Datasets:

xdotli

/

npr

like 0

When South Korea’s mountain town of PyeongChang hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games next year, a white tiger and a black bear, respectively, will serve as mascots. They’ve been introduced as cuddly icons of Korean history and folklore. ”They are so cute and adorable, so I’m sure that you’re gonna fall in love with them,” Korea’s figure skating champ and former Olympian Yuna Kim said, in announcing the PyeongChang 2018 mascots in a promotional video. The ”adorable” Asiatic black bear is better known regionally as a moon bear, for the distinctive white crescent on its chest. It’s native to Korea and a symbol of the province where the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be held. ”It’s a very unique and symbolic creature in Korea,” says Anna Jihyun You, a spokeswoman for the Olympics here. ”I can’t say . .. how far [these bears] go back [in folklore] but it’s really since a long time ago,” she says. But that place in history and lore hasn’t spared the actual bear breed itself from cruelty. An hour’s drive south of Seoul, you can find a farm, one of 39 sprinkled across the country. Here, farmer Kim keeps 230 moon bears in rusty cages. He breeds them and cages them for the legal minimum of 10 years. Then they’re slaughtered for their gall bladders. In East Asia, bear bile is believed to solve a host of health problems — from hangovers to heart disease. The bears are never let out. ”It’s true we don’t have play facilities for the bears,” Kim says. ”But in South Korea right now, almost all these bears are kept in cages.” A century ago that wasn’t true. Moon bears roamed freely in the mountains of Korea. But bear bile became such a traditional medicine that today, the bears have been captured and farmed to near extinction. ”The way that these bears are farmed is particularly cruel,” says Jill Robinson, a veterinarian and founder and CEO of Animals Asia foundation. Her organization has been working, along with other nonprofits, to try to end the practice of farming in China, Vietnam and South Korea. ”This is an issue that I sort of discovered way back in 1993 when I walked onto a farm for the first time in my life and was just absolutely horrified by what I saw,” she says. ”Cages and cages all around me, with bears with the most miserable faces, with catheters protruding from their abdomens. Their teeth cut back, their paw tips cut back so that they couldn’t hurt the farmers as they were extracting the bile.” Since then, South Korea has banned the practice of milking bears for bile while they are alive. But the animals are still living in captivity until they’re killed. The bear farmer — Kim — says he has come to enjoy the bears he keeps. But he has no other livelihood. ”Only by selling the bile can I maintain the business,” Kim says. ”So it hurts, it hurts me. I don’t even look at them when they’re being slaughtered. I feel really sad. I mean, you’re not a human being if you’re not sad about it.” That underlines the gulf between what’s happening to the actual Asiatic black bears and the character of next year’s Paralympic mascot. While moon bear mascot ”Bandabi” glides his way down animated mountains in promo videos, the inspirations for Bandabi spend their days banging their heads against their cages. ”I just hope the Korean government does make that connection and finally gives its incredible species of bear the freedom they deserve,” Robinson says. Demand for bear bile has collapsed, which has led to the closure of many farms already. But nearly 800 moon bears still live in caged limbo in their native country. Haeryun Kang contributed to this story.

Outgoing Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro’s office overlooks a stretch of the Washington, D. C. waterfront where several apartment buildings are being built, in a city where affordable housing is in short supply and homelessness is a big problem. These are some of the same issues his successor will have to deal with as head of an agency that provides housing aid to 10 million families. Castro has been in his post for 2 years. Before that, he was mayor of San Antonio, where he got some experience with housing and community development. He’s expected to be succeeded by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who says his main experience for the job was growing up poor. Castro says he and Carson spoke by phone about a week ago, but didn’t talk specifics. ”I just pledged that we wanted to make sure there’s a smooth transition, and to make sure that he has everything that he needs as he heads toward his confirmation hearing,” Castro says. At the confirmation hearing, which is scheduled for Thursday, Carson will likely face questions about whether he’s up for a job that he himself expressed reservations about taking, when it was offered by Donald Trump. Castro thinks, like other secretaries before him, that Carson will grow to appreciate HUD’s role once he learns more about it. Still, he’s clearly worried that the new administration could roll back some key initiatives. Carson has strongly criticized a new HUD rule to get local communities to comply with the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which is intended to reduce neighborhood segregation. ”I’d be lying if I said that I’m not concerned about the possibility of going backward, over the next four years,” Castro says. Carson has called the new rule excessive government regulation. He’s also complained that government aid can make some people too dependent. Congressional Republicans have proposed time limits and work requirements for those getting housing assistance, to make them more . Castro thinks that’s the wrong approach. ”The first things we need to do is to clarify misperceptions about the families who get HUD assistance,” Castro says. He says most are elderly, disabled or already working. ”I believe that the folks who live in public housing are ambitious, that they have tremendous potential and that we should invest in them. I don’t believe that we should go back to the and scapegoating them and talking about doing away with HUD and so forth,” he says. Not that Carson has said as much. In fact, he’s said very little. His confirmation hearing will be the first real chance the public has to see where he stands on programs, including one of the Obama administration’s biggest achievements — moving tens of thousands of homeless individuals, mostly veterans, into permanent housing. That effort has had bipartisan support, but future funding is in doubt because Trump says he wants steep cuts in domestic spending. ”On the other hand, the has talked about investment in infrastructure, investment in other things. And so, it’s possible that we’re in for a surprise,” Castro says. He won’t be around to find out. Castro is getting on a plane first thing on Inauguration Day, going back to San Antonio to work on his memoir.

Though the great outdoors becomes more inhospitable when winter winds rise and temperatures drop, there’s nothing like wandering through an evergreen forest as snow squeaks underfoot. And once people have trudged stiffly back inside, they can keep those forests with them by imbibing one of the world’s many pine liqueurs. These liqueurs have been a longtime fixture in European hotels and ski lodges. Under the umbrella of ”schnapps” (essentially any strong, clear alcoholic drink with little resemblance to the sweetened stuff marketed as schnapps in the United States) Austrians have been brewing their own varieties for generations. Yet it wasn’t until the early 2000s that these evergreen spirits finally made their way to America — 2005, in particular, seems to be the magic year. Call it good market research or just good timing, but at least three major pine spirits made their U. S. debut that year. Any earlier and it’s likely that pine liqueurs might have swiftly been forgotten. Pushing against the sweet excesses and flair of 1980s and ’90s bar culture (and drinks with names like the ”slippery nipple”) bartenders began reviving Prohibition Era classics like the Manhattan, martini and Negroni — all drinks light on mixers and sugar. As this renaissance started to take off, bartenders became open to even more daring spirits and flavors that would help their menus stand out — and there are few flavors more distinctive to Americans than pine. Zirbenz, a Alpine liqueur made from the fresh fruit of the Arolla Stone Pine, has been distilled by Austria’s Josef Hofer family in Styria since the late 1700s. Reaching this evergreen is no easy task. It grows at altitudes of roughly 4, 000 to 8, 000 feet, right up to the Alpine tree line, after which conditions become too harsh. Though Zirbenz is often enjoyed in the winter, the mountaineers who pick the fruit harvest it when it ripens in early July. Oregon’s Clear Creek Distillery also harvests the buds for its Douglas Fir Eau de Vie when they’re at peak freshness — early spring in the Pacific Northwest. In the 1990s, founder Steve McCarthy recalled the various pine spirits he’d tried in Europe and how he wanted to bring one to the United States. ”It was by far the most difficult of all our products to make because it’s not just ’crush, ferment, distill,’” says Jeanine Racht, Clear Creek’s national sales manager. Douglas fir buds didn’t have enough sugar in them for fermentation, so McCarthy turned to distillation. He soon got the flavor right but he wanted the liqueur to be green — with no added dye. ”Solving the puzzle was like a hobby for Steve,” Racht explains. By the time McCarthy was ready to send the Eau de Vie to market, 12 years had elapsed. In purely economic terms, the product shouldn’t exist. ”A lot of money went into it,” Racht says. Unlike many animals — birds, butterflies, and Caribbean monkeys — humans are the MacGyvers of alcohol. The first evidence of a ”drink” is a honey, rice and grape mixture that dates back to 7000 — 6600 B. C. Since then, humans have been experimenting to try to turn plants and crops — from bananas to wormwood — into some type of intoxicant. In the Mediterranean, mastiha, the resin from the mastic tree, has been used for cooking, chewing and drinking for centuries. Mastic is an evergreen, though it has leaves instead of needles and bears little resemblance to northern pine trees. When crushed, the resin releases a flavor reminiscent of pine or cedar. For more than 3, 000 years, people on the Greek island of Chios have been gathering the resin, which is also called the ”tears of Chios.” The tree is scored and the dried crystals are collected and cleaned. It’s a painstaking process that happens once a year at the end of summer. Today, one company, Skinos, makes the liqueur commercially. Though the product is sold in more than 20 countries, the United States is the biggest buyer. Because alcohol isn’t exactly a health food, pine’s beneficial effects are downplayed in the marketing of spirits. But Dram Apothecary, based in Colorado, makes an evergreen syrup from local trees that can be used for both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages. It’s high in vitamin C and is often used as an herbal remedy for colds or coughs. Yet, Dram founder Shae Whitney says, not all evergreen trees are alike. People who want to make their own pine syrup often turn toward Colorado’s local pine tree, the Ponderosa. ”It’s toxic,” says Whitney, adding that on social media she’s had to talk a few people out of making Ponderosa pine syrup. ”Trees are difficult to identify at different altitudes,” she explains. She purchased a Colorado tree guide on early outings to make sure her team was harvesting from the right kind of tree. Spiky pine needles may not have been humanity’s first choice for a spirit, but it’s no surprise that at some point in history, someone walked into the snowy woods with a hankering for a stiff drink and noticed that there was exactly one plant still alive. Tove K. Danovich is a journalist based in Portland, Ore.

Updated at 6:55 p. m. ET, A jury has sentenced to death the man who murdered nine people in a Charleston church basement in 2015. The twelve jurors deliberated for about three hours before sentencing Dylann Roof, 22, to die. To impose the death penalty, they had to reach a unanimous decision. It is the same jury that found Roof guilty of federal hate crimes charges for entering Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015 and sitting among those at a Bible study in the basement before opening fire on the worshippers. The sentencing portion of the trial began Jan. 3 and ended on Tuesday. Survivors, family members of those killed and law enforcement officials testified for the prosecution about Roof’s crime, the lives he cut short and his apparent motives. Family members of Cynthia Graham Hurd, one of the victims, talked about Hurd’s love of books, which led to her work as a librarian, reported Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper. After the sentence was announced, Hurd’s brother Melvin Graham told reporters outside the courthouse ”It’s a hard to say that this person deserves to live when [the] other nine don’t,” tweeted Post and Courier reporter Abigail Darlington. ”He was radicalized,” Graham continued. Another victim, Ethel Lance, was remembered as the matriarch of her family. The Post and Courier reported: ”The oldest of Lance’s children, the Rev. Sharon Risher, held up her hands in the witness stand and pretended to rip apart a piece of fabric representing her family. ” ’Nobody is there to keep us together, to keep the pieces together. Now we have tattered pieces,’ Risher said tearfully. ’And I know that would devastate her.’ ” FBI Special Agent Joseph Hamski, who led the federal investigation, told the jury that Roof had an account on the white supremacist website Stormfront. org under the username ”LilAryan” and posted messages in the months before the massacre, looking for other local people who shared his views, the paper reported. In his closing argument, which lasted about two hours according to South Carolina Public Radio’s Alexandra Olgin, prosecutor Jay Richardson argued that Roof deserved to die for his crime because he planned a deadly attack in an attempt to incite further violence and had shown no remorse. Roof, who acted as his own attorney during the sentencing portion of the trial, called no witnesses and did not testify. He gave a brief opening statement, as we reported: ”He said it’s ’absolutely true’ that he chose to represent himself so that his lawyers would not present evidence of mental illness. ” ’The point is I’m not going to lie to you,’ Roof said. ’There’s nothing wrong with me psychologically.’ ” In a rambling, closing statement on Tuesday — his last chance to address jurors before they decided whether to sentence him to die — Roof spoke about hatred. As the Post and Courier reported from inside the courtroom: ” ’Anyone, including the prosecution, who thinks I am filled with hate has no idea what real hate is,’ Roof said, speaking to jurors from a podium about eight feet from the jury box during his closing argument. ’They don’t know anything about hate.’ . .. ” ’They don’t know what real real hatred looks like,’ [Roof said]. ’They think they do, but they don’t really.’ . .. ” ’I think it’s safe to say that someone in their right mind wouldn’t go into a church and kill people,’ he said. ’You might remember in my confession to the FBI I told them I had to do it. Obviously, that isn’t true because I didn’t have to do it. I didn’t have to do anything. But what I meant when I said that was I felt like I had to do that.’ . .. ” ’Wouldn’t it be fair to say that the prosecution hates me since they are the ones trying to give me the death penalty?’ he said. ’You could say, ”Of course they hate you. Everyone hates you. They have good reason to hate you.” I’m not denying that. My point is that anyone who hates anything, in their mind, has a good reason.’ ” He ended by reminding jurors that they had each agreed to stand up for their opinions during deliberations, as Olgin reported, and that a death sentence would require a unanimous decision. Roof is facing separate murder charges brought by the state of South Carolina, which is also seeking the death penalty. A previous version of this article stated that trial was scheduled to begin Jan. 17, but it has been postponed due to uncertainty that the federal trial would not be completed in time. After the death sentence was announced Tuesday, Roof’s defense team released a statement suggesting Roof intends to appeal the sentence, saying ”Today’s sentencing decision means that this case will not be over for a very long time. We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy.”

Dylann Roof murdered nine people in a church basement in Charleston in 2015. He confessed to the massacre shortly after he was arrested. He didn’t testify at trial and no witnesses were called on his behalf before he was convicted of federal hate crimes. The most emphatic statements on Roof’s behalf came from defense attorney David Bruck. For weeks, the prosecution had presented evidence that Roof is a white supremacist whose violent racism drove him to kill black people. Bruck asked the jury to consider how the came to believe the things he did. As NPR reported: ” ’There is hatred all right, and certainly racism, but it goes a lot further than that,’ [Bruck] said. ” ’Every bit of motivation came from things he saw on the internet. That’s it. . .. ’He is simply regurgitating, in whole paragraphs, slogans and facts — bits and pieces of facts that he downloaded from the internet directly into his brain.’ ” Bruck was referring to Roof’s assertion in his confession and in a manifesto that a Google search shaped his beliefs. So when Roof asked Google for information about race, what did the search engine show him? ”The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case,” Roof wrote in the racist manifesto he published online, a cached version of which was saved to Internet archive sites. Roof was 17 years old at the time, the same age Trayvon Martin was when neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot and killed the unarmed black teenager in 2012. ”I kept hearing and seeing [Martin’s] name,” Roof wrote, ”and eventually I decided to look him up.” Roof wrote that he ”read the Wikipedia article” about the shooting and came to the conclusion that Zimmerman was not at fault. ”But,” he continued, ”more importantly this prompted me to type in the words ’black on White crime’ into Google, and I have never been the same since that day.” In a videotaped interview with FBI agents after he was arrested in June 2015, Roof told a similar story. He said that after hearing about Martin’s death he had ”decided to look his name up. Type him into Google, you know what I’m saying?” Roof told investigators he had read the Wikipedia article for Martin, and then, ”for some reason after I read that, I,” he paused before continuing, ”I typed in — for some reason it made me type in the words black on white crime.” ”And that was it,” Roof said. ”Ever since then . ..” he trailed off and didn’t finish the sentence. It is impossible to know what Roof saw when he typed those words into Google. The search engine does not make the details of its search algorithm public, and even if the exact date and location of Roof’s initial search were known (court documents suggest only that it was around 2013) there is no public archive of past search results. ”Even the Wayback Machine, which is maintained by the Internet Archive, does not preserve search rankings,” explains Robert Epstein, a psychologist who studies how people interact with search engines and who has published multiple studies about Google’s algorithm. ”You can find old versions of Web pages,” he says, but ”all this past stuff — search suggestions, search results — you cannot get to.” Epstein says the closest approximation of what Roof saw on Google begins with the search engine’s ”autocomplete” feature. Taking Roof’s statements at face value, he went to Google. com and typed the letters in his search term, one at a time. But he didn’t necessarily have to type all the letters in the search term, ” .” NPR googled that phrase in December 2016 and January 2017, and found the letters ” ” elicited this top autocompleted suggestion: ”black on white crime.” Users need only press enter to complete the search. Adding one letter to make it ” w,” the top autocomplete suggestion remained the same, and the second was ”black on white violence.” The third and fourth were ”black on white crime statistics” and ”black on white racism.” The top autocomplete results for ” w” were ”white on white crime,” ”white on white,” ”white on white acid” and ”white on white kitchen.” A spokesperson for Google told NPR in an email that ”autocomplete predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity and freshness of search terms.” ”We do our best to prevent offensive terms, like porn and hate speech, from appearing, but we don’t always get it right,” the spokesperson continued and pointed to a June 2016 blog post by the search engine’s product management director, Tamar Yehoshua, saying Google had changed its algorithm to ”avoid completing a search for a person’s name with terms that are offensive or disparaging.” When Roof hit Enter for the search term ”black on white crime,” the search engine returned a list of websites. ”The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens,” Roof wrote. The Council of Conservative Citizens is a white supremacist organization, according to the League, which tracks hate groups. In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting, the ADL reported that multiple hate groups used inaccurate Internet posts about crimes against white people as a ”propaganda tool” for white supremacy. As the ADL reported: ”On May 11, 2012, the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) posted an article on its Web site that claimed that a New Jersey newspaper had ’censored’ the race of the alleged assailants in what it called ’savage mob attacks’ on five white concertgoers in New Jersey. The CofCC dismissed both the newspaper and police accounts portraying the incident as an ’isolated event.’ According to the CofCC, ’almost as alarming as the epidemic violent crime being perpetrated against white people is the blatant media censorship and of the racial element of the incidents. ’” It’s impossible to know whether the Council of Conservative Citizens page that Roof referenced appeared at the top of the Google search results. Results for a given search term and the order in which they’re presented change over time. Google searches for ”black on white crime” conducted by NPR in December 2016 and January 2017 found the top results included multiple white supremacist websites, but didn’t include anything from the Council of Conservative Citizens. The top five results included the website New Nation News, which the League says ”promotes the belief that ’voluntary racial segregation in all prisons is a constitutional right,’ ” and American Renaissance, a magazine put out by what the Southern Poverty Law Center calls ”a think tank that promotes studies and research that purport to show the inferiority of blacks to whites.” The first page of results also included an article published on the website The Root titled, ”Open Letter to White People Who Are Obsessed With Crime,” and a link to a forum about ”Black on White Crime” on the site The Daily Stormer. ”The top two positions in the search results matter the most,” says Epstein, who has studied click rates for search results. ”The top two draw 50 percent of clicks, and the numbers go down from there, so what’s at the top is extremely, extremely powerful.” In NPR’s test search, New Nation News was the second option, following a post from the conservative website dailywire. com. ”People equate the position of search results with how true they are,” Epstein explains. ”What’s higher is better. What’s higher is truer.” In December, an extensive article published by The Guardian publicized another instance of potentially inflammatory rhetoric on Google’s search engine. The newspaper pointed out that the search ” ” suggested, among others, the autocomplete phrase ”are jews evil.” (The same final word was suggested for the search ” .” The letters ” ” suggested the phrase ”are muslims bad. ”) Google said it ”took action within hours” and changed its autocomplete results. The search engine company ”did not comment on its decision to alter some but not all those raised in the article,” the Guardian reported. NPR did the same search a few weeks later and got the suggested phrases ”are jews white,” ”are jews a race” and ”are jews christians.” There were no suggested phrases for ” ” and ” ” suggested only ”are muslims a race.” Some experts who study search engines and their implications for democratic society have suggested there is a disconnect between the stated mission of a free and open Internet and the reality of search algorithms, which come with all the messy biases of anything designed by humans. Internet law expert Frank Pasquale is among those who have advocated for search result algorithms in the U. S. to be regulated by the government. ”Though [dominant search engines] advocate net neutrality, they have been much less quick to recognize the threat to openness and fair play their own practices may pose,” Pasquale wrote in a 2008 paper. U. S. courts have repeatedly dismissed challenges to search engines’ editorial control over their search results, including a case in which the court upheld Google’s right to present what the plaintiff argued were ”biased search results that favor its own paid advertisers and companies.” Courts have repeatedly cited the First Amendment, treating search engine companies as conduits for free speech on the Internet. Asked what, if anything, Google sees as its responsibility concerning potential hate speech in search terms and results, the spokesperson told NPR: ”The views expressed by hate sites are not in any way endorsed by Google, but search is a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. We do not remove content from our search results, except in very limited cases such as illegal content, malware and violations of our webmaster guidelines, including spam and deception.” The company did not comment on the potential role of its Internet search in the specific case of Dylann Roof.

Donald Trump met Tuesday with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an environmental activist and known skeptic of childhood vaccinations. Kennedy has been a prominent voice in the community, raising questions for years about a possible (disproven) link between a preservative in some vaccines and autism. Kennedy spoke to reporters after the meeting, which he said came at Trump’s request, and noted that he would be heading up a commission on vaccine safety and ”scientific integrity.” The Trump transition team, however, later said a commission is not quite baked, noting in a statement that Trump is at this point ”exploring the possibility of forming a commission on autism.” But the fact that Kennedy — who has lent his name and prominence to a controversial cause of whether vaccines, specifically the preservative called thimerosal, cause autism, for which there is no evidence within the scientific community — is part of that conversation, once again, reflects Trump embracing the fringe when it comes to the science of autism and vaccinations. During the presidential campaign, Trump argued that he knew a child of an employee who had gotten a vaccine and then ended up with autism. That’s despite the confluence of evidence to the contrary — from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the overwhelming scientific body of research. ” Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policies,” Kennedy said, according to a pool report after the meeting at Trump Tower in New York, ”and he has questions about it. His opinion doesn’t matter but the science does matter, and we ought to be reading the science, and we ought to be debating the science. And that everybody ought to be able to be assured that the vaccines that we have — he’s very as am I — but they’re as safe as they possibly can be.” The Trump transition team later released this statement: ”The enjoyed his discussion with Robert Kennedy Jr. on a range of issues and appreciates his thoughts and ideas. The is exploring the possibility of forming a commission on Autism, which affects so many families however no decisions have been made at this time. The looks forward to continuing the discussion about all aspects of Autism with many groups and individuals.” Alarm from medical authorities, Kennedy’s announcement immediately provoked alarm among leading medical authorities. The American Academy of Pediatrics put out a statement reiterating that ”vaccines protect children’s health and save lives. They prevent diseases, including forms of cancer. Vaccines have been part of the fabric of our society for decades and are the most significant medical innovation of our time. Vaccines are safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines save lives.” It’s a topic that has been hotly debated for two decades and has incited strong passions among some parents of children with autism. Out of these fears, some parents have decided to forgo vaccinating their children. As a result, some parts of the country saw a measles outbreak in 2015. There were ”more cases of measles in the first month of 2015 than the number that is typically diagnosed in a full year,” the New York Times noted. Of 34 California patients, 22 were of age to be vaccinated and never were six were babies too young to be vaccinated, NPR reported. It spread to more than a dozen states. Pushing conspiracies from the bully pulpit? Trump, who has peddled numerous conspiracies, picked up the charge in a way in a September 2015 debate. ”You take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks just like it’s meant for a horse, not for a child,” Trump said, ”and we’ve had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, 2 years old, 2 old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.” But that link Trump tries to draw is simple, convenient and false. Here was Ben Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, in that same debate: ”We have extremely proof that there’s no autism associated with vaccinations.” As NPR’s Scott Horsley after that debate: ”Trump said all he’s really advocating is that vaccines be spaced out over a longer period of time, though the American Academy of Pediatrics says there’s no evidence that’s necessary.” The academy noted in its statement Tuesday, ”Claims that vaccines are linked to autism, or are unsafe when administered according to the recommended schedule, have been disproven by a robust body of medical literature. Delaying vaccines only leaves a child at risk of disease.” Discredited, The link theory first came to prominence in 1997 with a study in a British journal, The Lancet, which was withdrawn in 2010. It was authored by a surgeon, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who has since lost his license to practice medicine. (More on that here.) That very researcher met with Trump last summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has categorically stated, ”There is no link between vaccines and autism.” As far as thimerosal specifically, the CDC wrote: ”Research shows that thimerosal does not cause ASD [autism spectrum disorder]. In fact, a 2004 scientific review by the IOM concluded that ’the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between vaccines and autism.’ Since 2003, there have been nine or conducted studies that have found no link between vaccines and ASD, as well as no link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and ASD in children.” Most childhood vaccines have had just trace amounts of thimerosal in them for more than 15 years. The only ones that still have more in them are some flu vaccines. The CDC notes that the removal of thimerosal was done as a precaution and points out that there are flu vaccines without it also available. What’s more, some research suggests that autism develops in the womb. NPR noted in 2014: ”The symptoms of autism may not be obvious until a child is a toddler, but the disorder itself appears to begin well before birth. Brain tissue taken from children who died and also happened to have autism revealed patches of disorganization in the cortex, a thin sheet of cells that’s critical for learning and memory, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Tissue samples from children without autism didn’t have those characteristic patches.” A flawed messenger, Kennedy himself has come under fire for his facts and assertions on the potential link. Salon pulled completely from its website a story written by Kennedy in 2005 because of a series of factual errors. Salon noted that it published that piece ”that offered an explosive premise: that the thimerosal compound present in vaccines until 2001 was dangerous, and that he was ’convinced that the link between thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood neurological disorders is real.’ ” But the story, with Rolling Stone, had to be pulled after ”we amended the story with five corrections (which can still be found logged here) that went far in undermining Kennedy’s exposé. At the time, we felt that correcting the piece — and keeping it on the site, in the spirit of transparency — was the best way to operate. But subsequent critics, including most recently, Seth Mnookin in his book ’The Panic Virus,’ further eroded any faith we had in the story’s value. We’ve grown to believe the best reader service is to delete the piece entirely.” Part of a broader pattern, Trump happened to take the meeting with Kennedy on one of the busiest days in politics, in one of the busiest weeks in politics, since the presidential election. Trump’s attorney general nominee, Jeff Sessions, is sitting for the first of two days of hearings questioning past allegations of racism and highlighting where he differs from the . Meantime, there is another hearing happening related to Russian hacking and interference into the U. S. election at which the director of national intelligence and the director of the FBI — whom Hillary Clinton blames, in part, for costing her the election — are testifying on Capitol Hill. They said definitively that Russia was behind the interference and had the intent of undermining American democracy and trying to get Trump elected. More than half a dozen other hearings are taking place in the coming days, including for Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state — a hearing that is sure to be a proxy fight with Trump on the U. S. relationship with Russia. It all follows a pattern of Trump in (1) utilizing something of a chaos theory of politics in throwing as much news as possible in all directions meant to distract and make the salience of news diffuse, and (2) once again believing what conforms to a predisposed view. Consider the way he has handled Russian interference into the 2016 election: He and his team have cast doubt on U. S. intelligence findings that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and a Clinton campaign official with the intent to undermine American democracy and get Trump elected. Instead of treating that as a serious national security issue that demands a response, as most Republican elected officials have, he has focused on how there’s no evidence any hacking affected the outcome of the election. It’s a pattern likely to be repeated early and often in the Trump presidency.

In giving his farewell address on Tuesday night in Chicago, President Obama will follow a tradition begun by America’s first president. George Washington offered a series of warnings, what he called a ”solemn contemplation.” His parting words have been deemed so valuable that they are read on the floor of the U. S. Senate each year, including his warning about the dangers of partisanship: ”It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with jealousies and false alarms kindles the animosity of one part against another foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion.” The presidential farewell address became a fixture in the 20th century, right along with the arrival of television in American homes. In these modern farewell speeches, almost all of them talk about the difficulty of the job, and urge the American people to be nice to the next guy. ”I want all of you to realize how big a job, how hard a job, it is — not for my sake, because I am stepping out of it — but for the sake of my successor,” President Harry Truman said. ”He needs the understanding and the help of every citizen.” All the presidents look back on their years in office, some lingering on their legacies longer than others. There is pride at accomplishment — as expressed by President Ronald Reagan, who thanked the men and women of the Reagan revolution and talked of proving the pundits wrong. ”Once you begin a great movement, there’s no telling where it will end,” he said. ”We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.” But there is often talk of regrets, like not securing peace, says Gerhard Peters, of the American Presidency Project. ”They are almost very respectful in the way they present their administration’s accomplishments,” Peters says. ”You know, at times they’re also very humble.” Peters says in most cases, it has been a president of one party handing the presidency off to a successor from the other party. And yet, ”They’re very graceful to their successor, and I’d expect President Obama to be, even though this has been a very political climate, this transition.” As with Washington’s address, many of these final speeches contain warnings. President Eisenhower coined a term: ” complex.” ”In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the complex,” he said in 1961. ”The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” In modern times, presidents have used these speeches to argue for American leadership in the world, including President George H. W. Bush: ”We must engage ourselves if a new world order, one more compatible with our values and congenial to our interest, is to emerge. But even more, we must lead.” His son George W. Bush took up the same theme: ”In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism.” Many presidents, including Gerald Ford, talk with pride about the peaceful transfer of power and of the balance of power built into the American system of government. ”This often results in difficulty and delay, as I well know, but it also places supreme authority under God, beyond any one person, any one branch, any majority great or small, or any one party,” Ford said. ”The Constitution is the bedrock of all our freedoms.” Guard it and cherish it, he said. President Jimmy Carter said it could be tempting in times of tension and economic distress to abandon principles: ”We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities — not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.” American values come up again and again in these speeches. Listening to President Bill Clinton in early 2001, you could imagine President Obama striking a similar theme on Tuesday night: ”We must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, and regardless of when they arrived in our country — always moving toward the more perfect Union of our Founders’ dreams.” And ultimately, as so many have before him, President Obama will have to say goodbye.

President Obama will address the nation for what’s likely to be the last time Tuesday night. He says the address from his adopted hometown of Chicago will be a chance to celebrate the successes of the past eight years and to offer some thoughts on where the nation goes from here. The celebration could be . While Obama can rightfully boast about a vastly improved economy and other changes during his tenure, the man who’s taking his place in the Oval Office has promised to reverse much of what Obama accomplished. And while the president remains personally popular, his Democratic Party is weaker than it was eight years ago, reducing its chances of protecting Obama’s legacy. The president outlined the highlights of that legacy in an open letter to the American people last week. ”By so many measures, our country is stronger and more prosperous than it was when we started,” he wrote. Here’s a scorecard of some of the measures the president cited, along with some he left off: ”An economy that was shrinking at more than 8 percent is now growing at more than 3 percent,” Obama wrote in his letter. ”Businesses that were bleeding jobs unleashed the longest streak of job creation on record.” President Obama took office in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. He leaves with an unemployment rate less than half of what it was during the depths of the downturn. U. S. employers have added more than 11 million jobs since Obama took office (and more than 15 million since the job market bottomed out in early 2010). After nearly a decade of stagnant wages, median household income jumped sharply in 2015. And last year’s wage growth was the strongest of the recovery. ”There’s the sort of rule about how you’re supposed to go, leave the forest nicer than you found it,” White House economist Jason Furman said last week. ”President Obama is definitely handing over an economy in much, much better shape than the economy he inherited.” The Recovery Act Obama pushed through Congress less than a month after taking office was roundly and repeatedly mocked by Republicans as a failure. But a majority of economists surveyed by the University of Chicago agree that the stimulus cushioned the blow from the recession. The Federal Reserve also took dramatic action to shore up the sagging economy. And the president’s controversial auto rescue (along with a bridge loan from the Bush administration) saved an industry that rebounded to enjoy record sales. ”Income gains were actually larger for households at the bottom and the middle [in 2015] than those at the top,” Obama notes. ”We’ve actually begun the long task of reversing inequality.” That could change, however, in a Trump administration. The has promised a tax overhaul that would give the biggest tax breaks to those at the top of the income ladder. He’s also likely to unwind an Obama administration rule designed to make millions more workers eligible for overtime pay. ”Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, another 20 million American adults know the financial security and peace of mind that comes with health insurance,” Obama wrote in his letter. ”For the first time ever, more than 90 percent of Americans are insured — the highest rate ever.” The president’s signature health care law has expanded insurance coverage and broadened protections for those who were already insured. It has also encouraged changes in the way medical payments are made — to reward quality rather than quantity of care. And it has coincided with slower growth in insurance premiums for the majority of Americans who get their insurance through an employer. But the law — which passed with no Republican support seven years ago — remains deeply controversial. People buying insurance on the exchanges saw premium increases averaging 25 percent this year. And Republicans have vowed to make repeal of Obamacare their first order of business as soon as they control both Congress and the White House, which they will now. ”We’ve drawn down from nearly 180, 000 troops in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan to just 15, 000,” Obama wrote. Obama first ran for the White House determined to end the war in Iraq while refocusing attention on Afghanistan. He ordered the successful special operations raid that killed Osama bin Laden. But an early troop surge in Afghanistan had only limited success in taming the Taliban. While the number of American troops in harm’s way has since been greatly reduced, Obama had to backtrack on plans to withdraw from Afghanistan altogether. And critics say the precipitous American troop withdrawal from Iraq left a vacuum there which gave way to the rise of the Islamic State. In 2014, Obama was forced to send some troops back to Iraq to address the threat from ISIS. Obama has steadfastly resisted intervention in Syria’s civil war. Although the U. S. is the largest contributor of humanitarian relief, a wave of refugees from Syria has had a destabilizing effect throughout Europe. It’s possible that Obama’s abrupt decision in 2013 not to enforce his own ”red line” against chemical weapons emboldened Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well his Russian sponsor Vladimir Putin, who illegally annexed Crimea the following year. ”Over the past eight years, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland,” Obama wrote. Sustained pressure on and ISIS, along with diligent counterterrorism efforts, have prevented another spectacular, Sept. attack. But as Obama himself has acknowledged, it doesn’t take much planning or sophistication for violent extremists to bring about carnage. It was shortly after a deadly, attack in San Bernardino that Donald Trump called for a ban on foreign Muslims entering the country. That proposal later morphed into ”extreme vetting.” But the country has proved vulnerable to ”lone wolves” inspired online by extremists. It has seen those attacks and has had difficulty addressing the problem. ”Through diplomacy, we shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program [and] opened up a new chapter with the people of Cuba,” Obama wrote. ”Almost every country on Earth sees America as stronger and more respected today than they did eight years ago.” The Iran nuclear deal, which grants Iran sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits and monitoring of its nuclear program, is one of the signature diplomatic achievements of the Obama administration — the result of painstaking negotiation involving half a dozen allies and adversaries. The deal remains controversial in this country and in Israel. Trump campaigned against it, but top scientists have urged him not to unravel it, saying the agreement has ”dramatically reduced the risk” of Iran quickly developing a nuclear weapon. Obama’s diplomatic thaw with Cuba also broke new ground, ending more than half a century of official isolation. Cuba has been slow to match the U. S. in liberalizing trade and travel restrictions. But the White House says its overture to Cuba has also helped improve relations with the rest of the Western hemisphere. America’s image in Europe and Asia has generally improved during Obama’s time in office, but it has suffered recently in Israel and the Middle East. Administration efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians went nowhere. And the sweeping trade deal at the heart of Obama’s push to raise America’s profile in the Pacific stalled amid political opposition here at home. ”Our dependence on foreign oil has been cut by more than half and our production of renewable energy has more than doubled. In many places across the country, clean energy from the wind is now cheaper than dirtier sources of energy and solar now employs more Americans than coal mining in jobs that pay better than average and can’t be outsourced.” Domestic oil and natural gas production have surged on Obama’s watch, largely as a result of the fracking revolution. In 2015, the U. S. relied on imported oil for less than a quarter of its total petroleum needs, the lowest level since 1970. Wind and solar power have seen rapid growth during the past eight years, though they still account for less than 6 percent of overall electricity generation. Coal and natural gas account for about 33 percent each, while nuclear power contributes about 20 percent. President Obama led an international effort to cut carbon pollution, resulting in the successful Paris Climate Agreement. But U. S. participation in that deal could be jeopardized by the incoming administration. Trump has tapped Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a climate skeptic with strong ties to the industry, to head the Environmental Protection Administration. Trump and Pruitt have both criticized the rules at the center of Obama’s climate efforts. Obama also imposed more stringent energy efficiency standards for cars and appliances, though those could be relaxed by the incoming administration. ”The high school graduation rate is now 83 percent — the highest on record — and we’ve helped more young people graduate from college than ever before.” Obama boosted Pell Grants and made it easier for many college graduates to repay student loans. But the cost of a college education continues to rise faster than inflation. Obama was unable to sell Congress on his idea of universal preschool for and although preschool offerings have expanded at the state level. achievement gaps between white and minority students persist. Obama also controversially, through stimulus funds, instituted the Common Core standards. His Education Department dangled millions of dollars to states to adopt more rigorous testing and teacher standards, which put a lot of pressure — and introduced a lot of confusion — into the system. Despite Common Core being developed by Republican governors, it became a target for Tea Party conservatives and liberals. Proponents will argue that it introduced accountability on teachers, though teachers, especially those teaching the most difficult populations, would argue they weren’t always given the supports they needed. Obama also controversially expanded charter schools, and the book is still out on their success. Obama also changed the conversation on higher education with a focus on community colleges that hadn’t been seen before. Scott Jaschik of Insider Higher Ed told PBS NewsHour that even though Obama didn’t get free tuition for community colleges, ”Eight years ago, people were not talking about the idea of free college. Now they are.” ”We’ve also worked to make the changing face of America more fair and more just . .. repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and advancing the cause of civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights.” With help from Congress and the Pentagon, gay and lesbian members of the military can now serve openly, and their spouses receive equal benefits. The Supreme Court legalized marriage in all 50 states in 2015. And the first bill signed into law by Obama made it easier for women to sue their employers for unequal pay. But a push last year by the Justice and Education Departments to protect the rights of transgender students was halted by a federal judge. In addition to protecting vast tracts of land and water as national monuments, Obama has also used his power to protect smaller parcels, commemorating Harriet Tubman, Cesar Chavez and the Stonewall Inn, where the modern movement began. ”For all that we’ve achieved, there’s still so much I wish we’d been able to do, from enacting gun safety measures to protect more of our kids and our cops from mass shootings like Newtown, to passing commonsense immigration reform that encourages the best and brightest from around the world to study, stay, and create jobs in America.” Immigration reform and legislation were two of the president’s priorities in 2013, after he won . legislation to expand background checks stalled in the Senate. The Senate did pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul, but it never got a vote in the House. Obama did use his executive powers to give young people brought to the country illegally as children a temporary reprieve from deportation. Obama also failed in his effort to raise the federal minimum wage (although 18 states and the District of Columbia have done so since 2013). And while the president has used his commutation power to shorten the prison sentences of more than 1, 000 nonviolent drug offenders, his push for more comprehensive reform has stalled. Congress also blocked Obama’s bid to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, although the prison population has been substantially reduced on his watch, from 242 when Obama took office to around 50 today. President Obama’s personal popularity helped mask a sharp decline in the Democratic Party nationally over the past eight years. Republicans will soon control not only Congress and the White House, but more than of state legislative chambers, and 32 out of 50 governor’s offices. The Democrats who follow Obama have a deep hole to dig themselves out of. But the outgoing president has remained upbeat. Shortly after the November election, he reminded reporters that, in 2004, when he delivered the speech that launched his national political career, Democrats lost the White House and were completely out of power in Washington. Two years later, they won back Congress, and four years later, he was sworn in as president. ”The running thread through my career has been the notion that when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together in collective effort, things change for the better,” Obama said in his weekly radio address over the weekend. ”It’s easy to lose sight of that truth in the of Washington and our news cycles. But remember that America is a story told over a longer time horizon, in fits and starts, punctuated at times by hardship, but ultimately written by generations of citizens who’ve somehow worked together, without fanfare, to form a more perfect union.”

