human rights and human rights abuses around the world.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a familiar face is back on the campaign trail this week in Iowa, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He dropped out of the Republican presidential race last September. He's back on the stump, campaigning for fellow Texan Ted Cruz. NPR's Sarah McCammon caught up with both of them yesterday in Iowa.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: These days, Rick Perry has to settle for being a warm-up act. He introduced Ted Cruz at several campaign stops in Iowa, including a restaurant in Centerville.
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RICK PERRY: And I have come to know without a doubt that there is not an individual who is in this race today that's anymore prepared to be the commander in chief on day one as Ted Cruz.
MCCAMMON: The good feelings seemed to go both ways, with Cruz talking up Perry's record as the longest serving governor of Texas.
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TED CRUZ: It is a powerful thing to be friends with Rick Perry and to have him standing here as conservatives across the state of Iowa are uniting and coming together.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAMMON: At a town hall last night in Ottumwa, Perry told the crowd that Cruz reached out several times seeking his support. In the past, they've occasionally found themselves on opposite sides of political battles. But now, Perry says, after they spent a day together at his home in Texas, he found Cruz to be a good listener.
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PERRY: I can't tell you what a gift that is for a man to listen as you chuckled.
(LAUGHTER)
PERRY: You know some men that don't listen.
MCCAMMON: In an interview aboard Cruz's campaign bus, Perry said after he ended his own presidential bid in September, he wasn't sure whether he'd endorse someone else.
PERRY: Obviously, we're campaigning for Sen. Cruz rather than for ourselves, but I'm still campaigning for the same values.
MCCAMMON: And Perry's aware that voters are looking for a candidate more like Ted Cruz than himself this year. Several current and former governors with long records of experience have either dropped out of the Republican race or haven't gained much traction.
PERRY: The American people have taken a look at this, and, you know, experience is not what they're most interested in right now. What they're most interested in is someone who truly is a committed conservative and committed to devolving power out of Washington, D.C. And Ted Cruz is - I mean, he stands alone.
MCCAMMON: Perry says he questions whether Donald Trump is a true conservative. He will round out his swing through Iowa with Cruz at an anti-abortion rally in West Des Moines tonight. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Ottumwa, Iowa.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Sundance Film Festival in Utah started out as a venue for low-budget works by independent filmmakers looking for distribution. When major studios bought those films, the purchase price was usually modest. That's still true, but it is changing. And this week, the model was broken. Fox Searchlight paid an astounding $17.5 million for a biopic about Nat Turner, who led a legendary slave rebellion in the early 1800s in Virginia. The film is called "The Birth Of A Nation," directed, written, produced and starring Nate Parker. Justin Chang is the chief film critic for Variety, and he was at that premiere at Sundance. Good morning.
JUSTIN CHANG: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: So OK, this film comes at a time when controversy over a lack of diversity in the film industry is swirling through Hollywood. It sounds like this has become the most talked about film at the festival this year.
CHANG: It certainly has. I think it is very much a movie of the moment. It sort of crystallizes a lot of things, the lack of diversity in the ranks of the industry, which, you know, as we've seen with the Oscars' so-white controversy. And it's also, I think - you know, the title of the film is "The Birth Of A Nation," which is very consciously a reference and sort of a rebuke to D.W. Griffith's 1915 epic of the same title, which is, of course, still notorious for its racist imagery, its heroic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan. "The Birth Of A Nation," Nate Parker's film, is intended as a corrective to that. It is a story of American slavery told from the perspective of the African-American slaves who endured it.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, talking about - back to the money here in the 21st century, put that $17.5 million in perspective for us. How does it stack up against other films at the Sundance?
CHANG: So $17.5 million for "The Birth Of A Nation" is pretty huge, and I think it is a response and a reflection of the tremendous reception that the film received. People were on their feet. People don't always give the director and the cast and crew a standing ovation, but the response to this film was thunderous.
MONTAGNE: Well, you know, just from the perspective of a film critic, which you are, how good is this film? How would you rate it?
CHANG: I think it's very good indeed. I mean, it is no condescension at all to say that you wouldn't know that this was the work of a first-time filmmaker. Nate Parker, who's an actor who has incredible charisma and presence in films like "Beyond The Lights" and "Arbitrage," this is a passion project that he pursued for seven years. A lot of people are going to be really shaken and moved, as they should be, by the end of the film, which recreates the uprising and the retaliation against - 200 African-Americans were killed. Even though - even people who did not participate in the uprising, just that part of the movie, it almost becomes like a slavery era version of "Braveheart." But I think what's more impressive about the movie even is just how thoughtful it is. Nat Turner was a preacher. He was a man of God. And the movie is kind of tracing the slow and steady process of wrestling with his beliefs and his convictions and coming to the conclusion that he may have to commit murder in order to do this. And it's a really compelling arc that he undergoes in the film. It's not as great a film as "12 Years A Slave," but very few films are. So - but I think it's a pretty remarkable piece of work all the same.
MONTAGNE: Justin Chang is the chief film critic for Variety. He talked to us from Park City, Utah, at the Sundance Film Festival. Thanks very much.
CHANG: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And we have news now of a death. The actor who played Tessio in "The Godfather" and Sgt. Fish on TV, Abe Vigoda, was 94. There has been news before of his death back in 1982. His demise was reported in People magazine mistakenly. And since then it's been a sort of running joke with the actor often in on the laughs. Here's NPR's Andrew Limbong on Abe Vigoda, the man and the meme.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: There's an early Beastie Boys song that has this really goofy line.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "POSSE IN EFFECT")
BEASTIE BOYS: (Singing) Girl in a castle and one in the pagoda, you know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda.
LIMBONG: It doesn't really matter if Abe Vigoda really had good rhymes, but he had jokes. This is from his role as Fish, a New York City cop in the 1970s sitcom "Barney Miller."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BARNEY MILLER")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Good morning, Fish.
ABE VIGODA: (As Phil Fish) Good morning. Good morning, everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) What's wrong with your foot?
VIGODA: (As Phil Fish) I broke a shoelace.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Oh, didn't want to stop and fix it. You can't stoop over in this neighborhood.
LIMBONG: Abe Vigoda was a tall guy with hunched-over shoulders and droopy eyes, a distinctive character-actor. And for the last decades of his life, his biggest role was playing himself. He made appearances on late-night TV, both Letterman and Conan O'Brien. This is from a bit called Rejected Star Wars Characters.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN")
O'BRIEN: (As character) This next character was cut from the new Star Wars movie because whenever he was on camera, he brought the film to a dead halt. He's the only character who's older and wrinklier than the 900-year-old Yoda. Please welcome Abe Viyoda.
(APPLAUSE)
LIMBONG: And Abe Vigoda, dressed in a red grandpa sweater and Yoda-like alien ears, walks across the stage. He doesn't say anything, doesn't even do much. But you can hear the people flipping out. If you listen closely, you can hear somebody go...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (As character) Yeah, Abe.
LIMBONG: Yeah, Abe. There's a Facebook and a Twitter feed called Abe Vigoda facts, dedicated to how old Abe Vigoda is. There's a website called abevigoda.com, and for years, all it had was a picture of him and the line, Abe Vigoda is alive. Now it says, Abe Vigoda is dead. There is even a song called "Abe Vigoda Is Dead." It's morbid, but it's praise for a character who made a big impression as Sal Tessio, a mafia henchman in the first "Godfather" movie.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GODFATHER")
JAMES CAAN: (As Sonny Corleone) What the hell is this?
RICHARD CASTELLANO: (As Peter Clemenza) It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LIMBONG: By the way, this song, it's by a band called Abe Vigoda. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We are now awaiting the moment when two anti-abortion activists turn themselves in to Texas authorities.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A grand jury in Houston indicted the video makers on felony charges of tampering with a government record by using fake drivers' licenses to gain access to Planned Parenthood. The undercover videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue for profit were stunning and got a huge amount of press.
MONTAGNE: The grand jury was originally looking at charges against Planned Parenthood and surprised everyone when the jurors turned around and indicted the video makers. To better understand the twists and turns in this case, we've got Philip Hilder on the line. He's a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in Houston.
Good morning.
PHILIP HILDER: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: How unusual is this ruling?
HILDER: I think it's pretty unusual but it's not unprecedented.
MONTAGNE: Not unprecedented. Do you have any - well, let's go on to the indictment. The prosecutor in Houston, Devon Anderson, she's a Republican, and the party and some state officials are now complaining about this outcome. It certainly is a twist. Is there a chance the prosecutor will drop these charges or not bring charges?
HILDER: No, I do not think that is a possibility. I think the prosecutor has stated that they followed the evidence and that is what happened here. They went into, the grand jury, initially looking at Planned Parenthood but I think after the grand jury's investigation, they decided that there were no charges to be brought against Planned Parenthood and rather the two videographers should be charged with second-degree felonies involving tampering with the government record, that is, using a driver's license with the attempt to defraud another, and the second individual is also charged with procuring human organ fetal tissue for valuable consideration, or pay to for it. But I think it was a surprise, but, the grand juries, don't forget, are independent bodies. They followed the evidence and this is what their return was.
MONTAGNE: Well, how - you know, you've said felony, but how serious are these charges? Because, you know, a fake ID - I'm sorry to say - a lot of people have it.
HILDER: Yes. That is - though they are charged and though the penalties may be up to 20 years, the reality is if convicted, I would foresee that they would get probation, but there's a lot to go on in the justice system between now and in conviction.
MONTAGNE: Just briefly - how - grand jury deliberations are completely secret. The prosecutor said, we must go where the evidence leads us. What does this ruling say about the evidence?
HILDER: Well, I think the grand jury initially had their target, Planned Parenthood, but I think after reviewing the evidence, they were deeply troubled by it and that's why they turned the tables and indicted the videographers. I mean, it's a very unusual turn of events here.
MONTAGNE: Well, as you said, very unusual. Is there anything political - I can't say - know how to say that, but, in Texas going on here? Obviously, there were a lot of people behind getting not the videographers but Planned Parenthood.
HILDER: Well, I suppose the argument would've been made if Planned Parenthood was indicted that it was all political, but I do think that this turn of events shows that the grand jury in this instance was independent. They evaluated the evidence and this is what happened.
MONTAGNE: All right. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Hilder.
Philip Hilder, he's a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in Houston.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The land dispute is a question of who's in control, and, in a sense, that is also the question in Atlantic City. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie favors state control for city finances. Here's Joe Hernandez from member station WHYY.
JOE HERNANDEZ, BYLINE: Christie announced his support of the plan yesterday, saying it was in response to years of financial mismanagement in the resort town known for casino gambling. Atlantic City's Republican mayor Don Guardian, who previously opposed a state takeover, now says the plan is to partner with the state.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DON GUARDIAN: Basically you have these four options - do nothing, have the state take over, file bankruptcy or form a partnership. Not hard to figure out what you want to do and what's best for Atlantic City and the state of New Jersey.
HERNANDEZ: State lawmakers are still drafting the proposal. It's not clear what role city officials will play. The five-year program would allow the state to restructure debt, cancel collective bargaining agreements and sell off city assets. But after the announcement yesterday, residents and local leaders expressed anger at the possibility of a state takeover. Betty J. Lewis is president of the Atlantic City chapter of the NAACP.
BETTY J. LEWIS: We have a right to self governance. They do not have a right to come in here with a lousy track record of the state of New Jersey and tell us how to run our city.
HERNANDEZ: Government Christie promises to sign the bill as soon as it hits his desk. For NPR News, I'm Joe Hernandez in Atlantic City.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're also following the travels of the president of Iran. Hassan Rouhani wants to open up his country's economy. His big chance comes because of a nuclear deal that lifted economic sanctions. After visiting Italy and even meeting Pope Francis, Rouhani arrives today in France. European business leaders are happy to see him, as NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRENCH RADIO SHOW)
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: (Speaking French).
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: The French media are abuzz over the visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. When sanctions were lifted last week, the Iranian leader headed straight to Europe. In Italy, he signed a dozen business deals in the oil and gas sectors and for high-speed trains.
(SOUNDBITE OF FRENCH RADIO SHOW)
UNIDENTIFIED HOST: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: But can we really trust Iran, asks this French radio show host. There is a mix of excitement and apprehension as Iran's market of 80 million people with a large and educated middle-class opens up again.
(SOUNDBITE OF PHONE RINGING)
BEARDSLEY: Ardavan Amir-Aslani is a Franco-Iranian lawyer representing French companies returning to Iran. He says it won't be easy to penetrate a country that's been isolated for decades.
ARDAVAN AMIR-ASLANI: Going back to a country such as Iran, cut off from the world, is basically a very adventurous task. You lack a number of necessary partners in this regard. There are no international lawyers, no international investment banks, no international accountants. And corruption is also an issue because Iran is ranking at the bottom of the world corruption scale.
BEARDSLEY: Iran is expected to sign a deal in Paris to buy more than a hundred aircraft from European plane maker Airbus. Economist and Iran expert Thierry Coville says Iran's needs in infrastructure - water, roads, airports - are massive.
THIERRY COVILLE: With the sanctions, the Iranian government was deprived of the quarter of its government revenues. So they just stopped investing in infrastructure for them. They could not maintain the security of the airplanes. Half of the Iranian planes are just out of order. And those who are flying I think are very dangerous.
BEARDSLEY: Coville says European companies from cosmetics to cars are eager to get back into a country with a population long deprived of Western goods. He says Iran was once French carmaker Peugeot Citroen's largest market.
COVILLE: You know, it was the biggest market for French in the Middle East before the sanctions. French companies have a good image in Iran.
BEARDSLEY: Coville says banks are wary about returning to Iran after the U.S. Treasury fined French bank BNP Paribas $9 billion in 2014 for breaking U.S. sanctions. Though the major nuclear sanctions have been lifted, the U.S. has maintained some sanctions against Iran related to human rights and terrorism. Ironically, says lawyer Amir-Aslani, American companies are not part of the rush back to Iran.
AMIR-ASLANI: America played the lead role in removing the sanctions. And here they are - European companies - rushing towards Iran to sign up contracts and American companies being excluded. So they are watching the scramble for markets from the sidelines.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Amir-Aslani says Rouhani's visit to Paris will not be exclusively about business. Iran is a fundamental opponent of ISIS, and President Francois Hollande will surely look for help in fighting the terrorist group. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Rest assured of this - we do not know who will win the presidential primary contest in either party. But we do know that every candidate will be spending time and money trying to figure out the best way to appeal to you. Campaigns draw heavily on research into what works and what doesn't. That's the moneyball version of politics, if you will. And a couple of economists recently came up with a finding that might have some bearing on the kind of political mail you receive. We're joined by NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam, who has been looking into this. Hi, Shankar.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, what's the research into mail here?
VEDANTAM: Well, the research is looking into what kind of mail elicits donations from voters. So small donors of course are an important part of all campaigns. Ned Augenblick is an economist at the University of California at Berkeley. He and Jesse Cunha, a fellow economist, got a chance to run a real-world experiment. Now, the opportunity came about because of a most unusual reason. Here is Augenblick
NED AUGENBLICK: Jesse's dad, as it turns out, was running for a seat in Congress in Florida. And so he - you know, we kind of convinced him that if we would do a little help for him in terms of some, you know, analytics for the campaign that he would let us run some field experiments.
INSKEEP: OK, so what was the field experiment that this father was willing to put up with with his political fortunes on the line?
VEDANTAM: Well, here's the thing, Cunha's dad was a Democrat running against an incumbent Republican, Steve. And the district leaned conservative, so the odds of winning were very long. Giving money to a longshot campaign involves taking a risk, Steve. Why would you want to do that? There are two potential reasons. One, you might feel as a loyal Democrat that if other Democrats are supporting a candidate, you should do your part as well. So you want to play the role of a cooperator.
INSKEEP: Do your part, OK.
VEDANTAM: Exactly, but there's also a competitive reason. You may want to make sure that your candidate doesn't get outspent by the opposition.
INSKEEP: Ah, so is this the question - it's which one of these motivations is stronger?
VEDANTAM: Well, that's where the field experiment comes in. Augenblick and Cunha designed and sent out postcards to about 10,000 people in the district. One-third just got a request for money. One-third got a note that said fellow Democratic small donors were giving an average of $28. One-third got a note that said Republican small donors were giving an average of $28.
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
VEDANTAM: Now, telling Democrats that the other Democrats had given money did raise contributions, meaning the drive to cooperate does work. But the other technique involving competition did much better. Here's Augenblick.
AUGENBLICK: It turns out that that induced even more people to contribute. And furthermore, as opposed to contributing the amount that we specified, which like I said was about $30, they contributed about twice that amount. So there was a sense in which they didn't just want to match the contribution but actually to beat that contribution.
INSKEEP: Competitive rage is good for fundraising apparently.
VEDANTAM: It is good for fundraising. And that certainly is the implication for campaigns, Steve. But I think there's also an implication here for voters. Campaigns know that partisan divisions in the United States are strong. And one of the quickest and easiest ways to manipulate voters these days is to play up those divisions. So when you hear people badmouthing the other side or playing up the competitive aspect of a political race, you should ask yourself, is someone trying to manipulate me?
INSKEEP: I have another question in mind. Did the father win having gotten this assistance from his son and his friend?
VEDANTAM: He lost, Steve, but at least he helped the march of science.
INSKEEP: Shankar, thanks very much.
VEDANTAM: Thanks, Steve.
INSKEEP: He helps the march of science because he is NPR's social science correspondent and is also the host of a new podcast that explores the unseen patterns in human behavior. It's called Hidden Brain.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. Millennials - they just might be the most studied and analyzed generation ever. So much so McSweeney's magazine came up with a game - Millennial Think-Piece Bingo. So the next time you're reading a deep dive on 18 to 35-year-olds, play along with squares like hookup culture, entitlement complex, Netflix, self-branding, unpaid internships and a free space in the middle, quote, "they don't self-identify as millennials." It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
For women who are pregnant or hope to be, the news about the Zika virus can be terrifying. It's a mosquito-borne pathogen that's being blamed for a huge increase in Brazil of a rare birth defect called microcephaly. The World Health Organization said this week that it expects Zika to spread to every country in the Americas except Canada, and that's led four countries - Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and Colombia - to recommend that women delay their pregnancies. It's a strategy that is being criticized by some. Monica Roa is with Women's Link Worldwide, an organization devoted to the human rights of women and girls, and she joined us from Madrid.
Welcome to the program.
MONICA ROA: Thank you. Good morning.
MONTAGNE: How many women in Latin America and the Caribbean actually plan their pregnancies in a way that they could delay them?
ROA: More than 50 percent of pregnancies in Latin America are unplanned.
MONTAGNE: Are not planned.
ROA: Not planned, unplanned.
MONTAGNE: So that's a high enough number to wonder what the challenges are in telling women to delay their pregnancies.
ROA: Well, that's why we're saying that these recommendations are both naive and ineffective, not only because of these unplanned pregnancies but because also they fail to take into account the prevalence of rape and sexual violence in the region which also accounts for many of these not planned pregnancies.
MONTAGNE: Well, in countries where abortion and emergency contraception is illegal, what options do women have if they have been exposed to Zika and are worried? I mean, what - maybe you could give us an example of what somebody can do?
ROA: Well, that's why the debate should be on the table. In countries like Colombia, women have the option of using this emergency contraception or interrupting the pregnancy legally in the face of the Zika virus. However, most women, especially those in the most affected areas and also many of the public officials that are in charge of the health policies, do not have clarity over these laws. There is a lack of information and there is a lack of access to these kind of services. And that is for the countries where these reproductive health services are legal. In some other countries, like El Salvador, these kind of reproductive rights are illegal and the situation is worse for women.
MONTAGNE: In fact in El Salvador, women have been jailed, given rather long prison sentences, for miscarriages where they're accused of actually aborting their baby.
ROA: Well, this might lead to actually women getting more unsafe abortions and putting their health and life at risk.
MONTAGNE: Well, then what support - and all the governments are different obviously, but - could the governments in the region give to help women reduce their risk of becoming pregnant in the first place?
ROA: Well, first of all, these recommendations that the governments are giving must be accompanied by massive campaigns informing both men and women about the axis to end the use of contraceptives, which is something that is lacking throughout the region. And then women who are already pregnant should have the information of how to carry the pregnancy to term in the safest possible way - if that's their option - and also get all the information about the possibility of interrupting the pregnancy if that's something that the law allows in that country. In the countries where the law doesn't allow for it, I think the debate should be on the table and be disclosed in this context.
MONTAGNE: I guess from what you've just said though, it would be fair to say that we're going to be seeing more of these babies being born in the near future with the birth defects caused by the Zika virus.
ROA: I think so, and I think that the health system should be prepared to give all the attention that these babies and their families are going to need to treat the situation in the best possible way.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
ROA: My pleasure, thank you very much.
MONTAGNE: Monica Roa is with Women's Link Worldwide. She spoke to us from Madrid.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're also tracking a different sort of crisis in the state of Illinois. It has the dubious distinction of having the worst-funded pensions and lowest credit rating of any state. And a seven-month-long standoff between the Republican governor and Democratic legislature is not helping. There is no budget for the state of Illinois. And today the governor delivers his State of the State address. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: A year ago, Illinois' new governor, Bruce Rauner, told lawmakers it was a fresh beginning for the state and a new partnership because voters had made it clear they wanted a bipartisan government where people worked to solve problems and get things done.
(SOUNDBITE OF STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS)
BRUCE RAUNER: They don't want partisan bickering, political infighting or personal conflict to get in the way of serving the needs of the families of Illinois.
CORLEY: But from the beginning the relationship between the legislature and Rauner, one of a handful of GOP governors leading a Democratic state, was bitter. He's demanded changes he says will attract jobs like weaker unions. That's before he'll approve a tax hike Democrats want to use to help close a growing budget gap in the billions. Roosevelt University political scientist Paul Green says there's so much acrimony that it will be a big moment if the governor and the Democratic speaker of the house, Michael Madigan, even shake hands before the speech. And he says Rauner will have to talk about the budget stalemate.
PAUL GREEN: If he wants to be confrontational then he can, you know, do what he's been doing, attack the Democrats and especially Madigan. Number two, he could take the direction of, say, we have to get together and mean it. Or number three, it could just be a kind of, you know, I told you so.
CORLEY: The Chicago Sun-Times reports the governor will highlight a bipartisan pension plan along with education and criminal justice reforms. Social service providers whose funding is on hold say they'll want Rauner to pay more attention to the state's budget crisis. Speaking for a group called the Responsible Budget Coalition, Emily Miller says they don't know how the governor will describe the state of Illinois.
EMILY MILLER: But I can tell you that from where we are, Illinois is weak and getting weaker.
CORLEY: Some agencies have laid off workers or are closing because of the freeze in state funds. Thousands of university students are no longer getting state tuition grants. Miller says both Democrats and the governor must be willing to compromise.
MILLER: And I want him to say that he understands that if he continues down this road, he'll continue to dismantle the social service infrastructure of our state.
CORLEY: Like closing safe places for youth in dangerous neighborhoods. High school freshman Christian Washington attended a now-closed program for teenagers at a Chicago YMCA.
CHRISTIAN WASHINGTON: When I learned that the YMCA lost its teen funding, I felt so hurt. I was so worried about what was going to happen to my friends and me. Where would we go every day after school? These streets are so bad. And there are really no positive places for us to hang out and be safe, like at the Y.
CORLEY: In just a few weeks after the State of the State address, Governor Rauner is scheduled to deliver a new budget plan for Illinois. That's even though there's not a current plan in place. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Here's another note on next week's Iowa caucuses. One candidate who will not be there is Ohio Governor John Kasich. He plans to hold a town hall in New Hampshire that night. NPR's Asma Khalid reports on why Kasich is spending so much time in New Hampshire and whether it's paying off.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: John Kasich has held 80 town halls in New Hampshire this campaign season. That's more than any other candidate. He's spending so much time here, even he jokes about it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN KASICH: I just glad you don't have an income tax here because I might be qualified as a resident.
(LAUGHTER)
KHALID: Kasich's events are intimate. Imagine about a hundred people gathered in a tavern, some of them sitting on leather couches around a fireplace. He doesn't give long, prepared stump speeches. He talks to people and answers questions. Karen Grybko appreciates that.
KAREN GRYBKO: He's not loud. (Laughter). He doesn't scream. He doesn't put anybody down. You know, there's a lot of negativity in the campaigns, both the Democrats and the Republicans, and he only tells us why we should vote for him and not why we shouldn't vote for somebody else. And, you know, I guess I like that.
KHALID: Grybko is an independent but she says the last time she voted for a Republican presidential candidate was 1980 for Ronald Reagan. The people I met at Kasich town halls run the ideological gamut - lifelong Republicans, self-described independents and even traditional Democrats, like Linda Bimbo.
LINDA BIMBO: I really came in kind of undecided, but I love this guy.
KHALID: I asked her what exactly sold her.
BIMBO: I'll tell you, the one thing that made the biggest difference for me is, he talks about working both sides of the aisle and knowing that you have to have cooperation.
KHALID: Many voters who hear the Ohio governor in person describe him as being reasonable. Republican Tom Eifler says Kasich is competent, but he still has some reservations.
TOM EIFLER: I think he comes across as typically Midwestern likable. I don't think that he did a fabulous job on every single question.
KHALID: Don Grosso is also undecided. He says Kasich is his top choice for now, but he wants to see how he does in the polls in the next couple of weeks.
DON GROSSO: I want a winner. I want somebody who's going to be whoever the Democratic nominee is.
KHALID: And Grosso says he's not a hundred percent sure Kasich can. In recent weeks, it seems like Kasich has been experiencing a bit of a micro surge in the New Hampshire polls and he has the endorsement of some high-profile local newspapers including The Boston Globe. But Andy Smith, with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, is skeptical of calling it a bump. He points out that essentially every poll since July has shown Donald Trump clearly leading the pack.
ANDY SMITH: You've got Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Chris Christie and John Kasich all essentially clumped together in a second-place position.
KHALID: So here's the big question. Even if Kasich finishes in a respectable second-place in New Hampshire, what's next for his campaign? Again Andy Smith.
SMITH: I think what you'll see is one of those four more mainstream Republicans - Christie, Kasich, Bush or Rubio - finish better than the others and try to convince the other candidates through the press and through pressure within the party to drop out and to solidify their support behind them. Then fortunately, they're all doing the same thing.
KHALID: So Kasich is trying to give himself a bit of an edge by blanketing the state, and yesterday he was the only candidate in town so essentially he had the voters and the local media to himself. Asma Khalid, NPR News, Concord, N.H.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We are tracking the occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge. Last night, some of the militants drove out of their stronghold and were stopped by police. One militant was killed. Others have been arrested. The situation is continuing to develop throughout this morning, and we're going to stick with it. John Sepulvado of Oregon Public Broadcasting has been covering the story all might. He's with us once again.
John, good morning.
JOHN SEPULVADO, BYLINE: Good morning Steve.
INSKEEP: So what has been happening in the last hour or so since we last spoke?
SEPULVADO: Well, in the last hour, the FBI has closed off all the roads to the (unintelligible) here at national wildlife refuge. So what this means is that there are a handful of militants and a handful of media who are occupying roughly the same space. We are safe, I want to make that very clear. There's been no threat or anything like that to us. But we're told that if we want to leave, there's going to be quite a bit of a process. And I have said that I have - I do know that when I've tried to drive out before, you're greeted with armed guards, floodlights, you have to come in with your hands up. So we're going to sit tight for a little bit and see what happens. The militants have made it very clear that they will not be leaving. They took a vote I just learned, five to six of them, and they said they will not go.
INSKEEP: They said they will not go, and in fact they have been communicating not just directly to reporters but also through live-stream video, and we have a clip from that video. Let's listen to one of the occupiers who I believe is holding a gun.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
DAVID FRY: They just straight up murdered LaVoy. Are you serious? They straight up murdered him. Of course I'm going to show my gun. You're going to come here? You're going to try to take me out? I've got a gun. So any feds, anybody listening - you're going to kill me. You're going to have to kill me just like you killed LaVoy and all those other guys or whatever you want to shoot at.
INSKEEP: OK. When he says killed LaVoy, that's referring to the traffic stop at which one of the militants was killed last night. We're going to talk about that in just a moment, but first, John, you've been watching some of that video. What do you see when they're saying things like that?
SEPULVADO: So when the rest of the country is hearing that, they're hearing somebody who sounds very threatening. When I hear that, I hear a very broken young man. I know that man. His name's David Fry. He's 27 years old. He drove in from Ohio. He left the home he lives with his parents. His parents were on vacation. This is a young man who has made remarks that indicate to me, who's not a psychologist, but, just a regular guy who has some instability. And this much I will say - he was very - best I can tell, he was very good friends with LaVoy Finicum. That man you heard, David Fry, he made a video of himself taping himself using government computers. He expressed sympathies for ISIS and al-Qaida. And LaVoy Finicum is the person who kept him at the ranch who said he knew that David Fry was not a bad guy, that he just made some misguided comments. So David Fry is very connected to LaVoy Finicum. We know that they knew each other. And it's very hard to tell if that's the kind of language coming from somebody who's very hurt or from somebody who's very serious. Either way, we are taking it very seriously. He does, after all, have a gun.
INSKEEP: And law enforcement officials are in the area but not right on top of the scene. Now, LaVoy Finicum was one of the individuals along with Bundy and the others who got into a car last night. Will you describe very briefly what happened?
SEPULVADO: Sure. Best that we can tell from the reports from law enforcement, these men were driving in a very kind of remote stretch of Oregon, a high desert highway here, and there was some type of stop and there was some kind of altercation. LaVoy Finicum, who's made it very clear that he had no plans to go to prison was killed, apparently, I've been able to confirm, and of course the militants say that it's murder, as you just heard. So there's a lot of emotions running high here at this refuge because LaVoy Finicum's death.
INSKEEP: OK. And Ammon Bundy was taken into custody along with his brother. That's John Sepulvado of Oregon Public Broadcasting.
John, thanks as always.
SEPULVADO: Thank you Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Florida's annual citrus harvest is underway. Many of the oranges will be picked by guest workers. So we're reporting on just what a guest worker is. The definition matters because it's a part of our national immigration debate. Some of the presidential candidates want American businesses to lean more heavily on talented guest workers, people brought here to work specific jobs. The number of guest workers is already growing, and this story reveals why the practice is controversial. NPR's Dan Charles reports.
DAN CHARLES, BYLINE: The way Justin Sorrells tells the story, there was a moment 17 years ago that changed the way America gets its orange juice.
JUSTIN SORRELLS: We were harvesting one of our family groves with a harvesting crew.
CHARLES: Sorrells is telling me this story while the citrus harvest goes on all around us. There are men on ladders half-hidden by tree branches, gathering fruit into heavy sacks hanging from their shoulders.
SORRELLS: And directly across the street, there was another grove owner that was having trouble getting labor. So he walked across the street and went to our harvest crew and offered them a nickel more a box to walk across the street and pick his oranges instead of picking ours, and the crew decided to do that. And that was the day my father said, this is it. We've got to have more reliability in our labor force.
CHARLES: Sorrells says his father could've offered those workers a little more money, but that would've led to never-ending negotiations with every work crew. So he found an alternative, a way to bring in seasonal farm workers from other countries like Mexico using a category of visa called H-2A. The H-2A program does cost some extra money. Employers have to provide free housing for workers and transportation. They also have to pay a wage that the federal government considers fair. But the good thing if you're an employer is that H-2A workers are only allowed to work for you.
SORRELLS: And we have been 100 percent H-2A labor since that day. We were the first company in the state of Florida to utilize H-2A labor in citrus.
CHARLES: The first of many, though, foreign guest workers now pick most of Florida's oranges and grapefruit. And they're expanding into other crops, too. About 140,000 farm jobs nationwide were filled by H-2A workers last year, almost double the number four years ago. All around the citrus-growing areas of South Florida, you now see old converted school buses on the roads. These are company buses carrying H-2A workers. And in the evening, some of those buses roll into a truck stop on a two-lane country road south of the town of LaBelle. The young men scramble out, trot into the store, line up at the taco counter. This is where I met Esteban Gonzalez from the Mexican state of Veracruz. I spoke to him through a translator.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: They don't have a lot of work over in his area, Veracruz. So that's the reason they're here.
CHARLES: Here, he's earning $10.70 an hour and more if he works fast. Gonzalez has been doing this every year for the past eight years. He lives in a housing compound behind this truck stop in one of 30 identical yellow houses. In the back of the house, there's a room where 10 workers sleep. A couple of mattresses are lying on the floor. In the front, there's a kitchen, but the gas stove doesn't work, and the refrigerator barely does.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: They got to finish that milk today. If not, it's going to go bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: (Laughter).
CHARLES: The buses take them to the citrus groves in the morning and back here again in the evening with a stop on the way for some food. It's an austere life, but Gonzalez says he's really only here to work. In fact, his main complaint is there's not enough work. There's a disease called citrus greening, which has cut into Florida's harvest.
ESTEBAN GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) Last year and this one, they've been very difficult.
CHARLES: Today, for instance, they were assigned to pick one section of a grove, and it only took three hours, so he only earned about $30. That's happened a lot, he says, and he does feel a little trapped. This is one of the biggest criticisms of the guest worker program, that these workers are not free to look around for other work. They can choose not to come back next year, but this year, they're stuck with the employer who brought them here. And Philip Martin, an economist at the University of California, Davis, says that freedom to find a better deal has been really important for regular farm workers who are here permanently.
PHILIP MARTIN: The biggest thing that has helped farm workers has not been unions, maybe labor laws somewhat, but it's been cell phones because they can call each other and say, this guy's paying a little more per bin than over there, and workers can move.
CHARLES: Martin thinks the number of H-2A workers will keep growing. He thinks it's already about 10 percent of the agricultural workforce, and it could reach 20 percent, even though employers are required to hire so-called domestic workers first. So increasingly, the country's food will be harvested by these two groups, foreign and domestic workers working side-by-side but living very different lives. Now many of the domestic workers also came here from other countries. It's estimated that about half of them are in the U.S. illegally. And it's actually hard to say who's better off, the H-2A worker or the undocumented domestic worker.
JAIME: (Through interpreter) Yes, my name is Jaime. I am an agricultural worker. I picked citrus for over 15 years.
CHARLES: He switched to other crops this year, though, partly because of the impact of citrus greening.
JAIME: (Speaking Spanish).
CHARLES: "I get to decide how much I'll work," he says, "where I'll work. And I have a life here. I'm here with my family." He pulls out his smartphone and plays me a recording of his daughter practicing for a presentation at school. This daughter was born here. She's a citizen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: My ultimate goal is to become a pediatrician. I like helping people out whether it's dedicating my free hours to help out in the community, at my church and helping to tutor younger students after school.
CHARLES: But another aspect of his life is fear, enough fear that he did not want me to use his last name. He and a couple of his other children are not here legally. On the H-2A side of this divide, Esteban Gonzalez from Veracruz says he'd rather be here legally.
GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) Just to have the papers, it's better to be legal.
CHARLES: He pulls out his passport. There is a visa, proof that he belongs here. Gonzalez has a family, too. That family is a big reason why he is here.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: He's got one of his kids in the university, and the other one's going to school. And he at least makes the payment for next semester for his daughter or for his son in the university. At least he's providing for them.
CHARLES: I asked each of these workers, which of you has the better life? And each one said, I think I do. But each one also said what he'd really like is to be here legally and also have the freedom to choose his own job. Dan Charles, NPR News.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Yesterday we talked about veterans serving time in prison who are still entitled to some of the benefits they earned while in the military. In fact, not all veterans doing time claim what's owed to them. Paperwork is one obstacle. And this morning, we meet two people who are trying to help - also, inmates at a prison here in California. Krista Almanzan of member station KAZU in Monterey has their story.
KRISTA ALMANZAN, BYLINE: Jerry Lytle never collected the benefits he earned from service in the Army, and once behind bars, he didn't realize he still could.
JERRY LYTLE: In 2004, I met up with another veteran who was getting benefits and he said, you know, you should get your benefits. You're entitled to them.
ALMANZAN: He's serving 32 to life for murder. Even so, he's still entitled to VA disability benefits because he suffers from PTSD and his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. But he's not eligible for what he would have gotten on the outside. At most, Lytle can get just over $100 a month. If he wasn't incarcerated, his monthly payment would be more than $1,000. Still, when he filed for disability, he says he got the runaround.
LYTLE: I think because I was in prison, I couldn't deal directly with them. I was dealing with them through the mail, the only process I had. I really believed that they were just trying to discourage me to give up.
ALMANZAN: He didn't give up, but it wasn't persistence that finally worked, it was a transfer to this prison - the Soledad Correctional Training Facility in California's Salinas Valley, which is home to a unique, inmate-run program.
ED MUNIS: Veterans' office inmate Munis.
ALMANZAN: Inmate Ed Munis helps runs this veterans' service office. Here, incarcerated vets can get help filing and fighting for VA benefits, including disability, education and burial benefits for those who die in prison. Munis gets up to show me the office. It's a large cinderblock room with windows looking out on the prison's main corridor. A black POW/MIA flag hangs on the back wall next to filing cabinets and a bookcase filled with thick federal codebooks. Munis says that this all started because of fellow Vietnam veteran Michael Doc Pieper. He's the other inmate who runs this office.
MUNIS: I got here in 2003 and right away he found out a little bit about my background and pestered me for a couple of years 'til we got going.
ALMANZAN: It's a complicated background, to say the least. Munis is a serving 25 to life for his wife's murder. But before that, he was a lobbyist in Sacramento, working on veterans' issues. With the warden's approval, they started this office about 10 years ago. Now they're not only helping veterans in this prison, they are also working with some incarcerated vets by mail at every prison in California and in 23 other states where word of their work has spread in newsletters. Munis says most vets didn't know they could still get benefits.
MUNIS: There's an awful lot of people that are in the VA, as well as general public, that are not too excited about helping out convicted felons - people that are incarcerated. So that's been a struggle. So far, we've prevailed.
ALMANZAN: On the two computers in their office, they've kept detailed records of their work. Their numbers show over the past decade they've help about 1,000 incarcerated veterans get more than $15 million in benefits for themselves and their dependents. Still, it's a tough job to do from prison. The computers don't have Internet access, and their printer is locked in a cage so staff can review what they print. So they rely on help from the outside.
GEORGE DIXON: Hello.
ALMANZAN: Hi, George.
ALMANZAN: That's George Dixon. He's a Monterey County veterans' service officer, and essentially does on the outside what those guys do on the inside. His office helps the prison office by reviewing the inmates' claims and submitting them to the VA.
DIXON: And plus, we can access and check status on appeals and help them with appeals on the outside.
ALMANZAN: That's the big thing they can't do.
DIXON: They cannot do it.
ALMANZAN: He says his job is not to judge these veterans for their crimes, but to help them get what they earned.
DIXON: When you look at some of the discharges - combat experience, Vietnam, Gulf War, Persian Gulf, Granada, Panama - and those are the individuals that are in there.
ALMANZAN: It's why his office is working to develop a similar program at the neighboring Salinas Valley state prison. There, they've trained 7 inmates to help veterans start the VA paperwork. Inmate Ed Munis hopes to reach more veterans in a different way.
MUNIS: I plan on paroling here. I plan on continuing to do this. They'd better tag it on my toe and bury me.
ALMANZAN: His first chance at parole comes up in a couple of years. If he gets out, he says he'd work to expand this program in prisons up and down the state. For NPR News, I'm Krista Almanzan
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's hear now about a strongman in Russia. No, not the one we hear from so often, but the strongman of Chechnya. That's the tiny republic that fought and lost two brutal wars of independence with Russia. It's still a violent place, as NPR's Corey Flintoff reports.
COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: Ramzan Kadyrov likes to portray himself as an action hero from the rugged Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia. The 39-year-old leader of Chechnya appears to have nearly unlimited power in the republic, as shown in this rally in support of him and Putin last week in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Tens of thousands of people turned out for the event, though some of them told reporters that they'd been ordered to attend.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Ramzan, Ramzan, Ramzan.
FLINTOFF: Kadyrov wasn't there, one of his closest allies, Adam Delimkhanov, whipped up the crowd with a denunciation of President Putin's opposition.
ADAM DELIMKHANOV: (Speaking foreign language).
FLINTOFF: "We know our enemies and the traitors of this country," he said. "We have the lists of them in our pockets. Wherever they are, they'll answer according to the law and not by the law." Delimkhanov didn't name names, but people in the crowd were provided with posters that included caricatures of some prominent Russian human rights campaigners. Kadyrov had even stronger words against so-called traitors in a recent interview.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEADER RAMZAN KADYROV: (Through interpreter) They are the enemies of our state. And wherever they appear, any patriot ought to smash their faces because they are not citizens of Russia. They are the enemies of our people.
FLINTOFF: Kadyrov began his career as a rebel, fighting the Russians under the lead of his father, a Muslim cleric and Chechen separatist leader. The Kadyrovs switched to the Russian side during the second Chechen war, and Ramzan Kadyrov took power in the republic in 2007, a few years after his father was assassinated. Since then, Kadyrov or people associated with him have been accused in a series of murders of journalists and opposition figures, charges he's always denied. Kadyrov portrays himself as a loyal foot soldier of President Putin.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Foreign language spoken).
FLINTOFF: Earlier this week, after Kadyrov had made his threats against the opposition, Putin praised the Chechen leader for his effective work. But Tanya Lokshina, the head of Human Rights Watch in Russia, says Kadyrov's recent actions may signal that his position has become less stable.
TANYA LOKSHINA: This is not a sign of strength, but rather a sign of weakness. If Mr. Kadyrov is being so aggressive, if he's being so active in trying to demonize his critics, it means that he is worried.
FLINTOFF: Lokshina thinks that Kadyrov is feeling vulnerable in his relations with the Kremlin and among his own people in Chechnya. She points out that just over a year ago, Islamist militants staged one of their most violent attacks in Grozny, killing more than a dozen policemen.
LOKSHINA: And Moscow understood that Kadyrov is not as in control as he claimed to be.
FLINTOFF: Lokshina also notes that Kadyrov has been cracking down on dissent at home, sometimes forcing local critics to appear on television to be berated and humiliated. She believes that Kadyrov is lashing out because he's hoping to convince everyone that he's still the essential strongman in the Caucasus Mountains. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, Moscow.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Now a little news about social media. It involves the number of people you reach if you use social media - you know, your followers on Twitter, people who like your page on Facebook. Admit it. You've checked that number. Marketing experts say it's better to have quality followers than a large quantity. NPR's Neda Ulaby explains.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: The conventional wisdom has been, for years, that lots of followers is a very good thing, especially if you're a company or public figure with a brand to promote, but maybe not so much anymore says analyst Alan Wolk.
ALAN WOLK: Within the industry now, there's a sort of strong belief that what you really want is a passionate audience, even if it's slightly smaller, versus a larger, sort of meh audience.
ULABY: Yeah, no one wants a meh audience. Maybe that sounds obvious, but figuring out the value of social media followers is a burgeoning business for companies like Klout spelled with a K and SocialRank. I met SocialRank's co-founder Alex Taub in his New York office.
ALEX TAUB: Most brands, they've been building these massive audiences over the last five to 10 years, but they're not doing anything with these people.
ULABY: Let's take a big company like Nike.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIKE COMMERCIAL)
ULABY: Nike runs TV commercials during big sporting events that reach millions of potential customers. It can also blast tweets to its 5.7 million followers on Twitter. Nike can target them by drilling into their data. Twitter bios and what people tweet can help show which followers are soccer fans, who are soccer fans in Boston for a specific promotion, who's missing from the Nike store database, who's also following Adidas.
Taub's company pulls in all of your followers.
TAUB: And then we let you filter and sort them so we've basically let you data mine your own audience.
ULABY: Taub's company then helps you figure out which followers are the most valuable.
TAUB: Look at someone like this guy right here.
ULABY: Alex Taub is showing me the account of some who seems valuable on Twitter.
TAUB: This guy's got 1.4 million followers. That's crazy. That's, like, more followers than some of the big celebrities.
ULABY: But here's the thing. This guy tweets a little, but almost no one ever responds. No one cares. In spite of all those followers, he's not really valuable. This is true of a certain kind of followers across social media platforms.
Josh Cohen and Drew Baldwin founded a company called Tubefilter. It charts and ranks online videos which rely on valuable followers.
DREW BALDWIN: Ultimately, it comes down to how engaged these followers are.
JOSH COHEN: The likes, the retweets, the reblogs...
ULABY: The shares and of course, the possibility of going viral. Valuable followers will retweet commercials and promotions. They'll talk about things warmly, and their followers will pay attention. But the tools to measure those things are in their infancy.
BALDWIN: There's no real standard yet. I think that's the next big problem to be solved in social media and online video.
ULABY: That was Drew Baldwin. Josh Cohen adds that another problem is figuring out if followers are more valuable on one platform versus another.
COHEN: So what's a Vine view worth? Is it worth more than a YouTube view? Is it worth what percentage of a YouTube view?
ULABY: I asked a YouTube star about the value of her followers. Grace Helbig has a lot of them.
GRACE HELBIG: On YouTube, I think it's at 2.7 million right now.
ULABY: And since we talked, it's grown to 2.8. Helbig is a comedian and actress. Her algorithm for determining the value of followers is generous.
HELBIG: Having an audience that listens to and resonates with your creative ideas is invaluable.
ULABY: For an artist anyway. For commerce, what's invaluable is converting those feelings into marketing.
Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONLINE")
BRAD PAISLEY: (Singing) I'm so much cooler online.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
A world leader is in Paris this morning on a shopping trip. President Hassan Rouhani is making the first visit to Europe by an Iranian leader in 17 years. Now that sanctions have been lifted, he is spending billions on behalf of his country. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley joins us from Paris. And Eleanor, you're at a business event right now, I know. Who is there?
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Well, this morning the Iranian president spoke in front of a business group. It's the French equivalent of the Small and Medium-Sized Business Administration. So you've got business people here that represent not just major companies, but small ones. You know, it seems that everybody wants to get back into Iran. And there's much, much interest in the president's visit.
MONTAGNE: Well, after so many years of sanctions because of Iran's nuclear programs, that country's needs are huge. What is he after on this particular trip?
BEARDSLEY: Well, right - well, first of all, Iran's infrastructure is in a dilapidated state. It needs new roads. It needs water treatment plants. It needs airports. Its planes - half of them have been grounded. They haven't had new parts, and they're very dangerous. Iran has had a lot of plane crashes. So everything remains to be done. And also, you've got a market of, you know, 80 million people - a very large and educated middle class who want Western products. They haven't had Western products in so long, and it's the number seven cosmetics market in the world. So imagine the opportunities. Renee, I think the tone was set this morning. The head of this French business association announced that in the coming weeks, there will be a return of direct flights from Paris to Tehran by Air France. He said that's a symbolic move. But actually, the aviation sector is huge, and one of the biggest deals that's going to be announced today is that Airbus will sell 114 planes to Iran. That is just a multibillion-dollar contract. And that's set to be signed today.
MONTAGNE: And that is huge, of course, for France. France would be very happy about that.
BEARDSLEY: Absolutely.
MONTAGNE: What else is on Rouhani's agenda there in Paris?
BEARDSLEY: You know, he's meeting with President Hollande later today. And there will be diplomatic issues on the agenda because, as we know, Iran is a key to bringing stability to the Middle East right now. It does support the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad that the West is against. But it's also one of the main opponents to ISIS. So I've been told by analysts that President Hollande is going to try to enlist Iran's help in fighting ISIS. So that will be discussed.
MONTAGNE: That - what might qualify as the light side, President Rouhani stopped in Italy, and there was something of a minor controversy because antique statues of nudes were covered up for him. Boxes were put over them so as not to offend Rouhani. Anything like that of concern in Paris?
BEARDSLEY: Yeah, Renee, that was funny. Apparently, that came to light as he was leaving the country, and Italian officials took a lot of heat. Now, the French are avoiding it altogether because a couple months ago, before the visit, while it was being planned - you know, the Iranians, they do not want any alcohol at meals. But the French will not take French wine off of the table at official meals. So they've avoided it altogether. There's to be no official lunch or dinner.
MONTAGNE: Thus, no wine.
BEARDSLEY: No wine. There was talk of them perhaps having a breakfast together, but no table where wine would be an issue.
MONTAGNE: Eleanor, thanks very much.
BEARDSLEY: Good to be with you, Renee.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Eleanor Beardsley speaking to us from Paris.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's a problem many European nations face. They are obliged to admit Middle Eastern refugees, but many nations are reluctant to admit too many.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
As we've reported, Denmark is the latest country working to limit exposure to refugees. Legislators there have passed a new law demanding the assets of asylum seekers. And we've been talking with a Danish lawmaker who approves.
INSKEEP: Martin Henriksen is with the far right Danish People's Party. He is among those who say migrants should pay for their asylum in Denmark by surrendering any cash they're carrying beyond 1,500 U.S. dollars. This move has sparked an outcry, but Henriksen told us he would like to go further. He wishes he could find out if asylum seekers have real estate or bank accounts that could be seized.
MARTIN HENRIKSEN: We're working on that part. My party believes there should also be a possibility to look into what they have in other countries or in their homelands. So this is not a part of this piece of legislation, but it is something that we are - we continue to work with that opportunity.
INSKEEP: That opportunity- you're saying you'd like to do that if you find a technical way to do it?
HENRIKSEN: Sure. You must remember that Denmark has received many refugees throughout many years. And it's a costly business. We also have a political desire to take care of our own. And we believe that when these people have worked their entire lives in Denmark, then they should be first on the list. Today we are paying for all expenses for asylum seekers and refugees. And we are simply saying that if you have the possibility to pay for yourself, then you should do so.
INSKEEP: But I'm sure you've heard about the way that this is interpreted and understood by many people around the world. You have favored this law that causes the government to say to people in this desperate situation where they may have no choice, give us all your assets except for a little spending money. What do you say to people who find that to be outrageously unfair?
HENRIKSEN: Actually, the people who are coming to Denmark are the people with the most resources. I'm not saying that they are rich - not at all. But the refugees or the migrants who come to Europe and to Denmark are the people who have the resources to pay a person or several persons to smuggle them into Europe.
INSKEEP: Although the very nature of your law points out an interesting fact about many of the refugees - they're not necessarily people with no education, with no skills. And I'm thinking about The Economist magazine, which not long ago urged European nations to welcome migrants or refugees because they could add something economically to countries that wanted. Why would you put the new arrivals in a position where they start out broke, impoverished?
HENRIKSEN: Well, we have been dealing refugees and migrants in Denmark for many, many years, and the picture is not what the economists are saying. It's the opposite. If you look at migration from non-Western countries, it's not making the Danish economy any better. It's making the Danish economy worse. Actually, I think that if you want a secure society, then we have to reduce the number of people coming into Denmark, for instance, from the Middle East. Also, because we have a different set of values, we are on many levels simply too different to make it work. Now, it would be great if we could make it work. But all our experiences say that it is, sad to say, not possible.
INSKEEP: Have we finally there gotten down to what this legislation is really about? It's not about money. It's about keeping out people who are different.
HENRIKSEN: I have no problem with people who are different. They just have to respect our laws and our traditions in Denmark. So to answer your question, sure, I guess we believe that it's a matter of making sure that the number is kept down.
INSKEEP: Martin Hendrickson of the Danish People's Party. Thanks for sharing your views.
HENRIKSEN: Thank you.
INSKEEP: He favors a new law demanding the assets of asylum seekers in Denmark.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And in Oregon, Ammon Bundy is in jail. Yesterday, the leader of the militants occupying the Federal Wildlife Refuge sent word to followers, asking them to stand down at the refuge and return home to their families. Last night, some of them agreed and left. Three more turned themselves into authorities. This comes after the arrest on Tuesday of both Bundy brothers and several others on a country road during which one of the militants was killed. NPR's Kirk Siegler is in Burns, Ore., with the latest.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: There is pressure coming from everywhere you look in Harney County for this standoff to end without any more bloodshed. After this week's arrests, the FBI is now surrounding the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. At night, they announced their presence beaming two massive flood lights across Highway 205, an eerie glow over the frozen eastern Oregon desert.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I'm not going through.
SIEGLER: At the roadblock, it's mostly us reporters hoping to catch a militant trying to leave. Instead, William Troy Stevenson and his son Tristan are here after being turned back at the roadblock by the authorities.
WILLIAM STEVENSON: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
TRISTAN STEVENSON: Guns pointed at us.
W. STEVENSON: They were serious. They'll kill you, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: What did they do?
T. STEVENSON: Pointed guns at us.
W. STEVENSON: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Pointed guns at you.
W. STEVENSON: They had a lot of machine guns.
SIEGLER: The Stevensons, who sympathize with the anti-federal lands movement, drove down from Hermiston, Ore., to try and learn more about why the remaining occupants were still here. Believe it. Things are tense. Nearby Burns, population 5,000, is equally on edge. Like a few weeks ago when the armed occupation began, this tight-knit town has again swelled with news crews and satellite TV trucks. FBI and Oregon state troopers are everywhere, too, some undercover, others in uniform. And occasionally, you'll see the self-styled militiamen coming out of hotel rooms in fatigues or shopping at the Safeway, their handguns holstered. Working at a service station, Dwight Arstead says the occupation is ripping his hometown apart.
DWIGHT ARSTEAD: I'm seeing a lot of good friends and family that are now enemies or fighting over this, unfortunately.
SIEGLER: Arstead, whose son in law is a cop, tells me the feds should've gone in there earlier and stopped this before it escalated. Now he says he just wants it to end without another death. LaVoy Finicum, the militants' de facto spokesman who is believed to have died during the arrest, has his sympathizers here, too, though.
JOYCE GOGGIN: Well, I think it's premeditated murder. That's the way I feel about it.
SIEGLER: That turn of events changed things for Joyce Goggin.
GOGGIN: I don't trust my law enforcement, and I don't trust the FBI that's here anymore.
SIEGLER: But like almost everyone else you meet, Goggin is ready for this to end. She lives by the airport, which the FBI turned into a staging area. She says there are flood lights and helicopters landing at all hours. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Burns, Ore.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne. An icon of '80s movies is coming "Back To The Future." Five hundred DeLoreans will be hitting the streets soon. The reproduction of the 1981 winged car is made possible by a transportation act allowing a small number of car replicas to be built. They won't meet current safety standards but can actually be driven. The new DeLorean will also not feature a flux capacitor, meaning no time travel. It's MORNING EDITION.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The state of Michigan has a message for the federal government - a little help here? Having apologized for disastrous moves that contaminated drinking water in Flint, Mich., with lead, the state is trying to fix it. And Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley says he'd like more assistance from Washington if possible.
Though the Obama administration has promised help, Calley says it's less than it seems. Calley was the running mate of Governor Rick Snyder, who has faced demands to resign. Calley says the state is pushing forward with a fix. Corrosive water released lead from Flint water pipes, and a chemical treatment could, over time, lock that lead back in.
BRIAN CALLEY: The water mains themselves have been used for years, and like a lot of cities, many of those mains are made out of metal with lead in it. And so the phosphate coating on the inside of those pipes, that's what protects people from the lead. And that's why it builds back up over time. But keep in mind, the water delivery system, you have a few different things - you have the source of the water. There's the delivery system through the city but then also service lines into houses, plumbing in houses and fixtures in houses. And so fixing the water system is only part of the question if we're really serious about eradicating lead from people's water, whether it comes from the faucet in their kitchen or the water delivery system itself.
INSKEEP: How, if at all, is President Obama's administration helping?
CALLEY: The Obama administration had issued an emergency declaration. We have people on the ground from FEMA that are helping to coordinate things and some expertise they are bringing to bear. With respect to the infrastructure itself, there was a pretty big misunderstanding that the federal government was sending $80 million, and when we really dug into that, what we found was that it's not really a grant for the city of Flint. What it is, is the ability for them to borrow money, and from what we can tell, it looks like $17 million is about as much as we would be allowed to send to Flint. So we're working with them on - can we get some flexibility in that? Can we get the money that has fewer strings attached?
INSKEEP: Well, the state of Michigan has been quite ferociously criticized here, Lieutenant Governor. Are you saying that the federal government now is falling down on the job of helping you fix the problem?
CALLEY: The state of Michigan definitely made big mistakes - never, ever should have happened. Clearly, the EPA, in the testing process, made mistakes too. And of course, at the local level, there were big problems there. This is a series or a system of failures. My attitude is not that anything is the federal government's responsibility, but we do want for the people of Flint to find as many sources of help as we possibly can.
INSKEEP: Granting that it's a complicated story, that not all the facts are in, do you feel like something criminal happened here?
CALLEY: Well, I'll leave it to the lawyers and the investigators on the use of that word. The word I would use is something horrible has happened here, and our best direction forward is to fix the problem.
INSKEEP: Whether it's criminal or not, do you want people to be held accountable for this?
CALLEY: People are being held accountable. When you look at the leadership within the Department of Environmental Quality, there was the resignation at the top and also the spokesperson that was very dismissive with the EPA that knew of problems, apparently last February. There's a resignation there as well. And within the city of Flint, there's been an election since then. So when you look across the board, accountability is happening. There's a process for it.
INSKEEP: What about Governor Snyder?
CALLEY: Governor Snyder is somebody who's absolutely dedicated to solving this problem. And I do not believe he will rest until we get to a point where the city has both safe and clean drinking water and robust long-term systems in place in order to deal with any potential ramifications of the problems of the past.
INSKEEP: Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley of Michigan, thanks very much.
CALLEY: Thank you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
A handful of armed militants in a wildlife refuge in Oregon are defying calls from the FBI and their own leader, now in custody, for them to leave. The atmosphere there is tense after the death of one militant who was among a group of armed protesters that were being arrested earlier this week. Robert LaVoy Finicum was a rancher, the father of 11 and unofficial spokesperson for the militants. NPR's Nathan Rott reports that his death has changed the tone of the Oregon standoff.
NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: LaVoy Finicum made it clear from the start of the standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LAVOY FINICUM: This is intended to be a peaceful occupation, if so be.
ROTT: He often wore a holstered handgun and would sit out at night in the January cold with a long gun across his lap. But he said they were only there for protection and safety.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
L. FINICUM: We should never, ever point guns at each other.
ROTT: The outspoken rancher with his sand-colored cowboy hat and thin-rimmed glasses was steadfast in his beliefs that the federal government should turn over land to local authorities and private land owners. The 55-year-old Finicum kept a blog and Facebook page called One Cowboy's Stand for Freedom. He had written a novel a few years ago, and he told reporters earlier in the weeks-long standoff in Oregon that he'd be willing to die for the cause. On Tuesday afternoon, he did. Now, there are conflicting reports of what exactly happened. The FBI says that Finicum and several other militants in two separate vehicles were pulled over on a highway Tuesday by state and federal authorities. Two very different eyewitness accounts have come out on social media since. In a video on YouTube, a woman named Victoria Sharp says she was in the car with Finicum before he got out and confronted the authorities during the arrest.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VICTORIA SHARP: He had his hands in the air. He was like, just shoot me then. Just shoot - you know what? Just shoot me. And they did. They shot him dead.
ROTT: On social media, that storyline grew to depict Finicum as on his knees with his hands up when he was shot. The other account of what happened, posted on Facebook by Mark McConnell, a militant who says he was driving the other vehicle that got pulled over, disputes that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARK MCCONNELL: He was not on his knees. He was none of that nonsense. But he went after them. He charged them, you know. LaVoy was very passionate about what he was doing up here.
ROTT: The contrasting stories have been picked up by people on both sides of the Oregon standoff. Those supporting the occupation of the federal wildlife refuge are calling the killing a cold-blooded murder and framing Finicum as a martyr. Folks on the other side are saying on social media that Finicum was a criminal, and his death shouldn't be surprising given his part in the armed occupation of a federal building. Robert Finicum, a Utah national guardsman and one of LaVoy's sons, says he's uncomfortable with the portrayal of both.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBERT FINICUM: Was he a radical? I mean, that's the picture that's painted in the news right now. He was not radical in a dangerous sense. He's always been a peaceful person. But my father believes that this is more important than life. I don't know. I thought his life was more important. But I loved him - still do.
ROTT: As to whether he wants his dad to be remembered as a martyr or as a reason for the rest of the occupants of the wildlife refuge to go home...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
R. FINICUM: I will say that I just hope that nobody else loses a life. And I am grateful that nobody else has so far.
ROTT: Nathan Rott, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Controlling the Zika virus requires understanding it. That's part of the job of our next guest. Beth Bell works for the Centers for Disease Control, which has been observing the virus now linked to severe birth defects in Latin America. She is confident that conditions in the United States will not allow a major outbreak of this mainly mosquito-borne virus. But it is coming in some form, and she says, frankly, there's a lot more she would like to know.
BETH BELL: This current situation is certainly very new - for example, this apparent ability of the Zika virus to cause infection in a fetus when a pregnant woman gets infected. And there very likely will be many more things that we learn as we go.
INSKEEP: How well do you understand the way the virus is spread?
BELL: I think that we feel pretty confident that the major mode of transmission is from an infected mosquito. But we certainly have already identified this mode of transmission from an infected mother to a fetus. There's a case report in the literature that suggests sexual transmission might be possible. There are other potential modes of transmission from what we know from other viruses. So there's a lot that the Food and Drug Administration will be doing about the blood supply to prevent transmission from blood transfusions. And again, I think in this developing situation what we try to do is focus on the major mode of transmission while at the same time we're looking to evaluate whether the virus is behaving in a way other than what we would expect so that people know what they can do to protect themselves from what we know are the major modes of transmission.
INSKEEP: To what extent is it necessary to test pregnant women as they return to the United States or arrive in the United States from affected countries?
BELL: So we do have some interim recommendations that pregnant women who have symptoms consistent with Zika be tested. I'm sure that you know and many listeners know that most people with Zika infection don't have symptoms.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
BELL: And so I think that there's, you know, a logical question of why are we only recommending testing pregnant women who have symptoms. We recognize, actually, that we really need to improve the lab tests that we have available right now. We want to be sure that when we're testing that we're confident that a positive is really a positive, and a negative really is a negative.
INSKEEP: You're saying that the testing is just not good enough that it would be worth the exposure and the difficulty of testing everyone. You'd end up with a lot of false positives and panic that wouldn't be very productive.
BELL: I'm saying that the tools that we have right now are just not going to really help in that situation.
INSKEEP: Let's be as realistic as we can here. You have indicated for many reasons that you don't think that conditions are good for widespread outbreak within the United States. But realistically, should we expect cases to be reported in the United States in larger numbers than they have been?
BELL: Yes, we will see cases reported in the United States in larger numbers. First of all, we will see more cases reported among returning travelers to the United States. And you might recall that we had another mosquito-borne virus within - called chikungunya which spread through the Americas over the last couple of years. And we had several thousand cases in returning travelers. But again, although we never say never, we think that it's quite unlikely that we'll see widespread transmission in the United States.
INSKEEP: Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control, thanks very much.
BELL: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure talking with you.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
These days, the migrants coming to the U.S.-Mexico border are mostly from Central America, specifically Honduras and Guatemala. That region is plagued by gang violence and poverty, and many people are desperate to leave. This has fueled a shadow economy. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports for Planet Money, and she traveled to Mexico for a close-up look at the business of human smuggling.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Matalote hates his nickname, but he's asked me not to use his real name.
(Speaking Spanish).
MATALOTE: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: (Speaking Spanish).
It's a joke about his weight. A matalote is a large fish found in Mexico.
(Speaking Spanish).
MATALOTE: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: I meet him in the northern Mexican city of Matamoros. We drive to his favorite restaurant a few blocks from the Rio Grande. He recommends the frog legs, but I'm already feeling adventurous enough for one day because Matalote is a human smuggler.
His job? He crosses migrants over the river and makes sure they get to Houston. He's agreed to explain how it works.
MATALOTE: (Through interpreter) It's a service for a person to achieve their dream.
GARSD: Like all businesses, there's a division of labor. Matalote's boss is called the coyote. He's like the travel agent. He arranges each leg of the journey - for a fee, of course. Matalote's cagey about just how much the coyote pockets, but it's a lot. But Matalote will tell me about the other employees in his smuggling ring. It starts with the caminador, or the walker, because Matalote says that's what you're going to do - a lot of walking and riding buses.
MATALOTE: (Through interpreter) The walker is the person who's going to the leave you where the coyote tells him to. You follow them, OK? And he'll drop you off.
GARSD: A Honduran migrant might be passed along any number of walkers on the journey to the border. Each walker gets paid a hundred bucks per person they take north. A lot of that money is for bribes to local law enforcement and tolls to the cartels. Once you make it to the border, you'll meet the next employee of the smuggling ring, el cruzador, the crosser.
That's Matalote. He charges up to $5,000 to get you to the other side of the Rio Grande. I ask him to tally it all up - bribes, tolls, salaries. What do his people charge to bring someone from Honduras to the U.S.?
MATALOTE: (Through interpreter) Well, about 17, 18, $19,000.
GARSD: Prices vary. That's on the high end of normal.
JOSE BENITEZ: (Through interpreter) It's like any other marketplace, m'ija. That's exactly what it is.
GARSD: That's Jose Benitez. He runs the Federation of United Immigrants and Workers in Houston, Texas, a nonprofit for immigrant rights. He sees dozens of recent arrivals every day, and he says you get what you pay for. The more you pay, the safer it tends to be.
BENITEZ: (Through interpreter) You have to assume the average price is between 6,000 and 10,000. If you pay more, you're more likely to get through without being detected.
GARSD: And that's why our smuggler, Matalote, has been able to raise his prices a lot lately. The entire journey keeps getting riskier and riskier. He says 16 years ago, he would charge $50 to cross someone over the river, but the border started getting tighter. Central American started getting more desperate. And all the costs, cartel tolls, bribes, salaries - they're going up.
MATALOTE: (Speaking Spanish).
GARSD: Matalote says right now, Hondurans - Central Americans, they're worth their weight in gold.
He says business is booming.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Donald Trump - that's it. That's all I need to say. You know you're interested. We will nevertheless say just a bit more. Republicans debate tonight. Trump says he will not because of a feud with moderator Megyn Kelly and her employer, Fox News. We have some analysis this morning from Jonah Goldberg. He's a senior editor at the National Review and occasional guest here. His publication has openly denounced Donald Trump, by the way. Jonah, good morning.
JONAH GOLDBERG: Good morning.
INSKEEP: Credit where credit is due - here, David Folkenflik, our media correspondent, pointed out the other day that both Donald Trump and Fox News leader Roger Ailes are master showmen. Aren't they putting on great show here?
GOLDBERG: Yes, in a certain way this is sort of a King Kong versus Godzilla. I mean, this is a big deal, so sure.
INSKEEP: OK, what does it mean, then, that Trump is capturing all the attention with this move by stepping away from the debate? What does it say?
GOLDBERG: Well, I mean, this is a continuation of a story that we've seen for a very long time now where Trump is a master of controlling the media cycle. He sucks up all the oxygen, and he's doing it again. So instead of people making their closing arguments and getting some airtime for it, everyone's talking about will Trump show up, will Trump not show up, why is Trump doing this? And so in that sense I think it is success on Trump's own terms. In terms of dominating the media cycle, of crowding out everybody else, of making him the center of attention, which is what he wants to be, it has been a success. His decision to do this has been a success. The question is whether it's a political success. It could do great for him in polls in 49 other states, but will it play well for him in Iowa? And that remains to be seen. And among what voters will it play well for him? He over performs with never before - people who have never before gone to a caucus. He underperforms - I mean, he's doing well, obviously, he's a front-runner in polls - but he underperforms among, you know, reliable many-time voters, among conservatives, among evangelicals. And so the question is whether or not his - first of all, the question has always been whether or not his biggest supporters will show up at all, but also whether or not the people that people know are going to show up - whether they're going to take offense.
INSKEEP: We better explain a bit of a complexity here that happens every four years. Iowa's the first thing out there. It's a little different from some states because it's a caucus state, which means people don't just have to vote, they have to show up in a room among other people and cast a vote.
GOLDBERG: Right, on a cold, cold night.
INSKEEP: And so you do have a different set of voters than you might have otherwise. Nevertheless, we have this situation where, according to polls, Trump is in position to possibly win Iowa, possibly win New Hampshire, possibly win South Carolina, Nevada. He could plausibly sweep the early states unless he's stopped by Ted Cruz or someone else. What does that say about where the Republican Party is right now?
GOLDBERG: The Republican Party is in a mess right now. The conservative movement - which is not the same thing, which comes as a surprise to some people - is in a bit of a mess right now. It's - if you were to trying to visualize it - I know we're on radio - it would be something like the fight scene in "Anchorman" where it's basically all against all in a hammer-and-tongs battle.
INSKEEP: (Laughter) And there are people who are considering switching sides, are there not? Conservatives and leading Republicans who are thinking about whether they can make their peace with Donald Trump.
GOLDBERG: Yes. I mean it, it's funny. At precisely the moment the magazine I work for, National Review, had this forthright declaration that Donald Trump isn't a conservative and shouldn't be a conservative standard bearer, you had a vast swath of the sort of K Street Republican Capitol Hill establishment sending signals - sort of as old-style criminology - sending signals that they thought Donald Trump was the man they could deal with, and the man they're really afraid of is Ted Cruz. And it's - you know, talk radio is very much - some of talk radio is very much pro - I mean conservative talk radio - is very pro-Donald Trump and Ted Cruz until Ted Cruz and Donald Trump started going after each other. And now it's some talk radio guys have broken with Cruz and some have broken and stayed with Trump, and people like me are caught in the middle. It's a mess. It's a real mess.
INSKEEP: You're caught in the middle, meaning you don't know where to go yourself, personally?
GOLDBERG: Well, you know, there were other people in the field I think - some of these guys are the best candidates we've seen in a very long time. And it's very difficult for them to get their message out in this environment. And so in some ways, some of us think that this debate without Double Trump there might be a good thing.