This post was updated at 1:15 pm ET. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions says he’s not a racist and that he’s been unfairly ”caricatured.” ”You have a Southern name you come from South Alabama, that sounds worse to some people,” Sessions said during the first day of his confirmation hearings to be the next attorney general of the United States. He forcefully defended his record, saying he ”did not” harbor the ”racial animosities” of which he’s been accused, saying they are ”damnably false.” Sessions, a Republican who has served in Congress for two decades, has had his nomination protested for his record on civil rights, voting rights and criminal justice. Those protests and accusations of racial animus stem from a pair of 1986 hearings that resulted in Sessions’ failed appointment to a federal judgeship. Back then, he prosecuted a case — against black activists — that he lost unanimously. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, for one, who was a attorney on the other side of that case, accused Sessions of a double standard for not trying to prosecute whites who attempted voter assistance, which is legal. Sessions made contradictory statements in two hearings within a month of each other before Congress, including whether he called a white lawyer a ”disgrace to his race.” He also admitted back then that he once joked that he thought the KKK was OK until he learned they were smoking marijuana. He took a much more sober tone on Tuesday. He touted that he prosecuted a KKK leader who was executed, for example. ”I abhor the Klan and what it represents, and its hateful ideology,” Sessions said Tuesday. Of those 1986 hearings, he contended, ”I didn’t prepare myself well in 1986, and there was an organized effort to caricature me.” He noted that he is the same person today as then, but he’s perhaps ”wiser.” Recuses himself from further Clinton investigations, Sessions also said he would recuse himself from any Justice Department investigation into Hillary Clinton. He said his political statements threaten his objectivity, specifically his calling for a special prosecutor. He noted, ”Political dispute cannot turn into criminal dispute.” He added, ”This country does not punish its political enemies but no one is above the law.” Asked if he’d ever chanted, ”Lock her up,” at a Trump rally, Sessions said that he didn’t, ”I don’t think.” Waterboarding is ”illegal” Sessions also put himself at odds with Trump, who has said he wants to bring back waterboarding or worse. But Sessions said that while there is a debate over whether waterboarding is considered ”torture” legally, he noted that Congress passed a law that make ”waterboarding or any other form of torture” is illegal.” The hearing is ongoing and will continue into Wednesday. Here are five things to watch for in this hearing, and Sessions’ prepared statement in his opening remarks are below: Opening Statement of Attorney Jeff Sessions U. S. Senate Confirmation Hearing Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Washington, D. C. Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, distinguished members of the Committee, I am honored to appear before you today. I thank you for the opportunity to respond to your questions as you discharge your duty in the appointment process prescribed by our Constitution. I also want to thank my dear friends, Senator Richard Shelby and Senator Susan Collins for their kind introductions. It is hard to believe, really, that the three of us have served together in this body for nearly 20 years. I want to thank Trump for the confidence and trust that he has shown by nominating me to serve as the Attorney General of the United States. I feel the weight of an honor greater than I have aspired to. If I am confirmed, I commit to you and to the American people to be worthy of that office and the special trust that comes with it. I come before you today as a colleague who has worked with you for years, and with some of you for 20 years. You know who I am. You know what I believe in. You know that I am a man of my word and can be trusted to do what I say I will do. You know that I revere our Constitution and am committed to the rule of law. And you know that I believe in fairness, impartiality, and equal justice under the law. Over the years, you have heard me say many times that I love the Department of Justice. The Office of the Attorney General of the United States is not a political position, and anyone who holds it must have total fidelity to the laws and the Constitution of the United States. He or she must be committed to following the law. He or she must be willing to tell the President ”no” if he overreaches. He or she cannot be a mere rubberstamp to any idea the President has. He or she also must set the example for the employees in the Department to do the right thing and ensure that they know the Attorney General will back them up, no matter what politician might call, or what powerful special interest, influential contributor, or friend might try to intervene. The message must be clear: Everyone is expected to do their duty. That is the way I was expected to perform as an Assistant United States Attorney. That is the way I trained my assistants when I became United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. And if confirmed, that is the way I will run the Department of Justice. In my over 14 years in the Department of Justice, I tried cases of nearly every kind — drug trafficking, firearms, and other violent crimes, significant public corruption cases, financial wrongdoing, civil rights violations, environmental violations, and hate crimes. Protecting the people of this country from crime, and especially from violent crime, is the high calling of the men and women of the Department of Justice. Today, I am afraid, that has become more important than ever. Since the early 1980s, good policing and prosecutions have been a strong force in reducing crime. Drug use and murders are half what they were in 1980. I am very concerned, however, that the recent jump in the violent crime and murder rates are not anomalies, but the beginning of a dangerous trend that could reverse the hard won gains that have made America a safer and more prosperous place. The latest official FBI statistics show that all crime increased nearly 4 percent from 2014 to 2015 with murders increasing nearly 11 percent — the largest single year increase since 1971. In 2016, there were 4, 368 shooting victims in Chicago. In Baltimore, homicides reached the second highest rate ever. The country is also in the throes of a heroin epidemic, with overdose deaths more than tripling between 2010 and 2014. Meanwhile, illegal drugs flood across our southern border and into every city and town in the country, bringing violence, addiction, and misery. We must not lose perspective when discussing these statistics. We must always remember that these crimes are being committed against real people, real victims. It is important that they are kept in the forefront of our minds in these conversations, and to ensure that their rights are always protected. These trends cannot continue. It is a fundamental civil right to be safe in your home and your community. If I am confirmed, we will systematically prosecute criminals who use guns in committing crimes. As United States Attorney, my office was a national leader in gun prosecutions every year. We will partner with state and local law enforcement to take down drug trafficking cartels and dismantle gangs. We will prosecute those who repeatedly violate our borders. It will be my priority to confront these crises vigorously, effectively, and immediately. Approximately 90 percent of all law enforcement officers are not federal, but local and state. They are the ones on the front lines. They are better educated, trained and equipped than ever before. They are the ones who we rely on to keep our neighborhoods, and playgrounds, and schools safe. But in the last several years, law enforcement as a whole has been unfairly maligned and blamed for the actions of a few bad actors and for allegations about police that were not true. They believe the political leadership of this country abandoned them. They felt they had become targets. Morale has suffered. And last year, while under intense public criticism, the number of police officers killed in the line of duty increased ten percent over 2015. This is a wake up call. This must not continue. If we are to be more effective in dealing with rising crime, we will have to rely heavily on local law enforcement to lead the way. To do that, they must know that they are supported. If I am so fortunate as to be confirmed as Attorney General, they can be assured that they will have my support. As I discussed with many of you in our meetings prior to this hearing, the federal government has an important role to play in this area. We must use the research and expertise of the Department of Justice to help them in developing the most effective and lawful enforcement methods to reduce crime. We must and strengthen the partnership between federal and local officers to enhance a common and unified effort to reverse the current rising crime trends. I did this as United States Attorney. I worked directly and continuously with state and local law enforcement officials. If confirmed, it will be one of my primary objectives. There are also many things the Department can do to assist state and local law enforcement to strengthen and, in some cases, build the foundation for, relationships with their own communities where policies like policing has been proven to work. I am committed to this effort and to ensuring that the Department of Justice is a unifying force for improving relations between the police in this country and the communities they serve. Make no mistake, positive relations and great communication between the people and police are essential for any good police department. In recent years, our law enforcement officers also have been called upon to protect our country from the rising threat of terrorism that has reached our shores. If I am confirmed, protecting the American people from the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism will continue to be a top priority of the Department of Justice. We will work diligently to respond to threats, using all lawful means to keep the American people safe from our nation’s enemies. Partnerships will also be vital to achieving much more effective enforcement against cyber threats, and the Department of Justice clearly has a lead role to play in that essential effort. We must honestly assess our vulnerabilities and have a clear plan for defense, as well as offense, when it comes to America’s cybersecurity. The Department of Justice must never falter in its obligation to protect the civil rights of every American, particularly those who are most vulnerable. A special priority for me in this regard will be aggressive enforcement of our laws to ensure access to the ballot for every eligible American voter, without hindrance or discrimination, and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. Further, this government must improve its ability to protect the United States Treasury from waste, fraud, and abuse. This is a federal responsibility. We cannot afford to lose a single dollar to corruption and you can be sure that if I am confirmed, I will make it a high priority of the Department to root out and prosecute fraud in federal programs and to recover any monies lost due to fraud or false claims. The Justice Department must remain ever faithful to the Constitution’s promise that our government is one of laws, not of men. It will be my unyielding commitment, if I am confirmed, to see that the laws are enforced faithfully, effectively, and impartially. The Attorney General must hold everyone, no matter how powerful, accountable. No one is above the law, and no American will be beneath its protection. No powerful special interest will cower this Department. I want to address personally the fabulous men and women in the Department of Justice. That includes personnel in Main Justice but also the much larger number that faithfully fulfill their responsibility every day. As United States Attorney, we worked together constantly. The federal investigative agencies represent the finest collection of law officers in the world. I know their integrity and professionalism. I pledge to them a unity of effort that is unmatched. Together we can and will reach for the highest standards and the highest results. It would be the greatest honor to lead these fine public servants. To my colleagues, I appreciate the time that each of you have taken to meet with me . As Senators, we don’t always have the opportunity to sit down and discuss matters face to face and so, for me, this was very helpful. I understand and respect the conviction that you bring to your duties. Even though we are not always in agreement, you have always been understanding and respectful of my positions. In that regard, if I am so fortunate as to be confirmed, I commit to all of you to that the Department of Justice will be responsive to the Congress and will work with you on your priorities, and provide you with guidance and views where appropriate. The Department will respect your constitutional oversight role, and particularly the critically important separation of powers between the branches. There is nothing I am more proud of than my 14 years of service in the Department of Justice. I love and venerate that great institution. I hold dear its highest ideals. If God gives me the ability, I will work every day to be worthy of this august office. You can be absolutely sure that I understand the immense responsibility I would have. I am not naïve. I know the threat that our rising crime and addiction rates pose to the health and safety of our country. I know the threat of terrorism. I deeply understand the history of civil rights and the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our brothers and sisters. I have witnessed it. I understand the demands for justice and fairness made by the LGBT community. I understand the lifelong scars born by women who are victims of assault and abuse. I understand that a wise and diligent Attorney General, who not only talks but listens, can play a key role in properly focusing the efforts of our nation’s apparatus in ways that more effectively enhance public safety and minimize officer misconduct. I know it is essential for police and the communities they serve to have mutual respect. And, if I am so fortunate as to be confirmed as your Attorney General, you can be assured that I understand the absolute necessity that all of my actions must fall within the bounds of the Constitution and the laws that Congress passes. While all humans must recognize the limits of their abilities — and I do — I am ready for this job. We will do it right. Your input will be valued. Local law enforcement will be our partners. My many friends in federal law enforcement will be respected. I have always loved the law. It is the very foundation of our great country. I have an abiding commitment to pursuing and achieving justice and a record of doing just that. If confirmed, I will give all my efforts to this goal. I ask only that you do your duty, as you are charged by the Constitution to do it, and by the light that God has given you to do it. Thank you.

The confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, the billionaire philanthropist who is Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of education, has been delayed for almost a week. DeVos’ hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, but late on Monday night, the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions announced it had been delayed until Jan. 17, next Tuesday. The move comes after Democrats had raised concerns about the wealthy philanthropist’s incomplete financial disclosures and unfinished ethics review, as Politico reported last week. The top Democrat on the HELP committee asked for a rescheduled hearing, saying she was concerned about ”extensive financial entanglements and potential conflicts of interest,” Politico says. DeVos submitted her financial disclosures to the Office of Government Ethics last month but has not yet finalized or signed the paperwork, Politico reported Friday. The Washington Post reports that DeVos’ ”vast wealth and considerable financial holdings have overwhelmed the bipartisan Office of Government Ethics,” which vets Cabinet nominees. The office has not finished examining DeVos’ investments for possible ethical concerns, the newspaper reported Saturday. But in announcing the delay, the HELP committee made no reference to concerns over conflicts of interest. Instead, the committee said the delay was ”at the request of Senate leadership to accommodate Senate schedule.” DeVos is a ”strong supporter of school choice” with ”limited experience with public education,” as NPR’s Eric Westervelt has reported: ”DeVos, 58, is a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party and helped push a failed 2000 ballot proposal to amend the Michigan state Constitution to create a voucher system for students to attend nonpublic schools. ”DeVos is chairman of The Windquest Group, a investment management company. She is married to billionaire Richard DeVos Jr. the son of Richard DeVos, who the home care products company Amway. ” . .. Largely unknown outside of Michigan political and philanthropic circles, her appointment signals that Trump intends to make school choice and a voucher plan for families a centerpiece of his education agenda. ”School choice plans are controversial because in some cases they can allow families to use public funding for private schools. Critics say choice plans undermine public education, are often underregulated and can amount to profiteering.”

The tiny village of Newtok near Alaska’s western coast has been sliding into the Ninglick River for years. As temperatures increase — faster there than in the rest of the U. S. — the frozen permafrost underneath Newtok is thawing. About 70 feet of land a year erode away, putting the village’s colorful buildings, some on stilts, ever closer to the water’s edge. Now, in an unprecedented test case, Newtok wants the federal government to declare these mounting impacts of climate change an official disaster. Villagers say it’s their last shot at unlocking the tens of millions of dollars needed to relocate the entire community. ”We just need to get out of there,” says Romy Cadiente, the village relocation coordinator. ”For the safety of the 450 people there.” Cadiente spoke while in Anchorage recently, where he met with state officials about moving the village, which includes a school built in 1958 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that drew nearby subsistence hunters and fishers to settle. Coming to terms with climate’s impact on the Alaska Native village has been for many. But a new village has been chosen 9 miles away, and several houses are already built. Cadiente says the problem is money: The Army Corps of Engineers has estimated it will cost $80 million to $130 million to relocate key infrastructure. ”The price tag on this village move is astronomical, and what we have right now is nowhere near,” he says. Many of Alaska’s villages are dealing with erosion and thawing permafrost. But Newtok’s needs may be the most immediate. It has already lost its barge landing, sewage lagoon and landfill. As river water seeps in and land sinks, it expects to lose its source of drinking water this year, and its school and airport by 2020. After years trying to piece together state and federal funding to relocate, Cadiente says Newtok has run out of other options. Usually, the president, with input from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, declares a disaster after a specific catastrophic event. But Newtok is asking for the declaration based on mounting damage from erosion and thawing permafrost over the past decade. ”My first reaction is, it’s exciting,” says Rob Verchick, who teaches disaster law and climate adaptation at Loyola University in New Orleans. He says Newtok’s request is likely a long shot. But he thinks it needs to be done. ”And I think that it is going to lead to a very important conversation that we need to be having,” he says. Verchick says FEMA has pushed communities to plan for climate change, but the federal government doesn’t have policies to deal with issues like relocation. As more places face the problem, Verchick says they — like Newtok — may need to get creative in seeking a legal solution. A recent change gave federally recognized tribes like Newtok the right to request a disaster declaration from the White House directly. Mike Walleri, Newtok’s attorney, argues that nothing in the law prevents the president from declaring a disaster for a multiyear event. ”You know, disasters are not planned,” Walleri says. ”They don’t come in one size fits all.” If there’s no money to relocate the whole village together, Newtok residents could be forced to scatter, with some even moving 500 miles away to Anchorage. George Carl, the village council vice president, says it’s not just houses that are at stake, but his community, culture, Yup’ik language and identity. ”Being born an Eskimo from that village, you know, that’s my life,” he says. ”Place me to another village or city, it’s not for me.” The ultimate decision on whether to declare a disaster lies with the president. Newtok’s leaders hope to get an answer before President Obama leaves office next week. This report comes from Alaska’s Energy Desk, a public media collaboration focused on energy and the environment.

West Coast crab fishermen just ended an strike over a price dispute. But a more ominous and threat to their livelihood may be on the horizon. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found a link between warming ocean conditions and a dangerous neurotoxin that builds up in sea life: domoic acid. Seafood lovers got a glimpse of that threat in 2015, when record high ocean temperatures and lingering toxic algae blooms raised the domoic acid in shellfish to unsafe levels, shutting down the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery from Alaska to Southern California for several months. Though less dramatic, the problem emerged again this season, when harvesting was again delayed for portions of the coasts. Domoic acid is a toxin produced by a micro algae which can accumulate in species like Dungeness crab, clams, mussels and anchovy. It can be harmful to both humans and wildlife, including sea lions and birds. Remember the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds? It was inspired by a incident of California seabirds driven into a frenzy by the neurotoxin. Although we’re starting to hear about domoic acid more often, it’s been on the radar of public health officials since a Canadian outbreak in 1987 killed three and sickened over 100. In mild cases, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Severe cases can cause trouble breathing, memory loss, and even coma or death. In the case of Dungeness crabs, the food chain looks like this: The phytoplankton produces the toxin domoic acid during an algae bloom. Zooplankton and filter feeders, like clams and mussels, then eat that phytoplankton. (Interestingly, not all shellfish react the same way. Mussels, for example, are able to rid themselves of the toxin within a few weeks, while domoic acid may linger in clams for several months, even up to a year.) Those delicious Dungeness crabs we like so much have a taste for clams, which is where domoic acid can be passed up the food chain to us humans. Officials are able to test for unsafe levels, keeping tainted seafood out of restaurants and away from seafood counters, but scientists haven’t been able to predict when natural algae blooms may take a toxic turn — until now. ”The record of domoic acid is now 20 years long, allowing us to look at it from a different perspective than anyone has previously,” says Morgaine McKibben, a Ph. D. candidate at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study. The researchers looked at data collected from Oregon razor clams, copepods (zooplankton that drift with the currents and are studied to predict salmon runs) and recurring climate patterns known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and El Nino Southern Oscillation. And they were able to establish that domoic acid events, like those that have been impacting the West Coast Dungeness crab fishery, are strongly related to warm phases in the ocean. ”The most important takeaway from the study is that it’s telling us about changes in the food web based on observations of changes in the oceans. It’s a very zoomed out view of how the food web responds to natural changes to ocean conditions. That’s very important when you talk about resource management,” says McKibben. These types of records are somewhat rare in oceanography, she says, because ”it’s hard to find funding to keep consistent observations like this going.” And a future with more frequent domoic acid events seems likely, says says Bill Peterson, a NOAA senior scientist and of the study. ”We’re having more and more of these warm ocean events and we’re going to have more domoic acid blooms each year. It might become a chronic problem,” he says. That paints a troubling picture for crab fishermen like Bob Eder of Newport, Ore. While domoic acid might go away for a year or two as a problem, it ”is something we’ll now be dealing with for a long time,” he says. He also worries about how future domoic acid events could impact exports — critically important to boosting the overall price of whole crabs. While Americans typically eat only the meat from the crab, Chinese consumers also eat what’s known as the ”butter” (or guts) of the crab, where domoic acid tends to be more concentrated. Officials from the California Department of Public Health say they test for toxic phytoplankton at more than 100 sampling sites along the entire California coastline, and that 2015 was the first year domoic acid was found in crab meat. Oregon and Washington have similar sampling strategies, and have collaborated with California on Dungeness crab testing over the last two years. But Peterson thinks states vulnerable to domoic acid events should be doing even more testing. ”They should sample more often and over a wider . .. area,” says Peterson. ”Crab harvests are a huge money maker on the West Coast. You can’t have people think they’re going to get sick from eating crabs. Pretty soon [states] are going to have to sample more often and more places to keep better tabs on what’s going on in the ocean.” Patrick Kennelly, chief of the food safety section for the California Department of Public Health, says he’s confident the state’s monitoring program is strong and able to ramp up as needed. He notes that officials have already started testing Dungeness crab months before the season begins.

Russia’s intelligence agencies compromised the networks of some Republicans and their affiliated organizations, but not the current Republican National Committee or the campaign of Donald Trump, top U. S. intelligence chiefs said Tuesday. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey and other spy bosses told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia ”harvested” information from Republicans but that it captured ”old stuff” and targeted RNC Web domains that were no longer in use. The testimony shed new light on a terse line in the intelligence community’s declassified report from Friday about Russia’s campaign, in which Clapper and his compatriots said Moscow had also collected information from the GOP in addition to the reams of data it took from Democrats and then released to the public. Doesn’t that mean the Russians have the ability to release information about Republicans someday — even if it’s old? asked committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat. ”Sure,” Clapper said. The prospect for such releases, along with other potential mischief by Russia involving U. S. or other elections, was one undercurrent in the hearing, the latest since Clapper’s office released the report. Senators warned that unless the U. S. acts strongly to deter such plots, they could intensify. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio raised a U. K. case in which Russian intelligence officers purportedly compromised the computer of a political enemy and then deposited child pornography on it. Local police were notified, they investigated, and the man was arrested and charged. What stops the Russians from doing something similar in the U. S. Rubio asked. Suppose foreign hackers got into the computer of a member of Congress, made some illegal bank transfers and then called the FBI? ”Congressman John has been and sure enough you’re arrested and charged and removed from the public discourse,” Rubio said. Isn’t that a danger here? he asked. ”It is certainly well within both their technical competence and their potential intent to do something like that,” Clapper said. Clapper and senators also said they expect similar Russian tricks in upcoming elections in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Clapper told Sen. James Lankford, . that Moscow has interfered in the elections of ”a couple dozen” countries over time and that its meddling in the U. S. goes back to the 1960s. The danger was part of another undercurrent in the session, in which Republicans cast the cyber breach of Democrats as a result of their own sloppiness — through the mishandling of passwords by Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and their neglect of what Republicans called an old threat. ”This hacking business is ubiquitous. It has been since the Internet was set up,” Idaho Sen. Jim Risch said. Committee Chairman Richard Burr observed that neither Podesta nor the Democratic National Committee provided the FBI with the compromised devices so that investigators could examine them, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said he thought it was clear Hillary Clinton had lost because she ran a bad campaign, not because of Russian meddling. The Democrats on the panel, meanwhile, objected to what they perceived as more unfairness from Comey and the FBI. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Kamala Harris of California and Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, called on Comey to disclose publicly whether the FBI has investigated any connections between Trump’s camp and Russia. Comey said the FBI never comments publicly on open investigations. That angered the Democrats, given Comey’s disclosure to Congress that the bureau had reopened an investigation into Clinton days before the November election. Wyden pressed Comey to release what the FBI has investigated ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Harris and King echoed that call — but Comey responded each time that it was against the FBI’s policy. ”The irony of your making that statement here I cannot avoid — but I’ll move on,” King said.

Hundreds of thousands of people tuned in to an rescue operation of a deer hopelessly stuck on ice in Simsbury, Conn. The scared deer splayed on the frozen river was streamed live by several television channels on Monday, in some cases for more than three hours, as rescue workers tried to get it to safety. You can watch the full, agonizing rescue operation in this video — it begins about 2 hours in. It shows a rescue worker sliding the terrified animal to the side of the river. Then it took a team’s repeated attempts to lift the struggling deer up the bank. Local animal control officer Mark Rudewicz told NBC Connecticut that coyotes chased the deer onto the thin ice. The story has a happy ending, the station reports — the deer scampered back off into the woods. The whole saga brings to mind this beloved scene from the Disney classic Bambi: And incidentally, this deer isn’t the only animal getting into trouble on thin ice in the past week — here’s the story of a cow rescue in Oregon:

Recently, NPR brought you the story of one of 2016’s most successful musicians: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Last year, the Universal Music Group released a box set of the composer’s works. Multiply that by the sets sold worldwide as of early December, and you had 1. 25 million CDs. And that, we said, had given Mozart a hit release. Well, David Bakula says that’s not quite right — and he should know. He’s a senior vice president at the Nielsen Company, which collects the data that Billboard uses to make its charts. ”I’m afraid Mozart didn’t quite make it this year,” Bakula says, explaining that physical CDs and even digital downloads only are only a part of what determines an album’s chart success these days. In fact, thanks to the rise of streaming services, some artists can make waves on the charts without ”selling” anything at all. NPR’s Audie Cornish spoke with Bakula about how streaming has changed both the music industry and the language we use to understand it. Hear the full conversation at the audio link and read an edited version bellow. Audie Cornish: OK, so we and many other people were super wrong about this. What was the real album of 2016? David Bakula: There was a little bit of confusion there: Certainly we don’t multiply the number of discs by the sale. When you do look at the total consumption for the year in terms of albums, you had Drake’s Views record being the top record of the year. In terms of sales, it was bested by Adele’s 25 record, which actually came out at the end of 2015 but continued to sell very well throughout the year. But when we talk about total consumption — the album, all of the songs that were purchased individually, all of the streams that happened — Drake was the biggest of the year. Help us understand that. Does the word ”sales” mean anything anymore? Or do you have to explain that you mean something more specific — physical CDs, digital sales. It means less and less, I think, every year. We are finding that audio streaming is becoming a very big piece of the industry. If you look at the revenue that’s coming in, the album is still the main driver of revenue on a basis. But we had over 250 billion audio streams last year, and even if you do multiply by a very small rate, you still get a massive amount of money, to the point where streaming is actually making up 38 percent of the total consumption. But in the meantime, you have traditional album sales down 16 percent, and digital single sales down 25 percent. So we’re just not buying music anymore — buying it to hold on to, anyway. Certainly: The technologically advanced consumer is realizing the value that is in streaming and is shifting over from sales to just access. Physical has some things holding it up — [you might] have a consumer that maybe hasn’t switched over to digital yet, but you also have a consumer that is in love with vinyl. That consumer is getting to be a significant piece of the physical business. This year, it was about 11 percent of the total physical business, so that LP buyer is still a very loyal buyer to physical products. So your DJs, superfans, completists — they will still go get the vinyl. Audiophiles — yeah, they love vinyl. You mentioned Adele and Drake had both had a good year. Chance the Rapper’s mixtape Coloring Book did pretty well, too — almost exclusively on streaming. Yes, it was exclusively on streaming, and that’s one of the really interesting things. The Grammy board is recognizing Chance for what he has done this year as well. Streaming is the only component to the charts that Chance the Rapper had this year, and he stayed on the Top 200 chart for 33 straight weeks and counting — he’s still on the charts. He’s had so much streaming this year that it’s the same equivalency as selling over 500, 000 albums. So at the end of the day, where does that leave our friend Mozart? He’s not gonna be anywhere near the top of the charts. Again, because we don’t count it by disc, he’s going to show up with about 250 sales [in the U. S.] this year. I think he’s done all right. Mozart’s estate is doing just fine, sure.

President Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago is often the stage for pivotal moments in his career. He claimed victory in Chicago in 2008 and again in 2012. And it’s where he will give his farewell address on Tuesday night. Many Chicagoans use the word ”pride” when talking about Barack Obama. You can hear it in their voices. In this city, where Donald Trump got only 12 percent of the vote, admiration for President Obama is strong. Kim Chisholm stood with thousands of others in the bitter cold this weekend to get a ticket to Obama’s speech. ”I’m so excited,” she says. ”History in the making. I never made it to the White House, but I will see him here in Chicago.” Chicago officials say there are pluses and minuses to having such close ties to the Obama administration. On Monday, the city won a federal grant for nearly $1 billion to upgrade a major portion of the city’s elevated commuter rail line. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first White House chief of staff, worked to make sure the funding came through before the administration changed hands. ”This will over the next four years create 6, 000 jobs in the city of Chicago,” he says. Illinois’ senior U. S. senator, Dick Durbin, says the city has been able to make significant infrastructure improvements with the help of federal funds, including rail and upgrades to O’Hare International Airport. ”Time and again, the Obama administration has not forgotten where he came from,” Durbin says. ”[He] has not forgotten the city of Chicago.” That’s in part because the administration included a bevy of Chicagoans as Cabinet members and advisers, such as former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. Tuesday night’s speech and talk about an Obama legacy in Chicago are much more personal for some. Jacky Grimshaw worked in Chicago government under Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor, and was Obama’s neighbor for years. She says the country’s first black president faced the same sort of opposition that Washington did and both men prevailed. ”And he put through the stimulus package that allowed communities across the country to deal with infrastructure projects that needed to get done,” Grimshaw says of Obama. Some community organizers take a more nuanced stance. Jitu Brown of the Institute for Educational Leadership says that while the president conducts himself with grace, he disagrees with many of his administration’s education policies. ”And I think the disappointment is in a president who started as a community organizer. I would have really hoped there would have been space to really listen to the voices of the people directly impacted,” Brown says. At Valois Restaurant, not far from the president’s Chicago home, customers can order a variety of Obama specials on the menu. Kimberly Barnes Staples was eating breakfast with her husband. ”For Chicago, specifically, he gave us a national profile,” she says. ”He showcased who we are as Chicagoans. He made us proud.” And Devi Austin, a retiree, says she personally benefited from policies Obama advanced. ”Because of the laws that he put in place for people who had just bought homes and was underwater, I got forgiven — forgiven, not modified — forgiven $60, 000,” she says. ”I will miss President Obama.” While some Chicagoans express disappointment that the president didn’t provide more help to deal with gun violence and gangs, others give him a pass, saying that’s a problem for the mayor, not the president. So as Obama says farewell, Patty McNamara, a museum consultant, says she will be watching wistfully. ”It’s kind of bittersweet,” she says. ”It’s going to be a tough transition, I’m afraid.” There will be a tangible Obama legacy for Chicagoans, though. His presidential library and foundation will be built on Chicago’s South Side. That means that even if the Obamas don’t return there to live, the president will remain engaged in the city that gave him his political start.

When Barack Obama makes his farewell address Tuesday night, it will be one of the last times we’ll hear from the president, while he’s still actually the president. But before his political career, Obama was a community organizer in Chicago, the first black president of the Harvard Law Review and the state director of Illinois Project Vote. And it was back then — in the 1990s, when Obama was in his late 20s and early 30s — that he first appeared on NPR. Here are highlights from some of those earliest appearances: In 1990, Obama was still a student at Harvard Law School and had just become the Harvard Law Review’s first black president when he was interviewed on Morning Edition. Obama discusses changes he hoped to initiate: At the time, Obama was 29 years old. He had worked for a few years as a community organizer in Chicago, before going to law school. Obama discusses what his plans are after serving as president of the law review: By the summer of 1992, Obama had gotten involved in politics. He was the state director of Illinois Project Vote. Bill Clinton was campaigning for president, with Hillary Clinton at his side. Meanwhile, Obama was 30 years old, and working on voter registration. Even in the 1990s, Obama was talking about something he references a lot now: getting people involved in politics and invested in institutions. Here he is on NPR’s Talk of The Nation in 1992: Another theme in these appearances: Obama talking about issues of race. It’s something he grappled with in his memoir, Dreams From My Father, and in this commentary on All Things Considered in October 1994. In it, he criticizes the book The Bell Curve by political scientist Charles Murray and psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein. That book was controversial for the way it linked race, genetics and IQ — and Obama called it ”dubious science.” Obama argued that the country needed to invest in public schools and jobs, and provide what he called ”real opportunity” for black children. Listen to Obama’s commentary: Exactly 14 years after that commentary aired, Obama was campaigning in Pennsylvania. He was one week away from being elected the country’s first black president.

One of the most fragile pieces of President Obama’s legacy in the aftermath of the 2016 election is the Affordable Care Act. Republicans ran on their pledge to repeal it, and we’ll know soon whether — as promised — they make it their top priority in the new Congress, even without having released details on what would replace it. The history of the Affordable Care Act also provides a window into the earliest years of the Obama presidency. Fierce opposition from the GOP was there even before work on the legislation began, and that battle featured an early form of fake news — a tactic that became a prominent part of the 2016 election. Remember the ”death panels”? In 2009, when the health care law was still being written, Sarah Palin coined the phrase ”death panel” in a widely shared Facebook post. The headline of her post was innocuous enough, ”Statement on the Current Health Care Debate.” But that Aug. 7, 2009, social media post from the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate included a dire warning: ”The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ’death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ’level of productivity in society.’ ” Conservative pages were on board. Talk radio, too. On his syndicated national radio program, Rush Limbaugh said of Palin, ”She’s dead right.” The specter of ”death panels” became an instant rallying cry for the Tea Party movement, whose supporters crowded into town hall meetings that summer and shouted down Democratic lawmakers considering support for the Affordable Care Act. Republican members of Congress tapped into that anger. U. S. Sen. Chuck Grassley told a crowd back home in Iowa, ”We should not have a government program that determines you’re gonna pull the plug on Grandma.” ”Simply dishonest” As the summer of 2009 wore on, the president stayed above the fray. Anita Dunn, who was the White House communications director at the time, told NPR in a recent interview that the team didn’t take the attacks seriously at first, ”simply because they did seem so crazy.” But the president himself would need to directly respond. He went on the road, first to a town hall in Portsmouth, N. H. where he said that this is how politics works sometimes, ”that people who want to keep things the way they are will try to scare the heck out of folks, and they’ll create boogeymen out there that just aren’t real.” Days later, in Grand Junction, Colo. Obama kept at it. ”The notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so that they can go around pulling the plug on Grandma? I mean when you start making arguments like that, that’s simply dishonest,” the president said. Ultimately, the Affordable Care Act was approved by the Congress. The president signed it in the spring of 2010. Meanwhile, the allegations regarding ”death panels” would be ”Lie of the Year” by the organization PolitiFact. The message that stuck, Dunn, currently a managing director at the D. C. firm SKDKnickerbocker, says that the early disinformation campaign had a lasting negative effect nonetheless. ”One of the hallmarks of the Affordable Care Act is that people don’t know what is in the bill, or realize the benefits they’ve gotten,” Dunn says, adding, ”a huge part of that is how it was defined early by the opposition.” She says the White House communications team learned from the experience. Rapid response became more of a priority. But Ruy Teixeira, a senior analyst with the Center for American Progress, says there’s another lesson from those early Obamacare battles that the administration — and Democrats — have been slow to learn: how to talk to white voters who do not have a college education. Those voters were once a key piece of the Democratic base, but Teixeira says they are now too often driven by a core belief that ”the government is up to no good.” The idea of death panels fit right into that narrative. But Teixeira says you can apply it to other issues as well. ”You’ve got to convince them you take their concerns seriously, you’re on their side,” he says, ”and the other people are not, and here’s exactly why.” That was a major weakness of Democrats in the 2016 election. white voters rallied around Trump and his message that he — not the Democrats — is on their side. All along, Democrats considered such a claim by the billionaire businessman turned politician a kind of a fake news story of its own. But they still need to figure out how to counter it.