INSKEEP: OK, let's talk about that because the other candidates will be on stage - the other leading candidates, anyway. You'll see Marco Rubio, you'll see Ted Cruz, you'll see Jeb Bush, you'll see John Kasich, you'll see some others. Are you - when we set Trump aside, if it's even possible to do that - learning anything about where the Republican Party is headed and how it's shaping itself as this election approaches?
GOLDBERG: It's difficult to say. There is - among the other candidates, they've got a series of sort of reform-minded, serious policy proposals. People can agree or disagree with them. Donald Trump has been very light on policy. But at the same time, his presence is sort of like a magnet next to a compass. It's very difficult to sense the direction of the rest of these guys when all the attention's on him.
INSKEEP: OK, well Jonah, thanks very much.
GOLDBERG: Thank you.
INSKEEP: Jonah Goldberg is senior editor at the National Review. He is also, by the way, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Italian lawmakers are debating a proposal to allow civil unions. That's considered a step forward for gay and lesbian couples. Italy is the only nation in Western Europe that has not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions, a status that's considered just short of marriage. Needless to say, this bill has prompted plenty of debate, especially a provision involving adoptions. We're going to talk it all through with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli, who is in Rome. And Sylvia, why has Italy moved more slowly than other nations?
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: Well, an Italian would reply that the shadow of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican casts a wide shadow over the Italian political world. When the government proposed a much milder civil unions bill in 2007, it was killed by stiff opposition from Italian bishops and Catholic groups. Ivan Scalfarotto, undersecretary for relations with Parliament, says there's a long tradition here of political identification with Catholic doctrine.
IVAN SCALFAROTTO: Catholic faithfuls are a constituency, and a large constituency. So I think there is a temptation from political parties to fish in that large pond.
POGGIOLI: But Scalfarotto, who's the first openly gay member of an Italian government, says Italy's now under outside pressure. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that it's in violation of the human rights convention guaranteeing respect for private and family life.
INSKEEP: OK, so Catholics have concerns - some, anyway - but Pope Francis has spoken differently about gays and lesbians. What does the Vatican say about this legislation?
POGGIOLI: Well, Pope Francis has sent mixed signals. He's never mentioned the civil unions bill, but last Friday he said there can be no confusion between the family envisioned by God and any other type of union. However, he was reportedly angry when the president of the Italian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, waded into the political debate. He openly backed a big anti-civil unions rally that's scheduled for Saturday.
INSKEEP: OK, we mentioned this provision on adoptions. What does it say and what's the controversy about it?
POGGIOLI: Well, the opponents, they claim it would encourage gay couples to go abroad to seek surrogate mothers. That's a practice that's outlawed here. At an LGBT rally last weekend, a young man, Andrea Piavani, said a much more derogatory term is used here for surrogacy.
ANDREA PIAVANI: We have this term which is utero in affitto, and it's like put on rent your uterus. Even in the way you speak you can see how we are far from achieving something that's really obvious.
POGGIOLI: Now, the interior minister, Angelino Alfano, is so opposed to the idea that he proposed that surrogate parents by treated like sex offenders.
INSKEEP: OK, so is the bill going to pass?
POGGIOLI: Well, that's uncertain. Today, the Senate begins the debate, but voting won't start until after Saturday's rally. If the turnout is huge, the bill's supporters might try to water it down. But that will infuriate the LGBT community. Undersecretary Scalfarotto says that Italy is not a society where gays and lesbians feel like equal citizens.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Sylvia Poggioli. She's in Rome. Sylvia, thanks very much.
POGGIOLI: Thank you, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good Morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with sympathy for Burke O'Connell. Last week, he got a tattoo celebrating the New England Patriots' victory in Super Bowl 50, a sign of confidence because the game has yet to take place. Soon after he got the tattoo, the Patriots lost a playoff game. They will not even play in Super Bowl 50. Mr. O'Connell is philosophical. He says the premature tat is not as bad as when he got a tattoo honoring the woman who is now his ex-girlfriend. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
It is not clear how many people still occupy a wildlife refuge in Oregon. Three men turned themselves in at an FBI checkpoint yesterday, bringing the total number of people in custody to 11. During arrests on Tuesday, one of the militants was killed. Officials have not come out yet with details on how he died. We're joined on the line now by Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups here in the United States. Good morning.
MARK POTOK: Good Morning. Thanks for having me.
MONTAGNE: Yeah and - thank you. You're welcome. Some protesters have left the wildlife refuge, but a live stream from the group still inside is asking supporters to come fight with them. Do they seem to be getting new recruits?
POTOK: No. We haven't seen any evidence that they're getting new recruits, but they are making some very tough calls. They're saying, you know - come help us; if they stop you from getting here, kill them - those kinds of statements. You know, an interesting aspect of this is that actually a number of the groups that have supported this occupation, like the Three Percenters and the so-called Oath Keepers, have actually urged people to essentially - to stand down, not to go there. But meanwhile, we hear quite a lot of cries from various groups and individuals - the civil war has begun, that kind of thing.
MONTAGNE: Well the man who was killed, LaVoy Finnucum his name was, he was well-known in the self-styled patriot movement. What has been the reaction to his death?
POTOK: Well, there is already a fairly full-blown conspiracy theory saying - or claiming that he was shot to death while his hands were up. We've had conflicting witness reports. One person essentially told a story to that effect. Another one said that wasn't true at all, that what he did was jump out of his car and charge police after he was pulled over - or rather got stuck in the snow fleeing from them, so we don't know.
MONTAGNE: Well, but both of those, though, make him some kind of a hero if you're talking about what's on social media.
POTOK: That's true. That's true. It's quite strong out there. We've got, for instance, Alex Jones, probably the leading conspiracy theorist in America making the claim, you know, simply put, that he was murdered. So yes, I think that idea is spreading and spreading fast, so let's hope that the officials clarify what actually happened. Maybe they can put a stop to this.
MONTAGNE: Now, you have been tracking those groups for years out there. Are there numbers rising or falling?
POTOK: They have been rising. The fact is, is that we've had an enormous expansion in these kinds of groups since Barack Obama came into office in early 2009. The radical right, in general, swelled, really quite incredibly in the three or four years after that. The numbers were not quite at their peak as they were in about 2012, but they're very high. We have more of these kinds of groups, in fact, than we did in the 1990s when there was so press about this movement. And of course, ultimately, culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
POTOK: A pleasure. Thanks for having me.
MONTAGNE: Mark Potok is with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups in the U.S.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's not proving easy to get clean water to people in Flint, Mich. Authorities promised to hand out filters and water bottles while they struggle to fix a water system contaminated with lead. They are going door-to-door, but not everybody is comfortable when police knock. Consider undocumented immigrants who try to live under the radar. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports.
TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE: This is part of daily life in Flint now and for the foreseeable future - buying water at the grocery store, standing in line to get free water at the nearest fire station.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: How much water, ma'am?
JESSICA OLIVARES: Three.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Three? Got you.
SAMILTON: Jessica Olivares knows this routine well. She's waiting for her U.S. residency application to be approved. Her son, almost 2, was born a month before the city switched to using highly corrosive Flint River water instead of water from Detroit. He was formula-fed, sometimes using water from the tap. Olivares says first there was a boil-water advisory due to E. coli. Then there was too much of a toxic chemical used to get rid of the E. coli.
JESSICA OLIVARES: They were saying oh, it's OK to drink it. It's OK to drink it. It's OK now. So I would start using it again, and after a while again, they were like no.
SAMILTON: The no was after state officials finally conceded there was enough lead leeching from the system's old pipes to poison children. Olivares hasn't gotten her son tested yet. Recently, National Guard troops were called in to visit every home in the city, delivering free water filters and water. But Olivares' sister, Juani Olivares, says there are roughly 1,000 undocumented immigrants in Flint. Many have spent years hiding from authorities to avoid deportation.
JUANI OLIVARES: Water was being delivered, and they were not opening the doors because that is the one rule - do not open the door.
SAMILTON: Juani Olivares is with the Genesee County Hispanic/Latino Collaborative. She says rumors are flying about sporadic raids at grocery stores.
JUANI OLIVARES: 'Cause we've had raids here in the last three weeks. And they have actually picked up people from the grocery store. That's another reason why people are not getting the water because now they're afraid to go to the grocery store just to go get water.
SAMILTON: A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement say there's no truth to the rumors, and that ICE does not target people in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. But he didn't respond to a follow-up email asking if any undocumented person in Flint had been apprehended at a grocery store in recent weeks. There's yet another problem keeping some people from getting help - language barriers. Paul Donnelly is a deacon at St. Mary's in Flint. Many in his congregation are Latino.
PAUL DONNELLY: Everyone seemed to know what was going on. It didn't occur to me that some people, because they don't speak English, would not know that the lead is in the water and that the water's dangerous until someone else brought it to my attention.
SAMILTON: Donnelly introduces me to one of his congregants, Maria. She's been living illegally in Flint for nearly 24 years and fears deportation. She doesn't watch English-language news, and there's no Spanish-language radio or TV station in the city. Maria says she found out about the toxic water only last week.
MARIA: Yeah, it's crazy, you know. When Mexico drink water and, you know, and there's nothing happen. And I don't know what happened right here. So it's scary, you know, more for the kids.
SAMILTON: This week, there's another door-to-door campaign going on, this one by local Spanish-speaking volunteers from groups like the Genesee Country Hispanic/Latino collaborative. They want to make sure every person in the city knows - el agua no es potable - the water's not safe to drink. For NPR News, I'm Tracy Samilton.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's hear why all the pledges in Paris last month at a gathering of many nations to curb carbon emissions will be hard to make good on. Moving to an economy built on clean energy will be expensive. And, as NPR's John Ydstie reports, cheap prices for fossil fuels are making that transition a bit more complicated.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: Yesterday at the United Nations in New York, more than 500 big investors, from huge pension funds to giant banks and insurers, gathered at a post-Paris conference. They were urged to use some of their trillions of dollars in assets to fund investments in clean energy. Mindy Lubber of the research and advocacy group Ceres, an organizer of the conference, welcomed them.
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MINDY LUBBER: It is an honor to have you here. It is this audience that can make a difference in the future of history.
YDSTIE: But being remembered as the people who saved the world from climate change will be expensive. It's estimated it will require investments totaling in the tens of trillions of dollars over the next 15 years, most of that from private investors. Again, Mindy Lubber.
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LUBBER: And I think what we're seeing investors say, and certainly what we're trying to articulate here at our investor summit at the U.N, is that the risks of being invested in coal companies and in high fossil fuel companies are risks that may no longer make sense.
YDSTIE: Indeed, the stocks of big coal companies have collapsed in the U.S. as government emissions regulations have made coal plants untenable. Here's one of the big investors at yesterday's conference, Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America.
BRIAN MOYNIHAN: If you go back five or so years ago, our coal financing has dropped in half, and our alternative/new energy source financing has gone up six times. We're not alone in this in our industry, but down by half and up by six times is a pretty good move.
YDSTIE: BofA has committed a $125 billion dollars to clean energy investments over the next several years. Coal, which is cheap and plentiful, has been sidelined by government regulation in many developed countries, but another cheap, plentiful fossil fuel has emerged to replace it, natural gas. It is surpassing coal as the main fuel for electrical generation in the U.S. Dan Yergin, a leading energy expert at IHS says even with a dramatic decline in the cost of solar generation, gas is still very competitive. But again, government policy has given renewables an edge. Many states require utilities to produce a certain percentage of their electricity from clean energy. And, Yergin points out, the federal government recently renewed tax credits for wind and solar.
DANIEL YERGIN: Because of the tax credits, the amount of wind and solar that's built will be more than twice what it would have been otherwise, so government policy is a very important part of this picture.
YDSTIE: Cheap oil also poses a challenge for renewables. After all, the price of oil has fallen around 70 percent in the past year and a half, says Robin West, an energy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
ROBIN WEST: Clearly, lower oil prices are going to make it tougher for renewables and for electric vehicles. If you look what's happening in the United States right now, because gas is cheap, people are going out and buying big cars again.
YDSTIE: West says, in the short term, this could be a drag on the move to a lower carbon economy. But in the longer run, government fuel efficiency standards that require automakers to sell even higher mileage cars will drive change. Even with cheap fossil fuels, proponents of a low-carbon future can take comfort in recent statistics. They show investment in renewables reaching a record $330 billion dollars globally in 2015. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's go to the sea now, into the secret life of the octopus. These creatures are famous for many things - their eight tentacles, their complex brains, the way they can change color and disappear in a cloud of ink. Plus, they have a reputation for being loners. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce has this report on a new study that shows just how wrong that is.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: Off the southeast coast of Australia, there's a shallow spot with a lot of tasty scallops. It's a place where a species known as the gloomy octopus likes to hang out.
DAVID SCHEEL: There can be over a dozen octopuses or more at this site. Generally, during the Australian summer there's more.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: David Scheel is a marine biologist at Alaska Pacific University. He and two colleagues wanted to understand how these octopuses interact, so they've taken around 52 hours of underwater video. And right from the start, what they saw was dramatic.
SCHEEL: I took a look fairly early on at one sequence in which one octopus approaches another in a fairly menacing way. And he gets all dark, stands up very tall, and the other octopus crouches down and turns very pale.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The pale one flees.
SCHEEL: And this is immediately followed by the first octopus approaching a third octopus that's nearby. And the third octopus turns dark and doesn't crouch down. He just stays where he is - holds his ground.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: As Scheel watched more video, he became convinced that octopuses use their bodies' color and posture to talk to each other. An aggressive octopus will turn black and try to look as big as possible, spreading out its tentacles. To him, it looks like an eight-armed Dracula looming over its prey.
SCHEEL: In my early notes, I was calling this the Nosferatu display.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: The researchers describe all of this in the journal Current Biology, and Crissy Huffard thinks it's pretty cool. She's at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. And she says until fairly recently, scientists believed that octopuses were almost completely solitary, with pathetic social skills.
CHRISTINE HUFFARD: When they interacted, they either mated or ate each other. That was the overriding idea.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: But Huffard has done research on another octopus species showing that males take on a striped body pattern when they see another octopus. She thinks there's a whole lot left to learn about what happens when octopuses get together. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OCTOPUS'S GARDEN")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden in the shade. He'd let us in, knows where we've been, in his octopus's garden in the shade. I'd ask my friends to come and see.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There's the music, so you know it's time again for StoryCorps. Today, a romance cut short. Six years ago, two young men who met in college in Pennsylvania started dating. Neither had come out as gay, so they kept their relationship hidden. We're going to hear from one of them now. Andy Goodling lost his boyfriend Bryan to a sudden illness in 2014. Andy came to StoryCorps with his father, Scott, to remember Bryan.
ANDY GOODLING: Bryan was my best friend, but we were both very much in the closet. You know, we knew who we were. We just didn't want to actually say it. He would come over to my house. We would hang out, you know, and then we would hug each other inside the building, say that I love you and then immediately once we walked out the door, hat backwards, walking down the street, trying to be straight. I remember even when I first started seeing him I changed the name in my phone just in case he sent me a message.
SCOTT GOODLING: Did you change it to a girl's name?
A. GOODLING: Yes, any possible way to show that I wasn't gay, I would do it.
S. GOODLING: Talk to me a little bit about the last time you saw Bryan.
A. GOODLING: It was when we took a trip to Florida. We went to dinner and said that we would start talking to our family. I couldn't even eat that night 'cause I was so nervous even thinking about saying it. And I remember the last time that I saw him, you know, I was so scared to hug and kiss him goodbye at the airport.
S. GOODLING: Because of somebody seeing you.
A. GOODLING: Because of somebody seeing us. And I will always be upset that I couldn't have said a proper goodbye.
S. GOODLING: You called me at roughly 3 p.m. and I knew immediately something was really wrong.
A. GOODLING: I said that Bryan wasn't just my friend. He was my boyfriend of four years, but even then I didn't want to say it.
S. GOODLING: Why is it still something that you're uncomfortable with?
A. GOODLING: I'm afraid of disappointing you. I'm afraid it doesn't fulfill the life that you probably intended for me to have. And I also didn't want to change our relationship.
S. GOODLING: I've never had any of those thoughts about planning a life for you. Whatever it means for you to be happy, that's all I care. I told you right after Bryan died anybody that's that important to you is that important to me.
A. GOODLING: I remember at the funeral his cousins came up to his girlfriends, you know, our mutual friends and asked do you know who his girlfriend was? You know, was it one of you? And I was standing right there beside them thinking this is not the time to say it, but you really don't know who Bryan was.
S. GOODLING: If you could talk to Bryan's parents, what would you say to them?
A. GOODLING: I mean, I did write them a letter because I think they should know that he was loved and that he was in love. They haven't responded to me, but I want them to know that Bryan was my everything, and we had an amazing future planned.
S. GOODLING: Do you think you'll ever hear from them?
A. GOODLING: I don't know. I hope so.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MONTAGNE: That's Andy Goodling and his father, Scott. Their interview will be archived at the Library of Congress. It's part of OutLoud, StoryCorps's initiative to collect LGBTQ stories. Read more at npr.org.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Let's turn now to something else on voters' minds - the fight against terrorism. In Iraq, the war against ISIS appears to be gaining momentum. Pro-government forces supported by U.S. airstrikes have taken back several cities. Most of those places are ruined and deserted, but Tikrit is different. The residents have returned to this strategically important city just 80 miles north of Baghdad. NPR's Alice Fordham found life slowly coming back there, but with some tensions between the people and their liberators.
ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE: Nine months ago, Tikrit was full of fighters celebrating kicking ISIS out. There wasn't a civilian in sight, but now the main market is bustling with shoppers. A pharmacist, Masoud al Hamoud, tells me he came back right after ISIS were gone and started fixing up his shop.
MASOUD AL HAMOUD: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: "When the security forces are around, I don't feel afraid," he says. Around Tikrit, there's plenty of signs people are settling back in. We drive past construction workers starting new buildings among the houses destroyed by fighting. Electricity and water are back on most of the time. On the surface, things are moving forward. But there's something not quite right. Although most everyone in Tikrit is Sunni Muslim, there's flags everywhere with Shiite slogans and symbols on them. When Iraq security forces pushed ISIS out of Tikrit, they got a lot of help from informal Shiite armed groups. Plenty of Sunnis say they needed that help. At a house with fountains plashing outside, I meet a Sunni leader, sheikh Jassim Jubarah, who's also the head of the local security committee.
JASSIM JUBARAH: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: His other houses were blown up by ISIS. Now, ISIS is Sunni, but lots of Sunnis in Iraq like Jubarah fight against them, and he says he was happy to have help from the Shiite forces.
JUBARAH: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: In fact, the Shiites helped organize Sunni tribal volunteers to hold the city. But some of these Shiite groups are accused of abuses against Sunnis, and many Sunnis fear them. When my recorder switched off, some tell me the Shiite forces are definitely in charge here. And sometimes they steal cars or kidnap people for ransom. The longer they stay, the more resentment among Sunnis could build, the kind of resentment that can make ISIS seem like an appealing option.
JUBARAH: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: The Sunni Sheikh Jubarah acknowledges the tension, but says the Shiite forces won't be here forever. But they are going to be around for a while. I meet Moin Kadhimi, a leader of one of the biggest Shiite paramilitary forces. He says that as long as the Iraqi army is weak, his men will be needed against ISIS, or Daesh as it is in Arabic.
MOIN KADHIMI: (Through interpreter) Iraqi army cannot hold the ground and we are afraid maybe if we going to leave the army maybe they will retreat back as happened before and Daesh will come back.
FORDHAM: The U.S. has condemned several of the Shiite groups. Some are even classified as terrorists, and they're backed by Iran. The head of the provincial council for Tikrit, Ahmed al Kareem, tells me, well, if the U.S. had done more to fight ISIS, the Shiite fighters wouldn't have played such a big role.
AHMED AL KAREEM: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: For now, when he sees the fighters and even their Iranian advisers, he shakes their hands because they're helping keep ISIS out of his city. And that makes it possible for his people to come home. Alice Fordham, NPR News, Tikrit.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Ten years ago today, Bob Woodruff was at the top of his profession. He had just become co-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight" when, back on assignment in Iraq, a roadside bomb changed everything. He beat the odds to survive and to return to the network as a reporter. Bob Woodruff recently spoke to NPR's David Folkenflik about his unexpected path.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: It made sense Bob Woodruff would venture once more to Iraq in January 2006, even in his first month as co-anchor.
BOB WOODRUFF: I never wanted to sit at that desk and be trapped there in any way. Peter Jennings was just, you know, a hero to many of us, and he really loved to be out in the field. In many ways, that's what I wanted to do.
FOLKENFLIK: Woodruff says he gave little thought to the risk.
WOODRUFF: Maybe I'll get shot in the hand or maybe I'll be tackled or I'll break my foot. Maybe something like that, but I don't think we really think about getting killed.
FOLKENFLIK: David Westin was president of ABC News at the time.
DAVID WESTIN: Bob was the first one wanting to be out on the frontlines of any breaking news story, whether it was the Balkans or whether - after 9/11, it was Pakistan. I mean, that was his first instinct.
FOLKENFLIK: So Woodruff returned to Iraq and traveled with an army unit. A military driver there pointed out the sites.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is the main artery going through Baghdad. It's known for IEDs.
FOLKENFLIK: Here's Woodruff in Taji, north of Baghdad.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WOODRUFF: This is one of the fixed base areas that the Iraqi military is protecting.
FOLKENFLIK: Along with cameraman Doug Vogt, Woodruff clambered into the back of an Iraqi tank. They decided to tape a report standing up out of a top hatch. Woodruff was warned to get back inside.
WOODRUFF: And apparently three seconds or so after the driver said that, there was an IED explosion just off to the left.
FOLKENFLIK: Woodruff tells me precisely what happened next.
WOODRUFF: Metal and sand and pebbles and rocks all shattered the left part of my face and my jaw. Some of these little rocks went all the way through my neck, passed the veins and the arteries and ended up in the artery on the right side my neck, went all the way through and went past the esophagus and the trachea and didn't actually kill me.
FOLKENFLIK: Off the air, producers scrambled to prepare an obituary. Doug Vogt was injured but out of danger relatively quickly. Yet, a series of near miracles had to occur for Woodruff to live. An interpreter pressed his hand over Woodruff's neck to quell the bleeding. Military surgeons had to remove a chunk of skull to accommodate his swelling brain. He was back stateside within a few days receiving expert care in a medically-induced coma that lasted five weeks. When Woodruff awoke, he embarked upon years of therapy. Among other things, it was hard for him to find the right words.
WOODRUFF: You know, I can always make my points. There's no question about it. Sometimes there's names that are really hard for me to remember because there's only one of them. There's no synonym for a name.
FOLKENFLIK: Journalism had been an accidental calling. Bored by corporate law, Woodruff took a leave to teach in Beijing, and in 1989, served as an interpreter for CBS News during the Tiananmen Square crackdown. That led to local TV news and then to ABC in the mid-1990s. His passion for reporting persisted. A year after nearly dying, Bob Woodruff returned to the air to cover severely wounded veterans. He even went back to Iraq under tightly controlled conditions. Woodruff knows he'll never be anchor again.
WOODRUFF: You know, I do think about that every once in a while. I certainly did back then. People fight to get back what they got, and they have anger that why didn't they get that and why didn't they keep it. There's no secret. I had the same. In that sense, that's why I relate so well to those who've been wounded in wars.
FOLKENFLIK: Woodruff's wife, Lee, learned that many families of severely wounded troops could not afford to take time off from jobs to be with them during extended recoveries. Together, they set up the Bob Woodruff Foundation, built in part on a yearly concert called Stand Up for Heroes, with performers such as John Oliver and Bruce Springsteen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WORKING ON THE HIGHWAY")
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: (Singing) Working on the highway and laying down a blacktop.
FOLKENFLIK: The foundation has given away more than $30 million in grants for programs aiding servicemembers and their families. Woodruff says the lessons he shares with wounded troops apply to him, too.
WOODRUFF: You've got to, at some point, just stop dreaming of being exactly the way that you were. There's a lot of moments in your life or things that you're doing in your life will be better than they were before. The work that we've done with our foundation, I think it's the most satisfying, fulfilling thing I've ever done in my life.
FOLKENFLIK: Last year, he returned to China as ABC's new Beijing correspondent. It might take him a little more effort than the typical reporter to turn a story. Bob Woodruff is OK with that. David Folkenflik, NPR News.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
What are you so angry about? What are you so anxious about? Those are the questions we've been posing to American voters. It's a nationwide conversation we've been conducting this week. It started on MORNING EDITION and continued on NPR member stations across the country. Among them was KQED in San Francisco where host Michael Krasny fielded calls.
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MICHAEL KRASNY, BYLINE: Ky (ph) joins us. First of all, what are you anxious about, Ky?
KY: Well, being a high school senior, I'm just really anxious about the cost of college. You know, I'm looking at the UC systems and out-of-state systems, and, wow, their costs are just out of the roof.
INSKEEP: New Hampshire Public Radio also took calls and message. Voters, of course, go to the polls there on February 9 in the first presidential primary. Here's radio host Laura Knoy.
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LAURA KNOY, BYLINE: We also got a Facebook comment from Joe. Joes says, I'm 100 times more concerned about our disintegrating infrastructure than I am about terrorists. Joe says, I'm more likely to get killed by a bridge falling on my head than I am by ISIS.
INSKEEP: That's a comment on the air in New Hampshire. While in Cincinnati, Ohio, reporters from WVXU talked with voters on the streets.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: The own the only thing I worry about is the Obamacare. I don't want that repealed.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: I'm really heartbroken about our schools because I have a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old, and they can't write. They don't know how to sign their signature.
INSKEEP: While reporters from member station KERA in Dallas talked with Republicans at a straw poll.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: The evangelicals feel that they have been left out. They worked and worked and worked for all these candidates, and then they get there and, by golly, they don't represent them when they get there.
INSKEEP: And Georgia Public Broadcasting producers fanned out across the state to ask people about the presidential race.
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STACY JONES: My name is Stacy Jones (ph) and I'm 28 years old. And I feel like it's a show, like a clown show. I don't feel as interested in it as I did the previous election.
MARQUIS SMITH: My name is Marquis Smith (ph) and I'm 23 years old. I'm feeling quite a bit anxious about the election. I feel like with major elections, especially presidential elections, it really brings out the worst in people. And it's just like, is this really what our American government is coming to, to - making a mockery it seems like. Makes you worry a little bit.
INSKEEP: Those are some of the voices heard on public radio stations around this country as we asked Americans what they're anxious about in this election season.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
There is plenty of debate about this week's shooting of a militant who had occupied a wildlife refuge in Oregon. Conspiracy theories have spread about that shooting, so now the FBI has released a video of the incident. It's aerial footage showing the death of Robert LaVoy Finicum. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Shortly after the Oregon state medical examiner confirmed it was Robert LaVoy Finicum, of Fredonia, Ariz., that was shot and killed, the FBI special agent in charge of Oregon, Greg Bretzing, addressed reporters in downtown Burns last night.
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GREG BRETZING: Actions have consequences. The FBI and Oregon State Police tried to effect these arrests peacefully.
SIEGLER: As the hushed room watched on two flat-screen monitors, Bretzing gave a play-by-play of the graphic aerial surveillance video of Tuesday's arrests of occupation leader Ammon Bundy and six others. After Bundy is apprehended, a second vehicle speeds away - a white pick-up driven by LaVoy Finicum. At one point, it stops, and one occupant surrenders.
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BRETZING: For a period of almost four minutes, while commands were being given, the occupants of that vehicle refused to comply with those commands.
SIEGLER: Finicum then sped off, attempting to blow through a nearby police checkpoint, but instead swerves into a snow bank, nearly hitting an FBI agent. He then jumps out of the truck with his hands up. Two Oregon state police approach him, guns drawn. A moment later, Finicum appears to be reaching toward his waist.
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BRETZING: There's a scene in the video. He makes a movement towards the inside right panel of his jacket, where there was located a loaded semiautomatic pistol.
SIEGLER: Finicum is then shot and falls in the snow. The FBI says in addition to the handgun he carried, there were three other loaded weapons in the truck. Now, the circumstances around Finicum's death have been the source of speculation these last few days, especially among self-styled militia groups. Some have called on their members to convene here in Burns Saturday to protest the FBI. With a few militants still holed up out at the refuge, Bretzing again tried to reassure this anxious community that agents are working around the clock to negotiate a peaceful resolution.
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BRETZING: We know you want your town back. We know you want your community back. And we know you want this concluded as soon as possible.
SIEGLER: That press conference capped a dramatic couple of hours yesterday. For a brief moment, it had even appeared the occupation was nearing its conclusion. An FBI checkpoint was cleared and, without explanation, a few of us who happened to be there were able to start driving into the refuge - only to find a new makeshift checkpoint about a mile or so from the occupied buildings and a stern warning from an Oregon state trooper shouting through a megaphone.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Turn around. Go back to the West from the other side of the Orange Road sign. Go now.
SIEGLER: On this road, a shaken Barbara Berg said she had just left the refuge, where she had been trying to convince the remaining militants to leave, telling them it's not worth dying.
BARBARA BERG: It's not over. There's work to do. But this is not how to get it done.
SIEGLER: Berg, a sympathizer who came to the refuge from her home in Nevada, says the FBI let her stay these past few days within their perimeter in hopes she could negotiate with the occupiers.
BERG: I guess it's just all sinking, you know. I don't know. Maybe I can't help them anymore.
SIEGLER: Still, the chorus of calls to end the occupation, even from Ammon Bundy himself, continues to grow. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Burns, Ore.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
For a short time last night, it was possible to glimpse what the presidential race might have been without Donald Trump. His absence from last night's debate left the other candidates to clash. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz challenged each other's records. Jeb Bush impressed more critics than in the past. In the first of two reports, NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson has the story on the man who wasn't there, as well the candidates who were.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Trump has dominated the GOP primary from the beginning with his big personality and his big poll numbers. And last night, his absence was a big presence. The first question was a softball to Ted Cruz about the man Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly called the elephant not in the room.
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TED CRUZ: Let me say, I'm a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way...
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CRUZ: ...I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief.
LIASSON: Cruz, who was leading in the polls in Iowa until Trump subjected him to a barrage of attacks, is hoping Trump's decision to boycott the debate turns out to be a big mistake. Jeb Bush also took on Trump, saying that presidential candidates need to remember that words have consequences.
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JEB BUSH: Donald Trump, for example - I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him. Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Disparaging women, disparaging Hispanics, that's not a sign of strength.
LIASSON: But beyond that, there was a surprisingly little discussion of Trump, who is leading the polls in Iowa and everywhere else. Instead, the candidates went after Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and each other. The moderators played a series of video clips highlighting Marco Rubio's past statements on immigration - statements he has now abandoned. Rubio tried to explain his current position.
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MARCO RUBIO: We are not going to round up and deport 12 million people, but we're not going to go around handing out citizenship cards either. There will be a process, we will see what the American people are willing to support. But it will not be unconstitutional executive orders like the ones Barack Obama has forced on us.
MEGYN KELLY: Gov. Bush, do agree that Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise?
BUSH: Well, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds, but it ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess.
LIASSON: Ted Cruz was the main target last night. He is locked in a battle with Trump for first place in Iowa, but he's also fighting Marco Rubio, who wants to place second, or a strong third. Here's how Rubio reacted after the moderators played old clips of Cruz looking like he, too, had flip-flopped on immigration.
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RUBIO: This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and he's the most conservative guy and everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Now, you want to trump Trump on immigration.
KELLY: Go ahead, Sen. Cruz.
CRUZ: You know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty. When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty. We both made the identical promises, but when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous.
LIASSON: After that question, Chris Christie jumped in to argue that governors like him make things happen while senators just talk and talk.
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CHRIS CHRISTIE: This is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like...
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CHRISTIE: ...I feel like I need a Washington-to-English dictionary converter. I mean, stop the Washington bull, and let's get things done.
LIASSON: In the end, the Trump-less debate was a little more subdued than the others, with fewer theatrics and personal insults. Three days from now, Iowa voters will tell us whether Trump's decision to boycott the debate helped him or hurt him in Iowa. Mara Liasson, NPR News.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: This is Don Gonyea. Satellite trucks lined the street outside the small auditorium at Drake University where Donald Trump's alternate programming for the night was taking place.
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DONALD TRUMP: That's so nice. Thank you, thank you, man. That is a as a vet. There's a vet. We love our vets.
GONYEA: Officially, it was an event to raise money for veterans groups. Trump said in just 24 hours, they raised more than $5 million. But the night wasn't all about veterans. Right off the bat, Trump spoke of the debate he was skipping
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TRUMP: You have to stick up for your rights. When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights.
GONYEA: Trump took the stage 15 minutes after the debate began, clearly looking to steal audience away from Fox News. It was his feud with one of the moderators, Megyn Kelly, that caused him to skip that event and schedule his own.
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TRUMP: You look at all the cameras - it's like the Academy Awards. This is like the Academy Awards.
GONYEA: And he had a couple special guests in the audience - presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, who dropped by after participating in the so-called undercard debate earlier in the evening. Each is struggling to get attention in a race dominated by Trump, so for them it was a rare moment in a big spotlight. Here's Santorum.
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RICK SANTORUM: I'll stand a little bit over here so I'm not photographed with the Trump sign.
GONYEA: Santorum joked that he's supporting a different candidate, but he's happy to work with Trump to help veterans. Huckabee added that the sacrifices of veterans make free elections possible. Trump then introduced a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, John Wayne Walding, who lost a leg in combat and was awarded the Purple Heart. He spoke of the insecurity he felt adjusting to life back home but also of the pride he feels when someone tells him thank you.
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JOHN WAYNE WALDING: So when I hear those two words, and somebody says thank you, I say, you're worth it because you are worth fighting for, all right. God bless you.
GONYEA: Trump wrapped up the evening with a low-key version of his standard stump speech, and there was one more dig at what was happening across town. Isn't this better than that debate, he said. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Americans are helping us to answer a question this morning - why so many are anxious or angry. Earlier this week, we heard some reasons from NPR's Mara Liasson - economic change, terrorism, the demographic shifts of this country. Next, some NPR member stations posed this question to their listeners, and that includes KNPR in Las Vegas, one of dozens hearing from residents on a call-in show, as well as on the street. Carrie Kaufman is host of the show called State Of Nevada. Welcome to the program.
CARRIE KAUFMAN, BYLINE: Thank you for having me.
INSKEEP: What did you hear when you opened up this question to your listeners?
KAUFMAN: The No. 1 thing we heard was Trump. Everybody that we talked to was anxious about Trump. And equal to that, people were anxious about the media as it pertained to Trump. People thought that he was getting too much media, and they couldn't listen to media or watch media anymore because it was scaring them too much.
INSKEEP: Now, this is really interesting. Mara Liasson identified Donald Trump as the guy who's called himself the angry candidate, who's embraced that mantle, as Trump put it. You're saying that people who oppose Trump are angry or anxious about Trump.
KAUFMAN: When we got down to it, when we actually started talking to people, we found that they were anxious about other things that Trump was exploiting. They were anxious about this sort of being disconnected from each other.
INSKEEP: So you were also talking to people outside of a grocery store in your listening area. And let's listen to a couple of the comments you heard; first, from a man named Nicholas (ph).
NICHOLAS: There is a big age discrimination going on when it comes to job in this country that nobody talks about. I have three engineering degree, 22 years of experience, and I'm working minimum wage as a security guard.
INSKEEP: There is something we could talk about for quite some time - people in their 50s, people in their 60s, who feel like they've run out of options.
KAUFMAN: And who feel like they were working and they were working full-time and then the economic crisis happened. And they were the victims of that, but they haven't been able to get back up whereas the rest - we always talk about the rest of the economy recovering.
INSKEEP: Did you get a sense that people were eager or even relieved to get a chance to say what was on their minds?
KAUFMAN: Yes. I would say that about 1 in 3 people stopped to talk to me. There were people who came - who went in and then came back out and said, hey, I want to talk to you. They wanted to talk about their lives, what was happening to them. They're scared.
INSKEEP: Let's hear one of the voices you're describing here. This is a man who identified himself as Frank.
FRANK: The crime in Las Vegas is probably one of my biggest worries. It seems like every day someone gets killed in this town. You know, you flash through your Facebook and it's always something bad. I had a handgun for 30 years. I've never used it, but I went out and bought a shotgun because I feel if someone comes in I don't want to miss.
KAUFMAN: And Frank specifically said he's reminded of the crime every night. Even though it's relatively low that what he's tuned into is telling him that it's actually high. And that is what is scaring him.
INSKEEP: Carrie Kaufman, thanks very much.
KAUFMAN: Thank you for having me, Steve.
INSKEEP: She's host of "State Of Nevada" on KNPR in Las Vegas, one of dozens of stations across the country sampling American opinion this week.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Good morning I'm Renee Montagne. A classic Super Bowl commercial from 1980 depicts Pittsburgh Steelers' Mean Joe Greene limping off the field, scowling. A kid approaches - offers him a Coke. Mean Joe gulps it down and with a big smile, tosses the kid his jersey - a sweet portrait of superstar and fan, and, of course, the transformative power of Coke. The kid, all grown up, and Mean Joe will reunite in a new commercial airing just ahead of Super Bowl 50. It's MORNING EDITION.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Spend a few minutes with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and you sense the breadth of his job.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
You can ask about trying to capture the ISIS capital, Raqqa. As we're about to hear, Carter's goal is to see Raqqa fall this year.
MONTAGNE: You can also ask about maternity leave for American soldiers. That, too, is part of Carter's job managing a vast organization. And yesterday, Carter announced a change for new mothers.
INSKEEP: Across the military, they now get 12 weeks off. That is fewer weeks than the Navy wanted, but it's a big increase for the Army, where the old standard was six weeks. Carter spoke with us about his effort to retain military personnel as they fight one years-long conflict after another.
ASH CARTER: It's an all-volunteer force, which means we compete for people and talent. And we now are having a generation of service members who, in very large numbers, have families. And where we can make reasonable accommodations that make their family life easier, it's going to be easier for us to hang on to these gifted people.
INSKEEP: As I'm sure you know very well, some Army officials, as they looked at the prospect of increasing the current six weeks of maternity leave, what they saw was effectively reducing their force by several thousand troops at the same moment that you're reducing the force anyway below the levels that a commission has recently found that would be advisable. Are you going too far here?
CARTER: Well, that's exactly the reason why we studied it so carefully. When we grant them additional parental leave, there's a period of time when they're not available to the force. And that's why we arrived at the 12-week number. And you're right, some people wanted it to be lower. Some people wanted it to be higher. But all of our data and studies and the advice of our senior uniformed leaders suggested that 12 was not only the right number, but is in fact, by the standards of other institutions in society, generous enough that we could compete for talent, which we have to do.
INSKEEP: We're, of course, talking about the future in effect here - the long-term future of the military, which is the heart of your job, Mr. Secretary. I'd like to know, as you look toward the military you're going to leave when the Obama administration leaves office, are you expecting that there will need to be a long-term force based in Afghanistan?
CARTER: Well, our plan for Afghanistan is to have a presence there which helps the Afghan security forces maintain security in the country. And we have made a long-term commitment to that, as have all the members of the coalition. But the idea is that we have been progressively turning over their own security to the Afghan security forces as we strengthen them.
INSKEEP: Do you have to be prepared to be deploying or continuing to deploy military forces for years into the future in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria?
CARTER: Well, as I said, in Afghanistan, our plan - and we expect to be able to carry out that plan - is to wind down the force there. In Syria and Iraq, we're looking actually to do more because we need to accelerate the defeat of ISIL. The president has instructed us to do that and has indicated that he's willing to consider proposals to do more. And we've given him proposals to do more, and he has granted every proposal we've asked him. And do I expect more in the future? Yes. We're looking for opportunities to do more. So we've got a lot of work to do with respect to ISIL, but I'm confident we'll do it and we'll win.
INSKEEP: As you know, military strategists talk about destroying an enemy's centers of gravity. Many see the center of gravity for ISIS as simply the fact of a caliphate. It's of huge propaganda value. Can that ever really be destroyed?
CARTER: Yes, it can be destroyed because they say it's Raqqa and Syria. And they say that they have the - a state established in Syria and Iraq. That's why it's so important for us to take Raqqa away from ISIL and restore it to the people who live there, and to take Mosul, in Iraq, which is Iraq's second largest city, also occupied by ISIL, away from ISIL. So it's plain to all. There's not going to be a country called the Islamic State with that kind of ideology. And that's the first step towards defeating them worldwide.
INSKEEP: Do you see a way that Raqqa would be captured during 2016?
CARTER: Well, we certainly want to do that, and we're formulating our plans and gathering capabilities in order to do that. We want to retake Raqqa, retake Mosul, and destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria as soon as possible.
INSKEEP: What are the implications for you that it is now ever more clear that a political solution is not particularly near? There are peace talks. They're starting a little late. The different parties are not even in the same room. This is going to take a while, if it works at all.
CARTER: Well, we do hope that the civil war needs to be put to a rest in Syria because remember - that's what gave ISIL a foothold in Syria in the first place. In the long run, to give the people of Syria as a whole the future that they deserve, there has to be a resolution of the civil war. That means a new government of Syria that is moderate - not radical - and that can govern the place decently. That's the path the United States is going to be on. But we can't wait for that to occur to fight ISIL. We need to get with fighting ISIL now.
INSKEEP: Final thing, Mr. Secretary, President Obama's administration can be seen in part as an effort to get the United States out of a state of permanent war. The president did get U.S. troops out of Iraq for a time. There was an effort to end the war in Afghanistan. In spite of those efforts, do you feel that when this administration leaves you will be leaving your successor a state of permanent war?
CARTER: Well, we have major responsibilities around the world. With respect to Afghanistan, which we talked about earlier, I think we're winding down our involvement there and successfully transferring security to Afghan security forces. We obviously have enormous work to do in Syria and Iraq. Is there any shortage of challenges in the future? No. But we're up to it, and basically optimistic about our security future.
INSKEEP: Even if it means a state of permanent war - you're always fighting somewhere.
CARTER: Well, I think means a state of permanent vigilance at a minimum. And that's why we need to keep our force at the cutting edge. And we continue to have real challenges ahead, Syria and Iraq and ISIL being just one of them. That's the price of leadership, but that's what we owe the American population.
INSKEEP: Secretary Carter, thanks very much for your time.
CARTER: Good to be with you, Steve. Thank you.
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INSKEEP: Ash Carter is President Obama's Secretary of Defense. He spoke at the Pentagon yesterday on the same day that he announced a policy change - 12 weeks of maternity leave for military personnel.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
There is a lot on the line in Iowa for Bernie Sanders. If the senator from Vermont wins the caucuses next Monday, he'll gain momentum that could transform the Democratic race for president. If Hillary Clinton wins, her once seemingly-inevitable campaign could start looking that way again. NPR's Tamara Keith is on the road in Iowa, and brings us this report on the Sanders campaign.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Just as it became clear Bernie Sanders had a real shot at winning Iowa, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned up her criticism, arguing Sanders has big ideas, but they're not based in political reality. The Washington Post editorial board said simply Sanders is selling fiction. But Sanders told supporters in Fairfield, Iowa, he doesn't buy it.
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BERNIE SANDERS: Now, I know I'm criticized every day for thinking too big that the United States of America can do all of these things - provide education to our kids, provide healthcare to all people, end this disgraceful level of income and wealth inequality.
KEITH: Sanders drew a crowd of 900 people in a town of only about 9,000. Several said he was getting them engaged in politics in a way they haven't been before. And if they show up - if turnout is strong - then Sanders says he will win.
REBECCA HAVEN: (Singing) Oh, we need a human revolution. The '60s just were not good enough.
KEITH: Rebecca Haven sat outside of the event performing a song that echoed many of the themes in Sanders' speeches. She's planning to caucus for the first time.
HAVEN: You know, politics is politics, so this is first guy where I'm like, oh, my gosh. He's not a politician. He's a human.
KEITH: A human who, as the campaign heats up, looks a lot more like any other politician who's been in Congress for 26 years and is running for president. He's doing interviews from a charter jet and traversing Iowa in a big campaign bus. Sanders has begun sounding the part a bit more, too, drawing contrasts with Clinton as he did last night at a rally in Burlington, Iowa.
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SANDERS: Check the record. Find out where my opponent was on all of these issues. It is great to be against the war after you vote for the war. It is great to be for gay rights after you insult the entire gay community by supporting DOMA.
KEITH: DOMA is the Defense of Marriage Ac, the same-sex marriage ban Bill Clinton signed into law. The Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 2013. Sanders listed other positions he held that went against the grain at the time and where Hillary Clinton agreed with the consensus.
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SANDERS: What leadership means is not simply following the majority. It means having the guts at certain moments to say, you know what, I don't care what the Washington Post editorial board has to say.
KEITH: Afterward, I asked supporter Rebecca Mueller what she thinks of these newly-sharpened contrasts.
REBECCA MUELLER: I know you're asking, is he going negative?
KEITH: Yeah, essentially.
But Mueller says what Sanders is doing isn't really going negative.
MUELLER: Drawing those contrasts to Hillary when she's reporting this leadership - I'd like a leader that takes us in a direction worth following. So if he wants to draw those differences out, that's great with me.
KEITH: Put another way, if Sanders needs to go a little negative, his supporters seem quite willing to stay with him. Tamara Keith, NPR News, West Des Moines, Iowa.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is in Iowa today. No surprise she's trying to fend off rival Bernie Sanders before next week's caucuses. But Clinton is fighting something else as well - multiple investigations into her decision to use a private email server as secretary of state. With us now is NPR justice correspondent, Carrie Johnson. Good morning.
CARRIE JOHNSON, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, the FBI investigation into Clinton's email has been underway for months. Is there any news on that one?
JOHNSON: Well, Renee, the Justice Department and the FBI have been keeping a close hold on any information about the investigation for clear reasons. It's really politically sensitive. But it appears to involve whether any secrets were compromised and how that came to happen. The inquiry involves, Renee, not just Hillary Clinton but some of her close aides who sent her messages. And Clinton has said she's not been interviewed by the FBI, but that's something we'd expect to happen much later near the end of an investigation. Here's what Clinton said this week to the Quad-City Times about her use of a private email server.
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HILLARY CLINTON: It was a mistake. So who wants to put people through all of this? I don't want to go through it. I don't want to put, you know, a lot of my friends through it. So...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah.
CLINTON: ...It was a mistake.
JOHNSON: So to be clear, Renee, Clinton says she never sent or received anything marked classified, in other words, no intent to do anything wrong.
MONTAGNE: And, Carrie, that FBI investigation is far from the only scrutiny those Clinton emails are getting. Who else is taking a look at all of this?
JOHNSON: Well, for starters reporters - a lot of reporters and a lot of conservative groups. There are dozens of ongoing federal lawsuits to get copies of those email messages. The State Department's already made public tens of thousands of pages, and more of those emails are supposed to come out later today, Friday. But they won't be the last batch. I'm hearing we expect - we should expect at least one more email dump next month. And that's after primary voting is underway in several states.
MONTAGNE: And, you know, though, voters don't seem too interested in these emails. It's pretty much the political arena that's focused on the issue. How is it playing out in the political area these days?
JOHNSON: It's been a significant element on the campaign trail. Just in the last week or so, George W. Bush's attorney general, Michael Mukasey, published an op-ed that accuses Clinton of mishandling classified information, which is a violation of the law. And, Renee, it came up last night in the GOP debate on Fox News Channel with Senator Marco Rubio. Here he is.
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MARCO RUBIO: Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander in chief of the United States. In fact one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself...
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RUBIO: ...Because Hillary Clinton - Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server.
MONTAGNE: Well, amusing but again Clinton denies that. What are Republicans in Congress saying about all this?
JOHNSON: Renee, Congress is not going to be in session very much this year between elections and their vacation schedules. But oversight of Hillary Clinton is going to be a key part of the Republican agenda on Capitol Hill. For instance, Senator Charles Grassley, who leads the Judiciary Committee, has sent a lot of letters to Clinton, the State Department, the Justice Department demanding information. He wants to know what the FBI is doing and whether federal agents are investigating any possible dealings between the State Department and donors to the Clinton Foundation, too.
MONTAGNE: Carrie, thanks very much.
JOHNSON: You're welcome.
MONTAGNE: That's NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This next story underlines how much we don't know about the Zika virus. That's the virus that's been linked to many birth defects - or so doctors think. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro traveled to the Brazilian city of Salvador, where researchers are trying to answer a question that seemed like it was already answered.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: And that question is, is the Zika virus responsible for the rise in the cases of microcephaly that doctors are seeing across the country? So far, doctors suspect the link is there, but they're trying to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. This week, director Antonio Raimundo de Almeida at the Roberto Santos General Hospital in Salvador, in the state of Bahia, gathered 16 mothers with their microcephalic babies for a battery of tests.
ANTONIO RAIMUNDO DE ALMEIDA: We do a full history. We do blood tests - everything. It's a full team
GARCIA-NAVARRO: In the waiting room, the mothers cradled their infants, who all have the telltale small cranium of microcephaly. To be clear, microcephaly is a symptom and not a disease. The condition happens when a fetus's brain doesn't develop in the mother's womb, so the skull doesn't expand to a normal size - hence the small head. And there are many things that can cause it, Dr. Almeida says.
ALMEIDA: Toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, syphilis...
GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...As well as Rubella and genetic abnormalities. So first, they need to rule out that any of those have caused these cases of microcephaly. A team of six doctors - from a neuropediatrician to an ophthalmologist - have gotten a good look at large group of affected infants. And the doctors have made some startling discoveries. Suspected cases of Zika-related microcephaly have some unique markers.
In one of the rooms, Dr. Adriana Mattos examines 3-month-old Barbara Antonia, who has microcephaly.
ADRIANA MATTOS: (Speaking Portuguese).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Dr. Mattos turns the child on her chest and points out that Barbara Antonia appears to be able to lift her head, and that she has unusual upper-body strength.
MATTOS: (Speaking Portuguese).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But in fact, what she says is that in many of these Zika-related cases, the muscles in the upper body and neck are unusually stiff, which is very different than what we find in other infections that cause microcephaly, she says. Dr. Joao Ricardo de Almeida is a neuroradiologist, and he's been reviewing dozens of ultrasound brain scans of the microcephalic infants.
JOAO RICARDO DE ALMEIDA: You see, like, very profound abnormalities. Usually it's striking. It's really scary to look at, you know.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says mothers who were infected in the first trimester have infants who seem to suffer the most damage, and that kind of damage also appears to be different.
J. ALMEIDA: Regarding Zika, there seems to be some particular abnormalities that we do not see in, for example, toxoplasmosis or cytomegalovirus or rubella.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: If you look at a brain, which we've all seen, we have these ridges like coral, and these babies don't have that.
J. ALMEIDA: They don't. It's like a smooth rock.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And he says the degree of damage that he's seeing will probably mean that rehabilitation will be very difficult.
J. ALMEIDA: They're not going to be functional. They're going to be having to, you know, be taken care of, like, for the rest of their lives.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Dr. Albert Ko from Yale University has been collaborating with Bahia's study. He says while microcephaly is getting all the attention, the virus could be having a far wider range of effects on fetuses.
ALBERT KO: We are seeing cases in the hospital of children who have normal-sized heads but are having neurological lesions and eye lesions. And we're extremely concerned about that because that may suggest that these cases of microcephaly - those 4,000 cases - are just the tip of the iceberg.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Children could appear normal, but may suffer a range of developmental delays, he says. In other words, scientists say, the deeper they investigate this outbreak, the more worrying it becomes. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Salvador, Brazil.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have answers this morning to a question about this election year. We asked voters around the country why so many feel so anxious or so angry. The nationwide conversation started on MORNING EDITION and then moved to many local public stations, which heard from voters on their talk shows. Dozens of stations in dozens of cities picked up the theme of voter anxiety, including WJCT in Jacksonville, Fla., where Melissa Ross hosts a call-in show called First Coast Connect. Good morning.
MELISSA ROSS: Good morning, Steve. Good to be with you.
INSKEEP: So when you ask people why they're anxious or why they're angry, what do they say?
ROSS: By and large, the overwhelming response we got, Steve, is that people feel that they don't have any control over the process. They have this overwhelming sense, whether they're on the right or the left of the spectrum, that elites are controlling the levers of power, and that they don't have a say, whether they perceive those elites to be political or economic.
INSKEEP: Well, let's listen to what it sounded like as you brought some callers onto your program.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROSS: Chris is in Mandarin. Hi, Chris, go ahead.
CHRIS: You were talking about the things that were making we voters a little anxious. And I'm kind of getting sick of people trying to polarize us, believing that, you know, it seems to be that if you hit one trigger point here, you can get an emotional response that will be enough to just keep people occupied for a moment while you do things behind their backs.
INSKEEP: Was the actual caller response polarized in any way?
ROSS: It can be at times. That's another overwhelming sentiment, too - this sense that the parties don't work together well, and that people are being pulled apart - the sense that common-sense solutions can't be found.
INSKEEP: When our colleague Mara Liasson kicked off this discussion early this week, she pointed to one reason for voter anxiety - an increasingly diverse country. It's on its way to becoming a majority minority country. Did people identify that as a source of anxiety in any way?
ROSS: You know, it's interesting that you say that. I'll tell you a story. Here in Jacksonville, we have one of the largest Arab-American communities in the United States. And locally, a bit of a controversy flared up when group of local politicians, including the mayor of Jacksonville, expressed concern about Syrian refugees coming into this city. Well, Jacksonville has the fifth-largest Syrian-American community in America. And so when you bring that down to the local level, the issues can become quite complex. And it's really interesting to cover and to discuss when you host a local talk show like the one I work on.
INSKEEP: Melissa Ross, host of First Coast Connect on WJCT in Jacksonville, one of dozens of stations sampling American opinion this week. Melissa, thanks.
ROSS: Thank you, Steve.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. This was the first clue for British police seeking a pickpocket. They saw two men at a concert crowd in Birmingham with their pants taped closed at the ankles. Police concluded they were dropping stolen items down their pants. A search of one man revealed 38 mobile phones. Obviously, this scheme would never have worked. Even if police hadn't spotted them, he would have been sure to accidentally butt dial half of England. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: And I'm David Greene in Iowa, where the caucuses are just three days away - the first actual voting in the 2016 presidential election. We've been traveling around the state, and the other night we were in the rural western part of Iowa, where Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been getting a lot of support. To get an idea of what exactly people are hungry for, we met up with a group of voters at a pizza parlor in the small town of Correctionville. No, it is not a town with a prison. But here's the thing - maybe it's appropriate because many in this farm town think the country needs some correcting. All you have to do is look at the ski cap Addison Law is wearing. She's the 9-year-old girl guarding her slice of pizza at the head of the table.
Oh, Addison, you have your Trump hat on.
ADDISON: Yeah.
GREENE: Your mom said that some people bother you sometimes when you wear it.
ADDISON: Yeah.
GREENE: What do they say?
ADDISON: They don't like Trump. And I say to keep it to their selves.
GREENE: You stick up for yourself. I like that.
Her mom, Rachel Raak Law, went with a Trump button. She's a single mom who's been volunteering for the campaign. And she tells Addison and her younger brother and sister that a President Trump would keep them safe.
RACHEL RAAK LAW: I mean, that's what I talk with these guys about.
GREENE: With your kids?
LAW: Yes - our security. They are not going to know what it's like to grow up without the threat of terrorism. They don't know what that's like. I do. The rest of us do. We've lost that. They will live constantly by the fear of terrorism.
GREENE: Now, there's a third generation of Raak women at this table - Rachel's mom, Arlene. She's been thinking about other Republican candidates, like Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson. Her daughter, though, has been a one-woman turnout operation for Trump, targeting everybody, including mom.
LAW: And I talk to her, sometimes an hour at a time
ARLENE RAAK: Well, daughters don't tell mothers what to do.
GREENE: So you're undecided still. Who are you thinking about?
A. RAAK: I am not. I am open-minded.
GREENE: You don't even have, like, a current list of favorites.
A. RAAK: Nope, I really don't.
LAW: Yes, you do. You're between two.
A. RAAK: I like Huckabee, but I know he probably can't beat Hillary. I probably like Rubio. Carson - I think he's good, I just wish he had a little more zip in him.
GREENE: And Rachel's dad, David, is struggling over the choices, too.
DAVID RAAK: The unfortunate part about it, the people that I would like to caucus for - and here again comes the politics - I know don't have a chance in hell of being elected because of their position - the way, the positions they've taken, I should say. A Huckabee, a Santorum, a Ben Carson - men of character and conviction.
GREENE: As for Trump, this couple wouldn't be opposed to caucusing for him. Arlene Raak likes his brash attitude. She grew up in New Jersey.
A. RAAK: People find him offensive for what he says, but I think he's East Coast. He is what he is. He's - yeah, that's the way people talk out there.
GREENE: But here's the thing. Arlene and David Raak seem more passionate about issues than any single candidate. They agree with her daughter about wanting to make the country feel safe. David Raak says he's been frustrated when President Obama has responded to mass shootings by calling for tighter gun restrictions.
D. RAAK: I own several guns - that's fine. But it's - when have gun sales really taken off? When the fear, when the rumor went around that Barack Obama wanted to take our guns away - that's when gun sales took off like crazy. Do you think they all bought guns because they needed to protect themselves? Not all of them. Some of them, yes. But you know why? Because they don't want to be told you can't do this. It's control. And they control your guns, they want to control your life from cradle to grave. We don't want the government in our face. Get out and leave us alone.
GREENE: Which is exactly how Shelly Cass feels as well. She's a family friend of the Raaks. She's sitting to my right with her husband, Don. He's a local Republican Party chairman, and he won't reveal who he's caucusing for. Mrs. Cass, though, is happy to say that she can't decide between Trump and Ted Cruz.
GREENE: And what's the most important issue for you?
SHELLY CASS: The security of our country. It's - we have no security anymore. It's just like with the gun rights, you know? They're trying - the Democrats are trying to take them away, and we need to have our guns. I don't feel safe anymore unless I have my gun. My husband has his gun, and my daughters and their husbands.
DON CASS: Everybody in our family is armed.
LAW: Never go up to their house and say, surprise.
A. RAAK: That's why I call before I'm coming.
D. CASS: We had four people showed up in our yard at 11 o'clock at night. We're in bed, and these guys come strolling up the sidewalk. These are four armed men that are in our yard.
GREENE: Who were they?
D. CASS: There were coon hunters.
S. CASS: They wanted to hunt raccoons.
D. CASS: We have no idea who these guys are. They want to hunt raccoons in our room. They chose 11 o'clock at night when we were in bed to show up. I don't know who these guys are. What they had been there for some other reason? We don't know that.
GREENE: So what did you do?
D. CASS: I answered the door with a .45 in my hand.
S. CASS: I heard him pull the trigger back, and I grabbed my gun.
D. CASS: He got as far as the end of the sidewalk, saw that I didn't - I wasn't receptive for visitors at that point in time, and he - I just want to ask if we can hunt raccoons. The answer is no, goodbye. And they left.
GREENE: Probably pretty quickly.
D. CASS: But I don't know that. They could have been meth addicts looking for some place to rob, too. How do I know? And the sheriff isn't going to arrive in time, now, is he? Because the guy's at the end of my sidewalk, and that happens to millions of - or maybe not millions, but hundreds of people every day in this country. They don't know what the situation is
GREENE: So Mrs. Cass, is it - is gun rights and security, is that what it's going to come down to between Trump and Cruz?
S. CASS: I'm just listening to what everybody in the country is saying. And I listen to Rush Limbaugh and what he's saying. And I just really want someone that's going to beat Hillary or whoever the Democrat candidate is. And it just seems like Trump is pulling in all the independents. People are signing over their Democrat ticket and wanting to sign up for the Trump ticket. And he's just not as polished as Cruz, you know? Cruz looks a little more presidential. And Cruz would do an amazing job. But Trump is just pulling in more people. And so I just maybe think in the end, that's probably the direction I'm going to go, even though I'd probably rather vote for Cruz.
GREENE: Why is defeating Hillary Clinton so important to you?
S. CASS: Oh, my gosh, can imagine what our country would be like if we had four years of her after Obama? Our country would be gone. You would not be able to turn it back. The debt and...
D. CASS: Corruption.
S. CASS: ...She would probably finish out everything Obama had started. We wouldn't have guns, we wouldn't have rights. I'd - we wouldn't be safe. It would just be unreal. She has no idea how to do anything. She doesn't even understand her emails.
GREENE: And we will be hearing many more voices Monday when we broadcast from right here in Iowa.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
The Zika virus is on its way to becoming a household word, and the World Health Organization says the virus is, quote, "spreading explosively in the Americas." For what that means to the U.S., we're joined by the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Good morning.
ANTHONY FAUCI: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: Now, the WHO just predicted up to 4 million cases of Zika are coming to South and also North America this year. It seems like a scary number. How should Americans be preparing for the arrival of the virus?
FAUCI: Well, I think we have to be careful when we talk about wild spread throughout the Americas. There's no doubt that we will have, and we've already had, a number of cases that are imported cases - namely, cases of individuals who visit in South America or the Caribbean or live there, get infected, and then come to United States. And then you have a case that gets sick while they're in the United States because they were bitten by the mosquito in the south, mainly South America and the Caribbean. There will be plenty of those. We've seen that with other infections of the Caribbean and South America, such as dengue, particularly, and the new infection, chikungunya. So we know that will happen. The issue is, what about locally-transmitted cases? Will there be situations where someone comes, gets bitten by a mosquito down there, comes here, and then a mosquito bites them and starts to spread it locally in the United States? We would not be surprised that that would happen in small clusters because we've seen that with similar viruses, like dengue. But what happened with dengue, historically, is that those clusters tend to be able to well-controlled. We do not predict or expect that we will have an explosive, millions-of-people outbreak.
MONTAGNE: To whatever degree there is an outbreak, how serious is this disease?
FAUCI: As an infection, it's a relatively mild, inconsequential infection characterized by a rash, fever, pinkeye, joint aches and pains, with almost no mortality associated with it. The reason there's this attention now, and importantly so, is that we're seeing in South America, particularly in Brazil and to some extent the Caribbean, an association, both temporally and geographically, with the upsurge in the cases of Zika together with this complication in pregnancy of babies having what's called microcephaly, which is a developmental problem and a destructive problem of the brain of the babies which, when they're born, they have small heads and small craniums.
MONTAGNE: And you have said that human testing could begin on a vaccine this year. But vaccines for Ebola, for instance, were much further along in the testing process, and we still don't have an approved Ebola vaccine. Why the optimism about a Zika vaccine?
FAUCI: Well, I want to make it clear that we will be able to go into early phase one testing of a vaccine within the calendar year 2016. That is not to say that we will have a vaccine that would be available for widespread use following approval. That process certainly will take a few years, so when I said we'll go into testing this year, I mean the beginning of the phase one testing to determine if it's safe or if it induces an immune response. We won't have a vaccine that's widely available for at least a few years.
MONTAGNE: Dr. Anthony Fauci is head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Thank you for joining us.
FAUCI: You're quite welcome.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
When it comes to fighting addiction, they say you have to hit rock bottom. For Rutland, Vt., a town of 17,000 that's been devastated by heroin, that rock bottom came in September 2012. A popular high school senior was struck and killed by a driver who was high. Local resident Joe Kraus says the tragedy galvanized his community.
JOE KRAUS: People who perhaps never would've gotten involved in a meaningful way decided it was time to get involved.
SIMON: City officials, police and neighborhood activists created a grassroots organization to reclaim Rutland called Project Vision. Vermont Public Radio's Nina - forgive me - Nina Keck has more.
NINA KECK, BYLINE: It started with a small group and big goals. Reduce drug-related crime, improve treatment, and clean up troubled neighborhoods. More than three years later, Project Vision has nearly 300 members, including local officials, law enforcement, nonprofits, service organizations, state agencies and church groups. Between 60 and 80 people regularly attend the monthly meetings.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I'm looking for interns...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: I got you covered.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: ...For January.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Let's do it. We'll talk. I got you covered.
KECK: Bradley GoodHale, a crime analyst with the Rutland City Police Department, sits with a group that works on law enforcement issues. GoodHale explains how the police are using college interns to make real-time crime data easier to use and access. Across the room, members of another Project Vision committee talk about a program they want to launch for pregnant women with opiate addiction.
BRADLEY GOODHALE: It'll be, like, four, five, six hours a day, and it'll be very intense, but it's going to have more than just substance abuse treatment. It'll have parenting classes, about relationships, codependency.
KECK: City officials say it's discussions like these that helped open a long-awaited methadone clinic in 2013, something local residents had fought for years. Today, GoodHale says more than 750 people are getting drugs that reduce opiate cravings, like methadone and buprenorphine, treatment that wasn't widely available in Rutland before.
GOODHALE: We see those 750 people no longer have to commit crimes in order to feed their addictions because they are getting treatment.
KECK: In the last two years, burglaries have dropped 60 percent in Rutland while thefts, including shoplifting, are down 45 percent. Noise and disorderly conduct complaints are also down.
STEVE MCKEARIN: We're doing a lot better than it was two years ago, three years ago, that's for sure.
KECK: Longtime Rutland resident Steve McKearin lives in a neighborhood that's been hammered by drugs and crime.
MCKEARIN: Oh, yeah, a lot of drug deals went down on the streets. You would see a lot of them. And a lot of that's been curbed.
KECK: The city has focused intense renovation efforts in this neighborhood. A long-awaited $5 million sewer upgrade and repaving project was completed. Extra money was spent to repair sidewalks and improve lighting. Steve McKearin points across the street to a rundown home a local housing agency is renovating. It's part of a grant-funded effort to reduce blight, create more affordable single-family housing and boost homeownership in this part of the city.
MCKEARIN: Getting rid of some of these houses with drug addicts in them, you know, squatting in them, getting more single-family homes in here and getting rid of some of these big apartments and be a neighborhood like it used to be when I grew up.
KECK: Rutland Police Commander Scott Tucker says before 2012, police had been trying to arrest their way out of the heroin problem. While drug trafficking won't be tolerated in the city, he says police have changed their approach toward offenders who want to stop using.
SCOTT TUCKER: We're giving them the message that the community is a caring community. There are resources available if you want to get help to get off your addicted lifestyle.
KECK: Police also created a new unit within their department. The local women's shelter, state's attorney's office, corrections department and local mental health agency now have staff embedded there. Tucker says their input, plus more calls from the community, are helping police better identify, address and track crimes in the city.
DAVID KENNEDY: Lots of cities have treatment. Lots of cities do neighborhood work.
KECK: David Kennedy directs the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He consulted with Rutland on its heroin problem.
KENNEDY: What is unique about what Rutland did was that it stepped back, looked very deliberately at the functioning of how Rutland was now a persistent regional, heroin distribution hub.
KECK: And he says city officials did whatever it took to disrupt the local marketplace. Expanding treatment reduced customers. Those selling were prosecuted. And Kennedy says police made it very difficult for new dealers to move in.
KENNEDY: Literally everything from additional criminal investigations to parking a car in front of this house so that nobody would be stupid enough to walk up to the front door and buy heroin, and it looks at this point like they've made at least a very, very serious dent in it. Things are a lot better.
KECK: More treatment is still needed. And while burglaries and thefts are down in Rutland, aggravated assaults, including domestic violence, are up. Police aren't sure why but say it may be due to newer more comprehensive data collection. They hope the tools that helped lower drug-related crimes will help reduce the violence. Back at the Project Vision meeting, Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras stands at the back of the room. Seeing so many people continue to come together each month makes him hopeful, but he admits the city's fight against addiction will be ongoing.
CHRISTOPHER LOURAS: You can't declare victory and go home. We need to fully institutionalize the change in culture in this community, in the police department, the change in culture with our nontraditional partners. So that's why we need to keep having these meetings.
KECK: Like anyone in recovery will tell you, your plan only works if you work it. For NPR News, I'm Nina Keck in Rutland, Vt.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PUT ME THRU")
ANDERSON .PAAK: (Singing) Why the hell would you run this game?
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
That's Anderson .Paak, a songwriter, singer, rapper and producer whose songs are kind of kaleidoscopes, '60s funk, '70s soul, hip-hop, R&B, electronic music and rock 'n' roll. Anderson .Paak has been developing this unique sonic blend for over a decade, but his music got a higher profile this summer when he was featured on the new album by Dr. Dre. Anderson .Paak joined us from our studios at NPR West to tell us about his new album called "Malibu" and why it's important that his last name is written .Paak.
.PAAK: The dot stands for detail, always paying attention to detail. And I feel like people take you as serious as you take yourself. I spent a lot of time working on my craft, developing my style. And after I came out of my little incubation, I promised that I would pay attention to detail, and on top of that, I make sure that dot is always there to remind me and to remind others.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SEASON")
.PAAK: (Singing) Six years old, I tried my first pair of Jordans on. Momma, can you carry me? It was late in the fall. I caught a glimpse of my first love, my God. Momma, can you carry me? Knees hit the floor, screams to the Lord, why they have to take Momma? Momma, carry me to the early morning.
SIMON: We mentioned you worked with Dr. Dre, and you were featured as a rapper on six of the tracks of the album he released this summer. But what was it like to watch him at work? Because you're also a producer. What did you see? What did you learn?
.PAAK: The first thing I noticed is he's - definitely mans the ship and he's the captain when he's in that production chair. But he's definitely open to ideas and interested in finding something. And he's not set on just having his way. I was just kind of amazed that someone of his stature and, like, success level is still really, really into just the music. He had this excitement to him, and it seemed like it was new to him, you know, like - or at least when I came in there was this - this vibe where he felt like he was so excited of what was to come, you know, and the things that we were about make. And he wanted to spend hours on finding the right - the right phrase and finding the right sound, and it just was inspiring to see that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AM I WRONG")
.PAAK: (Singing) And look at the time, my God, so precious, is yours, is mine.
SIMON: You started drumming in church.