Abra and Matt Schultz, both 32, recently built a house in a neighborhood in Pottsville, Pa. Matt works as a carpenter foreman for a construction company. He and Abra, his wife, are right in Trump’s wheelhouse — Republicans in Republican Schuylkill County. The couple spent December trying to decide whether to buy health insurance or skip it for 2017. They voted for Trump because they were fed up with how much they are paying for health insurance. In in the couple’s kitchen, Abra was sizing up their health insurance options. She showed off a thick notebook, along with a file folder with policy documents and notes piled as high as a stack of pancakes. ”Don’t touch my paperwork — don’t even try to touch it,” Abra joked to Matt. ”I get so stressed out about it. I’ll not pick one until the very last minute, like that deadline day.” Matt makes good money, but he usually gets laid off in the winter when construction slows down. For the past few years, he and Abra have bought coverage on HealthCare. gov, the Affordable Care Act exchange. But they’re in a tough spot. They make too much money to get a subsidy to help them pay for insurance. Subsidies are available only to those who make under 400 percent of poverty, or about $97, 000 for a family of four. But while the Schultzes don’t qualify for help, paying full price for health insurance stretches their budget to the limit. Two years ago, when they first signed up for insurance on the exchange, they were paying $530 a month for a plan they liked, Abra says. The price rose a little for 2016, but the options for 2017 went up a lot — about 30 percent on average in Pennsylvania. ”We have one for $881, one for $938, one for $984, like the deductibles are — look, these are insane,” Abra said, as she checked the exchange website for monthly premiums. ”The one that we would be stuck with would be the silver. This is $881. 50, and our deductible would be $7, 000.” It’s frustrating, she said, because she and her husband are relatively healthy and haven’t needed that much care. Add to that the cost of a separate partially subsidized insurance policy for their two children, and the family is expecting to pay at least $14, 000 in health premiums. Abra resented the mandate to buy health insurance from the beginning. And she liked what Trump said about the Affordable Care Act on campaign stops, like one in King of Prussia in November, just before the election. ”Obamacare has to be replaced, and we will do it and we will do it very, very quickly,” Trump said in his speech. ”It is a catastrophe.” Abra said she wouldn’t mind being in health insurance limbo while Trump and lawmakers debate the future of Obamacare. Larry Levitt, with the Kaiser Family Foundation, said he understands her frustration with the law. ”These are people who are playing by the rules, and doing the right thing, and they feel like they’re getting the shaft,” he said. No one likes higher and higher premiums, he says, but there’s a . ”Before the ACA, to get insurance on your own, you had to fill out a medical questionnaire, and an insurer would only take you if you were reasonably healthy,” Levitt said. ”That kept premiums down, but it’s because sick people were excluded from the market altogether.” Levitt said the law’s goal was to to get insurance to a point where premiums only increase slightly every year while everyone can still get coverage, no matter their condition. And, he says, any replacement plan devised by Republicans will have upsides and downsides, just like the Affordable Care Act. ”If this were easy, it already would have happened,” he said. Abra said she understands the broader picture, but she needs to focus on what’s best for her family — affordable health insurance. ”[Trump] just wants to fix what needs to be fixed, which I think is wonderful news,” she says. Abra did decide on a policy for her and her husband — she selected the plan that costs $938 a month because she wants to keep her current doctor. But if lawmakers eliminate the penalty for people who don’t get insurance, she might take a risk and drop the coverage. This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, WITF’s Transforming Health project and Kaiser Health News.

Clare Hollingworth, the war correspondent who told the world of the outbreak of World War II, has died at 105. She died Tuesday evening in Hong Kong, according to friend Cathy Hilborn Feng, who says Hollingworth ”had a smile before she left us.” Hollingworth was a rookie reporter when she landed the scoop of a century — she had been a journalist for the Daily Telegraph for less than week when she revealed German tanks were gathered at the Polish border, poised for an invasion. It was the start of an illustrious career in journalism that lasted some seven decades. The ”doyenne of war correspondents” lived the last few decades of her life in Hong Kong, where she was a regular at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. The club mourned her death on Tuesday, with President Tara Joseph calling her a ”tremendous inspiration.” Before her career as a journalist began, Clare Hollingworth helped thousands of political refugees fleeing Hitler’s forces to gain asylum in Britain. The BBC told the story in a piece last year: ”In 1938, a year before war was declared, thousands of refugees were flooding across borders looking for asylum. ”In response, Clare Hollingworth, a glamorous political activist from Leicester, booked a Christmas holiday to Kitzbühel in Austria. ”She visited the in December 1938 to carry out reconnaissance, and returned to the UK with a visa in her passport.” With her visa in hand, Hollingworth could travel into Poland to provide aid to fleeing Jews, unionists and writers. Many of the refugees lacked documents and were in danger of being sent back into Nazi territory. Hollingworth’s Patrick Garrett, who wrote a biography of his great aunt, wrote in the Telegraph that she used her ”noted pushiness and ability for wrangling with officials, skills that would later stand her in very good stead as a foreign correspondent,” to get the refugees papers, food, money and tickets to the U. K. She helped thousands of refugees reach Britain, Time reports, and the British press dubbed her ”The Scarlet Pimpernel” for her efforts. But the British government suspected she was letting in ”potential spies,” including communists. They put an end to her efforts in the summer of 1939. Back in London and looking for a new job, Hollingworth persuaded the Daily Telegraph to send her back to Poland as a reporter. Here’s how Time describes what happened next: ”Knowing that war may be imminent, and bolstered by the presence of a diplomatic flag, she borrowed her host’s car, and ’motored off alone into Nazi Germany’ to stock up on wine and aspirin. As she drove back along the border, a fabric partition separating the two countries flapped momentarily in the wind, exposing ’scores, if not hundreds of tanks’ in the valley below. And there was her first big scoop: the outbreak of World War II.” Her headline in the Daily Telegraph: ”1, 000 Tanks Massed on Polish Frontier 10 Divisions Reported Ready For Swift Stroke From Our Own Correspondent.” There were actually only nine divisions, Garrett notes — but ”not bad” for her first week on the job. Three days later, the invasion began. Hollingworth called both her editor and the British Embassy to alert them. The Guardian reports that the embassy staff didn’t believe her — so she held the telephone receiver out the window so they could hear the attack for themselves. It was a stunning start to an extraordinary career. Hollingworth continued to report for the next seven decades, from all over Europe, then from north Africa and communist China and Palestine and Iraq and Vietnam, among other places. Colleagues particularly admired her work on the perilous, complicated Algerian War in the ’50s and ’60s, both Time and the Guardian write. She also uncovered a famous scoop related to Kim Philby, the ”third man” of Britain’s notorious ”Cambridge Five” group of Soviet spies. At a time when the British government was insisting Philby was not the spy in question, she discovered evidence suggesting he had quickly and covertly escaped to Russia. The scoop was so stunning that an editor at the Guardian refused to run it, fearing libel suits. Weeks later, she persuaded a deputy editor to run the item on page 7. ”Shortly afterwards the government admitted it believed Philby had indeed fled to Russia,” the Guardian writes. Hollingworth was a famously hard worker, obsessive and seemingly tireless. She loved covering war and conflict — one colleague told the Guardian that Hollingworth ”actually enjoys war. She’s not at all bloodthirsty, she’s actually very humane and kind, but she gets a huge kick out of it.” ”I enjoy action,” Hollingworth told the BBC. ”I enjoy being in a plane that’s bombing something, or being on the ground in the desert when they’re advancing.” ”She was always in the right place at the right time,” John Simpson, world affairs editor at the BBC, said in a video produced for Hollingworth’s 104th birthday. ”Who did the first interview with the shah of Iran? Clare Hollingworth. Who did the last interview . .. after he fell? Clare Hollingworth.” She later became a correspondent for The Telegraph. In her early 90s, living a quieter life in Hong Kong, Hollingworth told the Guardian that she still didn’t consider herself retired she called in regularly to the London newsdesk. Toward the end of her life, most of her life savings were stolen by a fellow expat in Hong Kong, as the Telegraph reported at the time. But her and biographer says she was able to maintain her ”independent lifestyle in Hong Kong, closer to her beloved Foreign Correspondents’ Club.” At her 105th birthday this past October, she was feted at the club by admiring journalists and friends. She also received a message from Margo Stanyer, who had fled Hungary as a in 1939. As the BBC reports, Hollingworth had helped Margo and her family arrange visas and travel to London. Some 77 years later, Stanyer, an recorded a video message for Hollingworth. ”Thank you to Clare, again and again and again. I think of you a lot, until the end of my life,” she said, tearing up. ”Wish you all the best. Live for a hundred years again.”

Scientists have found the inspiration for a lifesaving tool in an unusual place — a children’s toy. The invention may soon help health care workers diagnose malaria in places where standard laboratory equipment is hard to find. Diagnosing malaria in the field isn’t all that difficult, but you need a device called a centrifuge that can spin a blood sample very quickly, causing different types of cells in blood to separate from each other. Most centrifuges are bulky, require electricity and are expensive. Because of that, many field hospitals in developing nations don’t have easy access to the technology. Manu Prakash, a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University who developed the new tool, saw the need firsthand during a trip to Uganda. ”We were out in a primary health center talking to health care workers and we found a centrifuge used as a doorstop because there’s no electricity.” The workers said that they really needed a powerful centrifuge that they could use anywhere. And it needed to be cheap. When he got back to California, Prakash began experimenting with all kinds of things that spin, including toys. Toys might seem like a strange place to start, but Prakash didn’t think so. Who doesn’t love toys? And, he explains, ”Toys hide in them pretty profound physical phenomena that we just take for granted.” The researchers started to experiment with . But the didn’t spin fast enough to work as a centrifuge. Then they stumbled upon the children’s toy known as the whirligig, or buzzer. The toy is made of a disc that spins when a person pulls on strings that pass through the center. And it spins much faster than a . The scientists clocked their version at 125, 000 revolutions per minute. According to the authors, that’s the fastest rotational speed reported for a device. By comparison, the internal combustion engine of a Formula One race car rotates at about 15, 000 rpm. And so the paperfuge was born. The paperfuge is made out of paper coated in a polymer film that makes it extra strong, string and PVC pipe or wood. Blood samples are attached to the center disc and pulling the strings causes the cells to separate, just like in the more expensive electrical centrifuge. The samples can then be processed and tested for parasites. To prove that the paperfuge could work in the field, the researches took a prototype to Madagascar for a test run. It worked as advertised, allowing local health care workers to spin blood and test for parasites. Prakash and his colleagues reported their results Tuesday in Nature Biomedical Engineering. This isn’t the first time that Prakash has invented a tool for use in areas. A few years ago, his group also invented a $1 paper microscope called the Foldscope. The paperfuge is inexpensive, costing just 20 cents apiece to make. They can be made by hand or by machine, and the spinning disc can be made of paper or plastic. Using a desktop printer, the study authors printed over 100 paperfuges in one day. That means if the paperfuge catches on, it could be relatively easy to make and distribute to areas. Now that Prakash’s group has shown that it’s effective in identifying malaria, they are working on developing different variations of the paperfuge that could help diagnose other diseases.

In 1889, Bethlehem Steel brought engineer Frederick Taylor on board in an attempt to streamline its vast operation. Taylor had recently invented a theory of ”time management” in which the same principles used to optimize machines was applied to people. Taylor stalked the floors of the Bethlehem plant armed with a stopwatch and a clipboard noting the time it took for workers to complete tasks, like loading iron bars onto waiting railcars. Taylor’s eventual recommendation to the company’s executives were simple: The workers should be made to do more in less time. Some 120 years later, the plan Taylor laid out for big business has now become internalized within us all. Called the ”Personal Productivity Movement,” it’s subtly woven into the fabric of our digitally mediated lives. That’s not a good thing. There is an argument to be made that our emphasis on personal productivity is not only slowly killing us, it’s also doomed to fail. In fact, this exact argument was made in a piece of journalism by Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian late last month. Since my last book focused on the links between changing cultural ” ” and changing scientific conceptions of time, I found a lot to agree with in Burkeman’s piece. So, today, let’s spend a few moments unpacking our mania for personal productivity, its historical roots — and the reasons why it’s a long road to nowhere. Google ”personal productivity” and, pretty quickly, you’ll get the gist of what this movement means. There’s the ”The 7 Rules of Personal Productivity” and ”8 Simple Rules to Extreme Personal Productivity” and ”20 Suggestions to Boost Your Personal Productivity.” Clearly, there are a lot of rules. Here are a few of them: write things down avoid distractions schedule your email and social media checking balance focused work with focused rest. There are, not surprisingly, personal productivity apps to help you stick to these rules. Some will keep your lists and help you prioritize them. Others go further. For example there’s ATracker to help you track ”repetitive daily routines at work.” And Eternity Time Log that allows you to ”track many projects and generate and export detailed hierarchical reports to know exactly where your time goes.” Burkeman correctly links the birth of this mania for efficiency and productivity with Frederick Taylor’s scientific time management. But while it was Big Business that kept workers ”at the sharp end” of Taylor’s proposals, in our digital age we have mostly volunteered to do that job ”to” ourselves. The reasons for this are manifold. Much of the gospel of personal productivity begins with an eye towards our jobs. Since we live in an age where you can answer emails at 9 p. m. well, then, shouldn’t you? Are you risking your position by not answering it? As Burkeman puts it: ” In an era of insecure employment, we must constantly demonstrate our usefulness through frenetic doing.” But, as Burkeman shows us, the new and inherently unfair economic conditions driving the range for personal productivity won’t change its outcome. As he explains: ”An awkward truth about Taylor’s celebrated efficiency drives is that they were not very successful: Bethlehem Steel fired him in 1901, having paid him vast sums without any clearly detectable impact on its own profits. (One persistent consequence of his schemes was that they seemed promising at first, but left workers too exhausted to function consistently over the long term.) Exhaustion. That’s the key word. That’s why our personal productivity efforts are bound to fail in the same way they failed in Taylor’s day. In our modern, digitally rendered age we are all are caught by the promise that we can squeeze more out of our time. By abstracting life into a series of digitally manipulatable lists, we’re told we can optimize ourselves. In this way, we come to believe we really can get more quality parenting time, while still getting to the gym everyday, while still reading more books, while still learning to cook Indian food and so on and on and on. The list literally goes on forever — and that’s the problem. The list is a lie. What struck me most when I was writing my book about the braided evolution of scientific and cultural time was the role of invention in both. I found that every culture invented ways of parsing the day. These were what I called cultural . They were nothing more than social constructions built from the imagination and the dominant technology each culture had at its disposal (i. e. rope and sail, gears and springs, wires and silicon chips). The real point was that none of them was any more real than other. A culture built on hunting and gathering would have one way of organizing the day, while one built on farming would have another. Neither was more ”true” than the other. But seen from within, each culture’s was invisible. It seemed obvious. It seemed given. It just was. From that vantage point, our mania for personal productivity is just a reflection of the technology we’ve built our modern culture upon. Our machines now parse time in nanosecond chunks. They do more than earlier machines could because they make more time by moving faster. We, however, do not have that option. Even though our digital technologies give us tools to exactly meter time, it is not really our time. It’s not the kind of time we were born to as biological entities enmeshed in a living world. Burkeman rightly ends his essay by pointing out how much of our mania for personal productivity can be traced back to a much older impulse — a fear of death: ”The more you can convince yourself that you need never make difficult choices — because there will be enough time for everything — the less you will feel obliged to ask yourself whether the life you are choosing is the right one.” That is where the choice comes back to us. Every culturally imposed is an invention. It’s something we made up. The we dreamed up in building this new version of society has some great aspects, not because it allows us to do more things but because it allows us to do things we could not do before. That should be enough. We lie to ourselves if we think we can get more out of time. That’s because, ultimately, the time we get will always be all the time there is. Adam Frank is a of the 13. 7 blog, an astrophysics professor at the University of Rochester, a book author and a ”evangelist of science.” You can keep up with more of what Adam is thinking on Facebook and Twitter: @adamfrank4

Iran’s former president, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was buried Tuesday, and the large outpouring of grief at his funeral reflects the uncertainty facing Iranian moderates. Rafsanjani may have risen along with the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U. S. shah, but in later years, his pragmatic streak and respected position made him a leading voice of moderation. Rafsanjani was seen as one crucial pillar in the power base of President Hassan Rouhani, who won election in 2013 after the conservative Guardian Council rejected Rafsanjani’s own candidacy. The other major source of Rouhani’s support is another former president, Mohammad Khatami, who has effectively been under house arrest in recent years. Rafsanjani’s death, just months before Rouhani is expected to stand for in May, leaves the moderate wing of Iran’s political establishment without one of its most important voices. ”It really does create a political vacuum in some ways,” says Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. With Rafsanjani gone and Khatami under wraps, he says, this hole has opened up at a crucial time. Ansari says the months ahead will be a real political test of whether Rouhani, who shepherded a controversial nuclear agreement with world powers past hardline opposition, has enough of a power base of his own to make up for the absence of Rafsanjani. ”You know, I have my doubts about it,” he says. ”I’ve never felt that Rouhani is as big a player as some of the previous generation.” At stake is Rouhani’s — and Rafsanjani’s — belief that Iran’s best hope for the future lies in outreach to the world and better relations with other countries, not the often preached by Iran’s hardliners, including Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Rafsanjani’s legacy, In an appraisal in The New Yorker, Robin Wright wrote that Rafsanjani advocated better ties with the West, including America. Not long ago, he tweeted, ”World of tomorrow is one of negotiations, not the world of missiles.” A different take on Rafsanjani’s political legacy and the impact his absence will have on the political scene comes from Gary Sick, senior researcher at Columbia University’s Middle East program. ”Contrary to some of my colleagues, my guess is that Rafsanjani’s departure will have very little actual impact on the course of developments,” he wrote in a blog post. ”If I were in Rouhani’s shoes, I would certainly be sorry to lose an ally with such sterling revolutionary credentials. After all, the centrists need all the friends they can get,” he added. ”However, the outcome of the next election will depend on Rouhani’s ability to persuade Iranians that they are better off with the nuclear agreement and that he is capable of defending Iran’s interests better than any alternative choice.” Last year’s nuclear accord remains one of Rouhani’s chief accomplishments, and it has brought an infusion of cash, as frozen overseas Iranian assets were released. There have also been major commercial aviation deals and a notable increase in Iranian oil exports since the deal. But economists say the benefits have yet to trickle down to the Iranian street, where they might do Rouhani some political good. Presidential election in May So far, Rouhani has not announced his intentions for the May elections, though supporters say he’s likely to run again. Thus far, only a few other candidates have announced. Analysts say former Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ghalibaf may make another run. Hardliners are eager to make Rouhani a candidate. The man he succeeded, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been mentioned as a possible contender, though a number of Iran analysts consider him unlikely to run. With Rafsanjani’s passing, the number of Iran’s founding revolutionaries still in roles of influence is shrinking. Some analysts see an imminent ”generational change” for the Islamic Republic. Ansari, for one, wonders if that change will mean more moderation — or less. ”I think the worry for some of us is that really, what you have with Khamenei and . .. many of those in the Revolutionary Guard, but also the political elite following on, [is a group that’s] much less interested in the West, and much more tied to a sort of Russian alliance,” he says. ”So it’s not at all clear that the change in guard will lead to a more moderating influence.”

Over the weekend and into Monday morning, a powerful storm in Nevada and Northern California resulted in mudslides and flooding, caused more than a thousand people to evacuate their homes, took out power lines and brought down a famous sequoia ”tunnel tree.” That storm is over, but residents can’t relax yet: Starting on Tuesday, a second potent winter storm is expected to hit the region. Emergency workers are taking advantage of the ” respite from the rains,” as The Associated Press puts it, to rescue people stranded by the storm and assess the extent of the damage. Capital Public Radio in Sacramento reported that some places in the Sierra Nevada received more than a foot of rain over the storm that ended Monday. A long stretch of Interstate 80 was closed after a mudslide, the radio station reports. The weekend was relatively warm, The Los Angeles Times reports, which means some of the snow dropped by the storm melted quickly and contributed to floodwaters. Flooding was extensive, with some roads remaining closed on Monday. Placer County tweeted video of a big rig overturned on a road covered with standing water, and urged drivers not to disregard signs marking roads as closed. KQED reports minor flooding ”all over the [San Francisco] Bay Area,” with mudslides and fallen trees closing highways and major roads, and nearly half a million people losing power. California’s wine country was badly hit, The Associated Press reports the Russian River in Sonoma County rose to its highest level in a decade, leaving vineyards submerged ”with just the tips of vines visible in completely flooded fields,” the wire service reports. At least one person was killed in the storm, the AP writes: A woman was struck by a falling tree as she walked on a golf course on Saturday. Emergency crews have used boats and helicopters to rescue people stranded by floodwaters, according to the AP. They have a narrow window of time before the second storm hits the area on Tuesday. It has ”the potential for more heavy rain over the already very thoroughly soaked North Bay counties,” KQED reports. Capital Public Radio also warns of high winds, with gusts up to 50 miles an hour in the Sacramento Valley. This storm is expected to be colder, too, bringing more snow that will stick around instead of melting. The National Weather Service used an exclamation point in its official prediction for snow totals in the Tahoe area, above 7, 000 feet elevation: ” feet!” The forecast also calls for 150 mph winds on ridge tops. The National Weather Service warns of ”dangerous and potentially life threatening blizzard conditions” possible in the Sierra Nevada. ”Strong winds will produce zero visibility in whiteout conditions along with high drifting snow,” the weather forecast office in Reno says. ”Even a short walk could be deadly if you become disoriented. Avalanche danger will remain high.” Widespread flooding and perilous blizzard conditions have authorities urging people to hunker down, stay safe and avoid travel. But there’s a silver lining to these clouds. California has been suffering through a lengthy, devastating drought. Two storms, no matter how intense, aren’t enough to undo years of persistent drought — but the LA Times reports that if the wet weather continues, ”2017 could prove a turning point for the epic dry spell.”

Sylvana Simons got her start as a soul music VJ on the Dutch version of MTV. She went on to anchor the evening news in the Netherlands, and performed on the local version of Dancing with the Stars. Simons, 45, is black and was born in the former Dutch colony of Suriname, in South America. Her family moved to the Netherlands when she was just one. She’s spoken out against the Dutch Christmas tradition of Black Pete, in which Santa’s helper is often played by a white person in blackface. That prompted someone to make a satirical music video about her, in which dancers in blackface sing, ”Oh Sylvana, why don’t you pack your bags and leave this country.” After that, someone photoshopped pictures of her face onto old archive photos of lynching victims from the American South. ”I’ve also received emails and written letters in which people described how they would like to see me killed, raped, burned alive,” Simons told reporters in a rare interview in early December. ”It’s been an ongoing thing for the past two years.” So Simons filed a police complaint, quit her media job — and went into politics. ”I have made this conscious decision to enter politics because I feel we are not just fighting racist people one by one,” Simons says. ”What we need is a change of the system. We live in a system that has been designed hundreds of years ago, not to serve everybody, but to serve the dominant white race.” Parliamentary candidate, Simons is running for parliament in the Dutch elections this March. At first, she announced her candidacy with a new Dutch political party called Denk, or ”think.” It’s one of the first parties in Europe founded by recent immigrants to represent their interests. Denk’s candidates include a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, people of Turkish and Moroccan descent and black people like Simons. All of them say they’ve felt left out of Dutch politics, especially now that the leader Geert Wilders is surging in the polls. ”People of color are not recognized as proper Dutch, and there is where the anger is, from people who are seen as citizens, while they were born here,” says Sandew Hira, an economist and historian who leads the International Institute for Scientific Research, which studies colonialism and is based in The Hague. Denk, founded two years ago by two members of parliament, says it wants to establish a national racism register to track hate speech, build a slavery museum in the Netherlands and ban portrayals of Black Pete. But the new party has already had some internal disputes. Over the Christmas holiday, Simons announced a surprise split from Denk, to start her own party. She told the Dutch media she wants to widen her political platform to fight for gay rights and fair hiring practices, and that Denk’s other members weren’t receptive. Denk’s leaders did not reply to NPR’s request for comment. Obstacles to integration, On a typical Sunday morning in a small Dutch town, parents cheer for their children on the sidelines of a youth soccer game. One of the dads points out his son playing for the visiting team, in blue jerseys. ”The blue team is from Haarlem, a bigger city, and the orange team is from [the smaller town of] Voldendam. If you look, the orange team, they’re only Dutch,” father Bulent Ozturk says. ”And the blue team, they’re all foreign — Turkish and Moroccan kids, mainly.” The Ozturk family has lived in the Netherlands for three generations, yet they still call themselves foreigners. ”I can’t explain what it means to be Dutch. Holland is a very small country. It doesn’t really have an identity,” Ozturk says. ”You could easily be talking about German or Danish identity, because they’re similar. I guess you can start talking about windmills and clocks and tulips.” Ozturk’s parents arrived from Turkey some 50 years ago, in the 1960s, as guest workers. At the time, Dutch companies were recruiting workers from rural parts of Morocco and Turkey. ”They came to do jobs that Dutch people wouldn’t like to do or they couldn’t find people to do. So they were very welcome,” Ozturk says. ”But I don’t feel at home here anymore.” He says he plans to vote for Denk in the country’s election. ”It’s a shame that we don’t vote on a political basis, but on a race basis,” Ozturk says, shaking his head. About a million of Holland’s 17 million citizens are immigrants or their children or grandchildren — a potentially powerful group at the polls.

The online classified website Backpage. com said it has suspended its adult ad pages, citing government pressure about the content being shared there. A 2016 Senate report called the website the ”largest commercial sex services advertising platform in the United States” and said that ”Backpage officials have publicly acknowledged that criminals use the website for sex trafficking, including trafficking of minors.” The report also accused Backpage of not complying with congressional requests for information about its revenue. On Tuesday, links to advertisements for escort services in U. S. cities linked instead to a press release from the company as well as links to the websites of organizations that advocate for free speech rights. In the press release, the company wrote it had suspended adult content as a ”direct result of unconstitutional government censorship”: ”For years, the legal system protecting freedom of speech prevailed, but new government tactics, including pressuring credit card companies to cease doing business with Backpage, have left the company with no other choice but to remove the content in the United States.” Escort advertisement links appeared to remain active for cities outside the U. S. including in Canada. Around the world, Backpage also hosts advertisements for goods and services other than sex, including child care, housing and auto parts. In October, the CEO of Backpage. com, Carl Ferrer, was arrested in Houston and dozens of law enforcement officers then searched Backpage’s Dallas headquarters, as we reported. ”Ferrer, 55, is charged with pimping a minor, pimping and conspiracy to commit pimping. Two controlling shareholders of Backpage — Michael Lacey and James Larkin — also are charged with conspiracy to commit pimping,” NPR’s Camila Domonoske reported. The website’s owners have faced similar charges in California and Washington, according to The Associated Press. The California complaint alleged Backpage. com didn’t just host ads for sex, some of which were trafficking minors, because the site helped advertisers write ads that would elicit clicks. ”The Washington state Supreme Court similarly ruled last year that the company didn’t just host the ads, but helped develop the content,” the AP reported. ”That ruling allowed a civil lawsuit to continue by three minors who attorneys said were in the seventh and ninth grades when adult professional sex traffickers used Backpage to sell them as prostitutes.”

Marketplace officials calculate a customer’s subsidy, so why is the customer held responsible for repayments? Why are so many of my prescriptions held up for authorization by my Medicare drug plan? Here are answers to some recent questions from readers. When I applied on the exchange for health insurance I had to predict my income. I submitted four paycheck stubs so they could figure out how much premium tax credit I qualified for. But they figured it incorrectly, and now I have to repay $8, 000 to the Internal Revenue Service. It was their error, but I’m told they’re not responsible. Is that legal? It is. When you apply for a marketplace plan, your premium tax credit is based on your own and the marketplace’s best estimate of your income for the upcoming year, using tax records and other available electronic data, or sometimes pay stubs as in your case. Especially for people who have multiple sources of income or whose income is variable, ”the projections are difficult” and verifying them ”can be tricky for the marketplace,” said Tara Straw, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Even so, it’s your responsibility to keep the marketplace informed if during the year your income is higher than expected so that the tax credit you’re receiving can be adjusted downward and you don’t get blindsided with a big bill at tax time. For most people who receive too much in subsidies, repayment is capped between $300 and $2, 500, depending on the person’s income and tax filing status. However, there’s no repayment cap for people whose income is above 400 percent of the federal poverty level (about $47, 000). Unfortunately, it appears you fall into this category. I have a Medicare prescription drug plan with a $300 deductible. I don’t need many prescriptions, but the drugs I do need require prior authorization, meaning they make you wait three days after the doctor calls in the prescription to decide if they are going to cover it. This is true even for my routine drugs. My pharmacist says insurers are doing this more and more. Is that true? Your pharmacist’s impression is correct. The number of drugs for which insurers require prior authorization in Medicare drug plans has been inching up for years, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. In 2016, 26 percent of the drugs that were listed in Medicare drug plan formularies, or preferred lists, required the insurer’s OK before they could be dispensed, up from 23 percent the year before. Insurers use other strategies to control drug spending as well, but prior authorization is the most prevalent. They may limit the number of doses of a drug that can be provided over a set period of time, for example, or require patients to try a cheaper drug in the same category before approving a more expensive one. Overall, the number of drugs that have some sort of ”utilization management” requirement, as it’s called, has more than doubled since 2007, to 41 percent. I plan to get married in June. I am currently enrolled in an Obamacare plan. Can I switch to my husband’s employer coverage right away after the wedding or do I have to wait until the next open enrollment period in the fall? You can switch right after the wedding. Marriage is one of several events that creates a window of opportunity for people to change health plans, whether they’re covered on the health insurance exchange or by an employer. Other events include divorce and the birth or adoption of a child. It’s a good idea for your fiancé to notify his employer about the impending change before the wedding so the company can process it and you can avoid a gap in coverage, said Tracy Watts, a senior partner at benefits consultant Mercer. That way, your new coverage can start on the first day of the month following your wedding date. You’ll need to inform your current plan that you’re dropping that coverage on a certain date as well, of course. Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Michelle Andrews is on Twitter:@mandrews110.

NPR’s YouTube channel, Skunk Bear, answers your science questions. This week, we picked one in honor of David Bowie. Bowie was born on Jan. 8 and would have turned 70 on Sunday. Tuesday, Jan. 10, marks the first anniversary of his death. Bowie filled his songs with references to space, and his first big hit, ”Space Oddity,” was released just days before humans first walked on the moon. So today we’re tackling a very question from an anonymous Tumblr user: ”Can you tell me how long it would take to walk to the moon? Could I make it there in my lifetime?” Ridiculous, of course. What would you walk on? How would you breathe? Where would you put all the trail mix? But we decided to take the question seriously. If a human set out walking at a reasonable pace today, stopping to eat and sleep and take a day off once in a while — how long would it take to travel the distance that separates Earth and the moon? We attempt the trip — virtually — in a 360 degree environment. As you watch our video, you’ll be able to rotate your view by clicking and dragging (or by moving your mobile device*) to see the things a hiker would see. What does Earth look like from the height of the Hubble telescope or from the height of a weather satellite? To help pass the time, we brought along some of Bowie’s music. It’s only right that his major hits serve as milestones on our way to the moon. You can submit your science questions to Skunk Bear here. (Maybe we’ll tackle, ”Is there life on Mars?” next.) Subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow the answers. *Unfortunately Safari doesn’t support 360 you’ll have to use the Chrome browser or the youtube app on an iPhone.

Things were already going pretty badly for Florence Manyande. Then one day last spring, while walking down the street, she was hit by a car. ”This woman saw, and she pulled me out of the road.” recalls Manyande, 50. ”She tried to talk to me, but I couldn’t talk then. I had a lot on my mind.” Her run of bad luck had begun in 2010, when Manyande’s husband skipped out on her and her three kids. ”I had no way to pay school fees for my children,” she says, and no way to pay rent. ”Even my relatives were shunning me. They couldn’t take me in because they said, ’We have our own problems. ’” By the time Manyande had her accident, she was thinking about killing herself. Then her fortune took a turn. The woman who found her, injured, on the road happened to be a health worker. She took Manyande to the clinic to get bandaged up. ”While I was there,” Manyande says, ”she introduced me to the Friendship Bench.” A Friendship Bench is quite literally a park bench — with a higher calling. In Zimbabwe, where Manyande lives, friendship benches are located on the grounds of medical clinics around Harare and other major cities. They’re a safe place where trained community members counsel folks struggling with what they, in the local Shona language, call kufungisisa (”thinking too much”) or what Americans call depression. Dr. Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatrist at the University of Zimbabwe, came up with the name Friendship Bench — or chigaro che hushamwari in Shona — back in 2006. In Zimbabwe, as in most places, there’s a lot of stigma around mental illness. Patients may feel uncomfortable with the idea of going to a mental health clinic. Traditionally, Zimbabweans with depression may see a healer about an exorcism — many view mental illness as a curse. And there is a shortage of professional help: 13 psychiatrists serve a population of 13 million. While completing his master’s in public health, Chibanda was looking for a solution. After speaking with various community leaders and health workers, he figured out that while people were loathe to head to a mental clinic and speak with a medical professional about their mental health, they were generally willing to sit on a park bench and share their worries with someone within their own community, At these benches, community counselors and patients meet weekly to discuss intimate issues — and develop a plan to overcome difficulties. As part of the treatment, there are also group therapy sessions, when patients gather and sit around the bench. ”It’s all about empowering people to go and solve their own problems,” Chibanda says. The strategy seems to be working, according to a new study published in JAMA. The study followed 573 patients in Harare with anxiety or depression for a period. Half of them received the standard treatment: A nurse spoke to them about what they were going through and prescribed medication as needed. The other half went to a Friendship Bench to meet with community members who’d been trained to give both and group counseling. Six months later, half of those who received basic treatment still showed symptoms of depression, whereas only 13 percent of those who participated in Friendship Bench program still had symptoms. Mental health interventions often ”select good therapists and basically bus them in,” adds Dr. Melanie Abas, a psychiatrist at King’s College London and one of the study’s . ”This is really one of the few examples where treatments for common mental health problems have been delivered by people who actually live and work in the community.” Most of the Friendship Bench counselors are older women who already command respect within their communities. And they’ve played a big role in stemming fears about seeking help for mental health issues, The counselors avoid the Western terms ”depression” and ”anxiety,” which to many might sound foreign and unrelatable. Instead, the counselors may suggest that someone has been ”thinking a bit too much” and guide them through the different stages of talk therapy, which in Shona are called kuvhura pfungwa (”opening of the mind”) kusimudzira (”uplifting”) and kusimbisa (”strengthening”). ”We use indigenous terms,” Chibanda says. ”These are words that people in the community can identify with.” Traditionally, Zimbabweans with depression may see a healer about an exorcism — many view mental illness as a curse, Abas notes. People are more likely to admit they’ve got mental health issues when offered the relatively alternative of chatting on a park bench. The Friendship Bench initiative is now being expanded throughout Zimbabwe. So far, 27, 000 people suffering from common mental health disorders have tried the program. This strategy is not without drawbacks, Abas says. The community counselors require continual training and supervision, which is why they report to a district supervisor with more formal medical and psychological training. And funding is another issue. Right now, the program depends on grant money the researchers say that the government will eventually have to pitch in to sustain the program. Despite those complications, ”it’s just a great model, and it’s impressive,” says Brandon Kohrt, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Duke University who wasn’t involved in the development of the Friendship Bench program or in the recent study. ”It’s often very stigmatizing to have to go to a mental health professional,” Kohrt says. ”So it’s great that their approach didn’t require people to go to a location — like a psychiatric hospital — that was seen as somewhere only really ill incurable people went.” The program also attests to the power of community, says Kohrt, and harnessing the community to support those suffering mental illness. He believes that ”the lessons from this can be applied globally, even in high income countries.” For Florence Manyande, at least, beyond helping her quell suicidal thoughts, the Friendship Bench has helped her build the sort of community she had been craving. At a group therapy session, Manyande says, ”I made a friend who introduced me to a sister who had accommodation.” No longer homeless, Manyande learned to crochet bags, which she now sells to make money until she can find employment. ”My relationship with my relatives has also improved,” she says, ”now that I don’t go to their houses begging for money or food.” Most important, ”I realized at the Friendship Bench I have someone who is willing to listen to my problems,” she says. ”I was so happy about that.”