.PAAK: Yeah. I started playing drums in church in Oxnard in a church called St. Paul Baptist Church. My godsister invited me to church when I was about 11 years old after I had, you know, learned how to play a couple beats. And she was like, you should come to the church. You go to see the choir and you got to see the church band. And I went and I saw the choir and the church band and I was hooked. I just never seen any kind of playing. I'd never been in a black Baptist church before - before that and I just was in love with the energy. And...
SIMON: Yeah. We'll explain, you're from a mixed ethnic background, too.
.PAAK: Yeah. My mom was born in Korea, so Korea during the '50s, '51. And she was abandoned, so she - her and my uncle were abandoned and my grandfather was a Seabee and adopted my mom and my uncle and brought them to Compton in the '50s. That's where she was raised and...
SIMON: Farmers, right?
.PAAK: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, my mom eventually got out to Oxnard and I started a produce company and was in the strawberry business. My pops was out of the picture around the time I was 7. He ended up getting really addicted to drugs and alcohol. And up until that point, he was doing really good and the drugs kind of got a hold of him and he went to prison for about 14 years for assault.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE BIRD")
.PAAK: (Singing) I'm repping for the longest cycle. My uncle's had to pay the cost. My sister used to sing to Whitney. My momma caught the gambling bug. We came up in a lonely castle. My papa was behind the bars. We never had to want for nothing. Said all we ever need is love. We see the same thing.
My pops ended up joining the military really, really early. Eventually, he was dishonorably discharged because of weed, I think
SIMON: Weed you said.
.PAAK: Yeah, my mom just tell me when he got discharged he kind of just - I think he went into a depression after that 'cause he really liked being in the service. And after that he kind of just kind of done a downhill spiral. It's pretty rough, bro.
SIMON: It's pretty rough. I was about to say, it seems almost a shame to talk about music now, but I also think your music is wound up with that, right?
.PAAK: Yeah, yeah, that's the light, you know, and thank God for the music, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELEBRATE")
.PAAK: (Singing) Time never cares if you're there or not there. All you ever needed was a simple plan but you're doing well. I mean, you're not dead, so let's celebrate while we still can.
SIMON: So do you work things out in the music?
.PAAK: Yeah, I do and I just try not to have too much compromise. I try not to get too heady with it. I try to just express with the art and always be working it to get better and learn more and to develop more and get sharper and inspire and put things out that people are going to feel good about and people are going to feel cool and sexy and the things that I feel when I'm making it.
SIMON: Well, you're a pleasure to speak with. I wish you so much luck.
.PAAK: Thank you so much, man. That was awesome. I appreciate it.
SIMON: Anderson .Paak - his new album - "Malibu." I hope we speak with you again.
.PAAK: Absolutely, I'll be back.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CELEBRATE")
.PAAK: (Singing) Captivated, the fruits of my family tree. Where would I be without you? What would you do without me? It'd be a bad look talking about what could have been, so let's celebrate while we still can. On a clear day you can see West LA, even downtown...
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Diane Rehm joins us live in our studios for the first live author interview we've ever done
Diane Rehm knows how to work a clock.
DIANE REHM: (Laughter).
SIMON: She has written a short and powerful new memoir about love and marriage, life and death, being alone and finding new life after the long, slow passing of John Rehm, her husband of 54 years. Her book is also an eloquent and controversial call to change laws to permit those who are terminally ill to choose when to end their lives. Her new book is "On My Own." And Diane Rehm, a winner of the National Humanities Medal joins us.
Thank you so much.
REHM: Scott, it is my great honor to be here.
SIMON: And as the host of "The Diane Rehm Show" might put it, you can join our conversation.
REHM: (Laughter).
SIMON: You can tweet questions to me, @nprscottsimon on Twitter.
Tell us about John Rehm.
REHM: John Rehm was such a courageous man, both in life and in death. He always stopped on the street to help people, even as I walked on. One day, he saw a man with a card table on the street on Connecticut Avenue passing out a leaflet about his own situation. He had escaped from the Ceausescu government in Romania. His wife and son remained in that country, not allowed to leave. After a great deal of negotiation with the State Department, John Rehm himself went to Romania.
SIMON: I read that. I found that extraordinary. Most people would write a letter, maybe post a tweet. John Rehm went to Romania.
REHM: He went to Romania and met her in a park, a public park. He convinced her that the U.S. would help her. She would get out of Romania with her son. And thanks to John Rehm taking up her cause and the State Department, she is now in this country with her son.
SIMON: But I have to ask, because this is in the book, in many ways the hardest part for me was to read when he apologized to you for being sharp in your marriage. I think he even used the term abusive.
REHM: You know, sharp is not quite the term he used. He said Diane, I have something I want to say to you. I deliberately emotionally abused you. And Scott, I was stunned, not only by his words, but by the confession. I mean, I had said to him - what in the world is wrong with you through all these silences, through all these withdrawals? He finally said to me - when I asked him why, he said I don't know. Perhaps I should never have married. Perhaps I should have lived my life alone with books, with music, with poetry. But then, he said, I would have missed out on my life with you and David and Jennie (ph).
SIMON: God bless. At the heart of this book is, of course, the tension between - which you very bluntly talk about feelings of guilt and regret that he was in a convalescence center, care center, whatever term of art would be - anyway, rather than at home - and then your feeling that he had very explicitly said he wanted to die, wanted to end his life. And you couldn't help him, and he, very bravely again, had to do it on his own.
REHM: And the way he did it was after a conference with our son, our daughter, who is herself a doctor and his physician and me in the room. He said I want to die. I am ready to die. My daughter, a doctor in Boston, said Dad, we can keep you comfortable. And he banged his fist on his leg and said I don't want comfort. I am ready to die. Scott, he and I had talked about this years and years before he even got sick. Parkinson's had taken away everything he could do for himself. I mean everything. And therefore, I respected his decision. I said - sweetheart, are you sure? He said I am very sure. It took him 10 days to die. Ten days, had no water, no food, no medication, and I stood by.
SIMON: And then ironically couldn't be there in the last 20 minutes, right?
REHM: You know, I had slept on two chairs that last night in his room with my little dog Maxie (ph) on my stomach. At about 2 a.m., I got up with my iPad, started writing. That was the beginning. And then at 7:30 when his caregiver arrived, I said I'll go home, feed Maxie, walk him and then I'll be back. The doctor called and said he's likely to die within 24 hours. I said I'll be there quickly then his caregiver called and said come quickly, Diane. I think Mr. John has passed. I got there 20 minutes too late.
SIMON: I think - you know, I think my wife and I told you at the time. None of my business. I think he waited until you were gone. I think he wanted - I don't know. I think he felt he had to do that on his own.
REHM: You know, the nurses said to me. They said so often this happens, that the person who is dying knows that when the time comes that the loved one is no longer there. That's when he or she goes.
SIMON: Do you have - I have to ask you a nuts-and-bolts question. Do you have any concern, because you have been outspoken that this should be a right and we should change laws, do you have any concern, as the volume of demands on our health care system increases that hospitals, if those laws are changed to permit people to choose when to end their lives with assistance, that hospitals and insurance companies will be too quick to decide that somebody's just not worth saving for a few more days or weeks?
REHM: Scott, I think it's up to each state to put into place laws, regulations that would prevent any such horror from occurring. What I am hoping for, by writing this book, is that people will talk with their families, people will talk with each other about what it is they want, how their lives should be lived and end.
I think people don't speak sufficiently about death and dying. We are too afraid. But birth and death are natural events, and we all need to talk about them and acknowledge that there will come that time.
SIMON: Diane Rehm - her new book, "On My Own." Thanks so much for being with us.
REHM: Thank you, Scott.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
New York's art world was shocked when the city's oldest gallery closed its doors more than four years ago. A few days later, the Knoedler and Company gallery was accused of selling paintings that, had now admits, were forgeries. The gallery and its former president face several lawsuits by angry collectors. The first trial began this week. And as NPR's Joel Rose reports, the case offers an inside look at how art dealers balance principal and profit.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: The paintings definitely looked like masterpieces by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and other prominent abstract expressionists. They weren't, but the forgeries were good enough to fool experts and to command prices into the millions of dollars each. Even Ann Freedman, the president of the gallery that sold the paintings, says she was duped. Luke Nikas is her lawyer.
LUKE NIKAS: Ann Freedman believed in these paintings. She showed them to the whole art world, she showed them to experts, and she has piles and piles of letters from all of these experts informing her that the works are real.
ROSE: Nikas says Freedman even bought some of the paintings for her own personal collection. But the plaintiffs in this case and other pending lawsuits say Freedman overlooked glaring problems with the paintings' backstories. Knoedler bought them from a woman named Glafira Rosales, who pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in 2013. According to Freedman, Rosales told an elaborate story involving a European collector known only as Mr. X, who bought the paintings with cash in the 1950s when he was having an affair with an assistant at two top galleries in New York.
AMY ADLER: It's quite a tale, and people bought it.
ROSE: Amy Adler teaches art law at New York University.
ADLER: I suppose the temptation would be there not just for buyers but, yes, even for sellers to think that they'd happened upon these magnificent, undisclosed masterpieces.
ROSE: In the end, Rosales admitted to selling Knoedler 40 counterfeit paintings over more than a decade. The plaintiffs argued that Freedman knew, or at least should've known, that something was amiss. It's hardly the first time an art dealer has been accused of deliberately looking the other way.
KEN PERENYI: From over 30 years' experience with art dealers, I would say there most certainly are individuals out there in the trade that will turn a blind eye.
ROSE: Ken Perenyi is a professional art forger. He wrote about his career in the book "Caveat Emptor." Perenyi says he faked thousands of 18th and 19th-century paintings and sold them to auction houses and art dealers over his three-decade career.
PERENYI: In my experience, I've seen paintings of mine turn up in dealers' catalogs that they had to know about it, and they chose to buy it and sell it anyway.
ROSE: Still, it surprised everyone that a blue-chip gallery like Knoedler would get caught peddling fakes. The gallery had been in business since before the Civil War. Even other art dealers relied on its good name. Richard Feigen is a prominent dealer on the Upper East Side. He helped broker a sale involving one of the Knoedler forgeries but gave his commission back when the work turned out to be fake. Feigen says it's a reminder to art dealers not to cut corners.
RICHARD FEIGEN: I think it will cause people to be much more careful because even a name as old as Knoedler is no guarantee, obviously, that you can be sure of.
ROSE: The Knoedler affair should also be a wake-up call to buyers, says Amy Adler at NYU School of Law.
ADLER: Yeah, a lot of these people were very sophisticated businesspeople. They'd made a lot of money. But they bought art based on sort of magical, romantic stories. It's the kind of transaction they would never would've engaged in had it been a regular business deal.
ROSE: But, Adler says fakes are getting better. And as the price of art has climbed, fewer experts are willing to make public judgments about a work's authenticity because they're afraid of getting sued. That can be very expensive. Just ask Ann Freedman's lawyer, Luke Nikas, standing outside a federal courthouse in Manhattan.
NIKAS: The bigger the dollar amount, the bigger the mistake in the end if you get it wrong. If this had been a painting that was purchased for $5,000, it wouldn't be here in the southern district in New York. This would be over.
ROSE: But it was purchased for more than $8 million by a collector who thought it was painted by Mark Rothko. The trial is expected to last several more weeks, and Freedman's lawyer says she will take the stand in her own defense. Joel Rose, NPR News, New York.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Today's political junk is tomorrow's collectible - lawn signs, bumper stickers. Curators from the Smithsonian are combing Iowa and New Hampshire to gather campaign memorabilia. As NPR's Scott Detrow reports, they'll bring it back to Washington, D.C., and add their haul to a collection that dates back to George Washington.
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: We're on the fourth floor of the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.
HARRY RUBENSTEIN: Hold up. We got it. OK, go on in.
DETROW: It's a locked, windowless white room jam-packed with political artifacts.
RUBENSTEIN: In this room, there's probably about 100,000 objects that go from a little bit before the American Revolution to probably last week.
DETROW: On the table in front of chief political curator Harry Rubenstein, there are coat buttons from George Washington's inauguration. There's an I Like Ike dress and the flip-flops Republicans used to mock John Kerry in 2004. There's also a miniature log cabin, a key symbol of William Henry Harrison's 1840 campaign. The idea behind the image - Harrison would just as soon sit on the porch of his log cabin than run for the White House.
RUBENSTEIN: This is really the beginning of trying to create some sort of simple identity for candidates.
DETROW: And with that, Rubenstein disappears down a corridor. He comes back a few moments later brandishing a large wooden axe. It's from a much more consequential election 20 years later. The brand-new Republican Party was framing Abraham Lincoln as the rail splitter.
RUBENSTEIN: And this has become a real staple of campaigns, and you can see that being played out in contemporary campaigns today.
DETROW: Candidates may not grow up in log cabins anymore, but Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz highlight their parents' immigrant journeys. And Hillary Clinton spends a lot of time talking about her middle-class roots.
RUBENSTEIN: I'm going to put this axe down.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: The curators say they're often struck by constants in campaign memorabilia - the shape and form may evolve - a brass William Howard Taft figurine will morph into a plush, fuzzy George W. Bush elephant. But many of the basic themes remain the same. Curators are in Iowa right now and will be in New Hampshire next week. Lisa-Kathleen Graddy says she'll be on the lookout for schwag, both mass-produced and personal.
LISA-KATHLEEN GRADDY: We're the most brazen people on Earth. Hi, I'm Lisa-Kathleen. I'm with the Smithsonian Institution. I love that shirt you're wearing. Can you tell me why you have it? I don't suppose you'd want to give it to me, would you?
DETROW: The answer's often yes, but Graddy says logistics sometimes get in the way of patriotism and history.
GRADDY: One, you're still using it. I'm still at this rally. I still have this sign. I still have my shirt on. We distribute a lot of business cards.
DETROW: One thing Harry Rubenstein says the curators won't be hunting down - the hashtags, memes and posts where more and more of the political conversation is taking place. Rubenstein says one reason the Smithsonian isn't going there is that a lot of other organizations are already archiving digital material.
RUBENSTEIN: And so we decided we would focus on, in a sense, our strength, which are strange pins and funny hats and signs of all shapes and forms.
GRADDY: These are the things that make you know that history is real, it happened. We touched it. We used it. We wore it. These are the things that memories are really made of.
DETROW: Lisa-Kathleen Graddy says there's no set agenda for what specific items the curators will look for on the campaign trail this week. But one safe bet among the items she'll probably bring back - a certain red hat promising to make America great again. Scott Detrow, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Readers have waited almost 15 years for a second novel from the acclaimed Alexander Chee. The wait is over.
"The Queen Of The Night" is sprawling, soaring, bawdy and plotted like a fine embroidery. Lilliet Berne is the most famous soprano of the French opera. She's offered the role of a lifetime, an original part written for her. But then she sees that the opera must be based on a part of her life that she's kept under wraps.
Who would so precisely, exquisitely and cruelly use her past against her? Lilliet Berne's journey to discover that and herself propels this story of the Second French Empire. Alexander Chee, whose first novel was the highly praised "Edinburgh," joins us from New York.
Thanks so much for being with us.
ALEXANDER CHEE: Thank you so much for having me.
SIMON: Did this story begin for you with a photo of a woman in a cape?
CHEE: (Laughter) In a way, it did. That was one of the elements that was the most powerful, a picture of a woman wearing a fur cloak inside of a castle made entirely of ice, holding a torch. And I couldn't quite see her face in the picture, and I just kept looking at it, and there's just something about it all that ended up pulling me into all this material. It's very strange.
SIMON: Let me get you to use the extraordinary words you've written in this book to describe the Lilliet Berne that the public knows.
CHEE: (Reading) In the Paris press, they wrote stories of me constantly. I was reÂceiving and rejecting gifts of incomprehensible splendor. Men were leaving their wives to follow me. Princes were arriving bearing anÂcient family jewels, keys to secret apartments, secret estates. I was unbearably kind or unbelievably cruel, more beautiful than a woman could be or secretly hideous, supernaturally pale or secretly mulatto or both, the truth hidden under a plaster of powder. I was innoÂcent, or I was the devil unleashed. I had nearly caused wars. I had kept them from happening. I was never in love. I had never loved. I was always in love. Each performance could be my last. Each perforÂmance had been my last. The voice was true. The voice was a fraud. The voice, at least, was true.
SIMON: The voice, at least, was true. Does that have to be the case for a novelist too?
CHEE: (Laughter) Well, I suppose you could say it better be. But fiction is a complicated game, right...
SIMON: Yeah.
CHEE: ...Of telling a lie that tells the truth.
SIMON: You spent your childhood, I've read, in South Korea, Kauai, Truk, Guam and Maine. Does that variety in your background give you some sense of identity with your character?
CHEE: I think I sort of was - in writing her, I was writing about a certain sense of placeless-ness (ph), a feeling like I was not from any particular place, as it were.
SIMON: I have to ask. Your first novel, "Edinburgh," was about young boy called Fee who's Korean-American. He's determined that he's gay. You, of course, are named Chee, also of Korean-American background and gay. A lot of people believe that book had to have autobiographical themes. This novel doesn't have such obvious similarities.
CHEE: (Laughter).
SIMON: Or am I missing something?
CHEE: (Laughter) I have joked that it is yet another autobiographical novel from Alexander Chee. But I think, you know, the autobiography in this - to the extent that there is any in this - is in things like, you know, when you are a professionally-trained singer in boys choir, you're very aware that there is a time limit on your voice. And I think it was then that I began to be fascinated with women sopranos who seemed to have less of a limit because I loved my voice so much as a child. And I couldn't imagine myself - once I could sing with it, I couldn't imagine who I would be without it.
SIMON: Yeah.
CHEE: And so that is very much in this book, I think.
SIMON: Do you see something of Lilliet reflected in women celebrities of today who become instantly wildly famous just long enough for people to begin to find something wrong with them?
CHEE: (Laughter) Oh, yes. I mean, I think - in writing this novel, I think I was writing about many of the things that we still live with today. You know, I think that, for example, Corporal (ph), who makes a brief appearance in the novel in a sort of bejeweled, nude bodysuit with dyed blonde hair, I'm pretty sure she was the first pop star, as it were, to get up on stage in a nude jeweled bodysuit and perform that way. Now, it's - we don't even blink, it happen so much.
SIMON: Yeah.
CHEE: But I think she was the first.
SIMON: I guess one of the questions that your novel keeps peeling back is is you say the voice, at least, is true. We encounter Lilliet through so many different incarnations. Is there something about her that is always true? Or is she - does she shapeshift within our imaginations?
CHEE: That's a very good question. I think - you know, one of things that I always loved about her was her fierce will to live and to have a destiny that she could believe in, in a sense. And so through all of her reversals of fortune, all of her adventures, I think that is one of the - all the disguises, that remains; that all of it is, in a sense, done to protect that will that remains. Even, in a sense, when she, at one point, seems to give up on it, that she has some urge to survive that's larger than herself.
SIMON: Alexander Chee, his novel, "The Queen Of The Night."
Thank you so much for being with us.
CHEE: Thank you so much for having me.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Another cover-up is in the news. Italy's Premier Matteo Renzi and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani held a press conference inside Rome's Capitoline Museum this week to announce $18 billion in new business between their countries now that sanctions against Iran are ending. But some of the celebrated ancient statues the presidents had to pass on their way to their press conference were boxed up, a little like dim sum takeout, by large white panels. Inside those boxes were famous statues, including the Capitoline Venus of gorgeous stone gods and goddesses who do not bother with earthbound clothing. Someone - no one has claimed credit - ordered the nude figures to be covered so as not to risk offending the president of Iran, a country where woman cannot risk showing so much as their ankles. Iranian women must walk around cloaked almost as completely as those statues.
It is not clear who ordered the concealing of the statuary, but outrage over the cloaking has brought about a rare coalition in Italy. Gianluca Peciola of a left-wing party called it a shame and mortification for art and culture. Luca Squeri from the center-right Forza Italia said, this isn't respect. It's canceling out differences, and it's a kind of surrender. The columnist, Michele Serra, wrote in La Repubblica, the problem is that those that statues, yes, those icons of classicism and models of humanism, are the foundations of European and Mediterranean culture and civilization. To not offend the Iranian president, he wrote, we offended ourselves. Lots of people pointed out that Pope Francis didn't cover the Vatican's unclad angels and cherubs when he received President Rouhani. But I wonder if President Rouhani noticed all the statues whose arms and hands have fallen off over centuries.
Amnesty International points out that Iran, in this century, still chops off the legs, hands and fingers of people for offenses like petty theft and eating during Ramadan. Did the president of Iran see Venus' missing arms and wonder, what did she do? I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to pose with a nude statue, but I wonder if President Rouhani might have appreciated a private moment just to walk around and gaze at those extraordinary figures. Any great art museum may have visitors from countries, or for that matter, U.S. counties, in which people profess to be offended by nudity and art, but they still might be curious to see it on vacation. Great art can give us a glimpse of the forbidden. That's why a lot of people come to Rome.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHEN IN ROME")
BILL EVANS AND TONY BENNETT: (Singing) When in Rome, I do as the Romans do.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The great migration of asylum seekers to Europe includes thousands of unaccompanied minors, children who risk being exploited, kidnapped and even trafficked. Their first step in the European Union is often the Greek island of Lesbos. Joanna Kakissis met a young Greek lawyer there who's trying to guide these children to safety.
(SOUNDBITE OF CROSSTALK)
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Three teenage boys are lugging boxes of donated shoes into a stately old house in the town of Mytilene. Two of the boys are Syrian, the other Algerian, residents of this safe house for underage migrants traveling alone. It's run by a Greek nonprofit called METAdrasi. It has social workers, psychologists and interpreters on duty - and guardians like Christina Dimakou, a 30-year-old lawyer in black-framed glasses. She shows me around.
CHRISTINA DIMAKOU: So this way.
Here, we have right now six boys and three girls so nine children in total.
KAKISSIS: Where are they from?
DIMAKOU: They are from Syria, Morocco, Algeria and Afghanistan and Somalia.
KAKISSIS: Dimakou left a law career in Athens to work with the children. In Greece, a district attorney is supposed to be the temporary legal guardian of migrant children.
DIMAKOU: He is just responsible for signing any paperwork or taking any decision that have to do with a child, but he never meets them personally, for example.
KAKISSIS: So METAdrasi created this guardian program to help kids with registration, asylum requests and medical questions. Most of the children are between 11 and 17 years old.
DIMAKOU: No matter how strong they are or what purposes they have in life or what they have been told, they need to be taken care of.
KAKISSIS: Dimakou is especially concerned about the girls.
DIMAKOU: Trafficking is my main concern. What I'm telling them is never go away with someone if it's not a parent, a brother, a cousin or somebody you really, really trust and known since you have been 2 years old.
KAKISSIS: If she cannot persuade them to stay in another safe house in Greece, she tries to verify that the people they're going to meet in other countries are legitimate. She warns them about people who say oh, well, you can pay me for the journey later.
DIMAKOU: You can imagine how it is at 3 o'clock in the morning to receive messages from children that are asking for help from somewhere else around Europe. And the only answer that you can give them is that I don't have the power to help you over there.
KAKISSIS: In a bright living room with wall paintings of Superman and Spider-Man, we meet a shy 16-year-old Somali girl who gives her name as Ayana. She draws flowers and hearts on a blue poster board - and the few words of English she knows.
AYANA: I love you. In Somali. (Speaking Somali).
KAKISSIS: Ayana won't say where she wants to go, but most kids have a destination in mind. Ali is a baby-faced 17-year-old from Homs, Syria. He wants to reunite with his best friend.
Where do you want to go?
ALI: Germany.
KAKISSIS: Through an interpreter, he says his parents are in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
ALI: (Through interpreter) There is no work in Lebanon, so I didn't want my family to support me all the time so I decided to go and find a job and work.
KAKISSIS: But tonight, Ali and Ayana are just kids. They count in English as they bounce around a Nerf ball with the other children. Burgers and fries have just been delivered, and everyone, including Christina Dimakou, is laughing.
For NPR News, I'm Joanna Kakissis on Lesbos.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Senator Ted Cruz is not a low-profile guy. He's a fierce debater and a cleverpaul (ph) who is often more admired than liked. As he tries to win over Iowa voters, there's one person who's trying to show people that he has a softer side - his wife, Heidi Cruz, who spoke to NPR's Sarah McCammon on the campaign trail in Iowa.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Heidi Cruz is a successful businesswoman with an MBA from Harvard. And her husband, Ted Cruz, is clearly proud of that. During one of his famously long Senate speeches in 2013, Cruz told a story about a time when his wife was heading off on a business trip.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: My wife, Heidi, was taking a car to the airport, and the car got hit.
MCCAMMON: She got on the plane anyway, not realizing until hours later that she had a concussion and a broken bone.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: I certainly urged should that happen again to my wife, sweetheart, please let me know when it happens and not 12-14 hours later. But, you know, it's the virtue of marrying strong women who know what they want and are able to tackle the world.
MCCAMMON: On the campaign trail, the Texas senator also extols his wife's more traditional virtues and talks about how grateful he is that she married him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: She is a phenomenal mom to our two little girls, Caroline and Catherine, who are the joys of our life. She has exceptionally poor eyesight.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAMMON: The Cruz's often tagteam during campaign stops, like one at a restaurant in Keokuk, Iowa, in October. Heidi Cruz told the crowd that she thinks the media are scared to death of her husband, but she really knows him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HEIDI CRUZ: Ted is incredibly sincere and thoughtful. And I want you to know as his wife, someone who knows him better than anybody else, he's that way at home, too.
MCCAMMON: She describes him as someone who never forgets a birthday and enjoys reading stories with their daughters. The couple met while working on the George W. Bush campaign in 2000. Heidi Cruz often says it was love at first sight and that she was drawn to his strong beliefs in the Bible and the Constitution.
HEIDI CRUZ: In our late 20s, Ted knew what he believed and what he believed in and what he was doing then is the exact same thing that he believes now and is doing now.
(APPLAUSE)
MCCAMMON: Behind the scenes, Heidi Cruz has been busily fundraising for her husband for months. She took a leave of absence from the investment firm Goldman Sachs to work on the campaign. That connection has been a source of criticism for Ted Cruz, who was elected to the Senate in 2012 as a tea party conservative and a critic of the federal bailout of Wall Street. The scrutiny intensified after IT came to light the Cruz had used loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank to fund that campaign. In an interview, Heidi Cruz said she doesn't see a contradiction.
HEIDI CRUZ: Ted and I were both against the bailouts, but not against Wall Street, not against any industry. We are against government intervention into the industries in this economy.
MCCAMMON: Given Ted Cruz's reputation for alienating even his Republican colleagues, Heidi Cruz is often asked about her husband's personality. And she says it doesn't matter what people in Washington think since he's popular with conservative voters. But it's not just Washington. Some of Cruz's former classmates, including a college roommate, have come forward to describe him as abrasive, arrogant and even creepy. Heidi Cruz suggests the problem is with her husband's critics.
HEIDI CRUZ: We all went to college. We all found our circle of friends and some people we got along with better than others. Even as a teenager, he was a person who didn't look around the room just to be popular. And for people that do, they might find that unlikable that he's going to stick to his guns.
MCCAMMON: At campaign stops, voters seem to find Heidi Cruz likable. In Emmetsburg, Iowa, yesterday, Bobbie Clark said she's already imagining her as the nation's first lady.
BOBBIE CLARK: She's just alive and vibrant and wicked smart (laughter). I mean, you'd have to be to be married to Ted.
MCCAMMON: Or maybe, some supporters have said, to be married to Heidi. Sarah McCammon, NPR News.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Iowans will become the first people to vote in the 2016 presidential race. The Iowa caucuses are Monday night, and the candidates are racing from barbecues to coffee shops to all kinds of events in churches. The race on each side is too close to call, as both Republicans and Democrats work to try and turn out their supporters. We have two reports from Iowa, in a moment, NPR's Tamara Keith on the Democrats, but first, Don Gonyea who's watched all the scratching and sniping among Republican contenders.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Today, Donald Trump will hold three rallies, an unusually busy schedule for him. He'll be in the Mississippi River towns of Dubuque, Clinton and Davenport. Yesterday, he was in New Hampshire and acknowledging some fatigue.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: I guess we're allowed to make speeches with absolutely no sleep, is that right? Are we?
(LAUGHTER)
GONYEA: Trump was speaking in Nashua, but he was clearly still eyeing his biggest rival back in Iowa, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Several times, Trump noted Cruz's birth in Canada.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Ted Cruz may not be a U.S. citizen, right? But he's an anchor baby. No, he's an anchor baby. Ted Cruz is an anchor baby in Canada.
GONYEA: Cruz, after surging in polls last month, has lost some of that momentum in recent surveys. At the very moment Trump was attacking him, Cruz was campaigning by bus in western Iowa. And he's facing other attacks from other candidates. He's on the defensive about his call to end federal mandates on the use of ethanol as a renewable fuel. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio campaigning in Burlington, Iowa, made it clear that he is fully behind the ethanol industry, which is rooted in Iowa's corn crop.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARCO RUBIO: And I'm a big supporter of that. I want America to have the most diverse portfolio of energy on the planet.
GONYEA: Ted Cruz has been pushing back hard in these final days. He says he supports ethanol, just not Washington, and doesn't think the federal government should pick winners and losers. At a town hall in Wilton, Iowa, yesterday, he decried the attacks, which he sees as a measure of his strength as a candidate.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TED CRUZ: TV attack ads, millions of dollars, radio attack ads, millions of dollars, mailers filling up your mailbox, by the way, you know those mailers make really good kindling in the fireplace. They just - they light right up. The time for all of that has passed. This is now your time. This is the time for the men and women of Iowa.
GONYEA: All of the candidates yesterday stressed the need for their voters to find their caucus site and to make sure they turn out and to amplify the power of their vote by bringing family and friends with them. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Des Moines.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: I'm Tamara Keith. Last night, former Secretary of State Henry Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders both held rallies in Davenport, Iowa, within a half mile of each other at essentially the same time. And in something of role reversal, Clinton drew the larger crowd. The official estimate was about 1,500 packed into The Col Ballroom. Clinton was introduced by her husband, the former president.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL CLINTON: She is the best change maker I have ever known. And with your help and your caucus voices, you can make her the next president of the United States, Hillary Clinton.
(APPLAUSE)
KEITH: If there was a theme to her remarks, it could be summed up of something she said in the first Democratic debate back in October. Clinton sees herself as a progressive who likes to get things done.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HILLARY CLINTON: And we've got to run an election about the real issues, about what we can get done. You know, I'd rather under promise and over deliver than the opposite.
(APPLAUSE)
HILLARY CLINTON: I want you to know what I intend to do and have you help me do it.
KEITH: Over at the Danceland Ballroom, Sanders' crowd was estimated at 1,000. And while he didn't have a former president introduce him, he did have a pumped up Cornel West.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CORNEL WEST: Here he is, Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders.
KEITH: Sanders is counting on a strong voter turnout Monday. Without it, he told the crowd, he can't win. And he said the whole world will be watching.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BERNIE SANDERS: What they will be looking at is whether or not the state of Iowa is prepared to lead this country forward in a political revolution which transforms America.
(APPLAUSE)
KEITH: In these final days, both candidates are imploring their supporters to volunteer, to knock on doors, make phone calls. Sanders even joked kidnapping might be a good method to get people to show up and caucus. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Davenport, Iowa.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Iowa caucus is a communal affair. People don't cast ballots alone in voting booths. They go to caucuses where people speak out and eventually cast a vote. Opinion polls don't matter in caucuses, only the number of supporters who come to a caucus and vote for a candidate. And if you're wondering, no alcohol is served, though I do remember an extraordinary strawberry pie in Indianola, Iowa. NPR political editor Domenico Montanaro joins us. Domenico, thanks so much for being with us.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Thank you for having me.
SIMON: The Democrats and Republicans do it differently, don't they?
MONTANARO: They certainly do. Republicans, very simple, can get that out of the way pretty easily. People start to make speeches. They try to win over people to vote. But then people just fold over their papers, turn them in. It's a very informal secret ballot. Democrats on the other hand...
SIMON: They're always more complicated, can't we say?
MONTANARO: (Laughter) They're very egalitarian. They want to win over each other. They have clusters in corners of libraries and gymnasiums. And you have to make a 15 percent threshold. So if you don't get 15 percent of the vote as a candidate, then your supporters have to go to someone else, and that's when it gets hairy in there where people are, you know, trying to make the case for someone to come to their side.
SIMON: And how does this wind up translating itself to delegates?
MONTANARO: It's a very complicated, long and winding process that actually takes months. And none of the results on election night actually translate to the delegates that go to the national convention. They're not bound in any way. In fact, most of this is just for momentum. It's a very small slice of delegates that wind up going to the nominating process. So really, we're talking about Sen. Sanders, Hillary Clinton trying to gain momentum heading into the next contests.
SIMON: Let me ask you about the specific party races. According to opinion polls, Mr. Trump has extended his lead on the Republican side. Does he have an organization to deliver, or is it all (unintelligible)?
MONTANARO: Well, one of the big questions is going to be whether or not Donald Trump is able to turn out all of these new voters that he says he's going to be able to turn out. So if you look at the numbers on caucus night, if the numbers are about 150,000 or higher on the Republican side, people think that's a good day for Donald Trump. If there are 125,000 to 150,000, that's the number of people are saying could be good for Ted Cruz.
SIMON: Democratic side, both Sen. Sanders and Hillary Clinton seem to be getting good crowds.
MONTANARO: For the Democrats, the thing to watch here is that Hillary Clinton has been in this state for two years organizing. They feel like they have their strong core base of support. They have Barack Obama's field operation there. Remember, he won this state in 2008. Bernie Sanders has a interesting complication because he's getting huge crowds. A lot of his supporters are young. They're college-age. The problem with them is that they're all concentrated in a few different places. He's winning more than a quarter of his vote right now in three counties. They're actually encouraging a lot of these kids to go back home so that they can filter out the vote in the rest of the state because the way delegates are picked, they need a little bit more of these kids to go back to other places. Otherwise, Hillary Clinton could wind up winning in rural counties and wind up beating Bernie Sanders, even though he might have a lot of vote concentrated in those cities.
SIMON: All this concentration on Iowa - and I don't regret a moment on it...
MONTANARO: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...But is it a little bit like trying to judge a baseball game by the bottom of the first inning?
MONTANARO: Yeah, maybe even before that, right? I mean, it's more like the scorecard at the beginning of the game and filling out the lineups or something because, like I said, there's a very small slice of delegates here at stake. This is not going to be determinative if you're just looking at the numbers. But what often happens is the people who don't perform well in Iowa or New Hampshire wind up having a very difficult time later on. In fact, we've only had one person win who hasn't won either Iowa or New Hampshire in the last 40 years on the Republican or Democratic side, and that was Bill Clinton.
SIMON: NPR political editor Domenico Montanaro, thanks very much for being with us.
MONTANARO: Oh, thank you so much, always a pleasure.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Wal-Mart is pulling out of some small towns, 154 outlets in the U.S., 102 of which are Wal-Mart Express stores. They stock groceries, pharmaceuticals and serve many small towns throughout the South. For many of those towns, Wal-Mart Express has been the only grocery store and pharmacy. The retailer says it's closing stores to strengthen its supercenters and its online business. Oriental, N.C., a town of about 900, lost its Wal-Mart Express this week. Sally Belangia is the mayor. Mayor Belangia, thanks so much for being with us.
SALLY BELANGIA: Yes, thank you.
SIMON: Tell us about Oriental. What kind of town is it?
BELANGIA: Oriental is the most beautiful place, and we are called the sailing capital of North Carolina because we must have 2,500 sailboats and 900 people.
SIMON: Oriental is a healthy town it sounds like.
BELANGIA: Oh, yeah, we're a booming town. And our community is so wonderful. Our churches were all coming together to try to get something solved. Like, there's people that don't have a driver's license, or they've got to have their medicine, so our local church has got a van, and we're going to get people their groceries and medicine. So we have all kind of volunteering to get something going.
SIMON: When did the Wal-Mart Express move into town?
BELANGIA: May of 2014.
SIMON: Wasn't open very long, was it?
BELANGIA: No, it wasn't. They said it was an experiment.
SIMON: I don't expect you to make any effort to understand Wal-Mart's point of view. We've done a number of these interviews over the years, and people complain when Wal-Mart's open. And so now they're closing. Can you see from their point of view? You're saying that, you know, Wal-Mart might say people complain whatever we do. They just don't like us.
BELANGIA: Well, I feel like they're such a big corporation that they're not really concerned. I just hope they will do something that someone will be able to afford to buy it. But we were told that 20 of them, which is one of Oriental's, will be sold, not to an individual person. They want to sell the whole block to a chain or someone really big. And, you know, we may have someone local that wants to buy it.
SIMON: Yeah, so let's say you want to run out and get a loaf of bread, some milk, smoked tofu (laughter) - this is NPR after all - and 81-milligram aspirin.
BELANGIA: (Laughter).
SIMON: Where do you go?
BELANGIA: I'm going to have to go to Food Lion, which is 15 miles away, or the Piggly Wiggly.
SIMON: Which is how far away?
BELANGIA: Fifteen miles, and there's also a Wal-Mart, a big Wal-Mart, but I'm not going to that.
SIMON: Yeah, on principal, right?
BELANGIA: Yeah.
SIMON: Well, Mayor Belangia, good luck. I hope I see Oriental someday. It sounds like a lovely place.
BELANGIA: Please do. You will fall in love with it.
SIMON: And I'll bring a loaf of bread for you.
BELANGIA: (Laughter) OK.
SIMON: Sally Belangia, mayor of Oriental, N.C., thanks so much.
BELANGIA: Thank you.
SIMON: We asked Wal-Mart for more details on selling that property in Oriental, and they said that they're working with potential buyers and hope to expedite the process.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A federal investigation this month unveiled a long history of sexual harassment at the Grand Canyon. According to a report by the Office of the Inspector General, male National Park Service employees at the Grand Canyon have preyed on their female co-workers for years. Laurel Morales of member station KJZZ has more from Flagstaff.
And please be aware this story contains descriptions that some listeners may find disturbing.
LAUREL MORALES, BYLINE: Miles below the rim of the Grand Canyon, on river trips lasting weeks at a time, teams of National Park Service workers manage public safety and the canyon's wildlife. Often, satellite phones are their only connection to the outside world.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: That's one of the beauties of it, is that you're in a wilderness environment and you are isolated, and you feel completely removed from the world.
MORALES: This is one of the women who filed a complaint with the inspector general's office.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: But when you're starting to talk about feeling unsafe, it did feel very scary to know that you are basically stuck in a situation.
MORALES: An intern at the time, she told the inspector general a boatman put a camera up her skirt and took a picture. A supervisor on the trip reported the incident and suspended the boatman. That intern, now a biologist, says on the same night, a second boatman threatened another woman with an ax, yelling profanities.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Basically, things to the effect of you need to keep your mouth shut, you need to not report this. There was alcohol involved, and I think that that amped up the situation indeed. But that was a very terrifying moment.
MORALES: The names of the accusers have been redacted from the inspector general's report. And because the assaults were sexual in nature, we are not using their names. National Park Service spokesman James Doyle says as a result of the inspector general's report, the Grand Canyon will be making many changes in coming months.
JAMES DOYLE: This is absolutely unacceptable to us on every level, and we're working, starting now, to change the culture there.
MORALES: Thirteen people sent a letter to the Interior Department in 2014, detailing a long-standing culture of sexual harassment and hostility. Doyle says when the Park Service first learned of the investigation, it banned alcohol from park river trips. But that won't solve the problem, says another complainant, a river ranger at the park for five years. When her incident occurred, she and another government employee were on duty - sober, in the middle of the day.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: He exposed his genitalia to me and then propositioned me for sex. There were three supervisors on that trip. And I went and told, like, a supervisor what happened, and he didn't do anything.
MORALES: She says she didn't make a formal complaint at the time, fearing retaliation. The inspector general's report confirms that when women refused advances or complained, they were shamed, denied food on trips or simply ignored.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: It's appalling. I mean, there needs to be some sort of larger reform about how, you know, this system could repeatedly fail over and over again.
MORALES: The inspector general's report says the Park Service did take action in some cases. They issued written reprimands to some employees and suspended or fired others. One of the accused, called Boatman 3 in the report, says he only had sex on trips when women consented. In addition to the 13 whistleblowers, the report found 22 other Grand Canyon employees who say they witnessed or experienced sexual harassment and hostile work environments.
For NPR News, I'm Laurel Morales in Flagstaff.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Any NPR listeners might note that while we may not cover the NFL as much as a lot of news organizations, there's not a dogsled race in America that doesn't get the NPR treatment. We've done portraits of dogs, racers, sledders, mushers and the vets who care for all of them. So here is a worrisome audience news. Musher numbers are dwindling.
Tomorrow, 30 mushers and their teams of sled dogs will hit the trail for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon in northern Minnesota. It's the longest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. Maybe what they need is a song from BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Beargrease - he could do that. This race attracts fewer than half the number of mushers it did about a decade ago. Dan Kraker of Minnesota Public Radio explains why.
DAN KRAKER, BYLINE: Three years ago, just before the start of the 2014 Beargrease, musher Drew Groeneveld decided he had had enough, enough of sled dogs, enough or racing.
DREW GROENEVELD: That's when I made the decision. And yeah, I was just ready to do some different things in life.
KRAKER: Groeneveld owned a 63-dog kennel in the woods about 30 miles outside Duluth. But he says the time spent on chores like cutting up meat for his dogs, it all caught up with him.
GROENEVELD: When it's 90 degrees in the summer and you're processing a bunch of frozen fish and there's bugs flying in your face, that's part of it too. It's not just crossing the finish line and knowing that you did a great thing with you and your dogs.
KRAKER: To run long races like the 350-mile Beargrease, mushers need to raise 30 or more dogs. Beargrease organizer Jason Rice says there just aren't as many large kennels in the Midwest as there used to be.
JASON RICE: It's not that there are necessarily less people mushing. There's less people who are choosing to financially make the commitment to have a kennel that big and do it just for racing purposes.
KRAKER: So races are trying to adapt. They're recruiting mushers from Canada and adding shorter distances that require fewer dogs.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOGS BARKING)
KRAKER: But there are still those who are utterly devoted to raising sled dogs to compete in long races like the Beargrease.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOGS BARKING AND HOWLING)
COLLEEN WALLIN: Hi, Muskie (ph). Hi, Chachi (ph).
KRAKER: It's before dawn, and Colleen Wallin is preparing her team for a 43-mile training run.
COLLEEN WALLIN: All right, guys. Let's go. All right.
KRAKER: Once the dogs are gone, Wallin's husband, Ward, offers a glimpse behind the scenes of Silver Creek Sled Dogs.
WARD WALLIN: I tell people that the amount of time we're actually racing sometimes is maybe 20 percent if you think about cutting meat, Colleen sewing booties, working on trails, working on sleds, fixing harnesses.
KRAKER: Inside this walk-in freezer, Wallin estimates he has three or four tons of meat for the dogs.
WARD WALLIN: A lot of mink and beaver, a bunch of bear fat. We've got beaver carcasses that we chunk up and feed whole.
KRAKER: And how much does that freezer itself cost?
WARD WALLIN: I don't really want to know what my costs are (laughter).
KRAKER: The Wallins do have sponsors to help offset some costs. There's also prize money. Winners of the two dozen or so longer distance races can take him $5,000 or more, but winnings cover just a fraction of costs. Still, despite the money, the stress of balancing dogs with kids and work, Ward Wallin says, it's totally worth it.
WARD WALLIN: Everybody has, you know, hustle and bustle in their day, and just getting behind a dog team, especially at night when there's just you and the team and a little beam of light in front of you, it's truly magical, truly magical.
COLLEEN WALLIN: Good job. Good job, everyone.
KRAKER: Five hours later, Colleen Wallin leads her team of panting dogs to the end of the training run.
COLLEEN WALLIN: We did it.
KRAKER: This is the exact spot where she plans to cross the Beargrease finish line later this week, hopefully in first place.
For NPR News, I'm Dan Kraker in Duluth.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The days dwindle for the folks of "Downton Abbey," both upstairs and downstairs. The hit British TV show is counting down its final season. There have been so many marriages, deaths, secret births and intrigue over the past six years. And as Tim Greiving reports, accompanying it all has been the music of John Lunn.
TIM GREIVING, BYLINE: What would "Downton Abbey" be without John Lunn's music? Just ask Mrs. Patmore.
LESLEY NICOL: Well, I mean, you can only look better when he's got his hands on it.
GREIVING: Lesley Nicol, who plays the house's tetchy cook, says the music matches the show's subtle emotions as well as its grand photography.
NICOL: From the very beginning when I heard that theme tune, you know, I just fell in love with it because it's beautiful. I mean, it's properly clever music.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DOWNTON ABBEY - THE SUITE")
GREIVING: John Lunn says this piece of music, the one that releases a flood of endorphins that tell your brain it's time for some gorgeously wardrobed scheming and delicious repartee, was never actually meant to be the main theme of "Downton Abbey."
JOHN LUNN: In series one, there was no main title in the first episode. They just started with a telegram and then we cut to a train and so I kind of had...
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO)
LUNN: You know, this being the train.
GREIVING: Lunn sits at a keyboard inside his London flat, which was converted from an old spice mill near Tower Bridge. He has a modern film composer setup - a fully-loaded computer, multiple keyboards and giant speakers.
LUNN: And then it cuts to a guy alone in a train looking sort of forlornly out of the window. And so the train kept going...
(SOUNDBITE OF PIANO)
LUNN: ...And then I got this sort of single piano tune that picked out this guy. It's quite lonely.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DOWNTON ABBEY - THE SUITE")
LUNN: I mean, the best theme tunes do give you a rough idea of what you're about to see.
GREIVING: While Lunn's bread and butter has been composing for British period dramas, his background is in both classical and electronic music. The Scottish native studied music in Glasgow and at MIT. He's written three operas, a violin concerto and this piece for voice and orchestra based on a poem by Charles Baudelaire.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LE VOYAGE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, singing in French).
GREIVING: John Lunn has pretty much left the classical world behind.
LUNN: I don't what it is about classical music, but the composers are always seen as this kind of sort of god, you know, and the musicians are all kind of underneath you and have to bow to you. And it's quite a lonely place. Whereas in modern day now, you're very much part of a team. You know, I have my own team. I have, you know, an orchestrator. I have somebody who mixes the music for me. They're all very equal.
GREIVING: Everything in "Downton Abbey" is recorded with a 35-piece orchestra, with Lunn playing the piano himself.
LUNN: There's no electronics. There's no samples. It's like a large sort of chamber orchestra. You could almost imagine it could be fitted into their house itself.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG)
GREIVING: Lunn wagers he probably wrote 50 different themes for the show, little melodies that function like leitmotifs in opera.
LUNN: You know, there are multiple storylines going on that sometimes the storylines can go through several series, not just one. And so, I kind of use the music as a sort of shorthand of reminding people of what's going on.
GREIVING: Like theme he wrote for Bates, the damaged manservant.
LUNN: He had this limp. And I felt, you know, sort of sorry for him. He'd been in a Boer war, and he looked like he'd been both physically and psychologically damaged. And I came up with a - it's a bit of a limp, actually.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DAMAGED")
GREIVING: Or several tunes for the will-they-won't-they couple, Matthew and Mary.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG)
GREIVING: Lunn says when Matthew died at the end of season three...
LUNN: He took all my best tunes to the grave with him, actually (laughter).
GREIVING: He admits he was often concerned about tipping things into the maudlin. To avoid that, he made sure the emotions in the music started somewhere personal.
LUNN: If I'm wanting the audience to cry at some point - if that hasn't happened to me in the process of trying to make that piece of music, if it hasn't happened at least once, I can't expect the audience to go for it either. It has to happen to me.
GREIVING: "Downton Abbey's" success has led to an unexpected market for Lunn's music. He's just released the second of two albums of selections from the show. He's performed the music in concert in Europe and is toying with performing in old stately mansions here in the U.S. But as popular as "Downton" has been for Lunn, he admits this music isn't really him.
LUNN: It's not music I'd do if I was left to my own devices. I'd be writing much harder, rhythmic electronica.
GREIVING: Too bad the show's not following the Crawley family into 2016.
For NPR News, I'm Tim Greiving in Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN LUNN SONG, "DOWNTON ABBEY - THE SUITE")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. The World Health Organization predicts that up to four million people in this hemisphere could be infected with the Zika virus this year. The virus itself causes mild symptoms that can last less than a week, including fever or rash. The real danger is the possible link the virus has with birth defects if its contracted while pregnant. There is currently no known vaccine. So what, if anything, can be done to stop its spreading? Zika is transmitted by the same mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and yellow fever. Could health officials target those mosquitoes to try to halt the problem while a vaccine is developed? Professor Anthony James is a vector biologist at the University of California, Irvine. Thanks very much for being with us, Professor.
ANTHONY JAMES: You're welcome.
SIMON: So how do you go after specific mosquitoes?
JAMES: If you don't mind, the first thing I - point I'd like to make is that the mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus are invasive species. So if we have a plan to eliminate them, we're not going to be doing any harm to the environment. And the people that I work with and - are interested in what we call genetic technologies to eliminate these insects. And the idea would be that we would develop some type of genetic strain that's similar to an insecticide but doesn't have the non-target effects that insecticides have.
SIMON: Forgive me for speaking this darkly, but how do you zap the right mosquitoes?
JAMES: We have developed technologies that allow us to put DNA into the mosquito species. This case, they are called aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus. And so we use microinjection techniques to put genes in there. And then when those genes are active they can actually cause the mosquitoes to die or be infertile.
SIMON: This is going to sound incredibly naive, but, I mean, you put a very tiny hypodermic needle in a mosquito, no, right?
JAMES: That's exactly right.
SIMON: You do?
JAMES: It's an extremely tiny hypodermic needle. The mosquito eggs that we inject are, for those of you in the metric system, half a millimeter long by one quarter of a millimeter wide. So they're really tiny.
SIMON: And how do you catch up with - I don't know - 500 million mosquitoes?
JAMES: So recently colleagues of ours working at the University of California San Diego have developed technologies that could rapidly move genes through populations. And so what we do is we have that mate with the mild mosquitoes and those genes will spread very rapidly through the population. So we use genetic tricks to get the genes to spread.
SIMON: And this is practical.
JAMES: We think it's highly practical, especially since all the other alternative technologies actually don't work. Our work was initiated to target dengue fever, which these same mosquitoes transmit. And we well know that dengue fever's still a major problem worldwide. And so we don't really have good technologies for that. So we have an opportunity here to essentially kill multiple birds with one stone - to use a poor analogy (laughter). But the Zika virus, Chikungunya and dengue fever are transmitted by the same mosquitoes. If we suppress those populations, we could have benefits for all three of those.
SIMON: And it's not enough just to spray on stuff from the drugstore.
JAMES: I would do that in the interim until these technologies become available. But as many people living in the more impoverished countries can't afford to constantly be putting on insect repellent, and so that is problematic.
SIMON: Yeah. How long could an effort like this take, Professor?
JAMES: Well, I think we're prepared to have strains ready before the end of this year. The question, of course, then is a phase program of testing them so that we show that they're safe and efficacious. But if we were to start now and had the appropriate efforts mounted for this, we would certainly see an impact in, say, three to five years.
SIMON: Professor Anthony James from the University of California, Irvine, thank you, sir.
JAMES: You're welcome.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The shooting of five people in a Seattle, Wash., homeless encampment - forgive me. The shooting of five people in a Seattle, Wash., homeless encampment this week has heightened the sense of crisis around homelessness there. The mayor declared a state of emergency over the issue back in November following the example of other West Coast cities as they confronted growing homeless population. From member station KUOW in Seattle, Amy Radil reports.
AMY RADIL, BYLINE: Over the last year, Seattle designated new sites where homeless people can legally camp or park their RVs. These places are meant to be safer than unsanctioned camping along interstate right-of-ways or sheltering beneath overpasses. South of downtown Seattle, there's a camp known as the jungle where two people were killed and three were wounded in the shooting this week. Dozens of tents are tucked into a city greenbelt. Sofas sit in the open air next to fire pits. Donald Slyter lives here, but he wasn't around the night the shooting took place.
DONALD SLYTER: Thank God I was in jail when this happened 'cause I usually hang out there. I'd be hanging out talking to them all the time.
RADIL: Slyter says the victims' campsite was known for selling drugs and having a lot of cash around. He's sorry for his friends. Slyter has hung on here for years despite the city's attempts to move people out.
SLYTER: They give you 72 hours to move, but I move and come back. But I lived at that one plot for five years I had the house.
RADIL: That house was some plywood he'd hammered together. Eventually, it got bulldozed. Now, he lives in a tidy blue tent on packed dirt under the overpass. Downhill from this week's shooting at a busy intersection, state and city workers are cleaning up a trash-strewn campsite. The residents scramble to pack their belongings. Police officers and city spokeswoman Katherine Jolly stand nearby.
KATHERINE JOLLY: And so what's going on here is there is an encampment cleanup currently underway.
RADIL: Last year, Seattle performed more than 500 of these cleanups, up from 350 the year before. It's all adding to the sense of the crisis around homelessness and one reason Seattle's mayor declared a state of emergency. He hopes the declaration will help the city get state and federal funds. Advocates for the homeless have condemned these sweeps, saying they traumatize people and shelters don't have enough room anyway. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray disagrees with the term sweep.
ED MURRAY: The sweep was when you moved in and you just simply removed the homeless, took their stuff away and moved them off the spot.
RADIL: Murray says that's not the case here. He's allocated an additional $5 million for shelters, and he's about to announce a one-stop walk-in center where homeless people can find services.
MURRAY: We're going in several times before we move them, offering them services, offering them shelter, and, again, some do resist, and those individuals we're moving.
RADIL: On these cleanups, Murray has clashed with the ACLU and homeless advocates like Alison Eisinger. She directs the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness. But she applauds his efforts to establish legal tent camps and RV parking on city property. These are places with more oversight and access to dumpsters and toilets.
ALISON EISINGER: These are the kinds of very pragmatic suggestions that many people have been offering for years, and it really was not until this administration that there was a willingness to undertake that.
RADIL: This week, the so-called One Night Count took a snapshot of homelessness around the country. It found the number of people sleeping outside in King County, where Seattle is located, up 19 percent over a year ago, and that's after a 10-year plan that was supposed to end homelessness here. For NPR News, I'm Amy Radil in Seattle.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Atlantic City has been in decline for decades. And now the state of New Jersey has made a deal with the city to take over its finances and try to turn the formerly high-rolling town around.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHRIS CHRISTIE: We wanted to give Atlantic City a five-year opportunity to have some of these problems worked out on their own. They didn't. And so now we need to take those stronger steps to intervene and to work as partners with the mayor going forward.
SIMON: Governor Chris Christie of course. We visited Atlantic City just over a year ago. It didn't seem like a place to go for a good time. Downtown looked abandoned. Four of the main casinos were closed. Seven thousand people had just lost their jobs. But Mayor Don Guardian - a Republican - said he had to see the setbacks as new opportunities for investors and his city.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DON GUARDIAN: We are Filene's Basement. You're not going to find a better bargain than coming to Atlantic City. Two billion two hundred million dollars property at Revel you're going to pick up for about $100 million. Four hundred million dollar casino that closed, other than Revel, you're going to pick up for $25 million.
SIMON: So far, there have been few takers. Those four casinos remain closed. What had been the Showboat was just recently purchased. We're joined now by Christian Hetrick of the Press of Atlantic City whose beat has been covering the city's recovery and local politics. Mr. Hetrick, thanks very much for being with us.
CHRISTIAN HETRICK: Hey, thanks for having me on.
SIMON: From your experience and reporting, Mr. Hetrick, what can the state of New Jersey do that Atlantic City, as a municipality, couldn't to try and turn things around?
HETRICK: Sure. Well, it's really big things. The state has really been public about wanting the water company to be either sold to the county, which does have its own utilities authority, or possibly privatized, run by a company like, you know, American Water, United Water, because it's, you know, been estimated that it could be worth $100 million or even more than that.
SIMON: What an opportunity.
HETRICK: Yeah, yeah, and, you know, what's interesting now with this, you know, takeover talk, you know, a lot of people at the last council meeting have been invoking Flint, Mich., for obvious reasons 'cause in that case it was an emergency manager who, you know, recommended changes to that water supply. And - well, I know it wasn't privatized. It was kind of rerouted, but still, people see similarities and are obviously naturally scared.
SIMON: Yeah. I suspect, Mr. Hetrick, a lot of people listening in the rest of America might be saying, look, Atlantic City is a place where people go to, you know, throw away their money. Why can't they make a go of that?
HETRICK: Well, the gambling industry is still very, very big compared to other gambling industries across the country, but it's really half of what it used to be. The casinos collectively, there's eight left. They've brought in $2.7 billion in casino winnings this year. To compare that, they had $5.2 billion in 2006, so it's really been cut in half. And then...
SIMON: And is that because of the other places that have opened up and down the...
HETRICK: Sure, sure, yeah, casinos have sprouted up in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut. You know, if you're in North Jersey, why go an hour and a half south when you can probably just hop over the New York State border and maybe go somewhere closer? And so you kind of have, like, this one-two punch where, you know, the casinos are making less money and closing, and in turn that makes it difficult in terms of the city collecting taxes.
SIMON: What about those big old empty casinos? Any activity going on there?
HETRICK: Well, two of them, yes. The Revel casino does have a new owner. It ended up selling for $88 million, and then the Showboat as well just recently sold. And then the other two properties, though, are still - not too much movement on them.
SIMON: Why not just declare bankruptcy and pay off a few pennies on the dollar?
HETRICK: You know, there are pros and cons to it. You know, the city has $240 million in bonded debt. So, you know, through bankruptcy, you would shed that debt. You could toss out some collective bargaining agreements with the police and the fire. But there's cons as well. You know, it's obviously bad PR for a destination resort to be bankrupt. And then it also - bankruptcy doesn't solve the annual budget deficits. So Atlantic City had $100 million budget shortfall they had to fill in 2015. And it's estimated that the budget shortfall in 2016 is going be about $60 million. It solves a debt problem, but it doesn't solve the spending and revenue problems.
SIMON: Christian Hetrick of the Press of Atlantic City, thanks so much.
HETRICK: Thank you for having me.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Police in Amsterdam responded quickly this week when they received an emergency call from a man who said it sounded as if his neighbor was being beaten to death. The neighbor said he heard a terrifying scream from the house the police explained on Facebook. They dispatched officers to the scene of those screams. The police heard them, too. They knocked on the door, but there was no answer. So Amsterdam police began to kick in the door. A life could hang in the balance.
Then a man came to the door. He was wearing headphones. It turns out the man in headphones had simply been listening to an opera and singing along to the tune - tunelessly, apparently. Amsterdam police say their officers, the neighbor who was the tipster and the screeching opera singer all had a good laugh about the incident. It won't make much of a "Law & Order" episode. The police did not release the name of the man or the opera.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT")
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI: (Singing in French).
SIMON: This is Pavarotti. That man wasn't.
(SOUNDBITE OF OPERA, "LA FILLE DU REGIMENT")
PAVAROTTI: (Singing in French).
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Bravo. Time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: In a major upset, Angelique Kerber beat Serena Williams in the Australian Open final. It's the German player's first grand slam title. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine joins us now.
Good morning Howard. Were you up all night to watch this?
HOWARD BRYANT: Of course. Scott. I've been up for two weeks watching this tournament. It's the best thing (laughter). The matches begin at 3 a.m. Weren't you watching?
SIMON: No...
BRYANT: (Laughter).
SIMON: ...But I was up at 3 a.m. for other reasons, you know, the news. The number one star in tennis, perhaps the number one athlete in the world - this was her chance a tie Steffi Graf's 22 majors. But today belongs to Angelique Kerber. What happened?
BRYANT: Well, Serena Williams went the entire tournament without dropping a set. She dominated. She looked like she had come back after losing the U.S. Open last year to Roberta Vinci. And she just took over and then on the final day, had the worst time to have the worst game of her - of the fortnight. And I think what was really interesting about it was that so many players play Serena Williams, and so many players may catch her on a bad day, but she finds a way. She finds that extra gear. She makes it interesting, but at the end of the day, she come through in the end. And today, that didn't happen.
And give all the credit in the world to Angelique Kerber - great, great talent. She's been in the top 10 for the last four years, and she's one of those players that just really had a difficult time, when the chips were on the table, to kind of bring them over. And this time, she did it. I'm really happy for her because these chances don't come for these other players. Serena Williams has got 21 grand slam champions. Angelique Kerber was in her first final. And to not blink against the greatest player in the world, I think she's going - she said it really nicely. She said now, I can call myself a grand slam champion, and that sounds really, really nice. So I'm very happy for her.
SIMON: Howard, do men play in the Australian Open, too? I'm not clear on that.
BRYANT: (Laughter) Believe it or not, the men are playing. And Scott, you have a chance to redeem yourself. Three-thirty this morning - or 3 a.m. this morning, you, too, can watch Novak, Djokovic and Andy Murray. Djokovic is the best player in the world. No one has come anywhere close to him. It would be a pretty big upset for Murray to win. I see Djokovic winning this pretty cleanly.
SIMON: Hockey question - there's a compelling human controversy brewing in the NHL. John Scott, who's recently changed teams - he's in the minors now - has been voted an All-Star by the fans. He's known as a - we call him a goon in hockey, an enforcer. He's paid to hit people and unexpectedly a pick to the All-Star roster and seemingly unwelcome by the NHL.
BRYANT: Not just seemingly unwelcome. He was picked by fan vote, which the NHL wanted to do to get closer and more interactive with the public. So they have this promotion where the fans can pick the All-Star. Well, what did the fans do? The fans picked an enforcer. Part of it was kind of a prank in some ways, and part of it wasn't. And they picked John Scott to win. He was with the Coyotes, and it so turns out that he wins the fan vote. And what does the NHL do?
The NHL says that, you know what, you're not really an All-Star. This is supposed to be the best of the best. You're really not one of them, so why don't you bow out? They essentially (laughter) tried to intimidate him and say look - is this something that your family would be proud of?
SIMON: Oh, oh.
BRYANT: And as it turns out, in the opposite was that the players encouraged him to play. They said you won the vote. You're an All-Star. Come join us. So not only is he playing in the All-Star game, but the players voted him a captain. So John Scott, enforcer, is now captain on the All-Star team for the Western Conference.
And I think it's great. I think it's great in so many different ways because the All-Star game, sure, in spirit, is supposed to be about the best of the best of the best. However, I think there is a moment - and this may be that moment - where you celebrate the guy who works just as hard...
SIMON: Yes.
BRYANT: ...As the Mario Lemieuxes and the Wayne Gretzkys, but didn't have the talent. And he's out there representing because the great players can't do what they do without players like John Scott. So I think it's great, and I think the NHL did a good job by bowing to the public and by not making a big of this because they looked awful by doing it a couple days ago.
SIMON: Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. Thanks so much, my friend. Talk to you later.
BRYANT: My pleasure. Watch the match tonight, Scott. Wake up.
(SOUNDBITE OF SNORING)
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Saul Williams is a man with a message. And he will use any medium available to share that message. As a writer and poet, he's published five books, including "The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings Of Hip-Hop." As an actor, he's appeared in film, TV, and recently starred in "Holler If Ya Hear Me," a Broadway musical featuring the music of Tupac Shakur. He's recently released his fifth album. It is called "MartyrLoserKing."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)
SAUL WILLIAMS: (Singing) How can I describe it? It's a feeling that no one will talk about, but...
MARTIN: Through all his work is a common thread of social activism. In this most recent release, Williams' lyrics speak of social injustice and inequality on a global scale. Saul Williams joins me now from our studios at NPR West. Welcome to the show.
WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me.
MARTIN: Let me just start off by asking you the semi-obvious question. But "MartyrLoserKing," there's some kind of M. L. K. reference in there. Can you unpack that title for me?
WILLIAMS: Sure. In my project, MartyrLoserKing is the screen name of a hacker living in Burundi who becomes sort of a virtual phenomenon - kind of like a virtual Banksy until he is labeled as a terrorist and lives up to his name. Of course, the idea for the title came about when I was living in Paris and hearing Francophone people mispronounce Martin Luther King. And so one time in conversation, someone said, (with accent) oh, I was thinking about (with accent) Martyr loser King.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: Wait a second (laughter). What did you - you know, I went home and reflected on that. That's brilliant.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: The ideas that come from mispronunciation, you know.
MARTIN: Yeah. So let's dig into this character a little bit. A hacker...
WILLIAMS: Yep.
MARTIN: Living in, you know, a complicated digital age.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
MARTIN: Before we dig into his story, let's listen to a little bit of "Burundi," which is the soundtrack of this story.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BURUNDI")
WILLIAMS AND KOKAL: (Singing) Stolen property. Hacker, I'm a hacker. I'm a hacker in your hard drive, hundred thousand dollar Tesla ripping through your hard drive. Oh, Jesus, pull the cord, seat belt, what you standing for. Buckle up, let's knuckle up and tell Mohammed bring his sword. Whoosh, I'm a candle. I'm a candle.
MARTIN: There's some darkness in there. That's an ominous sound.
WILLIAMS: (Laughter).
MARTIN: What's going on? Tell me about this guy.
WILLIAMS: Well, what's interesting, that area in Central Africa, a Great Lakes region, the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, is an area where 80 percent of the world's coltan comes from. And coltan is a precious mineral that's in all of our smartphones and laptops. And 80 percent of it comes from the Central African region, which through resources is probably one of the richest areas on the planet. But through exploitation, through imperialism, through capitalism dating back to colonialism, it's, you know, one of the places of greatest injustice and what have you. I chose Burundi primarily because it's - until recently now, in the news - it would be the one place in that region where people haven't necessarily heard of.
MARTIN: So that in and of itself could be, like, this - a huge story. But this is just the leaping-off point for this character. So what is he running from?
WILLIAMS: Well, the first - he's running from exploitation. And what - really, it's about what he's running to. You know, he's running to a world that is run by technology and where the whistleblowers are being martyred.
MARTIN: Let's play another song off the album. This is called "Think Like They Book Say." And we'll talk about it on the other side.
WILLIAMS: Cool.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THINK LIKE THEY BOOK SAY")
WILLIAMS: (Singing) Met this girl on Friday night. (Unintelligible). Karaoke. Purple, sat in front in tights. That's what I was wearing. She was wearing red and purple like white smoke...
MARTIN: In a parable, there is some kind of - usually - redemption or forgiveness, some kind of conclusion. So without giving too many spoilers for someone who wants to kind of absorb the entire experience of the parable - but what is the closure here? Is there closure?
WILLIAMS: Well, you know, one thing we haven't talked about is the fact that I'm working with First Second Books on the graphic novel of "MartyrLoserKing." And I started that at the same time I started the album. And whereas the music kind of just speaks around what's happening in the story, if you want to know what happens in the parable, you'll have to get the graphic novel when it comes out a year from now.
MARTIN: (Laughter) Oh, aren't you the good marketing guy?
WILLIAMS: (Laughter).
MARTIN: Poet and businessman.
WILLIAMS: (Laughter) Well...
MARTIN: That's what it takes these days, I suppose.
WILLIAMS: It's always taken that. I mean, let's not forget that Rimbaud quit writing poetry and ran - you know, ran to the same region and started selling guns... Poet and businessman (laughter).
MARTIN: (Laughter) So we can talk again because there's much more to talk about.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. We'll be talking about "MartyrLoserKing" for quite some time.
MARTIN: Saul Williams spoke to us from our studios at NPR West. His new album is called "MartyrLoserKing." Thanks so much for talking with us.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HORN OF THE CLOCK-BIKE")
WILLIAMS: (Singing) Red stain on the concrete, disdain for the bare feet. Work, work my kitango. No perk for the bongo.
MARTIN: That's music by Saul Williams. Our theme music was composed by BJ Leiderman. This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Drone racing is the next NASCAR. At least that's what Nick Horbaczewski really wants you to believe. He's the CEO of the Drone Racing League, and he's lined up millions in venture capital to bring his vision to reality. He joins me now from our studios in New York. Hey, Nick, welcome to the show.
NICK HORBACZEWSKI: Thanks so much.
MARTIN: Describe what a drone race looks like.
HORBACZEWSKI: To understand drone racing, the first thing to understand is these are small, quadcopter drones. And they go very, very fast.
MARTIN: These are, like, the little hobbyist remote-controlled vehicles.
HORBACZEWSKI: So the same concept, yeah, except ours are sort of sleek, carbon fiber. And they go, you know, north of 80 miles an hour.
MARTIN: Wow, OK.
HORBACZEWSKI: So these are serious pieces of equipment. And they have a little camera on them that feeds a video signal back to the pilots. So the pilots are wearing these goggles that see what the drone sees, basically.
MARTIN: So this is really happening. It's not just a game that's projected on a screen. This is in real life, these little drones race each other in a real environment.
HORBACZEWSKI: That's correct. The first event of the 2016 season is at Miami Dolphins' stadium, and the course wraps around the bowl, through the concourses, down through the people-movers. These are actual drones flying through a real space.
MARTIN: It looks like they go through obstacles or rings or there's something in their path.
HORBACZEWSKI: So we have these gates that they fly through that we light up in bright lights so that they can see them. And the audience can see them. And the drones have to pass through them and follow a particular path through the space.
MARTIN: It is crazy to watch this, though, because on the one hand, it's weird. And you're wrapping your head around just what's happening. But it also kind of made me a little bit, like, motion sick.
HORBACZEWSKI: It's like sitting in the cockpit of a drone going 80 miles an hour through a hallway. Like, that - if you were actually doing it, you'd probably be experiencing a lot too. And, you know, this thing goes up in the air and takes a flip. And your stomach drops a little bit because your mind is thinking, I'm that drone. I'm going that fast.
MARTIN: You're not broadcasting these races live, right?
HORBACZEWSKI: Not yet. So we've started by putting on races and filming them and then releasing that content online. And we're going to work our way towards both live events and live broadcasts.