It’s still unclear whether Verizon will follow through on a $4. 8 billion deal to buy Yahoo’s core internet business, but if the sale is finalized, there’s a name for what will be left behind. For months, as the deal has made its way through negotiations and regulatory reviews, Yahoo referred to the hypothetical remains of its business as ”RemainCo.” Now, the company has unveiled a slightly less literal name: ”Altaba.” The Wall Street Journal explains the Altaba origin: ”Altaba’s remaining assets include Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan. The name is a combination of the words ’alternate’ and ’Alibaba,’ a person familiar with the matter said.” As The New York Times points out, the name is very close to ”” a Pakistani scissors manufacturer. The sale would also bring big changes to Yahoo’s current leadership. According to a regulatory document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, six members of the company’s current board would step down — including Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief executive. Eric Brandt, who joined Yahoo’s board in March 2016, would take over as chairman of Altaba’s board. He is a former executive at Broadcom, a semiconductor company. As of Thursday, Brandt took over as chairman of Yahoo’s board, replacing Maynard Webb, who had served in that position since 2013 and now becomes the chairman emeritus. According to the regulatory filing, the purpose of the change was ”to facilitate the transition of the Company to an investment company” following the sale to Verizon. But it’s still unclear whether the sale will go forward. Following revelations of multiple major hacks of Yahoo user accounts, Verizon said it would ”evaluate” the potential impact on the deal. Last week, AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong told CNBC that ”I remain hopeful the deal will close and I think we’ll see what the outcomes are of the Yahoo investigations in the meantime.” Verizon purchased AOL in 2015. Also last week, a senior executive at Verizon said the company was unsure about its plan to buy Yahoo’s Internet business. ”I can’t sit here today and say with confidence one way or another because we still don’t know,” said Marni Walden, president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon, according to Reuters. Speaking at the Citi 2017 Internet, Media Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas, Walden said that if the deal does go through, ”we think it will take weeks at least. We don’t have a desire to have it drag on forever, that’s not our intent.”

Eduardo made a mistake 10 days before he turned 18 in New York City. ”Basically every single day, I relive that moment,” says Eduardo, who is now 32 and still regularly passes by the spot where he was arrested for the first and only time in his life. Police caught him selling cocaine on the sidewalk next to the apartment building he’s lived in since he was a kid. His plan, he says, was to make some money to pay for marijuana. Instead, it stalled his college years and landed him a sentence in an adult prison. He convinced a parole board to let him out early after more than seven months. Still, he came home at 18 years old with a criminal record. ”Shortcuts, they won’t get you anywhere, man. Just give you a hard time,” he says. ”They’ll give you a lot of time to think.” He asked NPR to identify him only by his first name because he’s worried a future employer or landlord might find out about his criminal record. He says it’s cost him plenty of jobs since he left prison. ”The initial interview would go great, but towards the end when it was time to run that background check, that’s when reality hit,” he explains. ”I’ve heard the word ’no’ so many times. It’s hard, man. It’s hard to keep telling yourself you’re not going to give up.” But just before the new year, Eduardo finally got the phone call he had been waiting for. One of his attorneys called him late one night to tell him that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was granting him a pardon. It’s one of the first pardons in New York state for former offenders who committed a nonviolent crime when they were 16 or 17 and have stayed for at least 10 years. Anyone convicted of a sex crime does not qualify, and pardons can be withdrawn if the recipient is . Cuomo announced the first group of 101 pardons on Dec. 30, after creating the youth pardon program in late 2015. About 10, 000 people could benefit from this program for New York residents, according to an estimate from the governor’s office. So far, it’s received 260 applications. For Eduardo, receiving the governor’s pardon means the conviction record that’s haunted him into his early 30s is now sealed from the general public. Some government agencies that require a deeper background check through fingerprinting can still access his rap sheet. Still, sealing his conviction record could help get rid of many of the barriers to jobs and housing Eduardo and thousands of other former teen offenders have faced. ”They serve no good public safety function, and yet they really make it even more difficult for people to readjust to the community once they’ve completed their prison term,” says Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project. He says New York’s program could serve as a model for other states, including North Carolina. That’s the only other state like New York that charges and for all crimes not as juveniles, but as adults. Mauer adds that records in the adult justice system can be harder to seal than in the juvenile system. In fact, adult records about misdemeanors in New York are never sealed. ”You can be 16 years old, you can hop a turnstile, you can get convicted for theft of services, and that will be on your record the rest of your life,” says Laurie Parise, executive director of Youth Represent and one of the attorneys who helped Eduardo apply for Cuomo’s pardon. While many advocates for criminal justice reform hail the pardon program as an important way to help former teen offenders, they also see the need for pardons as a reminder that New York has one of the country’s toughest sentencing laws for teenagers. ”The real solution to this is for New York to raise the age,” says Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, referring to proposals to change state laws so that and are tried as juveniles. ”That way kids will be treated as kids and not subjected to the scars of a criminal conviction. They’ll be more likely to be able to stand on their own feet.” Cuomo, a Democrat, supports reform efforts in New York. But lawmakers in the state Senate have pushed back against recent proposals to raise the age of criminal responsibility, citing concerns about how a change would put more pressure on courts and housing for juvenile offenders. While they wait for a legislative solution, advocates at Youth Represent and other organizations are trying to find more former teen offenders in New York to apply for a second chance in time for the next round of pardons. ”We can’t continue to define young people by the worst mistake they ever made,” Parise, Eduardo’s attorney, says. ”We have to give people a chance.” Eduardo’s still waiting for his chance to become a health educator. Since finishing his prison sentence, he’s completed his associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. For now, he’s working two jobs to help raise his daughter. More than a decade later, memories of his arrest and time in prison still motivate him today. ”I tell myself, ’I am better than this.’ I am much better than what a piece of paper or what this judge has sentenced me,” he says. ”I know that this is not who I am.”

This has been updated at 10:00 pm ET with Clapper statement, Donald Trump denounced as ”fake news” Wednesday reports that Russia had compromising information about him before the election. He also acknowledged for the first time that Russia was behind the hacking of emails from the Democratic National Committee, although he seemed to couch it later in the news conference by saying it ”could have been others.” In his first news conference since last summer, the additionally said he would be handing over control of his businesses to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric refused once again to release his income tax returns and said his administration would reveal its plan to replace the Affordable Care Act as soon as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, Tom Price, is confirmed by the Senate. Trump said the unverified and unsubstantiated reports about the Russian intelligence were put together by political opponents, whom he called ”sick people.” The reports, he said, were ”a disgrace,” and he vehemently denounced BuzzFeed News, which published a memo purportedly outlining the Russian intelligence, as ”a failing pile of garbage.” He also denied a question from a CNN reporter, which first broke the story of an intelligence report but did not publish the documents or the lewd details. But Trump didn’t answer a question as to whether his presidential campaign had been in contact with the Russian government, which the report alleged. CNN reporter Jim Acosta noted later on the network that reporters followed up on that point as Trump was heading to the elevators off camera, and Trump said no one ”associated with him or his campaign was in contact with the Russians” during the campaign. Trump was also critical of U. S. intelligence agencies for ”maybe” leaking the report to news organizations, charging that a meeting he had recently with the agencies immediately leaked out even though he had kept it secret from his closest staff. In the evening, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement saying he had spoken with Trump and they agreed the leaks were ”extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security.” But Clapper denied the media got the alleged Russian evidence from his agencies: ”I emphasized that this document is not a U. S. Intelligence Community product and that I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC. The IC has not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions. However, part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security.” During the news conference, Trump also talked about the hacking of DNC servers and said, ”I think it was Russia,” but he added ”it could have been others also.” U. S. intelligence publicly stated last October — and in congressional hearings and an unclassified report since — that the Russian government was to blame for the cyberattack. Trump called hacking ”bad” and said he would tell Russian President Vladimir Putin ”he shouldn’t have done it. I don’t believe he will be doing it more.” But he also said he would consider it ”an asset, not a liability,” if Putin likes him. ”I don’t know if I’ll get along” with the Russian leader, Trump said, ”I hope I do.” Trump also denied taking part in any salacious behavior in a Moscow hotel room, saying he always tells people to be very careful when he travels abroad, because ”you have cameras in the strangest places. You’d better be careful or you’ll be watching yourself on nightly television.” Plus, he added, ”Does anyone really believe that story? I’m also very much of a germaphobe, by the way. Believe me.” Trump held his news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, speaking alongside a table piled with manila file folders, which he said were the agreements he has signed giving control of the Trump Organization to his oldest sons. He introduced attorney Sheri Dillon, of the firm Morgan, Lewis Bockius, who said that at Trump’s request she had designed a structure ”that will completely isolate him” from the management of the company. Trump is conveying leadership and management of the company to his adult sons and longtime Trump executive Allen Weisselberg. Dillon said the three will ”make decisions for the duration of the presidency without any involvement whatsoever” by Trump. Dillon also said the trust agreement ”imposes severe restrictions on new deals. No new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration” of Trump’s presidency. New domestic deals will be allowed, but they will go through ”a vigorous vetting process.” Trump will not be informed of such deals and will only learn of them if he ”reads it in the paper or sees it on TV.” And, she said, Trump will donate to the U. S Treasury all profits made from foreign governments who stay at his hotel. On health care, Trump said ”the easiest thing” would be to let the Affordable Care Act ”implode” this year, because of increased premium rates. He said Obamacare ”is the Democrats’ problem,” but that he will offer a plan to repeal and replace that is ”gonna take the problem off the shelves for them.” The plan will be ”far less expensive and far better,” he said, and will be submitted almost simultaneously as his HHS secretary is confirmed. Trump also revealed he will be nominating David Shulkin as secretary of the Veterans Administration. Shulkin is currently the No. 2 at the troubled agency and would be one of the first holdovers from the Obama administration. Trump called him an incredibly gifted doctor. Trump also took a shot at the U. S. pharmaceutical industry, which he charged ”has been disastrous.” He said drugmakers have been leaving the country left and right and that new bidding procedures are needed for the industry ”because they’re getting away with murder.” Trump’s comments caused drug stocks to fall on Wall Street.

For the first time in 167 days, Donald Trump held a news conference. NPR’s politics team, with help from reporters and editors across the newsroom, the speech. Portions of the transcript with added analysis are underlined in yellow, followed by context and fact checks below. Note: The transcript was updated throughout the press conference. While we are working to correct errors, it may contain discrepancies and typographical errors.

Out of nowhere, a shocking video appeared on a Russian TV news program late one evening in March 1999. A surveillance tape showed a naked, man who resembled Russia’s top prosecutor, Yuri Skuratov, cavorting with two unclothed young women. Neither was his wife. The ensuing scandal included a press conference by the head of Russia’s FSB security service at the time, Vladimir Putin, who made clear it was Skuratov in the video. Skuratov soon lost his job, not to mention his dignity. President Boris Yeltsin was apparently impressed with Putin’s handling of this episode. Yeltsin wanted to get rid of Skuratov, who was believed to be looking into Kremlin corruption. Several months after the video surfaced, Yeltsin named Putin to be prime minister, and a few months after that, Putin took over as president. The Skuratov case is a leading example of what Russians call kompromat, or compromising material used to discredit rivals in politics or business or just settle personal scores. From the Soviet playbook, Kompromat is straight from the old Soviet playbook and has often involved photographs and videos — real or fake. Russians often use it for internal battles, though it is also deployed to blackmail foreign diplomats serving in Russia. A diplomat lured into an affair might be willing to quietly cooperate with the Russia government rather than having a career and marriage upended. Now there are unverified claims that Russia may have compromising material on Donald Trump. NPR and other news organizations have reported on the existence of the allegations since the story broke Tuesday evening. NPR has not reported the details since they are unproven. Trump denied the reports in a news conference Wednesday. The Kremlin also issued a denial, with Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stating flatly: ”The Kremlin does not collect compromising materials.” While claims and counterclaims are still flying, what’s clear is that Russian kompromat does continue to thrive in the era, aided by the march of cyber technology. Kompromat is considered part of the larger Russian espionage arsenal that also includes disinformation, fake news and computer hacking. U. S. intelligence agencies have blamed the Russians for hacking into Democratic Party emails to harm Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign. Russia has denied this. A long history, Russia even has a website, kompromat. ru, where anyone can pay the site to post embarrassing stories. Many are about alleged corruption and have already been published elsewhere but have not received much attention. The businessman who created the website, Sergey Gorshkov, said he came up with the idea from the Skuratov sex scandal back in 1999. He said his operation was purely business, not politics. In some cases, the site has provided the Russian government a convenient outlet when it wanted to leak material that would undermine a critic. However, the site also published allegations against figures in the Kremlin and the Russian government, angering many powerful officials. The Russian government, meanwhile, is still deeply involved in kompromat, according to analysts. Last year, a sex tape of opposition politician Mikhail Kasyanov was broadcast on television. Kasyanov once served as prime minister to President Putin before turning against him. The tape came out five months before parliamentary elections, a disclosure seen as harming Kasyanov and his party in the polls. In other recent cases, Russian operatives have been suspected or accused of placing child pornography on the personal computers of individuals they were attempting to discredit. Russian Vladimir Bukovsky, 73, a longtime critic of Soviet and Russian leaders, now lives in Britain, where he faces charges related to child pornography. But the case was delayed while investigators checked to see whether the images on Bukovsky’s computer were placed there by an outside party, The New York Times reported last month, citing other similar cases. ”The whole affair is Kafkaesque,” Bukovsky told the newspaper. ”You not only have to prove you are not guilty but that you are innocent.”

Updated at 9:24 a. m. ET on Wednesday, Top U. S. intelligence officials have briefed leaders in Washington about an explosive — but unverified — document that alleges collusion between Russia and Donald Trump, NPR has learned. The brief, which NPR has seen but not independently verified, was given by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain to FBI Director James Comey on Dec. 9. Details from it have been part of presentations by Comey and other intelligence leaders to Trump, President Obama and key leaders in Congress. On Tuesday night, Trump and his attorney named in the report separately characterized the document as untrue. Without mentioning the report directly, Trump tweeted, ”FAKE NEWS A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Wednesday, a Kremlin spokesman said the document was an ”absolute fabrication.” Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had no compromising material on Donald Trump and that the document was a hoax intended to further damage U. S. relations. Trump has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday — his first since one in July in which he quipped that Russia should hack materials related to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The alleged intelligence document appears likely to dominate the upcoming session. NPR is not detailing the contents of the brief because it remains unverified, but it describes a concerted effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cultivate a relationship with Trump and his camp. The document, which describes information provided by Russian government and other sources, details behavior by Trump that could leave him open to blackmail, as well as alleged secret meetings between Trump aides and Russian officials called to discuss the campaign against Clinton and potential new business relationships. The U. S. intelligence services declined to comment on Tuesday evening. Members of Congress on the Intelligence and Armed Services committees also declined to comment. Obama told NBC News on Tuesday in an interview ahead of his farewell address that he hadn’t seen the news reports and wouldn’t comment on classified information. He reminded Lester Holt that he ordered the investigation released Friday of Russia’s meddling in the presidential election and that the U. S. needed to continue strengthening its . ”My expectation and my hope is that this work will continue after I leave that Congress, in possession of both the classified and unclassified reports, that the and his administration — in possession of both the classified and unclassified reports — will take it seriously and now get to work reinforcing those mechanisms that we can use to protect our democracy.” Members of Trump’s camp issued their own denials separately from Trump. ”Once again these reports have no documentation,” Trump confidant Roger Stone told NPR. ”So far we have ’assessments’ and ’briefings.’ The special report prepared for Trump even noted that no evidence was included and that ’such documents are so top secret they must remain confidential.’ ” Attorney Michael Cohen, who is a key figure in the allegations detailed in the report, denied to The Atlantic on Tuesday evening that he had made a trip to the Czech Republic that it describes. ”I’m telling you emphatically that I’ve not been to Prague, I’ve never been to Czech, I’ve not been to Russia,” as reporter Rosie Gray quoted him on Twitter. Cohen posted a photo of his passport on his own Twitter account with the hashtag ”#FakeNews.” The timing of the appearance of the dossier is significant — following a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday about Russia’s campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential election and ahead of Trump’s planned news conference. Democrats on Tuesday urged the FBI to reveal whether it is conducting any investigation into the Trump camp’s connections to Russia, but Comey rebuffed them. Separately, Sen. Al Franken, . pressed Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee to become attorney general, about what he knew of Trump’s dealings with Russia. Sessions said he wasn’t aware of any activities and couldn’t respond. The dossier, which originated with a former British intelligence officer, does not contain the standard caveats or guidance about levels of ”confidence” that are common in U. S. intelligence community documents. It brought another twist in the sometimes surreal story about Trump’s historic political success. And it followed a hearing in which senators and intelligence leaders described the dangers of foreign mischief in the political systems of the U. S. and its allies. The dossier could be a quintessential example. If it’s genuine, it tops what Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other top intelligence bosses called an unprecedented spike in Russian meddling inside the U. S. If it’s phony, or parts of it are fabricated, it’s yet another turn in the hall of mirrors in which American voters have found themselves since Trump exploded onto the political scene, and debunking it could vindicate repeated denials by Trump and his aides that they have had improper relationships with Moscow. Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was forced to resign after information became public about his ties to leaders in Ukraine, which Putin invaded in 2014. Russian Foreign Ministry officials boasted in the press about their contacts with Trump’s camp. Manafort, for his part, denied the allegations. ”I have never had any ties to Russia or Putin,” Manafort told NPR in a text message. ”The references to me regarding speaking to [former Trump foreign policy adviser] Carter Page and Michael Cohen are totally wrong and not true.” Putin sent Trump a telegram after his election congratulating him on his win and reciprocating the overtures he had made about healing the relationship between the two nations. NPR correspondents Mary Louise Kelly, Carrie Johnson, Sarah McCammon and Tamara Keith contributed to this report.

A federal judge in South Carolina formally sentenced Dylann Roof to death on Wednesday, one day after a jury recommended that he be executed for murdering nine people in a Charleston church. Under federal sentencing laws, the death penalty can be imposed only if all 12 jurors agree on it, and the judge cannot overrule the jury’s decision. Roof is the first person to be sentenced to death in a federal trial that included hate crimes charges, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since 1988, three of the 81 people sentenced to death have been executed by the federal government. After he was sentenced, Roof asked for new attorneys, saying he did not trust his defense team, which includes multiple experienced capital punishment defense lawyers. During the guilt portion of the trial, Roof’s lawyers actively defended him, but Roof chose to represent himself during the penalty phase, with his attorneys providing backup counsel. U. S. District Judge Richard Gergel denied the request and gave Roof 14 days to file an appeal if he wishes. On Tuesday, lead attorney David Bruck suggested in a statement that his team intends to appeal the sentence. Before he read the sentence, Gergel opened the floor to dozens of family members and friends of those who died in June 2015. They addressed Roof directly, taking the stand and turning to face the who kept his eyes down, according to reporters in the courtroom. Many of them asked Roof to look at them. He did not. All expressed anguish and frustration. Some described their hatred of Roof. Others voiced forgiveness. ”Dylann! Dylann! I know that you can hear me,” said Jamie Scott, whose nephew Tywanza Sanders was killed. ”I wish you would look at me, boy, but I know that you can hear me,” she was quoted as saying by Charleston’s Post and Courier. ” ’How dare you sit here every day looking and acting like you did nothing wrong,’ ” the newspaper said Ashland Temoney yelled at Roof, who murdered Temoney’s aunt, DePayne Middleton. ”You are the biggest coward I have ever seen in my life,” Temoney told Roof. Felicia Sanders lost both her son and her aunt, Susie Jackson, in the attack, but she herself survived. ”I cannot shut my eyes to pray,” she said Wednesday. ”Even when I try, I cannot. I have to keep my eye on everyone that is around me.” ”Yes, I forgive you,” Sanders continued. ”That was the easiest thing I had to do. . .. But you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves. May God have mercy on your soul,” the Post and Courier reported. South Carolina Public Radio’s Alexandra Olgin said that family members in the courtroom embraced after the jury recommended the sentence on Tuesday. Olgin reported: ”Melvin Graham, the brother of victim Cynthia Graham Hurd, says there are too many senseless shootings in this country. ’I just want this to stop. I really do. I’m tired. Every time I hear about a shooting I cry. We have to stop this.’ ”Graham says he supports the death sentence for his sister’s killer. ”During the trial prosecutors repeatedly showed through Roof’s writings how much he hated black people. ” ’If Dylann Roof was named Abdul, we’d call him a terrorist and say he’d been radicalized. And he was radicalized! But not in the way some people think. Radicalized himself to believe this thing, and felt that he had to act on it, just like any other terrorist.’ ” As The has reported, Roof told investigators that his beliefs about race were shaped by things he read on the Internet after an initial Google search for information about Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager shot and killed in 2012. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church member Marsha Spencer said the shooting left her ”broken.” ”What happened to you, Dylann?” she asked, according to a tweet by the Post and Courier’s Abigail Darlington, who was inside the courtroom. Before the final phase of jury selection in November, the judge ordered an evaluation of Roof’s competency to stand trial after his defense team brought up concerns. The competency evaluation was submitted to the parties in the case, but it has not been released to the public. Records from a hearing about that evaluation have also remained sealed — the judge believed the contents could potentially prejudice the jury — but are scheduled to be made public once the sentencing phase is over. Roof is facing separate murder charges brought by the state of South Carolina, which is also seeking the death penalty.

Alt. Latino’s corner of the Latin music world gets better and better every year: The music continually explodes any idea of genre restrictions and constantly surprises. And it looks like 2017 is not going to disappoint. On this week’s show, we’ve got previews of stunning new records from familiar names (Cafe Tacvba, Dayme Arocena) and folks you should know about (Ani Cordero, Gabriel Garzon Montano). They sing in Spanish, they sing in English, they come from across Latin America and the U. S. The styles are as different as the cultures from which they come. What they have in common is that they redefine the notion of ”Latin music” in a way that almost makes the term obsolete. Almost. There’s still something that ties them all together and makes their music Latin: sabor. Listen in this week and hear it for yourselves.

Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson had a tense confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, clashing even with Republican members over his views on Russia, international human rights violations and the lobbying and of Exxon Mobil when he was CEO. The was an unconventional pick for Donald Trump, having no former government service but plenty of international business experience. It’s that work with foreign governments, particularly Russia, that’s come under scrutiny. In 2013, the Kremlin awarded Tillerson the Russian ”Order of Friendship.” Predictably, many of the committee’s questions had to do with Tillerson’s views on how he would deal with Russia. Trump has expressed unusual admiration for the country and its president, Vladimir Putin, and openly desired a better relationship, even as U. S. intelligence has found that the country engaged in cyberattacks to meddle in the U. S. elections. Sen. Marco Rubio, . had particularly sharp questions for Tillerson and sounded at times like he could be leaning toward opposing Tillerson’s nomination. At several points during Tillerson’s testimony, committee Chairman Bob Corker, . interjected to try to help clarify his answers. Here are top moments from the hearing: Aggressively pushed by Rubio in his initial round of questioning, Tillerson wouldn’t label Putin as a war criminal over the Russian military’s alleged involvement in the Syrian civil war in targeting and killing civilians. ”Those are very, very serious charges to make and I’d want to have much more information before reaching that conclusion,” Tillerson said. He also wouldn’t say whether he believes the Kremlin is behind the killing of journalists and Putin critics, saying he would need to see more classified information to make a determination. In a second round, Rubio pushed him on whether he viewed the Philippines and its president, Rodrigo Duterte, as human rights violators, but Tillerson dismissed news reports on atrocities there and in Saudi Arabia and its treatment of women. Citing his background as an engineer, Tillerson pushed back, saying he would simply need more information to make such a broad pronouncement and that, ”I’m going to act on factual information. I’m not going to act on what people write about in the newspapers.” ”My interests are the same as yours. Our interests are not different, senator,” Tillerson told Rubio. ”There seems to be some misunderstanding that I see the world through a different lens. I do not. I share all the same values you share and want the same things, the world over, in terms of freedom.” But overall, Tillerson still sounded a more hawkish tone against Russia than the incoming commander in chief he would serve. ”We aren’t likely to ever be friends. . .. Our value systems are starkly different,” Tillerson said of Russia, adding that, ”we need to move Russia from being an adversary always to being a partner sometimes.” The idea that Tillerson was in a unique position to be an intermediary to the country and smooth over relations, while also projecting U. S. strength and ideals, was something that witnesses speaking in support of his confirmation told the committee in introductory remarks. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who served in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, called Tillerson the ”right person at the right time” to work on U. S. relations. Former Sen. Sam Nunn, . an advocate of nuclear nonproliferation, said Tillerson’s past business relationships with Russia and with Putin were ”assets, not liabilities.” Tillerson also sounded a different tone from Trump on how he would have dealt with Russian aggression into Crimea. ”That was a taking of territory that was not theirs,” Tillerson said, adding that he would have recommended that Ukraine use its military assets to line up along the eastern border and that the U. S. and NATO should have also helped with supplies and air surveillance. Russia would have understood and responded to such a ”powerful response,” Tillerson said. Asked whether he believed U. S. intelligence reports that Russia was involved in cyberattacks intended to meddle in the U. S. elections, Tillerson said he had not seen the classified information but that the public report ”clearly is troubling.” He said it was a ”fair assumption” that Putin was directly involved. There were two more big breaks from Tillerson with his future boss. When asked about a potential ban on Muslims coming into the U. S. which Trump proposed during the campaign, Tillerson said he did ”not support a rejection of any particular group of people.” And he also rejected the idea of any type of registry of Muslims in the U. S. too, saying, ”[You] would need to have a lot more information on how such an approach would even be constructed.” He also said he didn’t oppose the Partnership trade deal, which Trump frequently railed against on the campaign trail and has pledged to abandon. On the Paris climate accord, Tillerson said the U. S. would be ”better served by being at that table than leaving that table” Trump has said he would pull the deal. The chief diplomat was pressed multiple times on whether he believed in the efficacy of sanctions, especially when it came to Russia. As with Crimea, he said he believed there needed to be additional consequences, backing some type of military action along the border. But he also said that ”[when sanctions] are imposed, they, by their design, are going to harm American businesses,” although he did admit that they could be a ”powerful and important tool.” He said that at Exxon he had never personally lobbied against sanctions and that the oil company ”to my knowledge” had never ”directly lobbied” against sanctions. However, Politico reported last month that Exxon Mobil had in fact lobbied against a bill that would have made it harder for Trump to lift sanctions against Russia. After that admission, Democrats entered into the record evidence of the oil company’s registration to lobby on the sanctions, but Tillerson maintained he still had no knowledge of the actions. ”Were we lobbying for the sanctions or lobbying against the sanctions?” he asked Sen. Robert Menendez, . J. during one line of questioning. ”I know you weren’t lobbying for the sanctions,” Menendez replied, incredulously. Tillerson later said that the company had ”participated in understanding how the sanctions are going to be constructed” in Russia, and his former company later tweeted out a statement to back that up. On other issues of what Exxon Mobil had engaged in — a company where he worked for 40 years — Tillerson also said he didn’t recall whether it had done business with Iran, Syria and Sudan. Tillerson also expressed his belief in climate change, but he wouldn’t answer whether he believed humans were contributing to it. ”The risk of climate change does exist and the consequences of it could be serious enough that action should be taken,” Tillerson said. But asked by Corker whether it was worsened by human activity, Tillerson demurred, saying that ”the increase in the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are having an effect” but that the ”ability to predict that effect is very limited.” Sen. Tim Kaine, . his party’s nominee for vice president against Trump, also pushed Tillerson on reports that Exxon Mobil had misled the public over climate change. Tillerson initially dodged, but Kaine pushed on: ”Do you lack the knowledge to answer my question or are you refusing to answer my question?” ”A little of both,” Tillerson quipped.

Update: This post was updated on February 16, 2017, and will continue to be updated as other appointments are made. At a Thursday press conference, Donald Trump named one more person to his list of cabinet nominees: Alexander Acosta, dean of the Florida International University College of Law and former member of the National Labor Relations Board, is now nominated to head the Labor Department. He is taking the place of Andrew Puzder, who dropped out of the process this week in part due to questions about his past employment of person in the country illegally (including taxes paid in that instance) and personal life. NPR is tracking Trump’s Cabinet as it grows, counting up the diversity and experience of his appointees, as well as a few specifics they might have in their resumes. So here’s what Trump’s Cabinet looks like by the numbers. Acosta’s nomination means that 21 of 22 positions (not counting the vice president) will have nominees — the CEA still doesn’t have a nomination for its chairman. For the sake of comparisons, we’ve compared all of those 22 posts across five presidents’ initial Cabinets (for Trump we only count everything as a percentage of 21, as he has only chosen 21 people, and for Reagan and Clinton, we only count 21 appointees, as there was no Department of Homeland Security during their presidencies). Trump’s Cabinet breaks with a trend toward diversity, Of the 20 people he has chosen thus far, Trump’s Cabinet has 15 white men. That’s roughly in line with Ronald Reagan’s initial Cabinet. However, it’s also a swing away from a trend toward diversity over the last few presidents. President Obama’s Cabinet in particular gained notice for its relative lack of white men. To draw a line between white and nonwhite, we used Census Bureau race and ethnicity categories, though unlike the census, we counted all Hispanics as nonwhite (the Census Bureau counts Hispanic as an ethnicity and not a race, meaning a person can be white and Hispanic). Alexander Acosta is the first Latino appointee to the Trump cabinet. The Census Bureau’s system undersells diversity in some ways, though. For example, Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, George W. Bush Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, and Clinton HHS Secretary Donna Shalala are all . In the census, that counts as white, though some disagree (and the Census Bureau itself is considering adding that category). Furthermore, it’s not that the trend toward diversity has been as steady as the above chart seems to show after all, these are just the presidents’ first Cabinets. President Obama took some criticism for a less diverse circle of advisers in his second term. Diversity can mean bringing different perspectives to the administration. Of course, white men can be empathetic and as National Urban League head Marc Morial recently told PBS NewsHour, but many Americans also look to the Cabinet as a sign of whether they are . ”The question is, do people feel their voices are heard? That’s really important, that communities feel someone is at the table with my point of view,” he said. Trump has chosen the outsider Cabinet, Of course, there are other types of diversity — geographic, socioeconomic and experience, for example. And while Trump’s team has been criticized for its economic profile (i. e. it includes multiple billionaires) it does break with usual Cabinet norms by being relatively light on established government figures. We’ve attempted to quantify this by classifying each Cabinet member by his or her most prominent jobs prior to joining the Cabinet (for example, Colin Powell had spent much of his working life in the military before joining George W. Bush’s Cabinet). This required more than a few judgment calls — Glenn Hubbard (George W. Bush’s CEA chair) had spent two years at the Treasury, but we decided he was primarily an academic, as he spent many more years in that field. Some of these are arguable: Was Hillary Clinton’s career more prominently in ”government” — that is, her time as senator — or as a first lady (which we’d classify as ”other,” a category that includes people who are in politics but are not officeholders, like Reince Priebus)? We made her one of the few listed as more than one, as she straddles the line between the two worlds. Here we can see not only whose Cabinets were particularly heavy with people from the public sector (Obama) or the business world (Reagan, Trump) but also where different presidents have broken with tradition. Trump, like most of the last five presidents, will have someone from the business world heading the Small Business Administration. However, he will be the only president out of these to have a defense secretary (Mattis) with a chiefly military background. True, Donald Rumsfeld had been in the military, but afterward he made a career of working in government, while Mattis remained in the military through retirement. For a more holistic count of these Cabinet secretaries’ careers, here is a breakdown of four different distinctions that Cabinet secretaries commonly hold. We counted up the initial Cabinet members who have had any experience in the military or government (at any level, from city to federal) as well as those who have served as CEOs or have earned Ph. D.’s. (This means these numbers will differ from those in the above table. Someone known best for government service may also have served in the military or have a Ph. D. or have been a CEO, for example — or even all four.) Once again, there were some judgment calls — does serving as the ”CEO” of Chicago Public Schools — as Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan did — really count as being a CEO? (We decided no we’re trying to count a type of business experience here, and public schools are a government entity. A similar but tougher call went into deciding that Timothy Geithner’s time as New York Fed CEO didn’t count either.) One other judgment call: we drew the line at Ph. D. s and excluded professional degrees, meaning that someone like Ben Carson, who of course studied extensively to be a neurosurgeon, would not be counted. There is also some debate about whether someone holding a law degree (a J. D. or juris doctor) should be considered a ”doctor.” For simplicity’s sake, we decided to draw our border at Ph. D. This is not meant to imply that these are the only four ways someone might be qualified to serve as a Cabinet secretary. Rather, these are four ways of measuring what type of a Cabinet a president has. A Cabinet that’s relatively heavy with academics (Obama, Clinton) might work and think differently than does a Cabinet with more CEOs (Trump, George W. Bush).

The U. S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a dispute that advocates describe as the most important case involving public school special education in three decades. At issue is whether federal law requires public schools to provide more than the bare minimum in special services for children with disabilities. With millions of children qualifying for these services, the court’s ruling could have a profound effect. In the 1970s, Congress found that most children with disabilities were treated as in the public schools, either ”totally excluded” or left to sit ”idly” in regular classrooms until they were old enough to ”drop out.” In 1975 Congress passed a federal law, since then strengthened multiple times, which requires school districts to provide an individually designed public education for each child with a disability so that he or she can learn with peers and achieve his or her individual potential. In exchange, the federal government provides some of the funds for these services. The question before the Supreme Court on Wednesday was what level of services the schools must provide. Must it be the bare minimum, meaning just enough for the student to show what the lower courts called just above ”trivial” progress, or is it something more? In an interview after the argument, Stanford Law professor Jeffrey Fisher, representing an autistic boy from Colorado and his parents, argued for something significantly more. ”The school district here is saying, so long as we give barely more than a de minimus benefit, just we teach you a little bit of something, that is enough,” Fisher said. ”We think that’s a recipe for citizenship.” But Francisco Negrón, chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association, said that if the Supreme Court tightens the standard, it could cost some school districts lots of money. ”Congress promised basically 40 percent funding years ago, and it’s only historically been funded at 15 percent,” he observed. Inside the courtroom, Fisher argued that the standard specified by Congress in its most recent amendments requires sufficient services so that children with disabilities can keep up with their peers. Chief Justice John Roberts balked, noting that in this very case, the student’s disability was so severe that he could not keep up, even with the help of an aide. Fisher replied that when the school refused to provide more specialized services, the parents sent the boy to a private school for children with autism. When he made marked progress there, the parents returned to the school district, asking that some of the same expertise be provided in the public school. When the school refused, that’s when the parents sued the school district for the annual $70, 000 private school tuition. Justice Anthony Kennedy focused on what would be reasonable for a school district to pay. Fisher said most services do not cost much at all, but he conceded there are some extreme cases — like a child with a ventilator — where the costs are $30, 000 or $40, 000. Nonetheless, Fisher contended, costs ”can’t trump” what the law requires. Justice Stephen Breyer didn’t like the idea of a standard. ”I foresee taking the money that ought to go to the children and spending it on lawsuits and lawyers,” he said. ”That is what’s actually bothering me.” Representing the school board, lawyer Neal Katyal maintained that Congress has not established a specific standard for compliance with the law rather, that it has established procedures for designing individual plans for each child. But, interjected Justice Elena Kagan, when there is a dispute, if the standard that has to be met is ”so low . .. so easy to meet,” then the question is whether the student is receiving a free appropriate education. ”You’re reading [the law] as requiring some benefit,” Chief Justice Roberts said. The other side, he continued, changing his inflection, ”is reading it as saying some benefit.” ”It makes a difference,” he observed. After all, Roberts said, a school district could provide five minutes a day special instruction, and that’s some benefit. But, he added, the law says ”significant, meaningful, whatever. It’s more than simply de minimus.” Justice Samuel Alito called all this ”a blizzard of words” meaning nothing. But by the end of the argument, there appeared to be a majority of justices willing to put more bite into the guarantee of a free appropriate public education for children with disabilities.

Colin Ozeki, 17, doesn’t like to sugarcoat how autism spectrum disorder has affected his interactions with others, his emotions and his own . He sees it as an issue to confront, something about himself to work on and improve in order to fully participate in life around him. He appreciates the adage, ”It’s a difference, not a disability.” But he disagrees with it when it comes to himself. ”I don’t think I would be at this place that I’m at right now if it weren’t for people acknowledging the idea that I had some kind of problem per se,” says Colin. ”I might have just been this confused person forever, and somewhat underdeveloped.” We know a lot more about children with autism spectrum disorders than we did just a decade ago, but nationwide students with autism are enrolling in college in relatively low numbers. Colin, now a senior at Millennium Brooklyn High School, has been part of a program in the New York City schools aiming to change that. It’s called ASD Nest (ASD refers to students with autism spectrum disorder) and he’s been with it his entire school career. A key underlying philosophy of the program is that education — the classroom — provides the most effective treatment for autism. The program, run jointly by the city’s Department of Education and NYU Nest Support Project, places students with autism who are capable of doing work in classrooms with their peers. The program came about in 2003 in response to poor academic outcomes among students with autism, including those like Colin, who were academically strong. Very few of these students were graduating high school, attending college and having careers. Nationwide, these numbers are improving, as public schools work to meet students needs and as more colleges create programs to support students with autism. Still, a small minority of these young people attend colleges. Numbers are even low compared to students with other disabilities, such as learning disabilities or issues. Colin is part of the first wave of students to participate in ASD Nest from kindergarten through high school. He benefited from a model that had two teachers in the classroom, intensive behavioral support and extra help with social skills. He said that people did not begin to make sense to him until middle school. He struggled with behavioral outbursts, which are now rare. ”I don’t think very many students are being thrown in the hallway because they are stabbing themselves because of a schedule change,” he says with candor and dose of humor. When he started the Nest program, it was only in its 2nd year, at one New York City school. Nearly 15 years later, it’s grown to 39 schools, serving more than one thousand students. And there is now much more joy in Colin’s school life. He participates in class discussions and has true friends. He’s on track this year to graduate with an advanced diploma.

There’s a new jungle Jedi out there. Scientists who discovered a new primate, which lives in eastern Myanmar and southwestern China, are such big Star Wars fans, they named the ape after Luke Skywalker. They also chose the name, skywalker hoolock gibbon, because the Chinese characters mean ”Heaven’s movement,” according to the BBC. The new species is also known as the Gaoligong hoolock gibbon, named for Mt. Gaoligong on the border between China and Myanmar. The word ”hoolock” refers to the of gibbon, which live across much of Asia. Hoolocks are endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which keeps track of species around the world. The researchers estimate there are fewer than 200 skywalker hoolock gibbons living in China. So, what sets the jedi ape apart from his fellow gibbons? ”Notably, the shape of the eyebrows and the color of the eye rings,” write the authors in a paper describing their findings, published Jan. 10 in the American Journal of Primatology. According to the paper, all hoolock gibbons have white eyebrows and some have white beards, but the skywalker hoolock gibbon has distinctive downturned brows — they tend to make the fluffy animal look pensive — that stand out against the black fur of the head. The light (brow) against the dark, one might say. The paper also includes a full genetic comparison showing the skywalker species is genetically distinct from other hoolock species. Upon learning of the new species, actor Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, tweeted ”So proud of this! First the Pez dispenser, then the Underoos U. S. postage stamp. .. now this! #GorillaMyDreams #SimianSkywalker #JungleJedi.”

When Noel Anaya was just a year old, he and his five brothers and sisters were placed in the California foster care system. He has spent nearly all of his life in that system and has just turned 21. In California, that’s the age when people in foster care ”age out” of the system and lose the benefits the system provides. That process becomes official at a final court hearing. Anaya, along with Youth Radio, got rare permission to record the proceeding, where he read a letter he wrote about his experience in the foster care system. Walking into court for my very last time as a foster youth, I feel like I’m getting a divorce from a system that I’ve been in a relationship with almost my entire life. It’s bittersweet because I’m losing guaranteed stipends for food and housing, as well as access to my social workers and my lawyer. But on the other hand, I’m relieved to finally get away from a system that ultimately failed me on its biggest promise. That one day it would find me a family who would love me. Little things, like when my judge Shawna Schwarz mispronounces my name, serve as a constant reminder that, ”Hey, I’m just a number.” I often come away feeling powerless and anonymous in the foster care system. ”Well, I’m reviewing my notes and it looks like the first time I got involved in your case was back in 2003,” Schwarz says. ”You’ve been in the system a long time.” I don’t have any pictures of my five siblings and me together as babies. Not a single one. Which makes Throwback Thursdays (#TBT) a little challenging. My biological parents weren’t ready to be parents. My father was abusive. Eventually Child Protective Services got involved, and my siblings and I went into the foster care system. We were separated and shuffled between foster homes, group homes, shelters, and for at least one of my siblings, incarceration. That’s why it was really important to me to make a statement in court, going on the record about how the foster care system failed my siblings and me. ”You have been pretty much one of our more successful young adults. Is there any advice you’d give us?” Schwarz says. I clear my throat. To whom it may concern. This is the year that I divorce you, your grey hands can no longer hurt me, your grey hands can never overpower me, your gray hands can never tell me that you love me because it’s too late. . .. I use ”gray hands” to describe the foster care system, because it never felt warm or human. It’s institutional. Opposite the sort of unconditional love I imagine that parents try to show their kids. Your gray hands just taught me how to survive in a world. We never learned how to love ourselves unconditionally. I’ve been with multiple foster families, I’ve been with multiple shelters. How does a person like me not end up with a family. . .. In an ideal world, being a foster kid is supposed to be temporary. When it’s stable and appropriate, the preference is to reunite kids with their parents or family members. Adoption is the next best option. I used to dream of it. Having a mom and dad, siblings to play with . .. a dog. But when I hit 12, I realized that I was getting old. That adoption probably would never happen for me. In the system, I constantly had new social workers, lawyers, and case managers, which left me vulnerable. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized one of the main causes for the turnover was because of low wages and overflowing caseloads. Even my lawyer is currently juggling 130 other clients. At 21 you happily kick us off to the curb and say good luck I wish you well, I wish you the best but don’t come back because we can’t take you in. I’ve seen too many of my people give up on the educational system. . .. I had hoped to finish college by the time I aged out of foster care, but I’m still in my junior year. I’m committed to getting my bachelor’s, despite the odds being terrible. According to the National Working Group on Foster Care and Education, only somewhere between 2 and 9 percent of former foster kids complete their college degree. I hope that you hear my words. And I hope that you listen to my signal of distress. I thank you for giving me closure. Thank you. As the judge reads her final orders closing out my case, I promise myself that I’ll leave all the rage I feel about the foster care system inside the courtroom. That I won’t carry that hate and frustration with me for the rest of my life. There’s one more thing I need before I leave the courtroom ” for the judge to bring the gavel down on this chapter of my life. ”Is that it?” I ask. ”No hammer?” ”You want me to do the gavel?” the judge says. ”One time please.” ” Alright, I’ll do the gavel,” Schwarz says. ”You know we never do that in real life.” I felt goosebumps when the gavel slapped down on my judge’s desk. Happy because, I’m no longer cared for by a system that was never that good at actually caring for me. And I’m anxious, too, about what life might be like next. This story was produced by Youth Radio. You can learn about how children journey through the foster care system at their website.

The outcome of the Obamacare debate could affect more than you might think, depending on just how the GOP congressional majority pursues its goal. Beyond the Affordable Care Act’s marquee achievements like guaranteeing health coverage for people with conditions and allowing children to stay on parents’ plans until age 26, the roughly law created a host of other provisions that affect the health of nearly every American. Some of these measures are evident every day. Some enjoy broad support, even though people often don’t always realize they spring from the statute. Here’s a sampling of sleeper provisions that could potentially land on the floor: 1. Calorie counts at restaurants and chains, Feeling hungry? The law tries to give you more information about what that burger or muffin will cost you in terms of calories, part of an effort to combat the ongoing obesity epidemic. Under the ACA, most restaurants and fast food chains with at least 20 stores must post calorie counts of their menu items. Several states, including New York, already had similar rules before the law. Although there was some pushback, the rule had industry support, possibly because posting calories was seen as less onerous than such things as taxes on sugary foods or beverages. The final rule went into effect in December after a delay. One thing is still not clear: Does simply seeing that a particular muffin has more than 400 calories cause consumers to choose carrot sticks instead? Results are mixed. One large done before the law went into effect didn’t show a significant reduction in calorie consumption, although the authors concluded that menu labeling is ”a relatively education strategy that may lead consumers to purchase slightly fewer calories.” 2. Private pumping space at work but going back to work? The law requires employers to provide women break time to express milk for up to a year after giving birth and provide someplace other than a restroom to do so in private. In addition, most health plans must offer support and equipment, such as pumps, without a patient copayment. 3. Limits on surprise medical bills from ER visits, If you find yourself in an emergency room, short on cash, uninsured or not sure if your insurance covers costs at that hospital, the Affordable Care Act provides some limited assistance. If you are in a hospital that is not part of your insurer’s network, the law requires all health plans to charge consumers the same copayments or for emergency care as they do for hospitals within their networks. Still, the hospital could ”balance bill” you for its costs, including ER care, that exceed what your insurer reimburses it. If it’s a nonprofit hospital, and about 78 percent of all hospitals are, the law requires it to post online a written financial assistance policy, spelling out whether it offers free or discounted care and the eligibility requirements for such programs. While not prescribing any particular set of eligibility requirements, the law requires hospitals to charge lower rates to patients who are eligible for their financial assistance programs. That’s compared with their gross charges, also known as chargemaster rates. 4. Community health support from nonprofit hospitals, The health law also requires nonprofit hospitals to justify the billions of dollars in tax exemptions they receive by documenting how they go about trying to improve the health of the community around them. Every three years, these hospitals have to perform a community needs assessment for the area the hospital serves. They also have to develop strategies to meet these needs and update them annually. The hospitals then must provide documentation as part of their annual reporting to the Internal Revenue Service. Failure to comply could leave them liable for a $50, 000 penalty. 5. A woman’s right to choose her Most insurance plans must allow women to seek care from an without having to get a referral from a primary care physician. While the majority of states already had such protections in place, those laws did not apply to plans, which are the type often offered by large employers. The health law extended the rules to all new plans. Proponents say direct access makes it easier for women to seek not only reproductive health care, but also screening for such things as high blood pressure or cholesterol. 6. Expanded therapy coverage for children with autism, Advocates for children with autism and people with degenerative diseases argued that many insurance plans did not provide care their families needed. That’s because insurers would cover rehabilitation to help people regain functions they had lost, such as walking again after a stroke, but not care needed to either gain functions patients never had, such as speech therapy for a child who never learned how to talk, or to maintain a patient’s current level of function. The Affordable Care Act requires plans to offer coverage for such treatments, dubbed habilitative care, as part of the essential health benefits in plans sold to individuals and small groups. Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

When Donald Trump won the presidential election, he made a pledge to every citizen: that he would be president for all Americans. In the weeks before Trump’s inauguration, we’re going to hear about some of the communities that make up this nation, from the people who know them best, in our series Finding America. Gabriel Otero’s family has lived in Tucson, Ariz. for five generations. The region about 70 miles from Mexico has a complicated history. Lots of people have called it home. Otero is both Chicano and a member of an indigenous tribe, the Pascua Yaqui. At the Catholic Mission San Xavier del Bac, you can see this blending of Tucson’s heritage. Indigenous people, Latinos and people of European ancestry all worship there. It was founded more than 300 years ago, when the area belonged to Spain. Later, it became part of Mexico and finally the United States. For Otero, it is a sacred place. ”If someone’s ill, we visit ’em,” Otero says. ”If someone’s hungry, we feed ’em. That’s just our culture. It’s native, Hispanic, Mexican, Chicano. Our culture is very colorful, and you know, if you come here, you’ll feel that. And you’re gonna love it.” Use the audio link above to hear the full story.

Laura Marling’s latest taste from what may be her best album so far is ”Wild Fire,” a beautiful, breezy reflection on the universal search for identity and purpose. It’s an immediately arresting mix of spare, fluttering percussion and gospel harmonies with gently strummed acoustic guitars. Marling lets the song breathe and slowly open up. It feels like the dawn. ”Would you die to know how you’re seen?” Marling sings. ”Are you getting away with who you’re trying to be?” This is the second single the singer has released from her next Semper Femina. She previously dropped the album opener ”Soothing,” which we featured on All Songs Considered. Semper Femina is due out on Marling’s label, More Alarming Records, March 10.

There’s a charity movement starting to take hold in neighborhoods across the country. Think of those ”little free library” boxes, but with a twist: These are small pantries stocked with free food and personal care items like toothbrushes and diapers for people in need. They’re found near churches, outside businesses and in front of homes. Maggie Ballard, who lives in Wichita, Kan. calls hers a ”blessing box.” ”I felt like this is something that I could do — something small that you know, would benefit so many people so long as the word got out about it,” she says. The bright red box is about 2 feet wide and is mounted on a post near the street. Ballard and her son check on it every day and restock as needed. ”My son is 6 years old, so it gives him a little chore to kind of watch it and see what comes and goes and who comes and goes, and maybe learn a little lesson from it,” she says. There’s a door on the front of the box but no lock, so anyone can take what they need . In the beginning, Ballard was providing all of the food. Then word spread and donations from the community starting pouring in. Stacey Schwanke has stopped by with food donations a few times since the box went up in October. ”We dropped off some breakfast food, some pasta, some sauce, some crackers and some soups,” Schwanke says. The food pantry idea has been spreading through social media over the past six months. Ballard’s friend built hers after she saw a picture of one on Facebook. Similar ” ” food pantries have gone up across the country, in states like Oklahoma, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida and Minnesota. Much of it seems to trace back to Jessica McClard, who created what she calls the ”little free pantry” in northwest Arkansas. ”The products that are stocked are put directly inside the pantry and turnover is in about 30 to 45 minutes,” McClard says. ”The frequency of the turnover and the fact that other sites in town are also turning over that frequently, it suggests to me that the need is tremendous.” All of the items inside the boxes are free and there are no forms to fill out. Those using the boxes come and go as they wish. And that sense of anonymity is something you won’t find at traditional community food pantries. Ballard has seen only a few people using her pantry, because most visitors come when it’s dark. ”Most of the traffic is in the middle of the night, I would say between midnight and 7 in the morning,” she says. Ballard says it’s both awesome and sad to see the turnover of goods every day. On Christmas Eve she watched as a family of three opened her box to find a bag of bagels and started eating them right there. McClard says these pantries are multiplying because of their simple concept. ”We’re all short on time and money, and this is a way that people can feel like they are making a difference,” she says. The food pantries come in all sizes. Some have religious connections and are located near churches. Others are adopted by businesses whose employees want to pay it forward. All are serving up food and supplies to anyone in need.

For all of the terrible things that have happened to his city of Jalawla in northern Iraq, Yacub Youssef seems like a happy man. Youssef is the director — essentially the mayor — of this small city just a few miles from Iran and about 90 miles north of Baghdad. ISIS occupied it in 2014, a few days after it took over Mosul. When the ISIS fighters were driven out two months later, Jalawla was left in ruins. As we walk around town, Youssef stops and jokes with residents in Arabic and Kurdish, kisses babies and laughs some more. He shows us a concrete bridge across the Diyala River, repaired after ISIS blew it up. It’s the town’s biggest achievement. ”If the government would have done it, it would have cost millions,” he says, and taken two or three years. Instead, he persuaded 35 local residents to kick in the $180, 000 cost and they repaired it in less than a year. Local contractors donated some of the labor. Jalawla is part of Diyala Province, controlled by the central Iraqi government. But it is part of a large swath of territory also claimed by the Kurdistan regional government, which broke away from Baghdad in 1991. When the Iraqi army retreated after ISIS attacked three years ago, Kurdish forces moved in and have made clear that they’re not leaving. Although both the Iraqi and Kurdistan governments claim Jalawla, neither has been willing to take responsibility for rebuilding it. ”I called Diyala [authorities] and they said, ’We can’t help you.’ The Kurdish Regional Government said they were going through difficult circumstances, so I had to search for another solution,” Youssef says. His solution was to ask townspeople to pitch in. In a country where people expect the government to provide jobs, health care, electricity, water and even land to build houses, this wasn’t easy. ”You need to convince the citizen to pay from his own pocket,” Youssef says. ”It’s not normal. He’s coming from a catastrophe — he sees his house destroyed, there’s no work and he’s been in a camp for two years, and you say, ’Give me’? It’s difficult.” Youssef, a former sports teacher, says once explosive experts cleared hundreds of explosives laid in the city, he brought families back in stages and persuaded them to clean up their own streets. Residents pooled money to buy neighborhood generators for electricity. His wife sold her jewelry to help repair the primary school, he says. Local electrical workers soon figured out how to restore Jalawla’s downed power lines and replaced missing transformers. ”I told the governor of Diyala we had electricity and he said, ’Where did you get it from? ’” Youssef says with a laugh. Students are back in school, which was repaired by residents after it was damaged in fighting. Townspeople even pooled their books for a book fair, to make sure every child had something to read. Youssef says those who rebuilt the bridge won’t get their money back, but their names will be recorded in history as having restored the ”Challenge Bridge.” Jalawla’s history, as well as its future, is complicated. In the 1970s and 1980s, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who saw Kurds as a threat, expelled hundreds of thousands of them from their homes in the north of Iraq and resettled Sunni Arabs in their place. The city is now 80 percent Sunni Arab. Youssef is paid by the provincial government, which gets its funding from Baghdad. But he is a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which controls the area. ”I have to balance my relations,” he says. His own background helps. His father, a train conductor, is Arab. His mother is Kurdish. He is married to a Turkmen, the third biggest ethnic group in Jalawla. Youssef says he is Iraqi before he is Arab or Kurdish. ”When we first came back to Jalawla, it was in ruins. Desolate,” he says. ”The government offices were destroyed, the market destroyed, the houses burned . .. It would never occur to you that just a few months before, there were 63, 000 people living here.” His own office was blown up and his house leveled. But he says city officials discovered how much residents loved their city. And international organizations came to help. ”An organization came to us and said, ’Our funds are from Israel. I said, ’It doesn’t matter where you [are] from. I am grateful that you are coming to support Jalawla.’ It’s like my car is stuck in the mud. I will not ask where you are from and say, ’Don’t push the car because you are Muslim or Christian.’ I need someone to push it with me.” Here, as in other communities, families whose relatives join ISIS are barred from coming back. Youssef says he is negotiating with security authorities to allow those he knows are not a threat to return. On the main street, shopkeepers have repaired the damage and reopened. Ruffled white and pink wedding dresses flutter in the breeze outside dress shops. Omar Najeeb came back a year ago to find his storehouse of secondhand appliances completely looted. He says townspeople like Youssef because ”he works 24 hours a day. He is close to us.” Hadi Abid hangs up brightly colored head scarves in a corrugated iron stall. Asked if residents want to be part of Iraq or part of Iraqi Kurdistan, he shrugs. ”We don’t care if one side or the other provides our security,” he says, ”as long as our lives are back to normal.” As for Youssef, he says he is trying to figure out how to improve services and beautify the city. ”The city is our mother,” he says. ”From her, we learn and we progress. She gives us life. Our duty is to be good to our mother.”

Volkswagen has agreed to pay $4. 3 billion to settle civil and criminal allegations over its diesel emissions cheating scheme involving some 590, 000 vehicles in the U. S. The company has also agreed to plead guilty to three criminal felony counts. The settlement amount includes $2. 8 billion in criminal penalties and $1. 5 billion in civil claims, according to a statement from the Justice Department, which announced the deal Wednesday in Washington, D. C. The company also agreed to work with an independent monitor for a period of three years. ”For years, Volkswagen advertised its vehicles as complying with federal measures, calling them clean diesel,” U. S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch told reporters. ”But our investigation has revealed they were anything but.” Volkswagen has admitted installing software in diesel vehicles that cheated on emissions tests, then lying about it to regulators. The Justice Department lists the three felony counts as: The plea deal is subject to federal court approval. ”This wasn’t simply the action of some faceless, multinational corporation,” Deputy U. S. Attorney General Sally Yates said. ”This conspiracy involved individuals who used their positions within Volkswagen to deceive both regulators and consumers. From the start of this investigation, we’ve been committed to ensuring that those responsible for criminal activity are held accountable.” Six of the company’s executives have also been indicted by a federal grand jury in Michigan in connection to the conspiracy, which unfolded over the course of nearly 10 years, the DOJ said. All are charged with ”conspiracy to defraud the United States, defraud VW’s U. S. customers and violate the Clean Air Act by making false representations.” Four are charged with further Clean Air Act violations, and four are charged with wire fraud. All of those executives are German nationals and five of them are currently in Germany, Lynch said. She told reporters it was too early to speculate how the case will proceed, but added that ”we’ve always worked very well with out German colleagues on various law enforcement matters.” One of the executives indicted, Oliver Schmidt, was arrested last weekend in Miami. The company said Tuesday that the settlement is subject to approval by ”competent U. S. courts” as by its management and supervisory boards, and boards of several affiliated companies. The EPA says the emissions scandal included Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche models with 2. and 3. diesel engines that were released from model years 2009 to 2016. All told, some 11 million vehicles worldwide were equipped with the cheat devices. In October, a federal judge signed off on a separate, $14. 7 billion settlement between VW, consumers and the U. S. government. Volkswagen agreed to pay as much as $10 billion to buy back or repair vehicles involved in the scandal and to pay nearly $5 billion in environmental remediation. That agreement was, as we reported, ”the largest civil settlement in automaker history, and the largest false advertising case the Federal Trade Commission has ever seen.”

In late October, just weeks ahead of the election, Donald Trump made a quick detour to Washington for the official opening of his new hotel, just a few blocks from the White House. During a ceremony, Trump told the crowd that the roughly $200 million renovation project at the historic Old Post Office Building was done ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks to what he called an incredible team of people — ”including hundreds of construction workers, electricians, maintenance workers and so many others who helped make this project a reality. They’re really the important ones.” Now some of those companies would like final payment for their work. Documents obtained by NPR show three companies have filed liens against Trump International Hotel totaling more than $5 million. One company, Joseph J. Magnolia Inc. filed a $2. 98 million mechanic’s lien in December. According to the filing, the firm worked on the hotel from September 2014 to December 2016 and ”completed all plumbing, mechanical and HVAC work, along with site sewer, water, storm and water services.” AES Electrical Inc. based in Laurel, Md. says it’s owed $2. 075 million for its work on the hotel for the same period of time as Magnolia. Sterling, Va. AD Construction filed a lien in November saying it was owed $79, 700. The firm’s lawyer, Richard Sissman, says AD is a small, company that was subcontracting on the Trump hotel project. ”The nature of the work was . .. trim and casework and architectural millwork, wall base, crown molding this is all fine carpentry,” he says. Sissman says AD’s lien is relatively small compared to the other two, but it’s a lot of money to his client. ”On these big jobs these should be paid. It’s ridiculous that a operator has to beg for its money,” he says. ”It’s put him in a very bad situation right now.” Trump has faced many liens — and lawsuits — for alleged nonpayment for work in the past. Steven Schooner, a contracts specialist with the George Washington University law school, says resolving the liens in this case could ultimately involve the federal government because it holds the lease on the building where the Trump hotel is located. ”The way the lease is structured, it said they may step in and discharge the lien but they’re not actually required to,” he says. Still, Schooner says as a rule, the government wants its tenants — like Trump International Hotel — to solve its own problems. Requests for comment from Trump’s communication team about the liens were not returned.

Sometimes, in the process of recording music, a band’s sweat, calluses and grit go in one end and 0s and 1s come out the other with a sort of sterility that belies the original wild magic. It is difficult, and far more rare, to capture music burning with all the fury, fire and grit that make you fall in love with a live band in the first place. It is alchemy. And it’s achieved in spades by a band known as The Wooden Sky. In the title track from its fifth record, Swimming In Strange Waters, the Toronto transports you to frontman Gavin Gardiner’s home studio. Gardiner’s guttural and rousing vocals, the psychedelic swirl of screaming guitars and whirling organ and a rhythm section that feels at once deeply rooted and dangerously unpredictable are all mixed by the deft hand of John Agnello. You can feel it swelling into an almost uncomfortable wave of power — and that’s before you consider the intense and important story behind the song. ”’Swimming In Strange Waters,’” Gardiner says, ”is my attempt to come to terms with the anger I still have about my grandfather’s sexual abuse of my mother and its lasting effects on my family.” Listen, and listen again. Tucked in alongside the wailing guitars and warbling synths, you will find a brave poet is using his voice to make the unknown knowable — or, in his own words, an artist who ”feel[s] the weight of responsibility to act and make things better for the people to come.” That sense of responsibility has always been present for The Wooden Sky, which has previously written about the violence endured by indigenous women and whose upcoming record will include both a rallying cry against the Keystone XL pipeline and a song inspired by refugee families. This is a band that handles delicate subjects with psychedelic swagger and a depth of lyrical intelligence that is never too but always powerful. Swimming In Strange Waters comes out April 7 via Nevado Music.

Democrats don’t have too many opportunities to set the agenda in Congress right now. They don’t decide what bills are called for a vote, and, due to changes in Senate procedures, won’t be able to block any of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks without Republican defections. One thing Democrats can affect are the headlines coming out of the first wave of confirmation hearings. So on Tuesday, Senate Democrats did their best to pressure Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, nominee for attorney general, and Gen. John Kelly, nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security, into distancing themselves from their likely future boss on key issues — and raise controversial statements Trump has made. The playbook worked, with questions from Democratic lawmakers leading to moments where Sessions disagreed with Trump’s initial campaign vow to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and Kelly doubting the value of a border wall as a deterrent to immigrants entering the country illegally. Here are six moments where Democrats (and one Republican) took digs at Trump as they questioned his first Cabinet nominees. While the Kelly and Sessions hearings were viewed as successes for both nominees, headlines like this are one reason why it’s advantageous for Senate Republicans and the Trump transition to have so many in such a tight window — so numerous statements like these compete for attention. Multiple hearings will compete for attention again on Wednesday, as Trump is scheduled to hold his first press conference since being elected. If Democrats force Rex Tillerson and other nominees to distance themselves from Trump, Republicans hope fewer eyes will be drawn to those statements. Here’s what’s on tap for Wednesday’s hearings: Russia has been dominating the headlines out of Washington — even in the hours leading up to Tillerson’s hearing — and that will likely be a major theme when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee questions Trump’s pick to lead the State Department. Rex Tillerson knows Russia well. As Exxon Mobil CEO, he has negotiated deals with a Russian energy giant, Rosneft, including a project to drill in the Arctic, which was put on hold because of U. S. sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its actions in Eastern Ukraine. With Exxon Mobil shareholder interests in mind, Tillerson opposed those sanctions. The ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, . plans to press Tillerson about how he would approach this topic now if confirmed as America’s top diplomat. ”I think you’re going to find that there’s going to be a great deal of interest as to whether Mr. Tillerson understands that he is no longer going to be CEO of Exxon Mobil but that he’s going to be secretary of state, the nation’s top diplomat,” Cardin told reporters on the eve of the hearing. Cardin was one of 10 senators to introduce the ”Countering Russian Hostilities Act of 2017.” The bipartisan legislation would impose more sanctions on Russia over its as well as its actions in Ukraine and Syria. In his prepared remarks, Tillerson is to tell the senators that he’s ” ” about Russia and believes Moscow should be held to account for its actions. ”Our NATO allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent Russia. But it was in the absence of American leadership that this door was left open and unintended signals were sent,” he plans to say. Activists are encouraging U. S. senators to also press Tillerson on his views about climate change and whether he will distance himself from the interests of an energy company, where he spent his entire career, often doing deals with autocratic states. ExxonMobil severed ties with Tillerson to clear up concerns about conflict of interest. That too will come under scrutiny. Diplomatic Correspondent Michele Kelemen Compared to the tough grilling Tillerson could get, Transportation Elaine Chao is expected to breeze through her confirmation. Members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will likely have a lot of questions for Chao about highway, rail and aviation safety regulations, new technologies such as cars and trucks, and most notably, Trump’s call to invest up to a trillion dollars in the nation’s infrastructure. But tough questions seem unlikely. ”It should be a piece of cake,” the ranking Democrat on the committee, Bill Nelson of Florida, told Politico. Chao, 63, served as labor secretary for eight years under President George W. Bush, and previously in transportation posts during the first Bush and Reagan administrations. She’s considered experienced, politically savvy and has been praised by transportation industry groups. ”I don’t know if they could have found a more qualified, dedicated public servant,” said Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois who served as transportation secretary during President Obama’s first term. ”She knows how to run an agency and she will bring lots of experience and expertise,” LaHood told NPR recently. He also said she will be an ”outstanding secretary of transportation.” Chao is also a longtime Washington insider — seen as one key appointment who defies Trump’s call to ”drain the swamp.” As the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, she has close friendships with many of the senators who will be voting on her confirmation. So if any of Trump’s Cabinet choices are a sure bet to win confirmation, Chao is it. Transportation Correspondent David Schaper The Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its consideration of Trump’s nominee to be attorney general on Wednesday, though Sessions finished his testimony after a full day in front of his fellow senators on Tuesday. Outside witnesses will testify about the record of the Alabama senator on the second day — both for and against. The high profile supporters who want to see him lead the Justice Department include former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and the head of the Fraternal Order of Police, Chuck Caterbury — in addition to law enforcement officials from Alabama. Civil rights groups are opposing the Sessions nomination, and the head of the NAACP, Cornell Brooks, and ACLU legal director David Cole will both testify on the second day of the Sessions hearing. Two of Sessions’ colleagues from Capitol Hill will also oppose him. Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement, is expected to highlight concerns about whether Sessions will enforce civil and voting rights laws. So is Sen. Corey Booker, . J. in an extraordinary step. His decision to testify against the nomination of a fellow senator — who has received a warm reception from many other colleagues — is being widely described as unprecedented. Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson

Updated at 8 p. m. ET, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, broke with the on many of his key campaign promises on immigration during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, including a border wall, Muslims coming into the U. S. and torture techniques. The former head of the U. S. Southern Command, Kelly agreed with a question from Sen. John McCain, . over the strategy to defend the country’s southern border, both from immigrants crossing into the U. S. illegally and from drug traffickers, saying that a border wall would not be enough. ”A physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job. It has to be a layered defense,” Kelly said, calling for more human patrols and assistance from drones and other sensors. Kelly also stressed the need to work with other Latin American countries to forge better relationships to stop drug trafficking. Kelly agreed with McCain that waterboarding should continue to be prohibited and that the Geneva Conventions should be followed. ”I don’t think we should ever come close to crossing a line that is beyond what we as Americans would expect to follow in terms of interrogation techniques,” Kelly said. During the campaign, Trump pledged that he would bring back the controversial form of torture in order to fight terrorism. Kelly also said he had ”high confidence” in U. S. intelligence reports that found that Russia had engaged in cyberattacks in order to influence the U. S. elections. Trump has cast doubt on those findings. Pressed by Sen. Gary Peters, . on whether it was lawful to conduct surveillance on mosques or create a database of Muslims in the U. S. Kelly agreed that would violate the Constitution. ”I don’t think it’s ever appropriate to focus on something like religion as the only factor,” Kelly said. The Department of Homeland Security is a sprawling enterprise, with a budget of some $40 billion and a employees. Its responsibilities encompass everything from natural disasters (FEMA) to airport security (TSA) presidential security (U. S. Secret Service) the Coast Guard and cybersecurity. DHS agencies are also responsible for defending the nation’s borders and overseeing the immigration system. It’s those areas that are most in the sights of the incoming president, who has called for measures including a wall along the U. S. border with Mexico, the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants currently in the U. S. and ”extreme vetting” of immigrants wishing to enter the country. Trump said on the campaign trail that screening should be focused on those coming from ”some of the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.” Those comments were an adaptation of the ban on Muslims entering the U. S. that Trump had proposed at the end of 2015. Asked by Sen. Kamala Harris, . about deportation priorities, Kelly suggested that undocumented children who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would ”probably not be at the top of the list” and that he would ”keep an open mind.” Kelly said that the incoming administration’s immigration policy is still ”ongoing,” but that he has ”not been involved in those discussions.” Overall, Kelly was by both Republicans and Democrats during his testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ranking member Claire McCaskill, . praised him during her opening statement and later tweeted that he was a ”good choice” to lead DHS. Kelly was introduced by McCain, Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Kelly was an adviser to Gates at the Pentagon. Gates praised Kelly, calling him ”one of the finest people I have ever known,” also saying, ”I would trust him with my life.” The Kelly had appeared before lawmakers before, in his role as head of the U. S. Southern Command, which is responsible for military matters in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Kelly’s nomination is unlikely to be met with much opposition, and the questions on the committee bore that out. He has built up relationships with lawmakers who respect his service and his sacrifice. (Kelly lost a son to combat in Afghanistan.)

Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to nominate David Shulkin to be his secretary of veterans affairs, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Shulkin is currently the undersecretary for health at the VA, which means he runs the Veterans Health Administration. He was nominated for that position by President Obama in March 2015 and confirmed by the Senate that June. Shulkin’s official bio says he is a physician — a internist — and was the chief executive or chief medical officer of several hospitals and hospital systems. He is also an entrepreneur who founded a health care information company called DoctorQuality. Notably, he is not a veteran. As NPR’s Quil Lawrence reported last month, the VA has always been headed by a veteran. ”I have no doubt Dr. Shulkin will be able to lead the turnaround our Department of Veterans Affairs needs,” Trump said in a statement following the announcement. ”Dr. Shulkin has the experience and the vision to ensure we will meet the healthcare needs of every veteran.” Last year, NPR and several member stations jointly reported on the flaws and failures of the VA’s ”Veterans Choice” program, which is meant to allow veterans to find private doctors. As the head of the Veterans Health Administration, Shulkin spoke with NPR about the experiences of veterans left waiting months for treatment under the program. ”When I hear stories like that, it’s completely unacceptable,” he told NPR: ”The first responsibility that we have to our veterans is to make sure those that need urgent care are getting care on time. ”This is a different VA. We’ve brought in people from the outside who have private sector experience. And what we’re saying is that we have to do business differently. . .. We know how to make this program work better.” Trump considered a series of possible VA secretaries before deciding on Shulkin — he said on Wednesday that he interviewed more than 100 candidates. Quil reported that the met with Iraq veteran Pete Hegseth, who favors privatizing VA health care, as well as former Sen. Scott Brown, . who is a National Guard veteran. Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, who was the head of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, was a Trump adviser who was also considered a candidate. Both Politico and The Washington Post report that several possible candidates for VA secretary rejected Trump’s overtures. The secretary of agriculture and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers are the only positions for which Trump still has not announced his choice of nominee.

It’s been used to buy drugs. Guns. Child porn. And to launder money. But institutions like the World Bank, UNICEF and USAID think it could be a force for good, helping the poorest of the poor. It’s a technology called blockchain — a global, online ledger that’s free for anyone to use and that isn’t regulated by any one party. Maybe you’ve heard of it. And maybe you don’t know exactly what it is. That’s because it’s not easy to define. Indeed, in a list of ”ins and outs” for 2017, the Washington Post included ”not being able to explain blockchain.” But we’ll try to explain it — and also explain the way it could be a boon to humanity. What’s the big deal? By now, you’ve probably heard of bitcoin. It’s made headlines over the past few years for being the digital currency of choice for legitimate online purchases and money transfer — and also for laundering money and illicit purchases. It’s built on an underlying technology called blockchain — which is basically an online database that’s considered to be secure, private and generally hackproof. But blockchain has the potential to do more than send money. It can help people store information securely and permanently on the Web. For economists and technologists who work in the developing world, this opens up a world of opportunity. What if blockchain could be used as a force for good — a safe place, say, for a poor Kenyan farmer to store the documents that prove he really does own his land? How does it work, exactly? Imagine you have a bit of important information that you’d like to store on the Web, like a birth or health care record. You may choose to store it in one of many blockchain networks to keep those data safe. To do that, you must add your record to something called a ”block,” a chunk of data on the Web. But that’s just the first step. To be archived — in other words, to become a permanent record — your data must be linked to the ”blockchain” in a global network of millions of computers. Think of the blockchain as a 21st century version of the paper ledger that businesses once used to keep track of their transactions. Once the block is linked to the chain, everyone in the network gets an updated copy. So if one computer gets shut down, that’s not a problem. The millions of others in the network have a copy of the blockchain, and your record is safe. But don’t worry. Your data, once on the blockchain, become what is known as ”” which means people can see that a transaction was made but won’t see any specifics. Here’s what else makes the blockchain so special: It cuts out the middleman. There are already lots of places where information can be stored online. Your bank keeps track of your financial transactions. Facebook is a compendium of what your friends are up to. The U. S. Patent and Trademark office keeps registration of new contraptions. In each of these cases — and many, many others — there is someone who owns and manages all that information. And that could present problems. First of all, that middleman is holding your data and in theory could do whatever he wants with the information — sell it to another party, for example. Some middlemen aren’t willing to serve everybody. Poor people, for example, might not have enough money to open a bank account. And there’s another problem: The middleman could also be hacked. Once your data are part of the blockchain, it’s difficult to change or remove those data. A group of special users in the network, called miners, help keep it honest by verifying the transactions. If that doesn’t happen, the blockchain won’t work. Some apps and software built using the technology have had weaknesses. In 2016, more than $50 million was siphoned from a project called the DAO. And in 2014, $480 million was stolen by hackers from a digital currency exchange called Mt. Gox. Still, experts believe that blockchain technology is more secure than any other system on the Web right now. ”Across all these computers, [these networks] are using the highest level of cryptography, infinitely more secure than the computer systems we have at the CIA and the Democratic National Party,” says Don Tapscott, author of Blockchain Revolution. He gave a TED Talk on the technology in August. Why it could be a game changer, The nature of blockchain technology — that it’s secure, hard to mess with and open to both the rich and the poor — is precisely why it could be a game changer for people living in countries or fragile states at risk of economic collapse, corruption or conflict, says Rosanna Chan, an economist at the World Bank. Say you’re a small farmer in Haiti. You’ve dutifully registered your land, which your family depends on for food and income, with the government. The paper copy of your registration was then filed in a storeroom. But the earthquake in 2010 destroyed all the municipal buildings where they were stored. Now you don’t have proof that you’re a landowner. Or let’s say the record of your registration is a digital file on a government database. It could be tampered with or erased, or maybe the database uses technology that is outdated or unsearchable. But if you filed your land deed in a blockchain, perhaps you could avert those problems. That’s why Chan, who formed the World Bank’s Blockchain Working Group in February, calls it a ”magic ledger.” On a small scale, some farmers are already storing land deeds on a blockchain. Bitland, a blockchain platform that registers land in Ghana, has filed 500 deeds since January 2016. The platform hopes to move to Botswana, Kenya and Uruguay next. Blockchain has other potential benefits. A platform called BitPesa is helping to speed up the flow of cash from businesses in China to their African employees, who then send the money back home to their families. The startup, launched in 2013, uses bitcoin to facilitate instant payments online. The old way of making payments is usually handled by finance companies like Western Union. It could take days and the sender might have to pay high fees. According to the World Bank, Africa is the most expensive region to send money to, with average remittance costs reaching 12. 4 percent in 2012. There’s also a startup called Grid Singularity that’s exploring how ”pay as you go” solar power in developing countries could be made more secure and efficient, with financial transactions recorded on a blockchain. And in February, Sony Global Education adapted blockchain to file academic records, showing its promise in the education space — an area the World Bank has been watching. But there’s one problem . .. People in countries are ”in a poor position to adopt the technology,” says Brett Scott, author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance and a February paper on blockchain for the U. N. Research Institute for Social Development, an independent group within the United Nations. Right now, if people want to use a platform, they need a computer or smartphone and an Internet connection. The majority of people in Africa don’t have these things. The challenge, says Scott, is ”how do you make it function on a simple mobile phone?” Chan from the World Bank and others across the global development community are eager to work that out. ”Right now, it’s like we have a hammer. And we’re not sure what it looks like or how to use it,” she says. ”But we get the sense that this hammer is useful.”