MARTIN: So right now they're produced. You edit the races down and produce a race that people can view, right?
HORBACZEWSKI: We produce tons of content. If you're really into the technology, you might watch the races and then want to know how the drones work, then get an interview with the pit crew. If you're really into the racing, you watch the racing and then want to hear the pilot's strategy. And you want to hear about what's next - you know, the next course is going to look like.
MARTIN: Wait. There's a pit crew?
HORBACZEWSKI: Yeah, there's a big pit crew. So here at the Drone Racing League, we design and build all of the drones that are used in our events. So we're bringing over a hundred drones to an event. So it's a sizeable team of drone engineers and fleet managers that keep all those drones in pristine working order.
MARTIN: Who do you want to watch? Who are going to be the big mega-fans of drone racing, do you think?
HORBACZEWSKI: Well, what's interesting is, you know, we've launched some of the content over the last few days. And we've been surprised. You know, a lot of it is what you'd expect - sort of millennials who like interesting, fast-paced content - you know, the digital and, you know, love drones and technology. But there's also a huge interest from race fans - so traditional racing fans, people who love car races and speed sports, motorcycle racing. And they love the speed. They love the thrill. They love the crashes. And this brings all those things together.
MARTIN: There are crashes?
HORBACZEWSKI: Oh, lots of crashes - crashing is part of the sport of drone races. You're flying very high-speed craft through narrow spaces. And, you know, pilots will occasionally miss a turn. And they hit a wall, and these drones disintegrate because they're flying so fast and they have so much energy. But it's part of the fun. You know, it's a drone. We - when that happens, we get a new drone. And pilots get a new one in the next race.
MARTIN: And no one gets hurt.
HORBACZEWSKI: And no one gets hurt.
MARTIN: Nick Horbaczewski is CEO of the Drone Racing League. The first race of the inaugural season will take place in Miami next month. Hey, Nick, thanks for talking with us.
HORBACZEWSKI: Thank you so much.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
North Korea is obviously a mysterious place, even to its neighbor. Curiosity has sparked a slew of reality shows on South Korean TV featuring people who have fled the North. NPR's Elise Hu has the story from Seoul.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW)
ELISE HU, BYLINE: There are programs similar to "The Amazing Race" featuring North Korean women and South Korean men paired up to take on challenges. There are the chatty talk shows featuring defectors talking about their dangerous escapes and past lives.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MORANBONG CLUB")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Moranbong Club.
(APPLAUSE)
HU: And there are the dating shows, where North Korean women are matched up with eligible South Korean bachelors, all part of an emerging genre on South Korean television, the defector reality show.
SOKEEL PARK: So I do think that it's a new approach.
HU: Sokeel Park is research director for Liberty In North Korea, an international nonprofit that works with North Korean defectors. He says North Koreans were previously seen only on the news or documentaries here. Now they're part of more entertainment-driven media offerings.
PARK: And so this stuff is, for the first time, exposing South Korean audiences, mass scale, to other, you know, non-North Korean political people.
HU: People like Han Seo-hee, a former singer who lived in Pyongyang. She's a regular on the talk show "Moranbong Club."
SEO-HEE HAN: (Speaking Korean).
HU: She tells us there's a lot of prejudice toward North Korean defectors in South Korea, so I wanted to show South Koreans that we're living here and trying the best we can.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MORANBONG CLUB")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Han Seo-hee.
(APPLAUSE)
HU: On this episode, she fields questions about North Korean culture - its bands, its music and what it was like performing in the military's singing troupe.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MORANBONG CLUB")
HAN: (Speaking Korean).
HU: Defector advocate Sokeel Park says the programs are helping South Koreans get a fuller picture of the North Korean experience.
PARK: They're talking about the growth of markets and new technologies in North Korea, for instance, as well. And so gradually, the South Korean audiences are being exposed to new kind of stories and new characters from North Korea that previously, frankly, there was just widespread ignorance of.
HU: But if you watch enough of these, you'll notice a familiar pattern. They feature almost all North Korean women paired with South Korean men.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LOVE UNIFICATION")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Foreign language spoken.
HU: In this scene from the show "Love Unification," (speaking Korean), a North Korean woman is pushed around in a wheelbarrow by her South Korean partner.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LOVE UNIFICATION")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Speaking Korean).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DADDY")
PSY: (Singing) Where'd you get that body from?
HU: Lee Yunso took a closer look at the gender dynamics of these reality shows. She watched a month's worth of these programs for the media watchdog group Womenlink.
YUNSO LEE: (Through interpreter) By casting defectors in their 20s, the TV shows emphasize North Korean women's innocence and how little they know. They are used to portray submissive women inside the patriarchy.
HU: She and defectors like Han also fear the programs lack nuance on the differences between North and South. On the talk shows, life in the North is uniformly bad, while life in the South is unquestionably good, ignoring difficulties for defectors in South Korean society. Lee Yunso.
LEE: (Through interpreter). We need to show how North Korean defectors really live in South Korea and try to show North Korea without any of the prejudices in our minds. We need a process of gaining more understanding between each other.
HU: She says it would ultimately make portrayals of North Koreans on reality TV more real. Elise Hu, NPR News, Seoul.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing their country by boat. That is Syria today. It was also Vietnam in 1979. Van-Ahn Vo left Vietnam more than a decade after that, and under far different circumstances. She was already an award-winning musician who has gone on to perform in Carnegie Hall. But the plight of her countrymen and that of today's refugees has inspired her to create a new concert piece that will be touring the country. Cy Musiker of member station KQED has her story.
CY MUSIKER, BYLINE: Von-Ahn Vo grew up in Hanoi, living with the legacy of the Vietnam war. Her family's washbasin was an old artillery shell, her school bell a piece of an American B-52 bomber.
VON-AHN VO: The teacher banged on it, and then we know that oh, it's recess.
MUSIKER: Vo left her homeland in 1995, after the U.S. normalized relations with Vietnam. She wound up in Fremont, Calif., near the large Vietnamese-American community in San Jose. And whenever she gets together with friends, she says -
VO: After having food, after having fun, we all end up talking about how we came here.
MUSIKER: Vo learned that many of her friends in the U.S. were boat people. When the war ended, ethnic hostilities forced hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese - most of Chinese descent - to flee on overcrowded boats. Many died on the South China Sea.
VO: And the more I hear about their story, the more I want to share this. Especially since middle of last year, when the boat people from Syria on news.
MUSIKER: So Vo has written "The Odyssey: From Vietnam To America," a 40-minute multimedia piece about the boat people.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MUSIKER: Vo plays a bit in the music studio in her garage. Her father played guitar in the North Vietnamese Army during the war. She won awards for her skill with traditional instruments, like those crowding the studio - the single-stringed dan bau, the bamboo xylophone, and especially the Vietnamese zither, the dan tranh.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VO: That's the power and my luck and my fortune of learning traditional music.
MUSIKER: Since arriving in the U.S., Vo has made strong musical connections. She's performed and recorded with Kronos Quartet and toured the country playing and singing her own compositions, which blend Vietnamese and Western traditions.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MUSIKER: When she was ready to tell the story of the Vietnamese boat people, Vo didn't tell comfortable going to her friends, so she approached Asian-Americans for Community Involvement in nearby Santa Clara. It was founded in 1979 to help Vietnamese refugees. President Michele Lew says the group doesn't usually work with artists, but -
MICHELE LEW: We have found that storytelling is a powerful hook to talk about health and wellness issues, such as the refugee experience.
MUSIKER: Lew's organization helped Vo connect with almost 60 boat people. She weaves audio and video from the interviews with them into "The Odyssey."
(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE, "THE ODYSSEY: FROM VIETNAM TO AMERICA")
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I was scared. I was scared.
MUSIKER: The video screen on what could be the sail of a boat, and Vo's group - Japanese Taiko drum, electric cello, accordion and Vo singing and playing traditional instruments - tries to recreate the journey of the boat people, including the sound of the ocean carrying them from Vietnam.
(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE, "THE ODYSSEY: FROM VIETNAM TO AMERICA")
MUSIKER: One of those Vo interviewed for "The Odyssey" is software engineer Mai Bui. Sitting in the living room of her bay area home, Bui recalls how she and her brother spent days on a crowded boat without food or water until a Thai merchant ship towed them into Bangkok. They ran at night to avoid pirates.
MAI BUI: The ocean sound is romantic but at that time, it's scary. It's very scary. Up to this point, I cannot look at the ocean or the sea at night. It still - you know, it bring back my memory.
MUSIKER: This isn't the only memory of the Vietnam war that Van-Ahn Von is addressing through music. She's performing a new work called "My Lai," by Jonathan Berger, with Kronos Quartet. And she's taking "The Odyssey" on the road for performances in Washington, D.C., Southern California's Orange County and Houston, Texas, places with large Vietnamese-American populations.
VO: So that we can let unheard voice like (unintelligible) to be voiced.
MUSIKER: The voiceless to be voiced.
VO: Yes, yes.
MUSIKER: Van-Ahn Von says "The Odyssey" is a plea on behalf of all refugees, and against the wars that divide us. For NPR News, I'm Cy Musiker in San Francisco.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Meanwhile, Syrian refugees are still flooding into Europe. In Denmark, the government has made it more difficult for people hoping to land there. They passed a controversial law requiring asylum seekers to hand over any cash or valuables when they arrive in the country. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson says many Danes are conflicted over this law.
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE: The pretty Baltic port town of Sonderborg is one of many Danish communities sending mixed signals to asylum seekers these days. It hosts scores of migrants at an asylum center on the town's outskirts. Downtown at the local mall, resident Pia Escherich says Danes have an obligation to help people fleeing from war zones. But her welcome has a caveat. Syrians are OK, but not so much those coming from Afghanistan or other countries, where the urgency of asylum is maybe not as clear-cut.
PIA ESCHERICH: They are not refugees as I see it. I think a lot of guys are coming along with the other guys, and that's a problem because we cannot have millions of guys in Europe. But I think, generally, if they are refugees, they are welcome.
NELSON: Weeding out asylum seekers who don't fit the ever-narrowing definition of who is a refugee is what more and more Europeans want, not just here in Denmark, but in neighboring countries that up until now have been more willing to take refugees in, like Sweden and Germany. Some Danes also seek to insulate themselves from those already here, especially following widely publicized reports of sexual and other violent crimes being blamed on migrants. In Sonderborg, for example, the Buddy Holly nightclub only lets in customers who speak Danish, English or German, after women here and nearby towns complained of being harassed by asylum seekers. The club's owner told Agence France-Presse the policy was about safety and not xenophobia, but Sonderborg psychologist Martin Juhl considers it discrimination.
MARTIN JUHL: I heard about it in the news, but I don't think it's necessary to make those rules. But I think you have to know that that Buddy Holly thing, as I consider it, is kind of a youngster's place and I cannot take it that serious.
NELSON: He adds he is more concerned about the reputation Denmark is getting as being unfriendly to refugees. A new law orders Danish police to seize cash and valuables from some asylum seekers and keeps others from bringing their families to Denmark for at least three years, even if they are in danger. University of Copenhagen migration researcher Zachary Whyte says the goal is to get asylum seekers to choose another destination.
ZACHARY WHYTE: The Danish government, last year, took out ads in Lebanese newspapers to discourage Syrian refugees, primarily in Lebanon, from coming to Denmark.
NELSON: Officials say they have no choice. They claim their small country has been overwhelmed by the 20,000 people who applied for asylum in Denmark last year, even though that number pales in comparison to what neighboring countries have taken in, Whyte says.
WHYTE: But it's increasingly become the prevalent story that refugees are an economic burden to the Danish welfare state.
NELSON: Speaking at the Copenhagen cafe, Danish journalist Mikkel Andersson opposes what he calls asylum-based immigration. Andersson argues many asylum seekers arriving in Denmark are unskilled and won't fit in.
MIKKEL ANDERSSON: A huge amount of those will not be able to be integrated into the Danish labor market in any meaningful way. That's the experience with that over the last 30 years.
NELSON: He says Danish tax dollars will be far better spent on humanitarian aid than hosting refugees. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News in Sonderborg, Denmark.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Was Andy Warhol simply a collector of all things beautiful and mundane, or was he a full-blown hoarder? Did Abraham Lincoln suffer from melancholia, or was he clinically depressed? Did Albert Einstein have autism? These are the questions award-winning journalist Claudia Kalb seeks to answer in her new book. It is titled "Andy Warhol Was A Hoarder: Inside The Minds Of History's Great Personalities." She joins us in our studios in Washington. Thanks for coming in.
CLAUDIA KALB: Thank you, Rachel.
MARTIN: Let's start with Andy Warhol.
KALB: Excellent.
MARTIN: He was a hoarder, I'm presuming, since you put it on the cover of your book. What more can you tell us about his condition?
KALB: Warhol had this intense desire to shop and collect, and it started fairly early in his life. And as he moved to New York and became a working artist in the city, he would shop daily at everywhere from a five-and-dime store to an upscale boutique. The other big thing about Warhol was his time capsules, where he had about 600 boxes, cardboard boxes, where he put everything into them. He swept stuff off his desk. He put old receipts, he put bills he had not yet paid, he put junk mail, even old pizza crust. Threw it into these boxes, collected over the years about 600 of them. And...
MARTIN: ...Did he write dates - I mean, did he anticipate that someone was going to be curious about that chapter in his life and unpack them at some point?
KALB: He did put dates on them. He anticipated at some point potentially selling them. He thought maybe these would be sort of a collection of artifacts that people would be interested in. After all, it's Warhol. At the same time, he had such difficulty getting rid of anything. He said in his journals and in his writings, I can't throw anything out. And he even said I'd love to have a really clean space. But he never could do it.
MARTIN: Let's have you read a little bit of that chapter on Andy Warhol.
KALB: Sure. (Reading) Plenty of people like to browse and buy, but Warhol's zealousness was unparalleled. The extent of his acquisitions became starkly apparent after his death in 1987. Hired to handle his estate, Sotheby's appraisers set up shop as best they could to document the goods in his home, a five-story brownstone he had moved into on East 66th Street. Staffers found rooms jammed with boxes and shopping bags. A Picasso was stashed in the closet. Gems were found tucked away in the bed. There were heaps of cheap watches, dozens of perfume bottles, 175 cookie jars, as well as Tiffany lamps and paintings by Lichtenstein, Johns and Rauschenberg.
MARTIN: So Andy Warhol is one of a dozen people you chose to profile in this book. These are famous people, so we know a certain amount about them, but most of them are people who have been dead for a very long time. So how did you get back in and figure out what they had and how it affected their professional life?
KALB: It was a wonderful task of looking both at biographical material as well as medical journals. So for Darwin, for example, his letters and journals are online. It's an amazing resource. And you tap in there, you can look at what he was writing, what he was saying, how he was expressing his anxiety and the physical symptoms he suffered. And then at the same time, looking at the medical literature that has been published, there are hundreds of studies about what ailed Darwin. What was wrong with him? Why did he have these stomachaches, this dizziness, these headaches? He was doing this all as he was writing "On The Origin Of Species." And then the third component was interviewing current-day mental health experts to talk to them about these conditions and to assess how the symptoms of these particular historical figures lined up with current-day diagnoses.
MARTIN: Although you are - you are drawing conclusions. I mean, you're interviewing experts, but you are speculating to some degree about what these people would have been diagnosed with at the time.
KALB: Right. Trying hard to stick to the theories and thoughts of medical experts themselves by looking at the other evidence that's out there, looking at the biographies and the biographical letters and journals, and then laying it out there. Some of these diagnoses were confirmed - Betty Ford talked about her addiction - and others are speculative, Einstein and Darwin two of them.
MARTIN: Did you ever feel a twinge of guilt in writing this, because it is a little bit voyeuristic. I mean, you're getting so deeply intimate into these people's mental states.
KALB: Right. I struggled with all sorts of emotions while writing it. I think ultimately, while writing it and thinking about it and talking about it, my overarching goal was to lay this all out for people in a way that they could look at it and say this looks like my friend or my family member or a little bit like me. I found this a way to maybe relieve people a little bit that if they are struggling, they are not alone.
MARTIN: Claudia Kalb is a journalist specializing in science and medicine, and a former senior writer at Newsweek. Her book, "Andy Warhol Was A Hoarder," is out this week. Thanks for talking with us, Claudia.
KALB: Delighted to be here, thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Itching to hear more about who's attacking whom on the campaign trail before tomorrow's Iowa caucuses? Yeah, me either. Let's play the puzzle.
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MARTIN: Joining me now is Will Shortz. He is puzzle editor of The New York Times and WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master. Good morning, Will.
WILL SHORTZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: What was last week's challenge?
SHORTZ: Yes. Well, I announced last week that it may have been one of the hardest challenges I have ever presented, and that turned out to be wildly wrong.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SHORTZ: Either, I don't know, we have a lot of smart listeners or everyone rose to the challenge. Anyway, it came from listener Fred Piscop of Bellmore, Long Island. And I said take three phrases - turkey breast, ski slope, cash drawer. What very unusual property do they have in common? Well, the answer is in each phrase, the second word can be anagrammed to complete another common phrase. So turkey breast becomes turkey baster, ski slope becomes ski poles, and cash reward becomes cash drawer.
MARTIN: OK, so we got around 1,150 correct answers. So a lot of you out there figured this one out. And it may not have been a challenging puzzle, but it may have been challenging for you to submit your answer because we had a little technical glitch this week. And if you tried to enter just under the wire on Thursday, you may have run into this problem. We're happy to report we've got a workaround in place, but we are sorry about the glitch. Nevertheless, our randomly-selected winner is Richard Harris of Centennial, Colo. outside of Denver. He joins us on the line now. Rich, congratulations.
RICHARD HARRIS: Thank you.
MARTIN: Do you have a question for Will?
HARRIS: Yeah. Well, every Sunday in The New York Times, there's the extra variety puzzle. There's the cross stick or the diagram list or the spiral thing or the cryptic thing or the puns. You know, which of those is your favorite?
SHORTZ: I think my favorite is the cryptic crossword, which I do every eight weeks. It's the British-style crossword, just nice wordplay. And I bet you're good at cryptics, too.
HARRIS: Well, I can tell you that one of the things that bugs me is the little timer that's there because the timer just sort of screams at you, you know, you're not very smart.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: We do not have a timer, but we do have a fun puzzle for you. Are you ready to do this?
HARRIS: I guess so. Yeah, sure.
MARTIN: Yeah, sure, what the heck? All right, Will, take it away.
SHORTZ: All right, Rich and Rachel. I'm going to give you some six-letter words. For each one, insert two letters in the exact center to complete a familiar eight-letter word. For example, if I said accent, A-C-C-E-N-T, you would say accident, inserting an I-D in the middle.
MARTIN: OK.
SHORTZ: OK, number one is evince, E-V-I-N-C-E.
HARRIS: Evidence.
SHORTZ: Evidence is it. Number two is callus, C-A-L-L-U-S.
HARRIS: And you have to put words - the letters in the middle - calculus.
MARTIN: There you go.
SHORTZ: Calculus is it. Candle, C-A-N-D-L-E.
HARRIS: I've got to write them down.
MARTIN: Yeah, no, me too.
HARRIS: Canoodle.
MARTIN: Canoodle.
SHORTZ: Isn't that a great word? I love that word. Harare, H-A-R-A-R-E, as in the capital of Zimbabwe.
HARRIS: Hardware.
SHORTZ: That's it. Cellar, C-E-L-L-A-R.
HARRIS: Cellular.
SHORTZ: That's it. Sanity, S-A-N-I-T-Y.
HARRIS: Sanctity.
MARTIN: Great.
SHORTZ: Docent, D-O-C-E-N-T.
HARRIS: Document.
SHORTZ: That - document. Banter, B-A-N-T-E-R.
HARRIS: Banter, B-A-N-T-E-R.
SHORTZ: That's right.
HARRIS: Oh, geez. Banister.
MARTIN: There you go.
SHORTZ: Banister is it.
MARTIN: Yes, that's it.
SHORTZ: That's it.
HARRIS: OK.
SHORTZ: And Roger Bannister, the runner, had two Ns, but the banister along your stairs has just one. Metric, M-E-T-R-I-C.
HARRIS: Meteoric.
SHORTZ: That's it. And your last one is cookin', as in what's cookin'? C-O-O-K-I-N.
HARRIS: Coonskin.
SHORTZ: Coonskin.
MARTIN: Wow.
SHORTZ: Man, man, man, boom, boom, boom.
MARTIN: That was very well done, Rich.
HARRIS: I didn't embarrass myself.
MARTIN: No, you did not at all. You kind of knocked it out of the park. And for playing the puzzle today, you get a WEEKEND EDITION lapel pin and all kinds of puzzle books and games. You can check them out at npr.org/puzzle. And before we let you go, where do you hear us? What's your public radio station?
HARRIS: My wife, Ann, and I are members of KCFR, 90.1, in Denver.
MARTIN: Richard Harris of Centennial, Colo. Thanks so much, Richard.
HARRIS: Thank you.
MARTIN: OK, Will, what's up for next week?
SHORTZ: Yes. The challenge comes from listener Michael Shteyman of Odenton, Maryland. Take the name of a country and a well-known city in the Mideast, 12 letters in all. Rearrange these letters to name another country and another well-known city in the Mideast. What places are these? So again, the name of a country and well-known city in the Mideast, 12 letters. Rearrange them and you'll name another country and another well-known city in the Mideast. What places are these?
MARTIN: When you've figured it out, go to npr.org/puzzle, click on the submit your answer link. Just one entry per person please. You know that. Our deadline for entries is Thursday, February 4, at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Don't forget to include a phone number where we can reach you at about that time. And if you're the winner, we give you a call and then you get to play on the air with the puzzle editor of The New York Times. And he is WEEKEND EDITION's puzzle master, Will Shortz. Thanks so much, Will.
SHORTZ: Thank you, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
I'm Rachel Martin.
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MARTIN: And this is For the Record.
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MARTIN: Today is day 30 in the standoff between antigovernment activists and law enforcement in Oregon. After the arrest of 11 people last week, officials hoped the occupation would come to an end. Only four militants remain at the refuge, but the killing of the group's spokesman in an encounter with police has re-energized some protesters. We have been here before. Back in the 1990s, there were several showdowns between armed, antigovernment extremists and the federal government. One of the longest involved the Freemen of Montana in 1996.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sixteen members of the antigovernment group the Freemen surrendered to federal authorities yesterday following an 81-day standoff at a ranch near Jordan, Mont.
MARTIN: In 1993, there was the standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Here's NBC's Tom Brokaw.
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TOM BROKAW: It appears tonight that David Koresh, who believed that he was the son of God, perished today in a setting that closely resembled hell.
MARTIN: But it was the events at Ruby Ridge in Idaho in 1992 that would come to symbolize dangerous government overreach. For The Record today, the lessons of Ruby Ridge.
JESS WALTER: Ruby Ridge is a complex case, and it's one of the reasons that when it first unfolded in 1992, it really slipped beneath the radar of the national media and the public.
MARTIN: This is Jess Walter, and back then, he was a cub reporter for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. One hundred miles away in northern Idaho, a man named Randy Weaver and his family were making a new life for themselves.
WALTER: He lost his job at a tractor farm in Iowa, and they made their way west. They were apocalyptic Christian who believed that the world was about to end. And they began practicing a form of religion called Christian Identity, which is the religion of skinheads and white supremacists.
MARTIN: One summer, Weaver took his family to a camp run by the Aryan Nations, and this is what got Randy Weaver into trouble with the law. He sold two sawed-off shotguns to a man he met at that gathering. What Weaver didn't know was that this man was working undercover with federal authorities. They planned to use the illegal weapons sale to recruit Weaver as an informant, someone who could infiltrate the white supremacist groups in the area.
WALTER: So when the ATF approached Weaver and said we know you sawed the barrels off shotguns and sold them illegally. You're going to go to prison and lose your farm, and you know, your family's going to have trouble. What they didn't know - or didn't pay attention to - is the fact that these were real apocalyptics (ph). They believed the world was about to end and that it would end with such government treachery. So for the Weavers, this was almost a declaration of war.
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MARTIN: For the next year, Weaver and his family holed up in their cabin on Ruby Ridge, refusing to appear in court to face the gun charges. Federal agents kept them under surveillance. Arthur Roderick was one of the six U.S. marshals on the ridge outside the Weaver compound on August 21, 1992.
ARTHUR RODERICK: It was very, very, very thick foliage. I mean, it was August on a mountaintop. You could barely see your hand in front of your face.
MARTIN: As he describes it, the Weavers' family dog saw him and his partners in the woods and started barking. Roderick says the Weavers' 14-year-old son Sam and a family friend named Kevin Harris started chasing them. Both were armed.
RODERICK: And at that point, Bill Degan started making, you know, the announcement - stop, U.S. marshals. Stop, U.S. marshals. And at that point, Kevin Harris wheeled around and fired a shot, hit Billy (ph) in the chest. Cooper returned fire. Larry Cooper had a bull barrel 9 mm submachine gun that had a little suppressor on it, and he returned fire of about six rounds at that time. And this is all happening very quickly. It was just gunfire for about 20, 25 minutes.
SARA WEAVER: There was just a lot of pain and agony. And you know, all of that comes to the forefront when I start to think about it.
MARTIN: This is Sara Weaver, Randy Weaver's daughter. She was 16 years old at the time.
WEAVER: I remember hearing the gunshots. I remember, you know, being very upset when I heard the gunshots because I wasn't expecting that that day. I'll never forget feeling panicked and helpless that I wasn't there to protect him.
MARTIN: By him, she means her younger brother because when that firefight was over, two people were dead, marshal Bill Degan and 14-year-old Sam Weaver.
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WEAVER: I think our family was still holding out hope at that point that because Sam had died, someone would try and verbally contact us to talk about, you know, what had happened or how to resolve the situation.
MARTIN: Instead, the situation escalated. Journalist Jess Walter picks up the story.
WALTER: As the FBI is getting information on this case from the marshals service, they aren't told that Randy Weaver's son has been killed. They aren't told that there's some question about who fired first. They're only told that some marshals were in the words surveilling Randy Weaver, possibly to arrest him for this outstanding warrant, when he and his family attacked them and killed a U.S. marshal.
MARTIN: Walter says the FBI scrambled its hostage rescue team. They flew west to Idaho.
WALTER: And as they're flying, they're given an assessment of the situation. And at the highest levels of the FBI, something that's never happened before or since happens, in which the FBI agrees to suspend the rules of engagement, tell their agents you're going into an active firefight. If you see an armed adult, you can and should open fire. No surrender warning, you can just shoot them.
So the FBI surrounds the cabin. The next morning, the Weaver family, mourning the fact that Samuel's been killed - and remember the FBI, at this point, doesn't know that - goes out to where they've put his body. The family's gone back to their cabin and put his body in an outbuilding. They go to check on the body, and as Randy Weaver reaches up to open the shed door, a shot rings out from the woods and he's shot in the shoulder - in the armpit. And he and the family run back to the cabin. His wife, Vicki, holding their baby, throws the door open and screams get back in a cabin, get back in the cabin. And the FBI agent fires again, and this shot hits Vicki Weaver in the face and kills her.
So for the next 10 days, the Weaver family is in the cabin with their dead mother, their wounded father and their wounded friend. And two girls are taking care of the family, taking care of this baby. And they think if they step outside, they'll be shot and killed.
WEAVER: I was so drowning in grief, I pretty much felt that I didn't have a chance of coming out alive.
MARTIN: But after a harrowing 11 days, the standoff finally ended and Sara Weaver did come out alive along with her two sisters and their father. Ultimately, Randy Weaver was acquitted of every major charge because the jury decided that the original weapons charge against him had been entrapment.
WALTER: Everyone wants these cases to be so simple. And on the far right, you'll hear people talk about Randy Weaver like he was a gentleman farmer minding his own business. And on the far left, you'll have people say well, that's what you get for being - you know, for having these awful beliefs. And it's such a complex case. And it's such a case of, you know, no mistakes and cover-ups.
MARTIN: Were there any repercussions at the FBI over the decision to suspend the rules of engagement?
WALTER: Yeah, there certainly were. Of course, no one would ever take credit for it, but it did derail the careers of several FBI agents. The Weavers received a settlement of $3.1 million, $1 million for each of Randy Weaver's surviving daughters and 100,000 for him. There were congressional hearings, and it really changed the way federal law enforcement dealt with groups like this. Rather than feeding the paranoid fire by throwing more wood on it, it was just better to let it burn out and simmer.
MARTIN: It also changed the people who were there. Arthur Roderick retired from the U.S. marshals in 2008.
How do you think back on this experience? Obviously, reporters (laughter) call you from now and again, and it brings it to the fore. But is it something you think about a lot?
RODERICK: Oh, yeah. Absolutely, almost every day. I lost a good friend of mine. He was a really good guy, so yeah.
MARTIN: How have your thoughts or perceptions of the Weaver family changed over these many years?
RODERICK: I try not to think about them. At all. I always think more about Bill Degan and the other team members that I was up there with. I mean, all they had to do was show up at court very simply. That's all they had to do. So you know, I don't think much about them at all. I think, again, more about Bill Degan and his family, his two boys, his widow. That's who I think about.
MARTIN: Sara Weaver lives in Montana now. She works as an advocate for trauma victims, and she's raising her teenage son.
WEAVER: There's a lot about him that is so fun and reminds me a lot of my little brother. I lost my little brother when he was 14. My song is at that 14-year-old age mark, and it's been so healing for me to be able to sort of have that joke-around relationship with him like I had with my little brother. And just - I have a chance to be the best mom that I can be for him.
MARTIN: She tells me she's been thinking a lot about Ruby Ridge these last couple of weeks as the standoff in Oregon has unfolded.
WEAVER: You know, this situation is very, very different from our situation in many, many ways. But at the same time, I can relate to probably much of the emotion surrounding it. And I just didn't want to see people hurt. I know what it feels like, and it's devastating. It's just devastating on both sides. Nobody wins.
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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Parenting isn't an easy job. It can be hugely frustrating and even lonely. Trying to figure out what's best for your kid - should you be a taskmaster or a best friend? The pressures of full-time work and round-the-clock activities can make that question even more challenging to tackle. Our next guest is here with some guidance. Dr. Leonard Sax is a family physician and psychologist. His new book is called "The Collapse Of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown Ups." Welcome to the program, Dr. Sax.
LEONARD SAX: Thanks for inviting me.
MARTIN: Can you tell me more about that title, "How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown Ups"? What do you mean?
SAX: Well, the point of the book is that, look, you need to give kids choices in some domains, but not in others. I'm seeing a lot of parents who are really confused about in what domain is it appropriate to give kids a choice. For example - is it OK for your 14-year-old to take their cell phone to bed with them? My answer is no, but so many parents think that it is their job to be their child's best friend. That's not your job. Your job is to keep your child safe, make sure they get a good night's sleep and give them a grounding in confidence and help them to know who they are as human beings.
MARTIN: You do posit in the book that the most important thing for a child's development is a relationship with their parents and that in the absence of that, the peer relationship becomes paramount to them. Can you talk about what changes you have seen over the years and why that's a problem?
SAX: So many kids today care so much more about the opinion of other kids than they do about their parents, and that's really harmful because the regard of your peers, if you are an 8-year-old or a 14-year-old, that can change overnight. So if you're concerned first and foremost about what your peers think and you're 8 years old or 14 years old, you're going to be anxious. And we've seen a 400 percent explosion in anxiety among American kids in the United States over the last 30 years. An American kid in the United States is now 14 times more likely to be on medication for ADD compared to a kid in the United Kingdom.
MARTIN: And you think that's bad parenting, that the reason those kids have to be medicated or the reason that there are these high levels of anxiety, that this is somehow because parents have let their relationship with their child dissolve?
SAX: I can tell you exactly how it happens. Here's a typical story. This boy tells his parents he's having trouble concentrating and focusing, and they take him to a board certified child psychiatrist, and the child psychiatrist says, oh, you know sounds like maybe ADHD. Let's try Adderall or Vyvanse and see if it helps. And oh, my gosh, what a difference. Medication helps enormously. The child, the teacher, the parent and even the prescribing physician think hey, this medication was prescribed for ADD. It's clearly been helpful, therefore this kid must have ADD. But he doesn't. The parents bring him to me for a second opinion, and I ask them questions like - what do you do in the evening? - and the parents have no idea. He's in his bedroom with the door closed. Parents don't know what's going on. They think he's asleep, but he's not. He's staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning playing video games night after night. He's sleep-deprived. And if you're sleep-deprived, you're not going to be able to pay attention. And all the standard questionnaires, counter scales, etc., cannot distinguish whether you're not paying attention because you're sleep-deprived or because you truly have ADD.
MARTIN: All this stuff is hard to measure, and you yourself note that your book is based on your personal experiences and observations as a professional.
SAX: Oh, I don't agree. My book is grounded in more than 400 studies, which I cite at length in the book. Now to be sure, my book is informed by my first-hand experience, and that's what motivated it. But this is not a rant. It's not a sermon (laughter). It is the...
MARTIN: But you are confident. You are confident that what you're saying is true and right and that there is one way.
SAX: Well, I don't agree with that. The confidence is based in the research that I cite, the longitudinal cohort studies with thousands of kids conducted in many different demographic settings over many years.
MARTIN: You make no bones about the fact that this is hard, though. I mean, what you're talking about is telling your kid no. And that creates, perhaps, drama and negativity. And a lot of parents, especially people who are holding down jobs - one or two - that's hard to do when you're exhausted at the end of a day.
SAX: Well, it depends on how you've been parenting so far. And the earlier the child, the easier it is to make a change. If you've been the permissive parent who lets kids take their phones and their devices into their bedroom with them, lets kids decide what's for supper, it's going to be a challenge. And I recommend that you sit down with your child and say hey, there's going to be some changes here. So for example, one mom took the cell phone away because her daughter's spending all her time texting and Snapchatting, and the daughter didn't push back. And her friends were, like, oh, well you know, her mom's the weird mom who took her phone away. The real pushback - and this is what surprises mom - the real pushback came from the parents of her daughter's friends who really got on her case and said - how can you do this? And this mom told me that she thinks the other parents are uncertain, unsure of what they should be doing and so that's why they're lashing out at her, the one mom who has the strength to take a stand.
MARTIN: Dr. Leonard Sax is a family physician and psychologist in Pennsylvania. He's written several books on child development. His most recent book is called "The Collapse Of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown Ups." Dr. Sax, thanks so much for talking with us.
SAX: Thanks for inviting me.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For The Record today, that was Sara Weaver. She was 16 years old when her family was locked in the standoff with federal authorities at Ruby Ridge in 1992. We also heard from Arthur Roderick, one of the U.S. marshals who was there and journalist Jess Walter who covered the story at the time for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash
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MARTIN: Tomorrow's Iowa caucuses are being billed as they are every year, as a fight for the soul of the party. Democratic or Republican, pick your poison. Yes, it's a cliche. But especially on the Republican side this year, it is a real battle. For some insight into the race and the Grand Old Party, we gathered some Republicans.