Italy has been described as the world’s biggest museum. And with illegally excavated antiquities, looting of unguarded, churches and smuggling of precious artworks, it’s also an art theft playground. But thanks to an elite police squad, Italy is also at the forefront in combating the illicit trade in artworks — believed to be among the world’s biggest forms of trafficking and estimated to be worth billions. Italy’s Carabinieri for Protection of Italy’s Cultural Heritage recently sponsored an exhibit at Rome’s Palazzo Barberini museum, showcasing some of its biggest successes. A fifth grade class of a Roman elementary school came to see some 200 artworks that were stolen and then recovered. Lt. Sebastiano Antoci, a veteran of the elite squad, told the kids how its investigations work. ”We tail suspects or use wiretaps so we can listen to the bad guys’ phone calls or we check their bank accounts. And when we’re out in the field,” he said, ”we look like everyone else, we don’t wear uniforms.” The listened attentively to the art detective as he pointed to two medieval frescoes. ”We recovered the lamb in Switzerland,” he said, ”and the Christ in the United States. They’re back together again for the first time since they were stolen” — in 1978 from a small church in Guidonia, a town south of Rome. In 1969, Italy created the world’s first specialized police force to combat art crime. It now numbers 280 investigators who also safeguard artworks in regions struck by floods and earthquakes. The unit also combats antiquities trafficking fueled by conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan. At the Rome exhibit, Antoci showed the schoolchildren a marble sculpture that depicts a man and his two sons. It originates from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra — which recently came under ISIS control. Adding to his knowledge of art history the excitement of a detective tale, Antoci tells the kids the story of the sculpture, which was tracked down as part of an investigation into financial irregularities and dates back some 2, 000 years. ”It’s a funerary sculpture,” he tells them. ”The terrorists smuggled it out of Syria and put it on the illicit antiques market. We tracked it down to an Italian businessman in Piedmont, who bought it just it a few months ago.” Gen. Fabrizio Parulli, the commander of this unique police force, explains what’s needed to become a good art sleuth. ”First of all, you need to be a good investigator,” he says. Speaking in his Rome office — located in a Baroque square that looks like an opera stage set — Parulli says his agents start as police officers and then get specialized training in art history, archaeology, restoration and recognizing counterfeit works. But the heart of the investigative work is done elsewhere, in a large barracks in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood. Sitting at a computer, Lt. Francesco Ficarella demonstrates the jewel in the crown of the cultural heritage protection squad — a database known as Leonardo, containing names and photos of close to 6 million registered artworks, mostly from Italy. Of those, 1. 2 million are listed as stolen, missing, illegally excavated or smuggled. Leonardo, he says, ”is a crucial instrument not only for our national police forces but also for those abroad — it’s the biggest artworks database in the world,” he says. The squad’s recovery record is high. In 2014, it managed to recover 137, 000 works with an estimated value of $500 million. Until they’re returned to the owners, recovered pieces are warehoused on the ground floor of the Trastevere building. Behind an armored door, tens of thousands of artworks are stored — wooden crucifixes, marble busts, bronze statues and hundreds of paintings, all carefully labeled. These recovered pieces serve as evidence in criminal cases that are still open. One of them, ”Leda and the Swan,” by 16th century painter Lelio Orsi, was auctioned for $1. 6 million in New York. Smuggled out of Italy, it was tracked down, thanks to cooperation from U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But there’s one piece that has eluded this elite art squad for almost three decades: a canvas of the Nativity by the Baroque master Caravaggio. It was stolen in Sicily in 1969, the same year this special unit was created. Lt. Calogero Gliozzo says the painting’s whereabouts were known until the early 1980s. ”We know the names of the robbers and we know the Mafia family that was hiding it,” he says, ”but then there was a Mafia war and we lost track of the painting.” One Mafia informant told police he had heard that the canvas had been destroyed by rats at a farm where it was hidden. But here at the police squad, the art sleuths are convinced the masterpiece still exists — and that one day, they will succeed in recovering this No. 1 artwork on their most wanted list.

It was on a routine patrol in 1986 that Steven McDonald’s life took a dramatic turn. McDonald, who was just two years into his service with the New York Police Department, and his partner confronted a trio of boys in Central Park. Within seconds, one of those teens drew a handgun and shot McDonald three times. That shooting left him paralyzed from the neck down. Yet his life was arguably shaped as much by those three bullets as by the three words he famously expressed afterward: ”I forgive him.” McDonald died Tuesday at the age of 59, after being hospitalized Friday for a heart attack. In the more than three decades after his paralysis, McDonald took on the stature of a symbol of forgiveness — a police officer whose sacrifice was heralded by generations of mayors and institutions in New York City. ”No one could have predicted that Steven would touch so many people, in New York and around the world,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said in a statement. ”Like so many cops, Steven joined the N. Y. P. D. to make a difference in people’s lives. And he accomplished that every day.” Perhaps never more so than on the day his son, Conor, was baptized in 1987, roughly nine months after the shooting. In a letter read to the media by his wife, Patricia, McDonald wrote of his anger toward his shooter — and his hope for healing. ”I’m sometimes angry at the boy who shot me,” she read, according to The New York Times. ”But more often I feel sorry for him. I only hope that he can turn his life into helping and not hurting people. I forgive him and hope that he can find peace and purpose in his life.” In the years that followed, McDonald opened and carried on a correspondence with the teen who shot him, Shavod Jones, who served 8 years in prison for attempted murder. The correspondence ended after McDonald ”turned down a request from Mr. Jones’s family to seek parole,” according to the Times, saying ”he was not knowledgeable or capable enough to intervene.” Jones died just days after his release from prison in 1995, from injuries sustained as a passenger during a motorcycle accident. McDonald went on to become something of an ambassador for the NYPD and for his Catholic faith. He met with Pope John Paul II, spoke to New York City classrooms, a book on his recovery, campaigned for gun control and against stem cell research, even had an award named in his honor by the New York Rangers. The Rangers remembered him in a video tribute Tuesday night. He is survived by his wife and longtime caregiver, Patricia, and his son, Conor, who was an infant when McDonald’s famous statement was delivered. Conor McDonald was recently promoted to the rank of detective in the NYPD.

”A Newborn Calf Isn’t Afraid of Tigers” is a typical chapter title in Lotus, Lijia Zhang’s compelling debut novel. Readers will find the entire text rich in Chinese proverbs, as well as folk wisdom of a more prosaic variety. Characters employ sage sayings in spoken form, as a kind of parlor game, and the author scatters aphorisms liberally throughout the narrative, with an effect that is both charming and after the titular Lotus loses face, she keeps on going despite the hurt, because ”a cracked jar doesn’t mind being smashed again.” These lines could come across as stilted, but here they delight, as does so much of this sensitively drawn literary world. Lotus herself is a charmer her given name is Luo Xiangzhu, but she uses the nickname when working as a ji, or prostitute. She has escaped the provincial village of her birth, Mulberry Gully, and as a teenager journeyed a thousand miles south to Shenzhen, a seaside city just north of Hong Kong. Winding up in a red light neighborhood that she comes to call home, she enters the oldest profession on an inebriated whim. China’s Communists rejected prostitution as strictly a capitalist phenomenon — but it existed, and it reflected a class system the Party also tried to deny. At the top were ”second wives” — a version of the classic concubine. In descending order, came call girls, dance hall workers, masseuses and street hookers. Lotus, occupying the lowest rung but one, thinks about ”how she had spent hours of her life . .. smiling her red smile at every passing man.” Burdened by the clichéd heart of gold, she builds her clientele at the Moonflower Massage Parlor, sending home money to bankroll her younger brother’s college education. Beautiful, modest and soulful, Lotus attracts the attention of an aspiring photographer and intellectual named Hu Binbing, or Bing. He becomes enmeshed in the lives of Shenzhen’s massage parlor denizens while doing a magazine photo essay Lotus serves as the star of the piece, identified only as ”Girl A.” An arresting image of her face launches Bing into new realms of fame and opportunity. Zhang delicately sketches Bing’s growing infatuation with Lotus and hers with him. They come together, fall apart, reunite. You root for them not necessarily as a romantic couple, but as two souls finding their true mission in life. But this is above all Lotus’s story, in which she fights her way out of the sex trade to become a beloved primary school teacher. Though the personal relationship remains in the foreground, the political and economic realities of modern China lend the novel greater depth, a heady mix that might be called . The author has a light touch, even when delineating the underbelly of contemporary Chinese culture. She conducted research in the red light districts of Shenzhen, Dongguan, Beihai, Tianjin and Beijing, so there is a documentary verity to the telling, giving starch to fiction that might otherwise be flabby. Zhang also brings a personal stake to the book, dedicating it to her grandmother, who was sold to a brothel as a ”flower girl,” or courtesan. Some first novels, especially those birthed in creative writing classes (Zhang, a former rocket factory worker in China, studied at the University of Iowa) go heavy on poetic language. The author tries too hard and the reader suffers. The images Zhang gives us, in contrast, are uncomplicated, concise and touching. Young Lotus’s ”pencil was homemade, simply the broken end of a pencil’s lead discarded by her classmates, stabbed into a piece of soft wood.” Concerning Bing’s emotions, Zhang writes, ”He had been like an ant on a hot pan ever since the girls’ visit.” Book groups be advised: Readers will learn quite specific tricks of the trade. Lotus is undeniably earthy but thankfully spare, letting its characters, and its proverbs, do the talking. When Bing wants to get serious with Lotus, we hear about the development a proverbial way: ”What luck, this offer. A pancake fallen from the sky, as her grandma would say.” We can count ourselves lucky to get this glimpse into the fascinating world of Lotus. Jean Zimmerman’s latest novel, Savage Girl, is out now in paperback. She posts daily at Blog Cabin.

In Weathersfield, Vt. a town once dotted with small milking farms, about 60 cows peacefully chew hay at their home on Fuller Farm. They are the last remaining dairy herd in Weathersfield, and they’ll be auctioned off this week. This is a growing trend in the changing dairy industry — in the state and beyond. David Fuller has been a dairy farmer here since 1977. He says it’s the life he’s loved since he was a small child. He says when he was a kid, his mom couldn’t figure out why he and his brother were throwing up grass. ”She let us go out . .. and there we were under the picnic table eating grass,” he says. ”She said, ’Why are you doing this?’ and I told her, ’I just want to be a cow!’ ” he laughs. He continues: ”How fun is that . .. and look where it got me!” Years later, Fuller says there is no longer enough money in running a small dairy farm. He says his children have their own careers and they don’t see a future in dairy farming. ”I think that the kids that grew up on small farms hear their parents always struggling with money,” he says. ”I think they all ask themselves, ’Why do I want to do that?’ So there wasn’t a transition to go to the family.” That’s the case with a lot of dairy farms in Vermont. Just a couple years ago, Weathersfield, which has a population of about 3, 000, had about 10 dairy farms. ”They were all small farms, and they all went the same way. Either a family member didn’t want to continue or there were economic reasons,” Fuller says. In 2010, Vermont had more than 1, 000 dairy farms, but by the end of last year there were just more than 800. According to a national census by the United States Department of Agriculture, in 1950 there were about 3. 5 million farms with milking cows. By 2012, that number had plummeted to 58, 000. Fuller says milk prices aren’t enough to sustain business these days. He gets about the same amount of money for his product as he did when he started about 40 years ago, while the cost of living has skyrocketed. ”When I started milking, my first check came from a company called Yankee Milk — that was $14 [per hundredweight of milk] in 1977 in May,” he says, looking over his cows. ”This last month, on the first check that we got for pay for our milk, they estimate the cost at $15. 50.” Diane Bothfeld, director of administrative services at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, says the prices of milk used to be based on national trends. That has changed. ”Now, it’s global,” she says. ”What’s happening in China, what’s happening in Australia and New Zealand. ’Oh, the European Union did this’ — it is just global pressures on the prices for milk.” But Bothfeld says dairy products are still Vermont’s largest agricultural receipts. In a 2014 study on the economic impact of cows in the state, it was found that for every one cow, about $12, 000 was added to the state economy. ”[For every cow that leaves the state] there will be fewer trips to the hardware store or the feed store, or the tractor dealership doesn’t get as much business,” Bothfeld says. ”So it really does have an impact throughout the community.” Peter Vitaliano, chief economist for the National Milk Producers Federation, says the number of small dairies around the United States has been steadily dropping for years. ”Since 1986, every year that number has dropped by between 5 and around 9 percent,” he says. However, milk production is not necessarily decreasing. While the dairy industry used to be run by individual families, Vitaliano thinks that today it is far more lucrative to run dairy farms, with 500 cows or more. ”In the U. S. more and more milk is being produced every year,” Vitaliano says. ”If there are fewer farms and more milk, guess what? [That] means that the average farm is getting bigger — and that is indeed the case.” In 2012, the most recent year the USDA collected data, almost of dairy farms had fewer than 100 cows, but those farms only produced about 14 percent of the nation’s milk. Vitaliano is optimistic about milk production and prices in the year to come, but like others, sees that the business model of the American dairy farm is changing rapidly.

Facebook is unveiling a new journalism project Wednesday. No, the Silicon Valley giant isn’t hiring a team of reporters. Facebook says it wants engineers — the tech talent at local and global publishers — to earlier on to develop technologies that make Facebook a more powerful platform to distribute news and discuss it. Facebook Live has become a visceral way to share breaking, even disturbing news — such as the death of Philando Castile, who was shot by police minutes before his girlfriend began to his dying in a car. (Facebook pays NPR and other leading news organizations to produce live video streams. NPR has been invited to be part of the new project.) Facebook wants to build new tools that draw in audiences and drive engagement with news content. A senior official says the company is looking for a new mode of working with publishers, and that Facebook’s approach has evolved based on feedback it is getting. This move signals that news publishers are important to Facebook — and that the company plans to deepen, not lessen, its role in the news business. The company has not specified what new products are on the horizon, but the goals include helping local news outlets target their audience on the app, so that it’s easier for residents of a specific town to have a debate about high school football or a city council bill. Facebook also plans to experiment with letting news consumers become subscribers to their favorite news outlet — get a free trial — within the Facebook app. In recent months, Facebook has come under fire for distributing fake news and not having transparent editorial standards when it comes to what speech is permitted or censored. In today’s announcement, the company is not inviting the news industry to help solve those charged problems. Last week, Facebook hired former TV journalist Campbell Brown to lead news partnerships.

On campuses today almost every educational interaction leaves digital traces. Assignments and feedback are given through online portals debates and discussions happen via learning management systems as well as in classrooms, cafes and dorm rooms. Those and other digital crumbs give technologists the opportunities to examine the processes, practices and goals of higher education in ways that were largely impossible a decade or so ago. We’ve reported here and here on Stanford physics Noble Laureate Carl Wieman’s ”active learning” revolution. Another (is there something in the physics lab water?) named Timothy McKay sees great promise in ”learning analytics” — using big data and research to improve teaching and learning. McKay, a professor of physics, astronomy and education at the University of Michigan argues in a recent white paper, that higher ed needs to ”break down the perceived divide between research and practice.” There are privacy and ethical concerns, of course, which in turn has prompted fledgling codes of conduct to spring up. I reached out to Professor McKay, who also heads Michigan’s Digital Innovation Greenhouse, to dig deeper on how learning analytics work in higher ed. Give us an example of how new and better data is helping universities and professors understand students better. I’ll give you an example that’s drawn from my own experience. I’ve been teaching here at the University of Michigan for more than 20 years. Most of my teaching has been large, introductory physics courses . .. from 400 to 700 students. Now, the way universities have traditionally done this is to provide a kind of industrial approach, to go to that large group of people and to offer them the same materials, ask them to do the same kind of activities at the same pace, and evaluate all those people in exactly the same way. Everybody gets the same course. If it’s it’s pitched perhaps for the median student in that class. It kind of works well for that median student, but it doesn’t work well for anybody else. What I discovered when I began to look at data about my own classes is something that should have been obvious from the start but wasn’t really until I examined the data. I came to understand just how different all the students in my class were, how broadly spread they are across a variety of different spectra of difference, and that if I wanted to teach them all equally well, it doesn’t work to deliver exactly the same thing to every student. You’re better able to personalize and for students who might need help, who might have a different background, who might have a different perspective? Or different goals. A lot of times, the discussion will be about students who might be behind or but it’s also true for students who are really excelling academically. They also need special kinds of attention. The first thing that happened for me was to open my eyes to the real challenge, the real importance of personalizing, even when we’re teaching at scale. Then what followed that was a realization that since we had, in fact, information about the backgrounds and interests and goals of every one of our students, if we could build tools, use information technology, we might be able to speak to every one of those students in different ways to provide them with different feedback and encouragement and advice. We’ve built this tool here called ECoach, which is a communication system that allows us to speak to a student with detailed knowledge of their background, interests and goals, and be able to do that at scale. Some of that is automated, but you can tailor it to each student? It’s interesting. It’s automated in a way, but in another way, it’s all generated by people. The content that we are going to provide, the way we create it, is to sit down together and look at the kinds of people who are present in our classes and think about how we would change the message if one of those students sat down in front of us. We might be changing, of course, what we’re saying. Some students are very well prepared to take a physics class and, in fact, might have studied it for two years in high school before they get to my class. There’s one kind of message for them. There are other kinds of students who have never seen this subject before. And there, I might want to really focus on points like how taking a physics class is different from taking other kinds of classes that they have. We sit down and think about what we would say to these people if they sat in front of us, and technology like ECoach just enables us to say it to all the students, instead of just the few who can get appointments in our office hours. OK, say a bunch of freshmen in a 20th century American lit class, the papers they do for that class, is there relevant data there that could be useful in a learning analytics way? Absolutely. That’s a great example of the new kinds of data that are emerging, the new forms of data. It used to be, when you and I went to college, that you wrote that paper for that class and you handed it in, perhaps, on typing paper. Right? The instructor took it and marked it up with a pen and handed it back to you, and then it was gone from the system. It left no record. The only record that it left, in fact, was the grade that your instructor wrote in a column in a little accounting book. Now, since those assignments are all turned in through online systems, it’s actually possible to go back after the class is over and examine all the work that students did. You could even imagine, for example, if you’d taught a course like that year after year, being able to begin to understand whether student writing was changing in any significant way over the year because that evidence remains. It exists, and it is possible to use it as input to the process of understanding and improving teaching and learning in a way that it didn’t used to be. It just was inaccessible before. What, if anything, changed in 2016 in higher ed learning analytics? Has it been more widely adopted? Has the kind of data you’re going after changed? A kind of tool that many, many institutions have adopted are tools that aim to make sure that they don’t fail to recognize students who might be in trouble. I would say that the first big application of learning analytics systems has been to notice when a student, even in a large institution, is running into the kind of difficulty that might be crucial for them, that they might fail a class or that they might drop out of a semester or that they might not complete their degree. A lot of institutions have done some really good work in using the data that they have to identify students who might be at risk, and then thinking carefully about how they might go to work to support those students to move them back to a track that’s leading towards success. Most of the time, the actions that have been taken are actually human actions. What we’re beginning to see is people putting this kind of information to work in richer ways. One example of that is the kind of coaching technology we’re building. It enables us to build on the experience of thousands of students who’ve taken these classes before, and share the lessons that are learned from that with each individual student. In 2016, schools got better at using learning analytics for more things than, ”Joe Smith is going to fail freshman physics. He might need tutoring. He might need an intervention.” Some schools are now looking at a broader range of things — from the idea of the college transcript to the admissions process? Yeah. We are asking questions about our own admissions criteria. It turns out that many of our admissions, our sense of how we should do college admissions, is grounded as much in tradition as it is in evidence. We’re having a big conversation about what we reflect in the transcript. You know, the transcript is the famous, official record of a student, the things that a university provides to the world to reflect on the nature of their experience while they were in college. The transcripts we use right now really were invented in the early 20th century and are stuck in a very industrial mode of education and even in some kind of prior technologies. You know the way a transcript mostly lists with one line about every one of your classes? That was done so that the transcript would fit on a few pages, so that it could be folded up and stuck in an envelope and mailed to somebody. There’s really no reason in an information age to say that the record we keep that reflects on what you did in a class needs to be restricted to a single line on a page, right? If we could enrich that record: If, for example, in that literature class that you described, instead of just assigning a grade to a student, if we actually kept some of the work of the student as the object that represents what you did in that class. In other words, in principle it could be made available to people who wanted to know, What did you do in that class? You would approach writing that paper as a student in a very different way from the way you do today. The paper wouldn’t just be for the instructor, or you wouldn’t just be after the grade. You would actually be after producing a paper that you would be proud of showing to the world to represent what you did in this class. We’re really turning this kind of analytic approach to thinking about pretty existential questions about the nature of how we do our business on campus. I think in the next few years you’ll see a lot of change as campuses take advantage of the opportunity that all this information provides to better understand what’s going on. What would you say to a more traditionalist professor who says, ’My teaching is more art than science, and you have to be open to serendipity and improvisation, and I don’t want to be led around by my nose and big data?’ Harumph. I totally understand this perspective. People who assert that are often quite correct. Another thing that has emerged in our understanding of the Michigan campus is that we teach an incredible variety of classes. We have 9, 200 classes on this campus, and they range in enrollment from one to 2, 000. They’re very different, one from the other. I would say that this kind of learning analytic approach is especially important in environments where we’re teaching a lot of people, where we’re teaching people who come from a wide variety of backgrounds or have a wide variety of interests and goals, and those environments are typically the places where we’re teaching kind of foundational classes when students come into a campus like this. Then there are a lot of teaching and learning environments where the best thing we can do is to put that expert faculty member in a room with 18 students. A really, truly great learning experience can happen there. So for those in big college classes, don’t fear the data? I think they should not, because I think it has a lot to bring to help them. I do have colleagues who still are skeptical about this, and a part of the challenge for all applications of data across our lives is for us all to assess the way we feel about reducing experienced to a limited number of data points and then trying to learn from that. I think in most of our lives, we’ve seen that data perhaps in your Netflix recommender, it’s kind of useful. Right? It doesn’t solve all your problems, but it has a role to play. I think as we expose more and better ways to put data to work in support of students, we will see people get comfortable with the idea that, yeah, it does have something to bring to the table. It doesn’t solve every problem, but it does have an important contribution to make.

President Obama awarded outgoing Vice President Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday afternoon. Calling the former longtime Delaware senator ”the best vice president America’s ever had” and a ”lion of American history,” Obama gave his White House partner the surprise award in an emotional ceremony, initially billed as a farewell. After extolling the job that Biden has done, Obama ended it with the unexpected news that he was giving the vice president the nation’s highest civilian honor, with distinction ” a designation most recently given to President Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Gen. Colin Powell. ”To know Joe Biden is to know love without pretense, service without and to live life fully,” Obama said. Overcome with tears and completely caught off guard by the award, Biden praised the president as ”remarkable man who did remarkable things for this country” who had truly treated him like an equal partner in governance. ”This honor is not only well beyond what I deserve, but it’s a reflection of the generosity of your spirit,” Biden told Obama. ”I don’t deserve this. But I know it came from the president’s heart.” The two have enjoyed an unusually close working relationship over the past eight years, and Obama himself even joked at the outset of the ceremony that ”this also gives the Internet one last chance to talk about our ’bromance.’ ” Throughout the ceremony it was evident not just how close the two men were but how close their families and staffs had become, and Obama said his ”family is honored to call ourselves honorary Bidens.” Obama has frequently said that picking Biden, his former primary rival, as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made. Before accepting the nomination, Biden had spent more than three decades in the Senate, amassing a large portfolio and body of work, including stints as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The president said, laughing, that the people of Delaware sent Biden to the Senate as soon as they could, electing him to the Senate at the age of 29 (he turned the constitutionally required age of 30 before he was sworn in). But before Biden could even head to Washington, his life would be marked with unspeakable tragedy for the first time. While Christmas shopping, his first wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck his sons Hunter and Beau were injured in the accident. Biden considered resigning before he even took office but was persuaded not to. He was sworn into office at the hospital beside his sons, and for years he would famously commute back and forth every day on Amtrak to be with his family. Later on, he would meet and marry his Jill, and they would have a daughter together, Ashley. In 2015, tragedy would strike the Biden family again when his eldest son, Beau, the former Delaware attorney general who was long seen as his father’s political heir, died at the age of 46 from brain cancer. The loss came as the elder Biden was weighing whether he should make his own run at the Oval Office to succeed Obama. Months later, the still very emotional vice president acknowledged his window had passed and said that he wouldn’t launch his own presidential campaign.

In the closing weeks of 2016, an explosive document was floating around in media and security circles. Reporters tried, and failed, to verify the claims it contained — that Donald Trump colluded with Russia, and the Kremlin held lurid blackmail material as leverage over Trump. Reporting on the document, which was first compiled as opposition research, was rare and carefully vague. Meanwhile, a man named Christopher Steele was living quietly outside London. He was ”eating his favorite tapas and pottering around Victoria, home to his newly refurbished office,” The Guardian reports. He ran a private intelligence company, but aside from a spare LinkedIn page had almost no presence on the Internet searching for his name would bring up hits on a porn actor, a musician and a TV doctor instead. This week, everything changed. On Tuesday, CNN reported on the dossier’s existence and said it had been put together by a former British intelligence agent. Hours later, BuzzFeed published the document in whole (and Trump and the Kremlin issued prompt and furious denials). On Wednesday, one outlet after another — first The Wall Street Journal, then The New York Times and NBC and The Telegraph and The Guardian — identified Christopher Steele as the former MI6 agent and Moscow expert who assembled the dossier. The U. K. government asked the British media not to report the name, saying it put Steele’s personal security ”directly at risk,” but it was too late. Steele’s name was everywhere, and the man himself nowhere to be found. On Wednesday, he asked a neighbor to look after his cat, The Telegraph reports. He said he’d be gone for a ”few days.” The BBC reports that it was either Tuesday or Wednesday — and that it was actually three cats. Either way, Steele left his house early this week and ”hasn’t been seen publicly since,” NPR’s Frank Langfitt reports from London. ”No one showed up for work this morning at the offices of Orbis, the private intelligence consultancy Steele in central London,” Frank reported Thursday. The Telegraph, citing an anonymous source, says Steele was ”horrified” when his nationality was made public. Now, the source tells the newspaper, Steele fears a Kremlin backlash and is ”terrified for his safety.” His wife and children were not at home as of Wednesday night, the Telegraph reports. The work of assembling the dossier was ”bold and high risk, in that it implicated both Trump and the Kremlin,” Frank notes. Steele, if he is indeed the author, would certainly know about the potential dangers. The Guardian reports that the former intelligence agent spent two years living in Moscow in the ’90s and continued to specialize in Russia during his later career at MI6. The newspaper writes: ”[Steele] was, sources say, head of MI6’s Russia desk. When the agency was plunged into panic over the poisoning of its agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the then chief, Sir John Scarlett, needed a trusted senior officer to plot a way through the minefield ahead — so he turned to Steele. ”It was Steele, sources say, who correctly and quickly realised Litvinenko’s death was a Russian state ’hit.’ ” As you might expect with a story about a spook, all the published reporting on Steele relies heavily on anonymous sources. NPR has not independently confirmed any of these details. But according to all available accounts, Steele was within intelligence circles both for his work at MI6 and for his private security work after he left the spy service. The Guardian reports that Steele, in his early 50s, is an Oxford graduate and was ”one of the more eminent Russia specialists” at the British spy agency. ”Former colleagues of Steele describe him as ’very credible’ — a sober, cautious and meticulous professional with a formidable record,” the newspaper writes. Reuters reports that with Orbis Business Intelligence, Steele investigated corruption at FIFA and passed the information on to the FBI. It was that work that ”lent credence to his reporting on Trump’s entanglements in Russia,” Reuters writes, citing U. S. officials. The Guardian and The New York Times both theorize that to compile the dossier, Steele probably didn’t travel to Russia but relied on inside contacts there. For the record, intelligence experts say they take the dossier seriously and that it was not meant as a hoax, but they caution that raw HUMINT — ”human intelligence” — is messy and always requires and context. Experts see the document as important and potentially useful, which is not the same as believing the claims are factually true. The document ”does not contain the standard caveats or guidance about levels of ’confidence’ that are common in U. S. intelligence community documents,” NPR’s Philip Ewing reports.

Updated at 4 p. m. ET, The Justice Department’s watchdog has launched a sweeping review of conduct by the FBI director and other department officials before the presidential election, following calls from Congress and members of the public. Top advisers to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton have blamed FBI Director James Comey, in part, for her loss in November. Now, federal investigators say they will examine whether public statements by Comey in July, October and November 2016 ran afoul of policies that caution officials not to influence the outcome of an election and to avoid making derogatory comments about people who haven’t been formally charged with wrongdoing. Comey has previously told friends and employees that he had few good choices in the investigation into Clinton’s handling of classified information on her private email server. In a statement Thursday, Comey said, ”I am grateful to the Department of Justice’s IG for taking on this review. He is professional and independent and the FBI will cooperate fully with him and his office. I hope very much he is able to share his conclusions and observations with the public because everyone will benefit from thoughtful evaluation and transparency regarding this matter.” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he would not ”substitute” his judgment on the declination to prosecute Clinton for that of prosecutors and the FBI. And he said the review could expand based on what his investigators encounter along the way. Among the issues the IG will scrutinize: Former Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon called the inspector general’s announcement ”highly encouraging and to be expected given Director Comey’s drastic deviation from Justice Department protocol.” Fallon said the probe is ”utterly necessary in order to take the first step to restore the FBI’s reputation as a nonpartisan institution.”

So far, more than half of all U. S. states have legalized marijuana for medical use, and eight (plus the District of Columbia) have legalized the drug for recreational use. Varieties of cannabis available today are more potent than ever and come in many forms, including oils and leaves that can be vaped, and lots of edibles, from brownies and cookies to candies — even cannabis gummy bears. A report published Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine analyzed more than 10, 000 studies to see what could conclusively be said about the health effects of all this marijuana. And despite the drug’s increasing popularity — a recent survey suggests about 22 million American adults have used the drug in the last month — conclusive evidence about its positive and negative medical effects is hard to come by, the researchers say. According to the report, that’s at least partly because the federal drug enforcement agency’s designation of the drug as a Schedule I substance — having ”no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” — entails so many restrictions that it has been difficult for researchers to do rigorous research on marijuana. We just need ”far more information,” Dr. Marie McCormick, chair of the NAS committee and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, tells Shots. Some of the highlights of her committee’s report on marijuana include: Medical Benefits, Health Risks, ”The adolescent brain is very sensitive to these kinds of substances,” McCormick says. ”So they continue to use it — and may use it in increasing amounts — and are at risk for developing problematic cannabis use.” Erik Altieri, who directs the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, says he thinks the legalization of marijuana by many states may actually reduce the problematic use of the drug by teens. ”That’s because we are taking marijuana off of the street corner,” he says, ”and out of the hands of drug dealers, who have nothing but incentive to sell to everyone and anyone.” Legalizing the drug, he points out, puts it ”behind the counter of a regulated business that has to check for ID, answer to the government and has oversight.” So far, states that have legalized recreational marijuana have not seen an increase in use among underage teens, Altieri says. ”By legalizing it and normalizing it,” he says, ”it’s become just another everyday thing that adults partake in — it doesn’t have that same draw to it that it used to.” Still, McCormick says, many health questions remain to be answered by better research. The increased legal availability of cannabis products in many states, and their increased potency, she says, make that rigorous research more important than ever.

The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, from Fort Carson, Colo. has begun moving into Poland as part of the biggest U. S. military deployment in Europe since the end of the Cold War. It’s part of an Obama administration effort to deter perceived growing Russian aggression in Eastern Europe. The Kremlin isn’t happy. ”These actions threaten our interests, our security,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. ”Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s not even a European state.” But for Poles like retired metal worker Andrezej Kozlik, the American presence is something he’s come to yearn for since the fall of Communism in 1989. The appeared oblivious to the icy temperatures on Thursday as he patiently waited at a sleepy border crossing 100 miles southeast of Berlin for the U. S. military convoy to arrive. ”We are very happy that the Americans are coming and supporting and protecting us,” Kozlik said. Like many Poles, he’s reluctant to name the country he wants protection from. A former tank man in 1974, in what was then Communist Poland’s army, Kozlik said he really wants to see an American tank up close. But only Humvees and support vehicles were in Thursday’s convoy. The brigade’s 87 tanks are being moved here gradually on trains and other heavy transport, according to U. S. military spokesmen. In the nearby town of Zagan — known for notorious POW camps the Nazis set up, including one featured in the 1963 blockbuster The Great Escape — officials and residents waving small American flags celebrated the arrival of what will be a continuous, rotational presence of U. S. and NATO armored brigades in Eastern Europe. The is partly an attempt by President Obama to calm the nerves of NATO’s newer members after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and destabilized that country’s eastern flank. More recently, the Kremlin deployed Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a sliver of Russian territory between Poland and Lithuania, and conducted military exercises along its borders with former Soviet satellite countries. Russian officials insist the is in response to NATO actions. Polish Army Maj. Gen. Jaroslaw Mika, whose soldiers will be training with some of the U. S. brigade’s 3, 500 troops, said he’s thrilled they are here. He added it’s important to ”be together, to build our common relationship and to provide more security” — not only for Europe, he said, but the world. U. S. Army Col. Christopher Norrie, who led Thursday’s convoy, was feted by Polish trumpets. He described the new mission as a ”cornerstone” to preserving freedom across Europe. ”To arrive at this point so swiftly is proof that when we work as a team . .. no challenge is too large to overcome, no distance is too far to cross, when the need arises,” Norrie said in Zagan. But whether Donald Trump — who is highly critical of NATO — will withdraw the brigade after taking office is a question mark, said Michael Mazarr, associate director of the RAND Arroyo Center’s Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program. ”I wouldn’t see that as likely very quickly, particularly given the likely role of general and secretary of defense nominee [James] Mattis in the process,” Mazarr said. It would be better, he said, ”to shoot above that target and go to Russia and say: ’Look, we’ve had a lot of misunderstandings lately, we recognize that some of what the United States and NATO have done may be perceived by you as provocative. Let’s find a way to work this out that might lead to some kind of an agreement where in a year, we’re pulling some of those troops back, but we’re doing it in concert with Russian withdrawals from the western military districts of Russia.’ ”That would seem to me to be the more likely and ultimately more productive kind of response of the new administration to this deployment,” Mazarr said. But in Germany, which is home to the U. S. Army in Europe headquarters, a new populist party with growing support from German voters, wants the American troops gone from Poland. The of the Alternative for Germany party, Frauke Petry, argued that antagonizing Vladimir Putin hasn’t cut down on violence in Ukraine or Syria. ”NATO sort of surrounding Russia is not going to help,” she told NPR. ”It’s going to deepen the conflict. But I’m hopeful that Trump and Putin are going to end the situation.” Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, on the other hand, has said he hopes any effort to reconcile with Russia ”does not happen at our expense.” For now, military officials say the Fort Carson brigade will fan out across Poland and send some of its soldiers to the Baltic States, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to train with local troops there.

The Affordable Care Act brought the rate of uninsured Americans to a record low 9 percent in 2015. It’s the major achievement of the controversial health care law and one the Obama administration likes to tout whenever it can. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell did just that in an interview with NPR on Tuesday. ”We have the lowest uninsured rate in the nation’s history,” Burwell said. ”Twenty million Americans have insurance that didn’t have insurance before the Affordable Care Act. For many people, they consider it just a basic part of their health care.” But many of those surveyed in a new poll got it wrong. About half believed that the number of people without insurance had increased or stayed the same, or said they didn’t know what the law’s effect has been on insurance coverage. That was a failure of communication on the part of the Obama administration, says Bill Pierce, a senior director at APCO Worldwide, who advises health care companies on strategic communications. ”They needed to use the president more,” said Pierce. ”If this was his No. 1 achievement, and something he was proud of doing, it was the kind of thing that he needed to be out there and talking about all the time.” Democrats were better informed than Republicans, with 54 percent of Democrats saying the law had reduced the number of people without insurance, compared to 41 percent of Republicans. One problem, Pierce said, is that the law was passed in 2010 but didn’t go fully into effect for years. In that time, the website that housed the insurance exchange, the most public part of the program, failed. ”By the time the insurance rate started to fall, a lot of minds were already set,” he said. NPR’s poll was designed to gauge the public’s knowledge of some basic aspects of the U. S. health care system. The results come as Republicans on Capitol Hill are working to repeal the law. The Senate early Thursday morning passed a measure taking the first step toward dismantling the law. While many people in the poll were misinformed about the big picture when it comes to Obamacare, they had stronger knowledge about the details of the law. The majority of those surveyed know that the ACA protects people with conditions from being refused coverage and that it requires insurance companies to pay for preventive care. However, the heated debate during the 2008 presidential race over ”death panels” left a mark. About a third of those surveyed believed Obamacare places limits on medical care and another half were not sure. Only 18 percent correctly said that no such limits exist under the law. Beyond Obamacare, many people had a good grasp of the overall quality of the U. S. health care system. The majority was aware that Americans generally pay more for health care than people in other countries and that even so, health care outcomes in the U. S. do not have ”the best results in the world.” The poll also reiterated findings from a separate survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation last week that showed that people are about evenly split on their view of the Affordable Care Act. Still, most people don’t want lawmakers to repeal the law until they have a replacement plan in place. Only 14 percent favor repeal without a replacement plan. That message seems to have gotten through to lawmakers. Earlier this month, Republican leaders in the House and Senate were advocating an immediate Obamacare repeal, with a slow phaseout while they consider ways to replace the law so people who have insurance can still get it. But many lawmakers walked those plans back this week in statements and via Twitter. Some, including Donald Trump, said they did not want to see a repeal until a replacement is ready. ”We’re going to be submitting, as soon as our secretary is approved, almost simultaneously — shortly thereafter — a plan. It will be repeal and replace. It will be, essentially simultaneously,” Trump said in a news conference Wednesday. The poll surveyed 1, 011 adults on Jan. 4 and 5, 2017.

At about 1:30 a. m. on Thursday, Republicans moved one step closer to repealing a law they have railed against since the moment it was passed nearly seven years ago. By a final vote of the Senate approved a budget resolution that sets the stage for broad swaths of the Affordable Care Act to be repealed through a process known as budget reconciliation. The resolution now goes to the House, where leaders are hoping to approve it by the end of the week. The powerful tool sets up a fast track for repealing large parts of Barack Obama’s major domestic achievement the best guess is that the Senate is still several weeks away from largely repealing Obamacare. But as the process continues, large questions still loom over how — and when — Republicans will replace the health care law. An expedited repeal, starting with a The vote took place during a session known as a ” .” These happen surrounding budget resolutions, which allow senators to propose unlimited amendments, as the New York Times’ Thomas Kaplan explained this week. The passage of the resolution kicks off the budget reconciliation process. That process is special because a reconciliation measure cannot be filibustered, meaning it allows the Senate to pass a bill with a simple majority (as opposed to needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster). That’s good for Republicans, who hold 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats. Once the House approves the measure, which could happen as soon as Friday, committees from both chambers will meet to create instructions telling the budget committee what repeal should look like. Once repeal legislation is drafted, both houses can pass it with a simple majority, and then it would go to President Trump for signature. Should that repeal legislation pass both houses and be signed by a President Trump, it would cut out important provisions of Obamacare, but would still not repeal the entire law. Budget reconciliation only allows Congress to repeal parts of the bill — more specifically, the parts that deal with how much the government spends or taxes people. That means this process can’t repeal, for example, the parts of the bill that allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance or the rules saying companies couldn’t deny coverage for people with conditions. But those are the parts of the law that end up costing a lot of money, while the parts that can be repealed through budget reconciliation — like the mandate that people have coverage (which is enforced through a tax) billions of dollars in Medicaid funds and subsidies for private coverage — bring money into the system to help balance out the cost equation. Democrats try to send their own messages, Democrats went into Wednesday night with a messaging plan: Use to get Republicans on the record about what may come next. That plan consisted of proposing amendment after amendment to force Republicans to vote on Medicaid expansion, funding for rural hospitals, women’s access to health care and other popular programs. Democrats know this is a train they can’t stop. As the night drew to a close, all they could do was stage a protest. Senators aren’t supposed to give speeches during a vote, but Sen. Tammy Duckworth, . a disabled Iraq War veteran, ignored the rule. As the presiding senator was gaveling for order, Duckworth said, ”For all those with conditions, I stand on prosthetic legs to vote no!” The gaveling continued as Sen. Al Franken, . said, ”I vote no on behalf of the more than 2. 3 million Minnesotans who can no longer be discriminated against because of the ACA!” What’s next (and when)? That’s complicated. .. Republicans are united on wanting to repeal Obamacare. But they’re more divided over the timeframe of that repeal, as well as what happens next. At one point, it appeared likely that congressional Republicans would take a ”repeal and delay” approach — that is, pass repeal legislation that would only be implemented far down the road, to allow time to craft a replacement for Obamacare. But now divisions are growing. House Speaker Paul Ryan this week said he would like a repeal and a replacement for Obamacare to come ”concurrently.” And in a Wednesday press conference, Donald Trump indicated that he would like the two to happen in quick succession, though he didn’t provide much more clarity on that timeframe. ”It will be repeal and replace. It will be, essentially simultaneously,” he said, later adding, ”It will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week — but probably the same day — could be a same hour.” Other Republicans, however, believe the process won’t be so abbreviated. ”I don’t see any possibility of our being able to come up with a comprehensive reform bill that would replace Obamacare by the end of this month,” said Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson also seemed to say on Tuesday that the process could take a while, involving multiple intermediate steps. As he told WBUR’s Here and Now: ”If you had a bridge that’s about ready to collapse, you know, the first thing you would do is you’d start working to repair that bridge,” he said. ”You aren’t going to blow it up I mean, at least people have a bridge to use. Repair that so people can use it while you start building other bridges.” Collins is one of five Republican senators who this week proposed that the resolution provide more time for committees to craft their instructions. One big concern for Republicans here is repealing a law they detest without disrupting the lives of the roughly 20 million people insured because of that law, including 6. 4 million Americans insured through ACA exchanges. Americans definitely want some sort of change — in an poll released Thursday, 38 percent said the ACA should be ”strengthened or expanded,” and close behind, 31 percent said it should be repealed and replaced. Meanwhile, only 6 percent said it should be ”left ” (the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3. 5 percentage points). With reporting from Susan Davis.

Tying a knot can be tricky. Just ask any kid struggling with shoelaces. And scientists have it even harder when they try to make knots using tiny molecules. Now, in the journal Science, a team of chemists says it has made a huge advance — manipulating molecules to create the tightest knot ever. ”Historically, knotting and weaving have led to all kinds of breakthrough technologies,” says David Leigh at the University of Manchester in the U. K. who notes that knots led to prehistoric innovations such as fishing nets and clothes. ”Knots should be just as important at the molecular level, but we can’t exploit that until we learn how to make them, and that’s really what we’re beginning to do.” The first molecular knot was created by chemist Sauvage, one of three scientists who won last year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for work in creating parts for future molecular machines. His knot had loops that made it look a bit like a clover. This ”trefoil knot” is the simplest kind of knot possible, Leigh says, ”and then for the next 25 years, chemists weren’t able to make any knots than that.” That’s surprising, he says, considering that mathematicians have come up with billions of possible knots. But in just the past few years, scientists including Leigh have managed to produce a few more complex knots. His team’s latest knot is the most intricate yet. It looks a lot like a Celtic knot and is designed to effectively tie itself in a test tube. Molecular strands wrap around metal ions that act like knitting needles and set up strand crossings in just the right spots. ”You can’t tie the knots by grabbing the ends and mechanically tying them like you would a shoelace in our everyday world,” Leigh says. ”Instead, you have to use chemistry.” Three molecular strands get braided together in this knot, he adds, ”and being able to braid, like you braid a girl’s hair in elementary school, allows you to make much, much more complicated knots and ultimately opens the door for weaving as well, which will be very exciting.” That’s because molecular weaving could produce materials with interesting new properties. ”It’s fantastic,” says Edward Fenlon, a chemist at Pennsylvania’s Franklin Marshall College who has a special interest in knots but was not part of this research team. ”It’s really impressive that they’ve been able to go beyond some of the more simple knots with just three crossings.” This new knot has eight crossings, he says, and what’s more, it’s the tightest knot ever, which he says is defined by just ”the length of your rope, and then how complex the knot is, how many crossings you have.” In this case, the ”rope” is very short — just 192 atoms long, or 500 times smaller than a red blood cell, Leigh says. ”Knots are really fascinating objects or geometric shapes. They have always been around you observe them in art, in nature. As a Boy Scout you learn how to tie knots,” says Rigoberto Advincula, a chemist at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University, who notes that knots also are found in DNA and proteins. ”It’s one of the fascinating things to stretch chemistry in terms of your ability to make synthetic objects.”

It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. NPR’s Kelly McEvers talks to Mike Sutter, food critic for the San Antonio about his ”365 days of Tacos” series, in which he eats at a different taco joint every day for a year. He’s done it before, in Austin, where he ate more than 1, 600 tacos in 2015. But now he’s moved to San Antonio, and he’s finding that the taco scene there is a bit different, and in fact is tied to a cultural identity that spans back many decades. Kelly McEvers: My main question is not whether or not you can do this, because you’ve done it before. But why? Mike Sutter: If we want to take it from a health perspective, then we’ll look at the year that I did this before. I lost 10 pounds. I know that sounds completely counterintuitive, but a good reason to eat tacos every day is they’re pure protein, they’re wrapped in a light layer of carbohydrates and they’re farm fresh. We talk about the movement — the taquerias have been doing that since time immemorial. Have you ever seen a taqueria open in the morning or a taco truck about to open at night? You see the cooks coming back with these giant bags of tomatillos and tomatoes and fresh jalapenos and these big vats of marinating pork. They’re cooking that to order. It’s healthy food. It was before that was a popular thing in food. What kinds of tacos are we talking about? Breakfast tacos are generally available all day, but I’m not just going to stick with that, although one of my favorites is just a basic taco in a good flour tortilla. I had that yesterday at a taqueria that you might have called ”fast food.” If fast food were like that, it wouldn’t have such a bad name. This was a taco that was stuffed with . .. these wonderful dirty potatoes and freshly scrambled eggs, and you really just had to wrap it with both hands to get it up into your mouth. What, for you, makes a good taco? The tortilla is the point. If you’re not starting with handmade flour or corn [tortillas] you’re already doing it wrong. Whether it’s that fluffy and dusty flour tortilla that San Antonio loves, or the corn tortillas from Austin taco trucks, if the tortilla’s wrong, the taco’s never right. I also look for faithfulness to the form. If you’re going to do a breakfast taco, cook the eggs to order. Let’s not just dip them out from a steam pan. If you’re going to do a bean and cheese, let’s have it in the right ratio so that it melts together and doesn’t squish out the sides. .. Food is all about ratios and that holds true with tacos. Is there one taco that sticks out, for good or for bad? A form that I hadn’t had a lot of exposure to was the puffy taco. Ask anyone from San Antonio and they’ll tell you it was born there, and a lot of people will tell you it was born at Ray’s . I think the best taco I’ve had in San Antonio so far was the beef puffy taco from Ray’s . You just take this nice pile of masa, flatten it out, fry it. It gets puffy and crisp but a little bit soft so you can fold it. And then you put that together, and it’s a perfect little taco purse. It’s dressed with lettuce and tomatoes and cheese — it’s got a little bit of a hybrid appeal to it. Are there enough taquerias in San Antonio to give you enough material for an entire year? There’s a broader discussion to be had about that, because tacos were a part of the fabric of life here long before popular food culture and media discovered tacos. So instead of that itinerant popularity of tacos, you’ve had people whose taquerias aren’t measured by months or years, they’re measured by decades. They’ve been in those buildings, and there’s history in the bricks. The hard part in San Antonio is going to be narrowing the list to 365. I had to work hard to get to 365 in Austin. How different are the tacos in Austin and San Antonio? The culture in Austin doesn’t go back quite as far, so what you’re looking at is taco trucks. So, it’s trucks vs. taquerias. In that yearlong series [in Austin] I must have gone to a hundred trucks. Half of those are gone already. Do you feel like in some ways you’re giving San Antonio its due? I think it’s time we paid tribute to the people who formed the bones of the San Antonio dining scene. We love to talk about the latest bistro and what the hotshot chef guys are doing, but people who eat every day out of convenience and necessity — they’ve been going to these places since they were kids. They’ve been taking tacos in their lunchboxes, and there was a little bit of bigotry attached to that. Now it’s just time to recognize and give the same level of importance to the kind of food we eat every day instead of just on a special occasion. You’re a white dude. You’re in a Latino city writing about tacos. Is that an issue? I don’t think I have to be born in the blood to appreciate the form. I think if you approach it with respect, it doesn’t matter what your background is.

Free speech advocates see Trumps’s testy relationship with the media and his tweets reacting to critics as evidence that he is — at best — insensitive to the First Amendment. And they say one recent controversy, the decision by Simon Schuster to publish a book by social media provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, has grown out of an atmosphere that encourages hate speech. Now, PEN America — an organization dedicated to defending the right to free speech all over the world — is starting to pay more attention to what’s happening on the home front. PEN is a protest which will bring a host of writers to the steps of the New York Public Library to protest threats to free expression. ”We need to be, as citizens, ready to come out,” says PEN America executive director Suzanne Nossel, ”stand together for basic rights that six months ago we might have been able to take for granted, but that we no longer can.” Nossel sees these threats coming from several directions: The ’s attacks on the press and his critics, the proliferation of fake news and the pattern of trolling on social media. ”People feel more free to speak their mind,” she says, ”even if it crosses what would have been considered boundaries of hatred or racism or misogyny, and so I think it then becomes incumbent on others to speak more loudly.” But the job of advocating for free speech has become ever more complicated in the age of social media — which Nossel says can be both an incredible tool for free expression and a threat to it. ”It has a dampening effect on the depth of discourse, it can lead to this online mobbing and trolling where someone who says something controversial is then targeted, ridiculed. So this is not about the government silencing speech, but it’s about speech silencing other speech.” Perhaps no one has crossed the line on social media more boldly than Milo Yiannopoulos, who was kicked off of Twitter after he spearheaded a nasty campaign against black actress Leslie Jones. Yiannopoulos likes to describe himself as a free speech fundamentalist: ”What the left wants to do is it wants to enable its extremists on its own side, the sexists and misandrists of feminism, the black supremacists of Black Lives Matter, they want to enable extremists on their own side, and silence the extremists on the other. Well, I don’t like the extremists on either side.” Yiannopoulos, an editor at the Breitbart News, seems to take delight in infuriating people with remarks that are viewed as racist, misogynistic and . So it’s not surprising that Simon Schuster’s decision to publish his book drew strong criticism and calls for a boycott of the company. Dennis Johnson is the head of Melville House, a small independent publisher, ”Nobody in the protest is saying ’you have no right to be published,’” he says. ”’You have no right, Simon Schuster, to publish this guy, and this guy, you have no right to be published’ — nobody’s saying that. What they’re saying is, ’we’re shocked and we’re outraged that you would stoop so low to make a buck as to publish this purveyor of vile hate speech. ’” Johnson is highly critical of a statement issued by the National Coalition Against Censorship on behalf of a number of industry groups representing publishers, authors and booksellers. The NCAC says anyone has a right to call for a boycott of Simon Schuster — but that such a protest will have a ”chilling effect” on publishing. Joan Bertin, executive director of the NCAC, says similar protests have already led to censorship: ”We know of instances in which books that contain certain kinds of content have been shelved, deferred, redacted, edited deeply to remove content that people might object to.” Both the NCAC and PEN America say the best response to hate speech is not more censorship. ”Trying to suppress hateful speech doesn’t make it go away,” says Bertin. ”I mean, I think the whole idea of free speech requires us to be active participants, and when we hear ideas that we think are bad and harmful, it requires us to say ’why,’ not just say ’shut up. ’” But publisher Dennis Johnson says another equally important right is at stake here: The right to protest. ”This is not about censoring right wing voices,” he says. ”This is about combating hate speech and its entry into the mainstream.”

The Environmental Protection Agency said Fiat Chrysler violated the Clean Air Act by allegedly installing and failing to disclose software in some 104, 000 cars and trucks that alters emissions. The automaker was required by law to disclose the software to regulators during the certification process but did not do so, the EPA announced Thursday. While the agency is still investigating the nature of these devices, it said the software results in increased emissions of nitrogen oxides. ”The software is designed such that during the emissions tests, Fiat Chrysler’s diesel cars meet the standards that protect clean air,” EPA Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles told reporters on a conference call. ”However, under some other kinds of operating conditions, including many that occur frequently during normal driving, the software directs the emissions control system to operate differently, resulting in emissions that can be much higher.” That includes times when vehicles are ”driving at high speeds and for an extended period,” Giles added. The software was found in two models, according to the EPA: ” model year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks with 3. 0 liter diesel engines sold in the United States.” The regulator said it has not yet made a certification decision for model year 2017. The EPA stressed that issuing a notice of violation is a first step as discussions continue with the company. It added that Fiat Chrysler might be liable for civil penalties and injunctive relief. Fiat Chrysler said in a statement that it was ”disappointed” by the notice of violation and ”intends to work with the incoming administration to present its case as resolve this matter fairly and equitable.” The company added that it has provided ”voluminous information” about its technology in response to EPA requests the EPA said the company has thus far failed to explain the devices. The vehicles remain legal to drive and vehicle owners aren’t required to take any action at the moment, the EPA says. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement that his office also plans to investigate the claims against Fiat Chrysler. The allegations appear reminiscent of the major Volkswagen diesel emissions cheating scheme, which has resulted in some $19 billion in penalties and compensation. Fiat Chrysler shares plunged after the EPA announcement and trading was briefly halted.

Among the unusual elements of Donald Trump’s Wednesday news conference was a interlude in which an attorney took the podium and described Trump’s plan to address potential conflicts of interest between his businesses and the responsibilities of his office. The attorney, Sheri Dillon, outlined an arrangement by which Trump would turn over ”total control” of his worldwide business interests to his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, with whom he would not communicate about the family business. Dillon said real divestiture — selling the business or committing its assets to a blind trust — would be forcing him ”to destroy his business.” She said the ”should not be expected to destroy the company he built.” Dillon went on to say that Trump’s empire ”is massive, not dissimilar to the fortunes of Nelson Rockefeller when he became vice president, but at that time no one was so concerned.” [Emphasis added.] It may have been the first time anyone has compared Trump’s wealth to that of the Rockefellers, but that was not ultimately the point. It was the last eight words of her remark of that moment that raised eyebrows, because Rockefeller’s wealth at the time was very much a concern to quite a number of people. Dillon might not be expected to have any personal recollection of the Rockefeller confirmation process more than 40 years ago, but the record is widely available. Rockefeller was picked to be the new vice president in September 1974, just weeks after President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in to succeed President Richard Nixon, who had resigned. Rockefeller, known as ”Rocky,” had been elected the Republican governor of New York four times and had run for president three times. He was also a grandson of the legendary John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Co, and founder of perhaps the largest and certainly the most famous family fortune in America. The was a time of hypersensitivity to money issues in national politics, an era when ethics and reform were front and center in Washington — partly because of the Watergate scandals that had driven Nixon from office. Rockefeller’s nomination was, in fact, the subject of extensive hearings that fall, not only in the Senate but in the House of Representatives as well. (The provisions of the 25th Amendment governing the presidential succession required a confirmation vote in both chambers of Congress.) Many conservatives saw Rockefeller as a liberal, especially on social issues, and did not fancy him a heartbeat from the presidency. Many Democrats saw his great wealth as a source of inevitable conflicts of interest. His confirmation was far from assured, especially after it was revealed he had used $2 million in personal or family funds to make gifts to senior aides, including Henry Kissinger (who had moved on to serve both Nixon and Ford in the White House and as secretary of state) as well as to finance the publication of a biography critical of a Democrat who had opposed his as governor. Additional controversy arose over deductions he took on his federal income tax return, leading to an eventual settlement with the IRS for more than $900, 000. But Rockefeller disclosed his various assets and trust funds and placed all his assets in a blind trust — the kind of steps Trump has not been willing to take. And in a session after that fall’s election, Rockefeller was confirmed by both the House and Senate. He served as Ford’s vice president but was not made part of the ticket when Ford sought a full term in his own right in 1976. Buffeted by opposition within the Republican Party, Ford dumped Rockefeller for Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas. The ticket lost in 1976. Rockefeller retired from politics and died of a heart attack in 1979 at the age of 70.

Donald Trump took to Twitter again Thursday morning, this time to urge his followers to ”Buy L. L. Bean,” and support one of his campaign backers. ”Thank you to Linda Bean of L. L. Bean for your great support and courage,” he tweeted Thursday. ”People will support you even more now. Buy L. L. Bean.” The tweet came in response to public attention over Linda Bean’s political support for Trump. Bean, a board member and of the outdoor retailer and the granddaughter of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean, says she gave money to a PAC supporting Trump. The Associated Press reported that her donations totaled $30, 000 — exceeding limits on individual contributions in a single year. (The news service says the PAC, Making Maine Great Again, initially reported Bean contributed $60, 000 but amended its filings.) Her political stance drew criticism and spurred calls for a boycott of the company under the hashtag #Grabyourwallet. That prompted the company to respond, noting that Linda Bean’s views did not reflect on the company or the views of other Bean family members. ”I think it’s a case of bullying,” Bean told Fox Friends on Thursday. Since his electoral victory, Trump has used his Twitter account to criticize U. S. manufacturers considering expansion in Mexico. Responses to his tweets include criticisms that Trump is now advertising for his favored companies.

At a Wednesday press conference, Donald Trump and his lawyer described the steps the real estate mogul would take to separate from his business empire while in office. It wasn’t nearly enough, according to Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub. ”The president is now entering a world of public service,” Shaub said in a speech at the Brookings Institution. ”He’s going to be asking his own appointees to make sacrifices. He’s going to be asking our men and women in uniform to risk their lives in conflicts around the world. So no, I don’t think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the president of the United States of America.” Trump said on Wednesday that among other moves, he would hand all management of his businesses to his sons, who would make no new foreign deals and would need an ethics review of any new domestic deals. Divestiture would require him to go much further. It would mean the sale of all of the president’s assets, with their value conveyed to a blind trust — and an investment portfolio of which he and his family would have no knowledge or control. Of course, no past U. S. president has had business holdings of the scale or complexity of the ’s. Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon said at the press conference that would make divestiture unworkable, NPR’s Jackie Northam reported. ”The Trump brand is key to the value of the Trump Organization’s assets,” Dillon said. ”If Trump sold his brand, he’d be entitled to the royalties for the use of it.” And if the brand was mothballed entirely, the value of Trump’s holdings would crater, and they would have to be sold off in a fire sale. Nevertheless, that’s what Shaub said needs to happen — both to completely safeguard against conflicts of interest, and to set an example. ”The ethics program starts at the top — the signals a president sends [set] a tone across the executive branch,” Shaub said, adding that ”officials in any administration need their president to show ethics matters, not only through words but through deeds.” The ethics official pointed to the steps undertaken by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, whose separation from Exxon Mobil reportedly will cost the former CEO about $7 million. ”Mr. Tillerson’s making a clean break from Exxon,” he said. ”His ethics agreement serves as a sterling model for what we’d like to see with other nominees.” Unlike the president, Shaub said, Tillerson worked closely with the ethics office to create his divestment plan. And it’s not just inside the government that the president’s example matters, Shaub said. The ethics program run by the executive branch, including presidential divestment, has been viewed as a gold standard internationally, he said, with the office frequently consulting with governments in the developing world to set up similar programs.

After years of hints, shots across the bow and a few gentle suggestions, the Chargers have finally done it: Owner Dean Spanos announced that the NFL team will be leaving San Diego for Los Angeles, starting next season. ”San Diego has been our home for 56 years. It will always be part of our identity, and my family and I have nothing but gratitude and appreciation for the support and passion our fans have shared with us over the years,” Spanos said in a letter Thursday. ”But today,” he continued, ”we turn the page and begin an exciting new era as the Los Angeles Chargers.” The move will bring to a close the Chargers’ stay in the city. The team spent its inaugural year in 1960 playing in Los Angeles, as a member of the American Football League (which would merge with the NFL roughly a decade later). The first stop in LA didn’t last long the team moved to San Diego the following year. In the decades that followed, the Chargers made it to just one Super Bowl, which they lost to the San Francisco 49ers in 1995. In recent years, the relationship between Spanos and the city his team called home soured, as Spanos angled for public funds for a new stadium. The Chargers’ current venue, Qualcomm Stadium, opened in 1967 and now stands as one of the NFL’s oldest buildings. The City of San Diego was less than enthused about the prospect of paying for a new one. The standoff led Spanos to cast his gaze elsewhere, notably in a proposal with the Oakland Raiders to share a stadium in Carson, Calif. in Los Angeles County. That plan was rejected by NFL owners in a vote early last year. The ongoing dispute even made a recent appearance on Election Day ballots, when a referendum was put to San Diego voters. They dealt a convincing defeat to a proposal that would have used hundreds of millions of tax dollars on a new stadium in downtown San Diego. While not necessarily a nail in the coffin, that vote renewed speculation that the Chargers and San Diego would soon part ways. LA, for its part, had suffered a professional football drought for more than two decades, since the Raiders and the Rams both left town in the . Now, after the Rams returned last year, the city is suddenly flush with football teams — especially if you count perennial college powerhouses USC and UCLA. The newly minted LA Chargers will join the Rams in a $2. 66 billion stadium in Inglewood, reports the . That stadium is scheduled to open in 2019 in the meantime, the Chargers will be playing at the StubHub Center in Carson, which will briefly earn the honor of smallest venue in the NFL. According to the paper, the Chargers will also have to pay the NFL a $550 million relocation fee — or, $650 million if they choose to pay in installments. San Diego fans, for their part, expressed disappointment and frustration, though not surprise. ”It hurts, but we will move on without them,” County Supervisor Ron Roberts told the . ”San Diego is a great community and we are not dependent on the Chargers.” Lastly, by way of postscript, it must be noted: Bystanders on social media have not exactly been kind to the team’s new logo, which displays a white L and A on a blue background, a la the LA Dodgers — albeit with a little lightning bolt riff. We present these tweets without comment, merely as a reminder that the Internet might not be the best place to look for a warm welcome.

A poem written by a Chinese surgeon lamenting the medical effects of smog, called ”I Long to Be King,” is going viral on Chinese social media. Told from the perspective of lung cancer, the poem takes an apocalyptic note: Happiness after sorrow, rainbow after rain. I faced surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, But continued to chase my dream, Some would have given up, but I will be the king. An English version of the poem (for full text, see below) ran in the October issue of CHEST Journal, a publication of the American College of Chest Physicians. Published in Chinese this month, the poem is now striking a chord on Chinese social media. ”I hope the government can look at this problem more and then immediately resolve it, otherwise everyone will move. Or we will die of cancer. Is this the final outcome we face?” asked one commenter on Weibo, China’s social media platform. ”I’m infuriated. .. For the sake of GDP, can we simply ignore the health of our country’s people?” wrote another. Not all commenters appreciated the poem though. ”Europe and the U. S. always most enjoy when Chinese people write about their own underside. The more coarse, the more backward, the higher the chance it wins attention,” complained one. The author of ”I Long to Be King” is Dr. Zhao Xiaogang, deputy chief of thoracic surgery at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital of Tongji University. Since the poem has taken off, he has been outspoken in the detrimental health effects of air pollution. ”The intense rise in lung cancer . .. is intimately related to smog,” Dr. Zhao told state media. In and around Beijing and Hebei province in China’s northeast last week, the concentration of air pollutant particles was more than 20 times higher than the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization. According to the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, the city saw 168 days of ”polluted” air in 2016. Cancer is the leading cause of death in China, claiming 2. 8 million lives in 2015. Lung cancer is the country’s leading form of cancer. The Chinese government, well aware of the simmering discontent, has resolved to clean up the country’s smog problem. Ambitious goals have been set to substantially reign in air pollution by 2020. And over the past year authorities have fined corporate polluters millions, going as far as detaining several hundred of them. Yet on Chinese message boards, some commenters don’t think the pollution will end any time soon. ”The Hebei countryside is all smog. It is terrible,” wrote one commenter. ”It is another way of showing how useless the government is.” Here’s the full text of I Long To Be King: I am ground glass opacity (GGO) in the lung, A vague figure shrouded in mystery and strangeness, Like looking at the moon through clouds, Like seeing beautiful flowers in the fog. I long to be king, With my fellows swimming in every vessel. My people crawl in your organs and body, Holding the rights for life or death, I tremble with excitement. When young you called me ”atypical adenomatous hyperplasia”, Then when I had matured, you declared me ”adenocarcinoma in situ”, When fully developed, your fearful denomination: ”invasive adenocarcinoma”. You forgot my strenuous journey to become the king. From tiny to strong, From humble to arrogant. None cared when I was young, But all fear me we when full grown. I’ve been nourished on the delicious mist and haze, That sweetly warmed my heart, Always loving when you were heavy drunk and smoking, Creating me a cozy home. When I was less than eight millimeters, I was so fragile, Waiting for a chance to grow up. Now, more than eight millimeters, I am more mature, And considered worthy of notice. My continuous growth gives me a chance to be king, As I break through layers of obstacles, Spanning the mountains and waters. My fellows march to every corner and occupy every region. My quest to become king was full of obstacles, I was cut until almost dead in childhood, Burned once I’d matured, And poisoned when older. Happiness after sorrow, rainbow after rain. I faced surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, But continued to chase my dream, Some would have given up, but I will be the king. I long to be king, with fellows and subordinates, I long to be king, to have people’s fear and respect, I long to be king, to dominate my domain, I long to be king, to direct your fate.

Maracanã Stadium has been a fixture of the Rio de Janeiro skyline for decades. Opened just in time to play host to Brazil’s heartbreak in the 1950 World Cup, it underwent massive renovations to host . .. well, more heartbreak for Brazilians in the 2014 World Cup. Now the iconic soccer stadium, which also hosted Brazilians’ 2016 Olympic redemption, is suffering a heartbreak of a different kind: Rio’s soccer authority says Maracanã has fallen into a state of abandonment and disrepair. ”The worries over the present and the future of the stadium are only increasing,” the Rio de Janeiro Football Federation said in a statement, according to multiple media outlets. Since its last official use late last year, windows have been smashed, copper wiring stolen from the walls, seats torn out of their places entirely. Brazilian newspaper O Globo reports that looters even took off with a bust of journalist Mário Filho, for whom the stadium was given its official name — Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho. The playing field itself has been left to the ravages of time and theft, leaving it a shadow of its Olympic self. Given the billions of dollars the country spent on its preparations for the World Cup and the Olympics — and the massive protests that spending elicited — the neglect of Maracanã, its jewel, has raised eyebrows among Brazilian soccer officials. But so far, few hands have been raised to fix the situation. Neither Maracanã SA, the firm currently under contract for the stadium’s upkeep, nor the Rio state government accept responsibility for the cleanup and administration of Maracanã, according to O Globo. Both groups are said to blame the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee for having left the stadium in disrepair after the Summer Games. So the city’s four major soccer clubs that regularly make use of the stadium, such as Flamengo, have begun looking at alternatives to Maracanã for their upcoming games. Reuters reports the teams plan to meet with the football federation on Tuesday. But for federation President Ruben Lopes, the matter might be moot unless something significant changes. ”If there is not an immediate government intervention to stop the looting and the destruction of the Maracanã then it might not even be worth meeting on the 17th,” Ruben Lopes said, according to the wire service.

A U. S. military investigation has cleared the U. S. forces of wrongdoing in fighting that left 33 civilians dead and 27 others wounded last year in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, saying that they acted in . ”To defend themselves and Afghan forces, U. S. forces returned fire in at Taliban who were using civilian houses as firing positions,” according to the U. S. military report published Thursday. The November firefight started when Afghan special operations forces and some U. S. military advisers entered the village of Boz in an attempt to capture Taliban leaders there. Taliban forces started firing at the troops from civilian buildings. As the joint forces began to take casualties, they called for U. S. aerial reinforcements. The investigation concluded that the air assets ”used the minimum amount of force required to neutralize the various threats from the civilian buildings and protect friendly forces.” The killed and wounded Afghan civilians are believed to have been inside the buildings as they were hit by airstrikes, though the reports states that ”no civilians were seen or identified in the course of the battle.” A Taliban ammunition cache exploded during the fighting, which may have also caused casualties, the report added. Local Afghan officials say the U. S. military’s count of the civilian toll is low, according to The Associated Press. ”More than 50 people, including women and children, were killed in the Afghan and U. S. forces’ attack in Kandahari,” Toryalia Kakar, a deputy provincial council member, told the wire service. ”After the raid, Kunduz residents carried over a dozen corpses of the dead, including children and family members of the Taliban fighters, toward a local governor’s office in a show of rage,” the AP added. The U. S. military says two U. S. soldiers and three Afghan army soldiers were killed during the battle. Four U. S. soldiers and 11 Afghan army soldiers were wounded. More than two dozen Taliban members, including three of its leaders, were killed. A year before this battle, Kunduz was the site of a U. S. aerial assault on a Médecins Sans Frontières trauma center that killed dozens of medical staff and patients. The Pentagon disciplined 16 service members for the strike, which is says was caused by human errors, but concluded that it was not a war crime.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered government agencies to expand access to contraception, especially for poor women. By 2018, he instructs, all poor households in the country should have ”zero unmet need for modern family planning.” Duterte’s executive order, signed Monday and announced on Wednesday, is the latest development in a long battle over birth control in the Philippines. It pits the president, who says family planning is critical for reducing poverty, against the country’s Supreme Court and Catholic leadership. Four years ago — after more than a decade of debate, negotiations and lobbying in Congress — the Philippines passed a law guaranteeing universal access to birth control. But the full implementation of that law has been blocked by court orders and budget cuts. Birth control has long been available in the Philippines for middle class and wealthy women, but it is priced out of reach of the country’s poor. Abortion is illegal, with no express exceptions. More than half of all pregnancies in the Philippines are unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute, and more than 90 percent of unintended pregnancies occurred in the absence of modern contraceptive methods. Polls show that most Filipinos support the Reproductive Health Law, which calls not just for access to contraception (subsidized or free, for poor couples) but also sexual health education and reproductive health care services. But it has been strongly opposed by the powerful Catholic Church. The law was immediately challenged as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld some of the law, but imposed a restraining order limiting the contraceptive methods the government can distribute. Then Congress slashed the budget that was supposed to pay for free or contraception in many communities. In November, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines thanked the high court for showing ”caution and circumspection” on the implementation of the law. Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas urged couples to ”shun the ways of selfishness” and avoid the ”mutual ” of artificial contraception. Duterte’s order calls on a wide range of government agencies to ”intensify and accelerate” services that promote access to contraception. The order says more than 6 million Filipinas of reproductive age have no access to modern family planning methods, including 2 million women living in poverty. In a nod to the budgetary limitations, the order also calls for government offices to ”engage, collaborate and partner with” nonprofits and the private sector to fully meet demand for family planning resources. Duterte wants agencies to report back in six months on their progress, and factor expanded access to birth control into their future budget proposals. The president has made global headlines with his violent crackdown on the drug trade, which has killed thousands of people. The Catholic Church has joined international human rights watchdogs in criticizing the street killings, while Duterte remains popular among the general public. The famously blunt and frequently profane president has previously indicated his willingness to defy the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception, too. As the mayor of Davao City in the southern Philippines, he not only advocated for contraception, but he offered cash rewards for men who underwent vasectomies, The Associated Press reports. And he vowed to bring the same attitude to family planning to the national level, ”I will reinstall the program of family planning.” Duterte said in June, before taking office, the AP writes. ”Three’s enough.”