Chelsi is 27 years old and was the youngest elected woman in the history of Jacksonville, Fla. Margaret Hoover is a political strategist and author whose great-grandfather was President Herbert Hoover. She's 38. And 32-year-old Will Estrada works as an advocate for a homeschooling nonprofit in Northern Virginia. And we started, as you have to, with a man who's currently dominating the GOP.
WILL ESTRADA: Donald Trump talks a good talk, but when you look at where he stands on, there's nothing to base it on. While I like that he's talking a conservative talk, I prefer candidates who have a, you know, a background in it, that there's evidence that you can look back and say they fought. They've been in the trenches. They've been trying to lower our taxes, reduce the size of government rather than just saying the right things. But he talks as a conservative. And so you have the top two candidates in the polls both making a very strong push for the conservative movement as opposed to the establishment movement.
MARTIN: Chelsi, Margaret, you want to chime in?
CHELSI HENRY: I think that Will made a great point in terms of Mr. Trump is - and I think about this all the time. Where does he really stand? I mean, he was a Democrat, and now he's a Republican, which that happens, but there's just been many things that he's flip-flopped on. And so, I really want to see someone who's going to go in, stand to their platform, stand to their promises and most importantly, stand to their values and implement those for all Americans.
MARTIN: Who is that? Who do you like, Chelsi?
HENRY: Jeb Bush. I'm a Florida girl and so I've seen how the policies and principles from job creation to education - when it comes to looking at all areas of government, looking at all areas where there's need, from criminal justice reform, you know, education, health care. The policies that the governor has put out are ones that I support.
MARTIN: How do you see what's happening, Margaret, in the party and this primary race?
MARGARET HOOVER: I would say I was optimistic before Donald Trump got in. Now that Trump has gotten in - and it is just Trump versus Cruz - the narrative, the tone, the quality of the conversations, we're not talking about policy. We're not talking about how to do the kinds of things that people like Paul Ryan are talking about - how to alleviate poverty, how is the Republican Party - the conservative movement - how is it going to make America better, fix sort of this economic stagnation the middle class has been in for a decade or more? We're not talking about any of the real problems. This has just become a reality TV food fight that, frankly, not only is not good for the country, it's really terrible for the Republican Party as well. So quite frankly, I'm hesitant to say it's terrifying as a young Republican.
MARTIN: Those are strong words. Will, Chelsi, do you share that sentiment?
ESTRADA: I actually must say I'm very optimistic. As a young Republican, you know, I think tomorrow Ted Cruz is going to win Iowa. I think it's going to basically deflate Donald Trump, and I think this race - you know, my crystal ball is a little foggy. But I think it's going to come down to the two Cubans, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and I think one of them will be our nominee this coming summer. And as young Latino conservative, I'm very, very excited about that.
MARTIN: But, and I'll put this to Chelsi, why is Donald Trump leading in the polls so dramatically then?
HENRY: He is the person that's saying no more political correctness. I'm going to say what's on my mind. I'm a person just like you. I have these really strong feelings that sometimes those who are trying to be politically correct don't share. And so I think just his style has allowed some people to feel like oh, my gosh. We can take back control of the government. But it doesn't address the policy concerns that myself, as a young African-American attorney, activist, feels needs to be addressed.
HOOVER: It's more than that though, Chelsi. This is Margaret, Rachel. I - you know, we talk about - and you're talking about the fight for the soul of the Republican Party. This is also the fight for the soul of the conservative movement in many ways because the conservative movement has counted on many of these individuals who are finding affinity with Trump. And you see National Review, the really primary publication of the modern American conservative movement coming out against Trump, but many of their readers are angry. Many of Fox News's viewers are angry. They support Donald Trump, and what he's tapped into is an economic populism and what I think is more of a European style xenophobic nationalism. That is a very, very strong feeling out there, and he's riding that wave.
MARTIN: And let me ask you, Will. I read in your bio that you serve on the board of a nonprofit that helps refugees in Thailand. What do you think about the rhetoric surrounding immigration policies and the influx of Syrian refugees and some of the language and rhetoric that's been used by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump?
ESTRADA: You know, Rachel, as an evangelical Christian, we see in the Bible that we're all created in the image of God, and a lot of the rhetoric that is used in modern American politics detracts from that. We need to be caring for the poor and the vulnerable.
MARTIN: So what do you make of Donald Trump's call to ban all Syrian refugees?
ESTRADA: But having said that, you know, it also starts with we have to protect our citizens. We have to protect the men, women and children here in America. And I'm very concerned, Rachel, and I share - and a lot of Americans, I think, are concerned when we see young men of military age coming over from war-torn countries who we don't know and we can't verify. I always think, you know, what would happen - that movie "Red Dawn" that came out in the '80s - what would happen if our country were attacked? Would we be fleeing, or would we be fighting for our country? And so I think, you know...
MARTIN: But "Red Dawn" is - it's a fictionalized - it's a...
ESTRADA: It's a fictionalized account.
MARTIN: ...A movie that stirs up fear and paranoia.
ESTRADA: It also, though, kind of strikes to the soul of, you know, what we've always said in America that we will fight for our land. And I think a lot of Americans, myself including, are saying we should let the women and children in. But why are we letting in people who should be fighting (laughter) for their own country, frankly?
MARTIN: Margaret, you've done a lot of work as an advocate for same-sex marriage, work to get pro-LGBT Republicans elected to Congress. This is obviously still a very divisive issue within the GOP. Who's your candidate if that's an issue that's important to you? How does that weigh into your calculus when looking at the field?
HOOVER: I believe that better government is government. I also believe in equal opportunity, as every American does. But I think where we come down differently in terms of the political spectrum is on the right, we tend to think that the government's job is to stay out of the way and at the very minimum, just enforce a level playing field to make sure that everybody does actually get a fair shot. And LGBT rights and freedoms is one area where the government very clearly isn't giving Americans a fair shot because LGBT Americans don't have the same rights, and they don't have all the same freedoms. Even post-marriage, there are 30 states where you can just be fired for being gay at cause. Nobody knows this. Republicans especially don't realize this. But you know, there are Americans who are Republicans who have taken strong positions on LGBT freedom.
MARTIN: None of them are running for president though.
HOOVER: Well - so listen, I mean, I thought it was a great moment in one of the first debates where John Kasich came out and said I've been to a gay wedding. And I was there the other day, and you know, I was for traditional marriage. But I went to a gay wedding, and it reflected that people are open to changing and that the party isn't a party of bigots. I mean, that has been the false caricature, I think.
MARTIN: I'll close by asking a big question and demanding much of you in answering it. But I will ask each of you to just, kind of in a few words, explain what change, if any, you would like to see in the GOP in the next few years. By the time the next presidential election rolls around, is there a change you would like to see, Chelsi?
HENRY: One, I think that we should hold true to our values and our principles. You know, I am a Republican because the values and principles of the party align with my personal values, yet with that, I think that we have to be better messengers to all communities. We have to be better messengers of how our conservative policies will directly affect the lives of people, when they're sitting down at their kitchen table every month to pay bills, how it's going to affect their bottom line. And from that, I think that we also have to grow in our diversity so my hope's, being optimistic because I happen to be a conservative, is that in 10 years, we'll look around and those who are helping make decisions, those who are helping the candidates get elected, they will be a diverse group of people who will represent the demographics of America.
MARTIN: Will.
ESTRADA: I would love to see us talking more about policy. We do a good job about it, but we need to do it more. And I think it gets to what Chelsi said of reaching out into minority communities. They want strong families. They're pro-life, many of them in the Latino community. Many of the Islamic-American communities are, again, very strong civil society and faith, and we need to go out and talk with them. We need to say the conservative Republican message is one that empowers you, one that will protect you and your faith and your religious freedom and your family and your job. And we need to go into these communities and just say you should be a Republican. You should vote with us because of these big policy issues.
MARTIN: And I'll close with Margaret.
HOOVER: I'd like for us to be a party that's known for standing for what we are for, not what we're against. And this is, I think, what Paul Ryan and the speakership is trying to do, is set an agenda of what we're for so the country knows what the Republican Party is for. Nikki Haley is trying to do this too. We are for a stable Middle East. We are for a free market health care system. We are for social mobility and getting people out of poverty. And people will know how we're for those things. And I think as young Republicans, the principles are there, but we need to adjust them and message them in order to really connect to a new generation.
MARTIN: Margaret Hoover, Chelsi Henry and Will Estrada.
Thanks so much for talking with us, you three.
HOOVER: Rachel, thank you.
ESTRADA: Thank you for having us, Rachel.
HENRY: Thanks for having us.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Last week on the show, we had a difficult conversation about reading books with tough material surrounding race and gender to your kids. We had been talking about the controversy surrounding a book called "A Birthday Cake For George Washington," a children's book that had been pulled from shelves by the publisher because it was seen as sanitizing slavery. And the conversation we had with writer Jeremy Adam Smith was an outgrowth of that topic. How do you handle material that your kids read that doesn't portray race or gender in the context you'd like? How young is too young? We got a lot of criticism for the segment. And it's clear it's a topic many of you wanted us to revisit. And we did that with Andrew Grant-Thomas. He's the founder of a parenting website called EmbraceRace and also the dad of two little girls. He told us that what's really important when it comes to conversations about race is that you take the long view.
ANDREW GRANT-THOMAS: It seems to me what's most important is to have a routine conversation - right? - not to have every possible instance of engagement on these issues be so fraught, so freighted, that, you know, it seems like a disaster or a phenomenal triumph to get it right or get it wrong.
MARTIN: A group called Teaching For Change is a nonprofit that aims to teach social justice in the classroom. They were very upset by our segment, and I'll quote from one of their letters. "While critical literacy is an important skill, parents do not need to purchase a racist children's book for a teaching opportunity. Racism exists all around us every day. Parents can and do have conversations with children about who's featured and who is missing or misrepresented in TV commercials, the Oscars, children's cartoons, toy stores, cereal boxes, the U.S. Senate and much more. In fact, it's hard to find a place that does not provide parents and children the opportunity to examine stereotyping and visibility and unfairness."
And I should say, for the sake of accuracy, that's not what we said or what we were suggesting in our segment. Obviously, no one should purchase a racist book. We're talking about books that older generations had grown up with and were perhaps revisiting with their kids.
GRANT-THOMAS: That's right. So Teaching For Change is a wonderful organization doing super-important work. And any criticism that they make in this space should be taken very seriously. And I think it's fantastic that you're doing that. I agree with Teaching For Change - and I'm sure Jeremy would, too - that there are lots of opportunities to talk about race, racial injustice and all the forms of injustice, without starting with the most difficult examples, right? So if you are teaching your 3-year-old or 4-year-old to swim, you wouldn't throw her into the deep end of the pool, right? If you're teaching her to ski, you wouldn't take her to, you know, the top of the expert slope. If you're teaching about anti-Semitism - right? - you probably wouldn't draw on a picture book that showed gas chambers, right? Now, again, as you say, it's not that we're doing this. But the point is - it's not that Jeremy Adam Smith is suggesting we do this. There are lots of books, like "Tintin," you know, like "Little House In The Big Woods," that you know, have a lot of meaning for parents. And parents want to share that experience, you know, that book that brought them joy when they were children, with their own children. But it does raise - I think Teaching For Change does raise this really important issue about, how do you pick your spots? Where do we draw the line between what's an appropriate teaching tool for a 3 or 4 or 5-year-old child and what's not? You know, as I said before, I mean, a lot of parents I think overestimate their children's sophistication. They overestimate perhaps their own interpretive skills. If you find yourself in sort of over your head, at least in the moment, I think it's OK to let that opportunity go.
MARTIN: So is there practical advice you can give? I mean, you spend a lot of time thinking about how to empower parents, how to make them brave with concrete steps, especially when it comes to this very sacred ritual, parent taking time and bonding with your child over literature and books.
GRANT-THOMAS: My basic approach - and really, this may sound like a dodge. It's not. I actually think it's the appropriate way to go - you know, is really not to decide for someone else - right? - what the appropriate course is in their case. One thing that I know Teaching For Change, one concern they had about what Jeremy Adam Smith had to say is he didn't acknowledge - and here, I certainly agree. And again, I imagine Jeremy would, too. He didn't acknowledge that different families, different kids, bring different stakes to reading about race and ethnicity - right? - or reading about racial discrimination, reading about our racial past. And what that means is that the conversation has to be different. The risk of reward of, you know, engaging your child is different depending on the racial identity of the child. You know, the African-American child who opens "A Birthday Cake For George Washington," is differently situated than the white child who does that because one is more likely to identify with the slave or slaves in the book and the other with the slave owners in the book - the slaveholders in the book. So, you know, our approach with EmbraceRace is let's give people a space to wrap their minds around their own experience with race. And let's give them a chance to talk about that. Let's inform that with, you know, all the resources, all the information, all the expertise that we can muster that are relevant to that. You know, that makes a big difference.
MARTIN: Andrew Grant-Thomas is the founder of the parenting website EmbraceRace. Thank you so much for talking with us about this, Andrew.
GRANT-THOMAS: Rachel, I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The first contest in the presidential campaign is tomorrow. It's the Iowa caucuses, and NPR is all over it. Morning Edition's David Greene is on the ground there in Des Moines with a team of reporters, and he'll be with us in a moment. But first, let's hear from the candidates. Republicans first, and we'll start with NPR's Sarah McCammon, who's has been traveling with the campaign of billionaire Donald Trump.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Trump started his day in Dubuque, where he told supporters that they could be part of something huge.
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DONALD TRUMP: If we can win here, if we win in Iowa - everyone's talking about it - we can run the table for the first time ever.
MCCAMMON: Stick with me, Trump said, and you'll pick a winner, which Iowa Republicans haven't done since George W. Bush in 2000.
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TRUMP: I have to say this. Don't be insulted. You haven't had a winner in 16 years.
MCCAMMON: Trump went on to repeat familiar attacks on his chief rival in Iowa, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
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TRUMP: Who was not born on U.S. soil. It's a problem.
MCCAMMON: Trump has questioned whether Cruz, who was born in Canada to an American mother, is eligible to be president.
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TRUMP: Ted's got a big problem. Other people have different problems. Me, I have no problems, you know?
MCCAMMON: Trump's confidence only grew stronger after one of the most-watched Iowa polls was released last night, showing him with a five-point lead over Cruz. He celebrated during an appearance in Davenport.
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TRUMP: They just came out with the Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll. And the numbers were so good for me, which I'm happy about.
MCCAMMON: Trump said the best part is he's polling well with Evangelicals, a key voting block he's been fighting over with Cruz.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: This is Don Gonyea in Sioux City, where Ted Cruz countered Trump with a long list of conservative endorsements, from TV personality Glenn Beck to the Tea Party Patriots, and one from Phil Robertson, the beared, camo-clad star of "Duck Dynasty."
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PHIL ROBERTSON: I'm going godly, that's why I'm going Cruz.
GONYEA: Echoing the "Duck Dynasty" king, Cruz mocked the Donald for ducking out of last week's debate. The audience had been given plastic duck calls to join in on the fun.
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GONYEA: Cruz said it wasn't a feud with Fox News that kept Trump from the debate.
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TED CRUZ: It was that he didn't want the men and women of Iowa to examine his record.
GONYEA: Then there's that poll that came out last night. Cruz was leading in the same poll by 10 points a month ago. Now, he's five points behind Trump. But he doesn't see that as a real deficit.
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CRUZ: If you had told me a year ago that two days out from the Iowa caucuses we would be neck-and-neck, effectively tied for first place in the state of Iowa, I would have been thrilled.
GONYEA: He called it a two-man race, but Cruz is also clearly looking over his shoulder at Sen. Marco Rubio, who is gaining support.
SUSAN DAVIS, BYLINE: I'm Susan Davis with the Marco Rubio campaign. In his final 48-hour push, the Florida senator was on defense against the latest attack ad against him, this time from Cruz. He's on the air accusing Rubio of supporting a tax on carbon emissions. Rubio told voters in Council Bluffs to question Cruz for saying that.
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MARCO RUBIO: If you are willing to say or do anything, including disingenuously edit a video like that, I think that calls into question your judgment. And I think it calls into question truly how far are you willing to go? I can tell you this. We are not going to beat Hillary Clinton with a candidate that's willing to say or do anything.
DAVIS: Rubio continued his pitch that he's the most electable Republican. And although he didn't say his name, Rubio seemed to knock Donald Trump. At his last stop in Urbandale, Rubio said Americans are angry. He gets it, but -
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RUBIO: Anger is not a plan. You have a right to be angry. You have a right to be angry.
(APPLAUSE)
RUBIO: But anger - anger is not a plan. You have to know how we're going to fix it.
DAVIS: Rubio said Iowans should be skeptical of candidates who want to capitalize on their anger at the polls, but offer few solutions on how they would calm those fears from the Oval Office. I'm Susan Davis.
GONYEA: I'm Don Gonyea, NPR News, Sioux City.
MCCAMMON: And I'm Sarah McCammon, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Morning Edition host David Greene is part of the NPR team in Iowa. He joins us now from Des Moines. Good morning, David.
DAVID GREENE, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel. You got duck calls on your show...
MARTIN: ...I know...
GREENE: ...We just need to pack up. There's no way we can beat that.
MARTIN: We should just end here because that was amazing.
GREENE: Exactly (laughter).
MARTIN: All right, so you're there. You're talking with folks. What are they telling you?
GREENE: You know, it's funny. You listen to Marco Rubio there saying that people have a right to be angry. He is trying to connect with people, I think, who are feeling really, really angry. I mean, you listen to it - and I guess I came here knowing that but not really understanding the depth of it. There are people who just feel like the country is in a bad place. And they're also fearful. I mean, they've seen these mass shootings, and they just wonder if their families are safe. And they listened to President Obama respond to some of these mass shootings, you know, talking about tighter gun restrictions. And they - many people say that was sort of a smack in the face to them. That was not the soothing and the reassurance that they were looking for. And so there's fear and there's anger.
MARTIN: So what does that mean for who they're going to turn out for? I mean, we've heard - we've been talking about the fact that Donald Trump is in the lead, but not by double digits. Ted Cruz generally comes in at number two. Are those the two candidates that really are animating the folks that you're talking to?
GREENE: Yeah. I mean, you know, Trump - you listen to people, understand why he has this lead. He has a lot of people who are really, really passionate about him. And they feel like he speaks like they do. I talked to a woman who owns a bar. She was making a burger for me in her kitchen, and she said you've got to get out of my way. Get out of my way here. You're in my way in my kitchen. She said you know what? Donald Trump talks like that.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
GREENE: He talks like me. But he's also winning over people who you would have expected maybe to vote like - for someone like Ted Cruz. You know, religious conservatives. And we'll see if that support stays when people actually go out to caucus.
MARTIN: OK. That is, of course, David Greene in Iowa to cover tomorrow's caucuses.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: In Cedar Rapids last night, 1,100 people turned out to see Hillary Clinton in a high school gymnasium. Many there were volunteers who traveled from all over the country to help Clinton get supporters out to caucus for her Monday night. But Hillary Clinton wasn't the only draw. Bill and Chelsea were there, too. The former Secretary of State's speech delivered inspiration with a heavy dose of pragmatism.
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HILLARY CLINTON: There's still too much inequality, too much unfairness. So what we need is a plan and a commitment and me. Yes, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
KEITH: Clinton saved most of her criticism for Republicans, but did point out a few areas where she and her chief opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have policy differences.
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CLINTON: I am a progressive who likes to get things done. I'm a progressive who actually likes to make progress. That's what I believe in, and that's why the debate I'm having with Sen. Sanders over health care is so important. We both have the same goals. We want universal coverage.
KEITH: But they disagree about how to get there. Clinton wants to improve and expand the Affordable Care Act. Sanders wants a single-payer system he calls Medicare For All.
SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: This is Sam Sanders in Iowa city, where Bernie Sanders held a rally and concert at the University of Iowa. In his speech, Sanders directly referenced Hillary Clinton just once. Not on policy, but to point out how close the race is now.
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BERNIE SANDERS: We began our campaign about nine months ago, and the very first polls here in Iowa had us behind behind Secretary Clinton by 50 points or 60 points. Today, nine months later, the race is virtually tied.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
B. SANDERS: Sanders told the crowd if turnout's high, he'll win the Iowa caucus. If it's low, he loses.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
B. SANDERS: They say well, young people, you know, they come out to rallies. But you know what? You're not going to come out to participate in the caucus.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Booing).
B. SANDERS: So how would you like to make the pundits look dumb on election night?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
S. SANDERS: And Sanders ended his speech like he almost always does, with a call to action.
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B. SANDERS: On Monday night, we are poised to make history. Help us do that. Join the political revolution. Thank you all very much.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Cheering).
S. SANDERS: This rally shows that Sanders is counting on young people to be on the front lines. I'm Sam Sanders.
KEITH: And I'm Tamara Keith, NPR News.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And we are back with Morning Edition host David Greene, who's leading our coverage in Iowa. So the two big Democratic candidates, Clinton and Sanders, David, is that how Iowa Democrats are separating themselves, as diehards for either Hillary or Bernie?
DAIVD GREENE, BYLINE: I think diehards is a good word, Rachel. You know, it's - it's important, I think, to point out there are people who really want Hillary Clinton to be president, and you hear from them. You know, we sat down with the president of the College Democrats at the University of Iowa we were just hearing Sam report from. And, I mean, she was so passionate. And you could just feel her passion for Hillary Clinton, feeling like it is time for her to be in the White House. But there is this swell of passion for Bernie Sanders right now, and you heard that in that piece. And I think it's one of the interesting dynamics here in the Democratic side of the race. You know, Barack Obama, when he won Iowa in 2008, he had the organization. Had the passion. There's a feeling right now that that's sort of divided, that you have Bernie Sanders with the passion. You have Hillary Clinton with the organization. And it'll be really interesting to see what that means.
MARTIN: So the caucuses, I mean, it is all about organization because you can't just inspire people with your rhetoric. You have to get people to show up. And this is a time commitment, right?
GREENE: It's huge. I mean, it's spending a night - and what sounds like it might be a snowy night, depending on when this blizzard arrives in Iowa (laughter)...
MARTIN: Yeah.
GREENE: You go out. You're spending, you know, more than an hour with, you know, your neighbors. And it's a process. And, you know, it's a small subset of Iowans. Sam Sanders, our colleague who you just heard, he did a piece a few weeks ago talking to many Iowans who don't even know what the caucus is. So it's a reminder it's not every single Iowan who's going out and doing this on Monday night. But the people who do, Rachel, they take it so, so seriously. And it's sort of a beautiful, beautiful thing to watch, especially in an election year that in many ways is, you know, has been very noisy and a lot of sound bites. This is going to be just lovely. It's why I love coming here, and you know, Iowa doesn't mean everything. They don't always pick the winner, but there's something special about it. And they're certainly going to be sending a powerful message about American politics this year.
MARTIN: I love it. There is reverence in your voice, David Greene, because you are a man who loves politics (laughter).
GREENE: I love politics, yeah. No, and it's great to be back here.
MARTIN: Listen for David's reporting tomorrow on Morning Edition. David, thanks so much for talking with us.
GREENE: Thanks, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Some forty bodies have been recovered after an overloaded boat sank in the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. That's just the latest tragic news from the migrant trail to Europe today, and it's set against the backdrop of stalled peace talks in the Syrian conflict. Opposition leaders have arrived in Geneva, but it's not clear how much actual negotiating will take place. NPR's Peter Kenyon has been watching all of this He joins us now. Good morning, Peter.
PETER KENYON, BYLINE: Morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: There's been all this back and forth. Will the opposition show up? They finally did. What does that mean? Is that a signal that actual negotiating will happen?
KENYON: Well, it's a step. I wouldn't call it a big one. The Saudi-backed opposition known as the HNC is now in Geneva. They say they've come to insist that humanitarian measures that have already been ordered by the U.N. Security Council are actually carried out on the ground. Agency co-leader Salem al-Meslet told reporters today they need to see food going to starving Syrian children and Syrian women freed from regime jails. And the U.N. envoy, of course, is trying to get all sides together to talk about a political transition.
MARTIN: OK. The delegation from the Syrian government, I understand, has already met with the U.N. envoy. So how are they reacting to the demands put out there by the opposition?
KENYON: Both Damascus and its main ally Russia say it's the opposition that's holding things up. Bashar Ja'afri, head of the Syrian delegation, said today that the government has proved its goodwill, and it's the opposition with all its delays that appears to lack commitment to the talks. We should also note that once political discussions do start, some analysts wonder if this government delegation is even authorized to make many concessions, given the successes the pro-government forces have been seeing on the ground in Syria.
MARTIN: Will the major parties sit down and negotiate directly, Peter?
KENYON: No, they won't. If and when these so-called proximity talks begin, de Mistura and his team will be shuttling between a number of different rooms - one with the representatives of the Syrian regime, one with the Saudi-backed HNC opposition. There's another opposition group endorsed by Russia and then there's women in civil society groups that have been invited, so it will be a shuttle diplomacy.
MARTIN: So much of this seems like political posturing. You have been watching this for so long. What is likely to actually get done in these round of talks?
KENYON: Well, I think your impression is right. At one level, these are talks about getting back to the talks. I mean, if you remember, some Israeli-Palestinian talks from after the second intifada. It seemed after each round, both sides were farther and farther apart. But there are some who hope that it may be possible to get some humanitarian things moving, maybe a local cease-fire, delivery of aid, something of that nature.
MARTIN: We're hearing reports this morning of bomb blasts in Damascus, in the capital of Syria, dozens of people reportedly killed. Obviously, the war is still raging on. Is there any sense that there is optimism among Syrians that this conference will do anything to end the violence?
KENYON: There's not much optimism so far. I mean, we have this report of this terrible deadly bombing in Damascus, scores killed. We have another boat going down in the Aegean Sea, as you mentioned. We have reports of over 1,000 Turkmen fleeing Russian bombardments back into Turkey now here. So de Mistura's mantra, of course, is if this effort fails at the diplomatic table, things are going to get even worse than this.
MARTIN: NPR's Peter Kenyon. Thanks so much, Peter.
KENYON: You're welcome, Rachel.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
An update now on Rhodes Must Fall - that's the student protest movement at Oxford University calling for a statue of Cecil Rhodes to come down. Rhodes endowed the Rhodes Scholarship but also laid the groundwork for apartheid in South Africa. Last week, I spoke with Tadiwa Madenga, a campaign organizer.
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TADIWA MADENGA: You can remove the statue. You can put it in a museum where you can continue to discuss and debate, but where it is at the entrance of Oriel College, at the very highest position above kings and provosts, is just ridiculous.
MARTIN: Well, Oxford's Oriel College said this past week that the statute will stay where it is and will be accompanied by what it calls a, quote, "clear historical context to explain why it is there." The college went on to state, quote, "recent debate has underlined that the continuing presence of these historical artifacts is an important reminder of the complexity of history and of legacies of colonialism still felt today."
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Time now for sports.
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MARTIN: Well, it was kind of a quiet sporting week here in the U.S., not so in Australia. Tennis fans around the world are glued to the Australian Open. Mike Pesca's also been up late watching. He's host of "The Gist" from Slate.
Good morning, Mike.
MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: I'm unstuck now.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
PESCA: No more glue.
MARTIN: Oh, good. I'm so glad.
I glanced at a newspaper headline this morning, so I know that Djokovic - I always hesitate it because I always say that wrong - Djokovic...
PESCA: Yes.
MARTIN: Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in the final. But beyond that, I know nothing, so fill in the contours.
PESCA: Djokovic had one of the great tennis seasons of all time in 2015, and now he's won his 11th Grand Slam. And that ties Bjorn Borg and Ron (ph) Laver, the man in whose arena he played. I'm not going to say it was over before it started, but he did break Murray's serve immediately and won 6-1 in the first set and won in straight sets, and now his record against Murray is 23-9. And Murray's the second-best player (laughter) on the tour pretty clearly, especially with Nadal's health not so great, so Djokovic is the man.
MARTIN: There is a shadow, though, looming over this treatment. It had been. All these recent allegations about match fixing - can you catch us up to speed on that particular controversy?
PESCA: Well, some people might not even know that in England, where gambling is legal on sporting events, tennis is the second most popular thing to gamble on other than soccer. And this is a - you know, football as they call it - this is a country where horseracing is very established. Tennis offers year-round play, and there are people from every continent who've been champions. But also, it gives rise to the specter of match fixing, and that seems to have happened. The website BuzzFeed, along with the BBC, did a massive investigation. They unveiled their findings right before the Australian Open, and it indicated that there are 16 core players on the men's side who have been engaged in some level of match fixing. These players are in the top 50. A lot of them, they said, were at the Australian Open. They didn't name the players, but they seemed to have a lot of good evidence that this was going on. And it's especially easy to see why it would happen because when we say top 50, that seems impressive. But at the lower rungs, a lot of these guys are playing tournaments where the prize money might be a couple hundred dollars for the first round, but the amount gambled on that first round match might be in the thousands. And so, tennis has a pretty serious problem that they haven't been doing a lot to address.
MARTIN: Yes. So what do they do?
PESCA: Well, they - all the federations got together and - this might sound like they're punting - oh, I just made a bad gambling pun.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
PESCA: But this might sound like they're just saying we hired a blue ribbon commission, but that's essentially what they did. But they said they gave the outside investigator, a guy named Adam Smith, a sports lawyer, plenty of teeth. They're going to implement his findings. And it just seems to me that in this incredibly rich sport when you have something called the Tennis Integrity Unit...
MARTIN: Yeah.
PESCA: ...And they're funded to the tune of about $2 million a year, you're just asking for not - you're just asking for trouble. So they have to fund the investigative arm more seriously or else the sport will start being looked at a-sconce (ph).
MARTIN: A-sconce - we don't want that.
(Laughter)
MARTIN: Mike Pesca is the host of "The Gist" from Slate. Thanks so much, Mike.
PESCA: If it's askance, I apologize.
MARTIN: Askance, asconce, whatev - tomato, tomah-to. Buh-bye.
PESCA: Bye.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GREASE")
JOHN TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko, singing) Why, this car is automatic. It's systematic. It's hydromatic. Why, it's greased lightning.
MARTIN: Oh, man. If you are a diehard "Grease" fan, wait no more. Danny, Sandy Rizzo, and Kenickie are back at Rydell High in a new rendition of "Grease." It is airing live on Fox tonight. It is, of course, the latest in a string of live TV musicals, including "The Sound Of Music," "Peter Pan" and most recently, "The Wiz."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GREASE")
TRAVOLTA: (As Danny Zuko, singing) Greased lightning. Go greased lightning, you're burning up the quarter-mile.
MARTIN: NPR's own TV guru, Linda Holmes, is back with us. She writes NPR's pop culture blog, Monkey See, and she's here for some "Grease" karaoke.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: (Laughter).
MARTIN: No? We're not doing that?
HOLMES: No, I'm afraid not.
MARTIN: Bummer. Are these good? I mean, are people watching them, because haven't reviews been kind of mixed on these?
HOLMES: Reviews have been mixed. I think "The Sound Of Music" and "Peter Pan" both had pretty mixed reviews, mixed to negative. "The Wiz" in December got pretty good reviews, and there were some terrific people in that one. And I think that was the one that's gotten the best critical notices for sure.
MARTIN: All right, so "Grease." I love "Grease," so many of us love "Grease." Is this the makings for another hit?
HOLMES: Well, I think what you hope if you're Fox is that like "The Sound Of Music," "Grease" has an iconic and very beloved film version that has helped keep the show familiar to people, but that is not so recent that people look at it and say why would you do that again already? So I think that that's what they would hope, is that that familiarity brings people to a production of the show starring different people.
MARTIN: All right, so you said talent is a big deal. Talent helped kind of propel "The Wiz." And "The Sound Of Music," as you mentioned, had a really big star, Carrie Underwood.
HOLMES: Yep.
MARTIN: So what's the talent lineup for "Grease"?
HOLMES: Well, probably the biggest music star is Carly Rae Jepsen, who you might remember...
MARTIN: ...Might I (Laughter)?
HOLMES: From a modest little song called "Call Me Maybe." She is playing Frenchy, who's the friend who goes to beauty school and winds up with the purple hair in the movie. But there's also Julianne Hough, who was also in the second "Footloose" that they made. Julianne Hough is playing Sandy...
MARTIN: ...I know she dated Ryan Seacrest for a while.
HOLMES: Yes, she did. Vanessa Hudgens, who was in "High School Musical" is your Rizzo, which is the Stockard Channing part from the movie.
MARTIN: OK.
HOLMES: Yeah, I - one wonders. But she was in a fairly debaucherous movie, as I understand it, with James Franco, so...
MARTIN: ...I know you want that character to be a little edgy and have some gravitas. I don't know if I buy...
HOLMES: ...Yeah, but I will say Zac Efron, who was also in "High School Musical," has made some...
MARTIN: ...That's true...
HOLMES: ...More grown-up stuff than you would think. So I give the Hudge (ph) a chance on this one. You never know. Their most interesting piece of casting to me is that the teen Angel, who in the movie was played by Frankie Avalon, is being played by all of Boyz II Men.
MARTIN: Awesome.
HOLMES: The group, Boyz II Men.
MARTIN: Really?
HOLMES: Yes. And so it's such a weird idea, but it's so cool. And when you hear it it, it's so obviously a good idea.
MARTIN: Are they going to come out of the clouds?
HOLMES: I don't know, Rachel.
MARTIN: Who knows?
HOLMES: I'm not choreographing, but I assume - that's what I'm hoping for as well.
MARTIN: Wow, that's cool. And embedded in all of this is the element of live, right? We still - do we watch to see if something's going to go wrong?
HOLMES: I think that's part of it. And, you know, live musicals go back on network television a long time. In the '50s, Julie Andrews was in the Rodgers and Hammerstein "Cinderella," which they wrote for television. And I think 100 million people watched that. So these go back a long time. And I think the charm of it is both it has an element of what people love about live theater, which is it's exciting and vibrant, but also yes, as with sports, as with - you know...
MARTIN: ...That's so cynical...
HOLMES: ...Any time you talk about why people watch skating - like, Olympic skating - it's not that you want anyone to fall down...
MARTIN: ...To miss the triple Lutz.
HOLMES: You don't want anyone to fall down. You don't want anyone to crack horribly on a note, and I don't think that has happened in any of these live shows yet. But there's always the chance. And you feel - you have that feeling of, like, what might happen? Now granted, people do "Saturday Night Live" every week, you know, and it's not that big of a deal. But at the same time, every once in a while...
MARTIN: ...Stakes are higher...
HOLMES: ...On "Saturday Night Live," somebody cracks up, somebody loses control.
MARTIN: Exactly.
HOLMES: There is an element of stakes in a live performance.
MARTIN: OK, I'm going to watch. You've convinced me. I think I'm going to do it.
HOLMES: How can you not?
MARTIN: How can you not? Linda Holmes hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Thanks, Linda.
HOLMES: Thank you, Rachel.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GREASE")
FRANKIE VALLI: (Singing) Grease is the word.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) Grease is the word that you've heard.
VALLI: (Singing) It's got groove, it's got meaning.