A storm system that dumped precipitation on multiple states in the West appears to be easing, but rivers have yet to crest and many communities are still digging out from record snowfall. The Pacific Northwest and Northern California were hit hardest beginning Tuesday, when rain flooded roads and prompted evacuations in multiple communities. The storms were the second major weather system to hit the region this week, as we have reported. But all that water has helped ease the region’s severe drought, according to the weekly U. S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday. The report said a wet week contributed to ”major drought improvements” in California as well as Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. A rainstorm in Southern California led the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood watch for Los Angeles County on Thursday, saying that rain during the evening ”could possibly trigger mud and debris flows in the recent burn areas” where the risk of erosion is high. A day earlier, the Los Angeles Fire Department said a slab of concrete ”from the foundation and retaining wall of the home detached and [slid down a] hillside,” blocking a road. No one was injured. On Thursday, a winter storm warning also remained in effect for part of the Sierra Nevada, and a coastal flood advisory was issued for the San Francisco Bay Area, where king tides exacerbated flooding. In Sacramento County, Calif. 10 inches of rain fell in the foothills and 6 feet of snow in the mountains, reported Bob Moffitt of Capital Public Radio in Sacramento. Moffitt also reported that 20, 000 people in Placer County had lost power as of Thursday, and he spoke to county Emergency Services Manager John McEldowney, who said people are struggling to keep their driveways and rooftops clear. ”You want to keep huge amounts of snow off your roof because there have been cases where feet and feet and feet of snow on roofs have caused ” McEldowney said. In the mountains of Northern California and Nevada, the National Weather Service also warned there was a high risk of avalanches. Farther north, snow blanketed much of Oregon and more than 37, 000 people in the Portland area lost power. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that ”on average, [Portland] and surrounding communities received inches of snow” on Tuesday and Wednesday. ”The reports are that there were hundreds of cars abandoned on the highways and dozens, if not hundreds of people stranded in their vehicles,” Portland Police Sgt. Christopher Burley told the member station. The station reported: ”The NWS had a tough time just keeping up with the changing forecast as the snow fell late Tuesday, said . .. meteorologist Clinton Rockey. ” ’What we saw across the region was a nightmare unfolding for the area. Snowfalls in the metro area, boy I tell you, it was really a lot of fun for us to figure out what’s going on,’ he said. ”The metro region saw the unusual phenomenon of what’s known as ’thundersnow,’ which is what it sounds like: a thunderstorm during a snowstorm.” Not even skiers could catch a break. In California and Nevada, so much snow fell on ski resorts that they couldn’t open. Woodward Tahoe ski area in California said it was closed Wednesday due to ”Snowpacalypse2017.” On Thursday, Nevada’s Mount Rose remained closed ”due to complications from the storm.” The snow was a relief for at least one living thing, however. At the Oregon Zoo, a polar bear appeared to be having a pretty great day.

Six years ago, Don Cameron, the general manager of Terranova Ranch, southwest of Fresno, Calif. did something that seemed kind of crazy. He went out to a nearby river, which was running high because of recent rains, and he opened an irrigation gate. Water rushed down a canal and flooded hundreds of acres of vineyards — even though it was wintertime. The vineyards were quiet. Nothing was growing. ”We started in February, and we flooded grapes continuously, for the most part, until May,” Cameron says. Cameron was doing this because for years, he and his neighbors have been digging wells and pumping water out of the ground to irrigate their crops. That groundwater supply has been running low. ”I became really concerned about it,” Cameron says. So his idea was pretty simple: Flood his fields and let gravity do the rest. Water would seep into the ground all the way to the aquifer. The idea worked. Over four months, Cameron was able to flood his fields with a large amount of water — equivalent to water three feet deep across 1, 000 acres. It all went into the ground, and it didn’t harm his grapes. These days, Cameron’s unconventional idea has become a hot new trend in California’s water management circles — especially this week, with rivers flooding all over the state. ”This is going to be the future for California,” Cameron says. ”If we don’t store the water during flood periods, we’re not going to make it through the droughts.” Helen Dahlke, a groundwater hydrologist at the University of California, Davis, is working with a farmers who are ready to flood their fields this year. ”We have test sites set up on almonds, pistachios and alfalfa, just to test how those crops tolerate water that we put on in the winter,” she says. There are two big reasons for these experiments. The first is simply that California’s aquifers are depleted. It got really bad during the recent drought, when farmers couldn’t get much water from the state’s surface reservoirs. They pumped so much groundwater that many wells ran dry. The water table in some areas dropped by 10, 20, or even 100 feet. Aquifers are especially depleted in the southern part of California’s Central Valley, south of Fresno. Flooding fields could help the aquifers recover. The second reason to put water underground is climate change. California has always counted on snow, piling up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, to act as a giant water reservoir. Water is released gradually as the snow melts. But because of a warming climate, California now is getting less snow in winter, and more rain. The trend is expected to intensify. But heavy rain isn’t as useful because it quickly outstrips the capacity of the state’s reservoirs and just runs into the ocean. Meanwhile, the state gets very little rain during the summer, when crops need water. ”We really have to find new ways of storing and capturing rainfall in the winter, when it’s available,” says Dahlke. There’s no better place to store water than underground. Over the years, California’s farmers have extracted twice as much water from the state’s aquifers as the total storage capacity of the state’s dams and lakes. In theory, farmers could replace that water. Peter Gleick, a water expert and of the Pacific Institute, says that after winter storms, there is enough water available to recharge those groundwater aquifers. The hard part, he says, will be getting the state’s farmers and irrigation managers to go along with the plan. Because it will require flooding hundreds of thousands — and possibly millions — of acres. ”I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do this,” he says. But it’s going to require a different way of thinking. It’s going to require a lot of farmers and owners of ag land to be willing to flood land when the water’s available.” And Gleick says, even if this flooding can be accomplished, it won’t be enough, by itself, to protect groundwater supplies. It will have to be accompanied by strict limits on how much water farmers can pump from aquifers. Groundwater — which until recently was almost completely unregulated — will have to be managed so that water is there when farmers really need it, when the rains don’t fall.

The bustling Paris streets were rutted and caked in thick mud, but there was always a breathtaking sight to behold in the shop windows of Patisserie de la Rue de la Paix. By 1814, people crowded outside the bakery, straining for a glimpse of the latest confection created by the young chef who worked inside. His name was Carême, and he had appeared, one day, almost out of nowhere. But in his short lifetime, which ended exactly 184 years ago today, he would forever revolutionize French haute cuisine, write bestselling cookbooks and conjure up extravagant, magical feasts for royals and dignitaries. Carême’s childhood was one part tragedy, equal part mystery. Born the 16th child to destitute parents in Paris in either 1783 or 1784, a young Carême was suddenly abandoned at the height of the French Revolution. At 8 years old, he worked as a kitchen boy for a chophouse in Paris in exchange for room and board. By age 15, he had become an apprentice to Sylvain Bailly, a pâtissier with a prosperous bakery nestled in one of Paris’ most fashionable neighborhoods. Carême was a quick study in the kitchen. Bailly encouraged his young protégé to learn to read and write Carême would often spend his free afternoons at the nearby Bibliotheque Nationale poring over books on art and architecture. In the back room of the little patisserie, Carême’s penchant for design and his baking talent collided, as he shaped delectable masterpieces out of pastry, marzipan and sugar. In his teenage years, Carême fashioned edible replicas of the late 18th century’s most famous buildings — crumbled confectionery ruins of ancient Athens and pastry towers of Chinese fortresses with flowing trellises of appetizing greenery. Bailly displayed these opulent creations — often as large as 4 feet tall — in his bakery window. Carême’s creations soon captured the discriminating eye of a French diplomat, Charles Maurice de . Around 1804, Talleyrand challenged Carême to produce a full menu for his personal château, instructing the young baker to use local, seasonal fruits and vegetables and to avoid repeating entrees over the course of an entire year. The experiment was a grand success and Talleyrand’s association with French nobility would prove a lucrative connection for Carême. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was notoriously unimpressed by the decadence of early 18th century cuisine, but under pressure to entertain Paris’ high society, he too summoned Carême to his kitchen at Tuileries Palace. In 1810, he designed the lavish cake for the wedding of Napoleon and his second bride, of Austria. Carême became one of the first modern chefs to focus on the appearance of his table, not just the flavor of his dishes. ”I want order and taste. A well displayed meal is enhanced one hundred per cent in my eyes,” he later wrote in one of his cookbooks. In 1816, Carême embarked on a culinary journey which would forever mark his place as history’s first celebrity chef. He voyaged to England to cook in the modern Great Kitchen of the prince regent, George IV, and crossed continents to prepare grand feasts for the tables of Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Never afraid to tout his own accomplishments, a boastful Carême made a fortune as wealthy families with social ambitions wooed him to their kitchens. Later, in his cookbooks, he would often include a sketch of himself, so that people on the street would be able to recognize — and adore — him. Carême’s gastronomic displays became the epitome of fine French dining they were bountiful, beautiful and ostentatious. Guests would fall silent in wonder as servants carried Carême’s elaborate creations into the dining hall. For a feast celebrating the Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia’s visit to George IV’s Brighton Pavillion on Jan. 18, 1817, the menu featured 120 different dishes, highlighting eight different soups, 40 entrees (including Glazed veal with chicory and Jellied partridge with mayonnaise) and 32 desserts. As he traveled through the homes of early 19th century nobility, Carême forged the new art of French haute cuisine. Locked in stifling galleys, Carême conceived his four ”mother sauces.” These sauces — béchamel, velouté, espagnole and allemande — formed the central building blocks for many French entrees. He also perfected the soufflé, became the first chef to pipe his meringue through a pastry bag and introduced the standard chef’s uniform — the same white coat and toque (tall white hat) still worn by chefs today. The white clothing conveyed an image of cleanliness, according to Carême — and in his realm, appearance was everything. Between meals, Carême penned cookbooks that would be used in European kitchens for the next century. His manuals, including Le Pâtissier royal parisien and the massive L’Art de la cuisine française au siècle ( completed after his death) first systematized many basic principles of gastronomy, complete with drawings and directions. Long before television cooking shows, Carême walked readers through common kitchen tasks, instructing them to ”try this for yourself, at home” as celebrity American Chef Julia Child might do, many years later. In the end, however, it was the kitchen that did Carême in. Decades of working over coal fires in stagnant, unventilated spaces (to ensure his entrees would not get cold) had fatally damaged his lungs. On January 12, 1833, Carême died just before he turned 50. But in his lifetime, Carême, ever confident, could see beyond his short reign in the kitchen. He wanted to ”set the standard for beauty in classical and modern cookery, and attest to the distant future that the French chefs of the 19th century were the most famous in the world,” as he wrote in his papers. Decades later, Auguste Escoffier would build upon Carême’s concept of French cuisine. But in the very beginning, there was just Carême, the chef célèbre who exalted dining into art.

Mice that kill at the flip of a switch may reveal how hunting behavior evolved hundreds of millions of years ago. The mice became aggressive predators when two sets of neurons in the amygdala were activated with laser light, a team reported Thursday in the journal Cell. ”The animals become very efficient in hunting,” says Ivan de Araujo, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University and an associate fellow at The John B. Pierce Laboratory in New Haven. ”They pursue the prey [a live cricket] faster and they are more capable of capturing and killing it.” Activating the neurons even caused the mice to attack inanimate objects, including sticks, bottle caps and an insectlike toy. ”The animals intensively bite the toy and use their forepaws in an attempt to kill it,” De Araujo says. But the aggressive behavior is reserved for prey. Mice didn’t attack each other, even when both sets of neurons were activated. The results hint at how the brain changed hundreds of millions of years ago when the first animals with jaws began to appear. This new ability to pursue and kill prey ”must have influenced the way the brain is wired up in a major way,” De Araujo says. Specifically, the brain needed to develop hunting circuits that would precisely coordinate the movements of a predator’s jaw and neck. ”This is a very complex and demanding task,” De Araujo says. The researchers expected to find these hunting circuits in mice because many mice kill and eat insects. And one species known as the killer mouse ”basically feeds on live prey, including sometimes even other mice,” De Araujo says. Sure enough, the scientists found one set of neurons in the amygdala, a structure involved in emotion and motivation, that became active when a mouse was pursuing prey. They found a second set of neurons in the amygdala that became active when the animal was biting and killing. Then the team used a technique called optogenetics to create mice in which both sets of neurons could be controlled using light from a laser. That gave the researchers ”an switch for either or both of the circuits,” De Araujo says. ”When we stimulate [both sets of] neurons it is as if there is a prey in front of the animal,” De Araujo says. ”They assume the body posture and actions usually associated with real hunting.” Researchers have found evidence of similar hunting circuits in rats and other species, including humans, whose survival once depended on their ability to hunt and kill large animals.

Once again this year, President Obama hailed the nation’s high school graduation rate as it reached another record high — a whopping 83 percent. ”When I took office almost eight years ago, we knew that our education system was falling short,” he said at a Washington, D. C. high school in October. ”I said, by 2020 I want us to be No. 1 across the board, so we got to work making real changes to improve the chances for all of our young people. . .. And the good news is that we’ve made real progress.” High school graduation rates in the nation’s capital, he noted, have grown faster than anywhere else in the country, from 53 percent to 69 percent. But as we’ve reported over and over again, those numbers are deceiving. While some states are working hard to get kids a diploma, others have lowered their standards or turned to questionable quick fixes. We’ve talked to a lot of experts on this. And from those conversations we’ve pulled seven things they say would improve how the graduation rate is tracked and reported — and that would actually measure student success. 1. Be transparent, ”My view is that any calculation of rates should come with an asterisk. They should provide summary tables to the public to account for all the students who have left for each reason. Then the public could better understand where students are going.” — Julian Vasquez Heilig, professor, California State University, Sacramento, 2. Go Moneyball, ”I’m struck by how much we know about people in sports and everything they do, and how little we know about kids. Obviously there’s an uncomfortable intersection between our desire for clear data and questions of privacy and whose responsibility this all is.” — John Gomperts, president and CEO, America’s Promise Alliance, which publishes the Building a Grad Nation report, 3. Insist on mastery, ”The increased graduation rate is a welcome trend, and appears to be (in part) the result of 20 years of reform, including the testing, accountability and reading instruction reforms of the No Child Left Behind era. But juking the stats is a disgusting abdication of responsibility, and laughably easy credit recovery programs can be just as pernicious. If credit recovery and second chances are going to mean anything, they have to be about students actually learning the material required for a high school diploma.” — Michael J. Petrilli, president, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 4. Follow students longer, ”No. 1, there needs to be greater collaboration between data systems at the level and at the postsecondary level. In Baltimore, yes, we looked at our grad rate, but for our young people who stayed in the state of Maryland, we looked at how long it took them to graduate from college.” — Sonja Santelises, CEO of the Baltimore City Public Schools and a former senior vice president of policy and practice at The Education Trust, ”For higher ed, we look at a graduation rate, but for high school it’s four. Massachusetts is among the leaders in looking at and rates as well. Young people sometimes have to stop out to work or for other issues.” — Gomperts, 5. Look at more than just the grad rate, ”I don’t know how a district can move graduation rates in authentic ways and have that be the only data point.” — Santelises, ”Less obsession with just one number would probably be good.” — Gomperts, ”Emphasis on this one statistic masks variations that are quite important.” — Russell Rumberger, professor of education, University of California, Santa Barbara, 6. Coordinate with colleges to create a meaningful standard, ”How do you make sure the grad rate is reflecting what increased opportunities kids should have as a result of graduating?” — Santelises, ”What if what counted in a diploma in a state is what an institution of higher education in that state would recognize for admission?” — Gomperts, 7. Personalize the problem, In Baltimore, ”We had the heads of student support, school safety, school counselors — 30 people in a room with the numbers flashed on a screen every two weeks. There are faces that match each one of those data points. We’re responsible for every single kid in the system.” — Santelises, A version of this story was published on NPR Ed in June 2015.

Where the first day of Jeff Sessions’ attorney general confirmation hearing focused on what the Alabama senator’s relationship would be with the president if confirmed, the second day focused on his own past. Sessions, a former Alabama attorney general, has a reputation for being tough on crime, but civil rights advocates testified that his reputation was made on the backs of vulnerable groups. Lawmakers who have worked with him, on the other hand, said they knew a just and fair man. ”We must bend” the arc of the moral universe, The most impassioned pleas against Sessions came at the very end of the day, during a third and final panel that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said was the result of a special request from Sen. Dianne Feinstein. All six men on the panel were . Three came to defend Sessions, and three to denounce him. ”His record indicates that we cannot count on him to support state and national efforts toward bringing justice to the justice system,” Sen. Cory Booker said. Booker, the first sitting senator to testify against a fellow senator during a confirmation hearing, said Sessions’ record shows he won’t protect people of color, women, LGBT communities, immigrants or voting rights. Booker ended his speech with a call to rally against injustice: ”The arc of the moral universe does not just naturally curve toward justice. We must bend it.” John Lewis, the Georgia representative and civil rights leader, also gave a passionate speech against Sessions, but he took a more personal approach. ”Those who are committed to equal justice in our society wonder whether Sen. Sessions’ calls for law and order will mean today what it meant in Alabama when I was coming up back then,” said Lewis, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in 1965 and suffered a skull fracture at the hands of state troopers. Lewis cautioned against Sessions’ polite demeanor. ”It doesn’t matter how Sen. Sessions may smile, how friendly he may be, how he may speak to you,” he said. ”We need someone who’s going to stand up, speak up and speak out for the people that need help.” Rep. Cedric Richmond, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, decried Sessions’ record. ”Simply put, Sen. Sessions has advanced an agenda that will do great harm to citizens and communities,” Richmond said. He also added that having to testify at the very end of the panels ”is the equivalent of being made to go to the back of the bus.” The other three witnesses on the panel defended Sessions. All had worked with him at some point in his career: Two did legal work with him in Alabama and the other, William Smith, served as the first general counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee. ”After 20 years of knowing Sen. Sessions, I have not seen the slightest evidence of racism, because it does not exist,” Smith said. ”I know a racist when I see one, and I’ve seen more than one, and Jeff Sessions is not one.” Civil rights and the ”rights to be safe and secure” The NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union were both mentioned on Day 1 of the hearing, specifically because Sessions had called both organizations ” ” and ”” as NPR’s Nina Totenberg has reported. On Day 2, leaders from the two organizations got a chance to respond. NAACP President and CEO Cornell Brooks said his organization sees Sessions as ”unfit to serve as attorney general.” ”Sen. Sessions’ record reveals a consistent disregard to civil and human rights of vulnerable populations, including the Latinos, women, Muslims, immigrants, the disabled, the LGBT community and others,” Brooks said. He focused mainly on Sessions’ voting record in the Senate, highlighting Sessions’ votes against the 2009 Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, among others. He ended by calling on the room to imagine an Attorney General Sessions presiding over ”Michael Brown’s Ferguson” or ”Freddie Gray’s Baltimore.” David Cole, the national legal director of the ACLU, asked senators to ”painstakingly probe the many serious questions that [Sessions’] actions, words and deeds raise about his commitment to civil rights and civil liberties.” Cole also highlighted Sessions’ move to charge three black activists with voter fraud when he was a U. S. attorney in Alabama in 1985. The case, which argued that the defendants had tampered with absentee ballots, was a factor behind Sessions’ rejection from a federal judgeship in 1986. At one point, Cole specifically brought up Sessions’ defense of Trump’s infamous comments about grabbing women’s genitals, caught on a hot microphone. At the time, Sessions said he wasn’t sure that action could be characterized as sexual assault. (In Tuesday’s hearing, Sessions said ”clearly it would be” sexual assault.) A survivor of sexual assault who testified on Wednesday said Sessions had minimized Trump’s comments and that made her concerned that victims may not want to come forward in the future. But, like the three who defended Sessions during the final panel, others stepped forward throughout the day to vouch for Sessions’ moral character. Former U. S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he has ”no hesitation” that Sessions is prepared for the job before him: upholding the law and protecting Americans. Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson agreed. ”Of all our important civil rights, the rights to be safe and secure in one’s own home and neighborhood is perhaps the most important,” Thompson said.

The incoming Trump administration has found a job for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The Trump team announced Thursday that Giuliani will ”be sharing his expertise and insight as a trusted friend” on matters. Giuliani was a surrogate and adviser to Trump during the campaign. He had reportedly been under consideration for a variety of posts in the new Trump administration, including Secretary of State, a job he expressed interest in. But no such post was offered. Now, Giuliani will be leading a team of experts from the corporate world because of his ”long and very successful government career in law enforcement, and his now 16 years of work providing security solutions in the private sector,” according to a statement issued by the Trump transition office. Giuliani himself, in a phone call with reporters, compared the issues with cyber security to cancer, saying if all the people doing cancer research were brought together, ”you might be able to cure it.” Giuliani said there’s an ”awful lot of research going on both here, in Israel, in Germany on cyber defense.” His job he said, will be to bring those experts to the so they can share with him their solutions. Cyber security has become emerged as a key issue for the Trump team. U. S. intelligence agencies have fingered Russia for hacking email servers at the Democratic National Committee with the aim of helping the Trump campaign. Trump on Wednesday conceded Russia was behind the hacks (although it ”could have been others,” he said) but he denied they helped win him the election. He said he would create a panel that would recommend within 90 days steps to take to end what he called the new hacking ”phenomenon.” Giuliani said he will focus on bringing ”things the private sector (is) doing” regarding cyber defenses to the ’s attention. Of course, corporations have not been immune from hacking either, as customers of Target and Home Depot who had their credit accounts stolen can attest, or employees of the Sony Corporation whose were hacked. It’s not clear exactly what Giuliani’s title will be, and whether he will be paid for his advice. Giuliani is chairman of the practice at the Greenberg Traurig law firm and has his own company.

The incoming Trump administration will look to tap private investment funds to help rebuild and expand the nation’s highways, railways, seaports and airports. That’s what Elaine Chao, Donald Trump’s choice to be transportation secretary, told a panel of senators in a rather friendly confirmation hearing Wednesday. Chao, who served as labor secretary under President George W. Bush, and in top transportation posts during the first Bush and Reagan administrations, says the nation’s economic growth ”is jeopardized by infrastructure in need of repair, the specter of rising highway fatalities, growing congestion and by a failure to keep pace with emerging technologies.” She also acknowledged that the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by gasoline taxes, is running out of money and may soon become insolvent. So Chao told senators on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee the country needs ”to unleash the potential for private investment in our nation’s infrastructure,” and look to innovative financing tools such as partnerships. ”In order to take full advantage of the estimated trillions in capital that equity firms, pension funds and endowments can invest, these partnerships must be incentivized with a bold, new vision,” Chao says. ”This president has a bold vision,” which Chao says will be announced soon after Trump takes office Jan. 20. During the campaign, Trump often criticized the state of the nation’s transportation and urban infrastructure, and he promised to spend a trillion dollars repairing and expanding roads, bridges, railways, airports and other infrastructure. But experts question how much private financing many infrastructure projects can attract. Investors will only fund those projects that can generate a good return on that investment, such as roads and bridges that charge tolls. And Chao acknowledged as much during the hearing, saying ”for [ partnerships] to be truly effective, there needs to be revenue streams that need to be assured.” But she added that when it comes to funding the nation’s critical infrastructure repairs and upgrades, ”we all know that the government doesn’t have the resources to do it all.” Chao, 63, is among Trump’s appointments. Senators of both parties praised the longtime Washington insider’s experience and expertise, and noted her friendship with them and their spouses. She was introduced at the hearing by her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who borrowed a quote from former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole when Dole introduced his wife Elizabeth at a confirmation hearing for the same job. Dole paraphrased Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale by quipping, ”I regret I have but one wife to give for my country’s infrastructure.” Chao thanked senators for their support, joking, ”I will be working to lock in the majority leader’s support tonight over dinner.” Though Chao has been criticized for her environmental record and by organized labor groups who say she too often sided with industry in enforcing labor and safety regulations, she is expected to easily win confirmation by the Senate. A wide range of transportation industry groups has praised her nomination.

Menopause is a mystery to evolutionary biologists, but new insights could come from a study of killer whales. In these whales, the explanation may lie in a combination of conflict and cooperation between older and younger females, according to a report published Thursday in the journal Current Biology. Killer whales are one of only three species known to have menopause ” the others are pilot whales and humans. Researchers have long wondered why it was that these few species evolved to have females that spend so much of their lives unable to have babies. Killer whales start reproducing around age 15, but stop having calves in their 30s or 40s, even though they can live for around a century. A team led by behavioral ecologist Darren Croft of the University of Exeter decided to search for answers with the help of an unusual study of killer whales in the Pacific Northwest. There, since the 1970s, researchers have carefully collected information on the births and deaths of individual whales that live in family groups. Contained within the data is an intriguing clue about why female whales may stop reproducing later in life. When older females reproduce at the same time as their daughters, who live alongside them, the calves of the older mothers are nearly twice as likely to die in the first 15 years of life. But when older mothers had calves in the absence of a reproducing daughter, their calves did just fine. ”It’s not that older mothers are bad mothers, that they’re not able to raise their calves as younger mothers,” says Croft. ”It’s that when they enter into this competition with their daughters, they lose out and their calves are more likely to die.” The competition may center on access to food, says Croft, because there’s good reason to believe older females feel more pressure to share their precious fish with the others around them. That’s because, in killer whales, females mate with males from other groups but then rejoin their families. That means when a new calf is born, its father is not around, and females start their lives in a situation where their relatedness to the group is rather low. As a female grows older and starts having calves that stay with her, however, she develops more kinship ties to those around her. ”It may be that older females are more likely to share, and younger females are less likely to share food,” says Croft. That would mean younger females would have more resources to lavish on their own calves. It’s clear that in these whales, older females play an important role in the survival of not just their own calves, but all of the family members they live with. ”If an old female dies, her son’s risk of dying in the year following her death is over eight times higher than if his mother was still alive,” says Croft, ”and these are adult sons, these are not juveniles, these are fully grown males.” The idea that older females safeguard and enhance their genetic legacy by protecting and providing for their children and grandchildren has been an influential explanation for why menopause evolved. It’s known as the Grandmother hypothesis, and was developed by anthropologists who studied cultures. But Croft thinks that alone isn’t enough to account for menopause, because other social species, like elephants, have older females that help their group but continue to bear young until the end of life. ”Just the fact that these old females can store information and share that with the group and increase their survival doesn’t explain why they stop reproducing,” says Croft. Proponents of the Grandmother hypothesis, however, may not be so convinced that intrafamilial conflict plays an important role. Anthropologist Kristen Hawkes, at the University of Utah, says the killer whales are fascinating, but that they’re hard to study. ”They’re doing all kinds of stuff where you can’t see it, and even to get demographic data is just so tricky, because they’re all underwater and they’re ” she says. She points to one recent study on in killer whales that found older females share fish with their older adult sons, perhaps to maximize the males’ ability to sire more babies. If that’s the case, she says, ”it’s not the older females and younger females in competition, it’s the older females contributing to the enormous success of their sons, and then those baby whales are all born somewhere else. They’re not competing, because their moms are elsewhere.”

If reading more in 2017 was one of your new year’s resolutions, Nancy Pearl is here to help. Every once in a while, the librarian sends host Steve Inskeep a big stack of books. They’re generally ” ” reads — titles she thinks deserve more attention than they’ve been getting. This year, the stack includes breathtaking thrillers, a crime story, an unforgettable family tale, and more. Pearl tells Inskeep why she loves these novels, and why she thinks you will, too. These recommendations have been edited for clarity and length.

Dogs are celebrated everywhere these days for the clever things they and their brains can do, and the science of dog cognition continues to soar in popularity. As a cat person, I can’t help but add that cats, too, show off their savviness for science. Now, some cognitive scientists are asking about another domesticated animal companion that’s been comparatively neglected: horses. Japanese scientists Monamie Ringhofer and Shinya Yamamoto of Kobe University have published online in the journal Animal Cognition the results of the first research to investigate how horses respond to the state of knowledge or ignorance of their human companions. The results are impressive. Ringhofer and Yamamoto designed research to test eight thoroughbred horses in a paddock at Kobe University’s equestrian club. The horses watched as a research assistant put a carrot in a food bucket. The bucket wasn’t accessible to the horses, only to a human caretaker. In one experimental condition, the human caretaker witnessed the food going into the bucket (knowledge state). In a second condition, the caretaker did not watch as the carrot was placed into the bucket (uninformed state). The horses’ responses were videotaped and compared between the two conditions. The horses used more visual and tactile signals with the uninformed than the informed caretaker. The horses increased how much they looked at, touched lightly pushed the ignorant caretaker (compared to the caretaker in the know) to get them to realize where food was hidden. The authors acknowledge that studies are needed. It’s an important result, though, because it points not only to advanced cognition but also to flexible cognition, with the horses adjusting their communicative behavior to the humans’ knowledge state. ”This study is the first to show that horses possess some cognitive basis for this ability of understanding others’ knowledge state in social communication with humans,” Ringhofer and Yamamoto write. Some primates do this but, of course, horses are evolutionarily far more distant relatives of ours than chimpanzees. So what about dogs: How do they respond? Ringhofer and Yamomoto write that in a similar experiment carried out by other researchers, dogs didn’t do what the horses did — they didn’t look at, touch or push their caretakers. Instead, the dogs alternated their gaze between the uninformed human experimenter and the hidden food’s location. In other words, the dogs directed the humans’ attention also — just in a different way. It could be that it’s, perhaps, in keeping with their different evolutionary history as herding, hunting, service and rescue animals. Each species has in its own way a skill leading to effective communication with humans. Science journalist and equestrian Wendy Williams, author of The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion, told me via email that: ”This study has been a long time coming.” ”For most of the history of horse domestication, we’ve assumed that communications between humans and horses was unidirectional. Humans order. Horses obey. But in this study, we see that communication could be a street. Horses do try to communicate with humans. Most of us just don’t try to learn their language.” Williams pointed out that social signaling is important among horses in a herd: ”Horses are highly social animals. In a natural state, they depend on each other for information that provides for the survival of the whole band. If a predator, for example, appears on the horizon, one horse immediately alerts the others through a wide variety of signals. Snorting, pricked ears and stamping are only a few of these signals. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t try to communicate with humans as well.” Lead researcher Ringhofer said, via email, that not all the horses responded during the experiment in the same way. This is interesting and also expected: Animals’ behavioral tendencies and personalities vary. ”Most horses used visual and tactile signals to request the [attention of the] caretakers. However, two horses seemed to use extra behavior. They stood near the caretaker and located their face in front of the caretaker (very close to the caretaker’s face). Then, both of them finally hit the caretakers’ face with their face,” Ringhofer said. Ringhofer couldn’t determine if the was accidental or purposeful on the horses’ part, and so didn’t include it in her analyses. But she does wonder if those two horses might have come up with quite a startling way of social signaling! Direct comparison of intelligence across species doesn’t work well, because there is no single standard of what ”smart” means across differently evolved animals. Asking if horses and dogs are equally smart, then, doesn’t really make much sense. The bottom line here is all about the horses themselves. Together with other recent research showing that horses can use symbols to communicate with humans, this new study tells us that horses think carefully about what’s going on around them. Barbara J. King is an anthropology professor emerita at the College of William and Mary. She often writes about the cognition, emotion and welfare of animals, and about biological anthropology, human evolution and gender issues. Barbara’s most recent book on animals is titled How Animals Grieve, and her forthcoming book, Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat, will be published in March. You can keep up with what she is thinking on Twitter: @bjkingape

UPDATE: Trump Team: Adviser Spoke To Russia Official The Day U. S. Sanctions Were Announced, The man tapped to be national security adviser to Donald Trump, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, exchanged text messages and spoke with Russia’s ambassador to the U. S. Sergey Kislyak, in December ” around the time of the Obama administration’s response to Russian interference during the presidential campaign, a spokesman for Trump acknowledged Friday. But Sean Spicer, the spokesman and incoming White House press secretary, insisted all of this contact happened before President Obama announced the retaliation, and, as a result, Obama’s move to expel 35 Russian diplomats wasn’t a topic of conversation. This came in response to a Washington Post column from David Ignatius that raised serious questions about contact between Flynn and the ambassador. In the column, Ignatius writes he was told by a ”senior U. S. government official” that Flynn had called the ambassador several times on the day of Obama’s action. Ignatius then asks: ”What did Flynn say, and did it undercut the U. S. sanctions? The Logan Act (though never enforced) bars U. S. citizens from correspondence intending to influence a foreign government about ’disputes’ with the United States. Was its spirit violated?” And it comes in a week in which the focus on Russia and Trump’s relationship with the country has been front and center. Spicer was asked about the column in a call with reporters, and that’s when he confirmed that contact had happened, but he said it wasn’t as described in the column. Here’s the timeline as described by Spicer: — ”Christmas Day, Gen. Flynn reached out to the ambassador, sent him a text and it said, ’I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to touching base with you and working with you, and I wish you all the best.’ The ambassador texted him back wishing him a Merry Christmas as well,” Spicer said. — ”And then subsequently on the 28th of December [the ambassador] texted [Flynn] and said, ’I’d like to give you a call, may I?’ ” — ”[Flynn] then took that call on the 28th and the call centered around the logistics of setting up a call with the president of Russia and the after he was sworn in. And they exchanged logistical information on how to initiate and schedule that call. That was it, plain and simple.” President Obama ordered two Russian diplomatic compounds closed and 35 Russian diplomats expelled from the United States the next day, Dec. 29. Ignatius has updated his column to reflect what he was told by Trump’s team, which initially hadn’t responded to his request for comment. Here is what Ignatius wrote in the update: ”UPDATE: The Trump transition team did not respond Thursday night to a request for comment. But two team members called with information Friday morning. A first Trump official confirmed that Flynn had spoken with Kislyak by phone, but said the calls were before sanctions were announced and didn’t cover that topic. This official later added that Flynn’s initial call was to express condolences to Kislyak after the terrorist killing of the Russian ambassador to Ankara Dec. 19, and that Flynn made a second call Dec. 28 to express condolences for the of a Russian plane carrying a choir to Syria. In that second call, Flynn also discussed plans for a conversation sometime after the inauguration. In addition, a second Trump official said that Kislyak had initiated a call to Flynn to invite a representative of the Trump administration to a conference that would be taking place in Kazakhstan at the end of January the official didn’t provide a date for the call.” A transition official confirmed to NPR that in addition to talking about logistics for a phone call, the Russian ambassador also extended an invitation to the conference related to the conflict in Syria, which is set to take place in Kazakhstan. The transition official says no commitments about attending were made during the call. Additionally, the official couldn’t say whether there had been any contact between Flynn and the ambassador since Dec. 28. This could all be a whole lot of nothing, or it could be something more serious. It isn’t uncommon for ambassadors to try to reach out to incoming administrations. But critics have long raised concerns about Flynn’s relationship with Russia and in particular RT, the Russian network (considered by the U. S. intelligence community to be a propaganda tool). Flynn made appearances on the network and even sat next to Putin at an event celebrating its 10th anniversary. It’s been a week of intense focus on Russia, First, there was the release of the unverified document claiming Russia has compromising material on the and that there had been contact between Trump’s team and Russian officials during the campaign. Trump’s team has strongly disputed these unverified (and in some cases verified to be false) claims calling the document and those who reported on it ”fake news.” It came to dominate Trump’s first news conference since winning the election. In that same news conference, Trump said he did think Russia was behind the hacking and document releases, but he also said, ”If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what folks? That’s called an asset, not a liability. Now I don’t know that I am going to get along with Vladimir Putin. I hope I do, but there is a good chance I won’t.” Then there were the confirmation hearings for Trump’s picks for national security positions. All expressed a harder line toward Russia and its leader than Trump has. And finally, there were two totally bizarre occurrences on Capitol Hill. Just as the man who hopes to become CIA chief was testifying and a senator was in the middle of asking him about Russian interference, the power went out in the building, cutting the feed to which was televising the hearing. And, on the same day, as a congresswoman was making a speech on the House floor, again about Russia, the live stream online switched to a feed of RT. ”This afternoon the online feed for was briefly interrupted by RT programming,” a spokesman said in a statement to NPR’s Susan Davis. ”We are currently investigating and troubleshooting this occurrence. As RT is one of the networks we regularly monitor, we are operating under the assumption that it was an internal routing issue. If that changes we will certainly let you know.”

Fleeing, unarmed people shot in the back. Mentally ill men and women, not suspected of any crime, stunned by a Taser while they lay on the ground. People already detained or incapacitated who were beaten, with police accounts falsely describing the force as necessary. A report from the Justice Department details harrowing accounts of excessive force by the Chicago Police Department and highlights systemic failures that allow the violence to continue even as members of the public attempt to protest or report the brutality. The investigation was launched after the death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 put Chicago’s policing practices in the spotlight. Video released by court order showed a police officer shooting the black teenager in the back. The report found an ongoing ”pattern or practice” of unreasonable and excessive force — not a series of isolated events. And the violations are rarely punished, the DOJ says, as officers’ descriptions of encounters are taken ”at face value” even when there’s contradictory evidence. What does that mean for Chicago residents? The DOJ included a number of ”illustrative examples” of the police department’s systemic failings. Here’s what that pattern of excessive force looks like on the ground: Shooting at fleeing suspects, In ”numerous incidents,” Chicago officers chased and shot fleeing people who posed no threat to officers or the public, the DOJ says. In some cases, there was no basis even to suspect the person of committing a serious crime. ”The act of fleeing alone was sufficient to trigger a pursuit ending in gunfire, sometimes fatal,” the DOJ writes. In one case, the report says, police officers fired 45 rounds at a man who was running away, killing him. They claimed he had fired a gun at them while they were chasing him — even though they noted there was no gun found on the man. And there were these examples: ”In another case, a CPD officer chased a man who ran when an officer told him to stop, and then shot the man in the back of the leg. The officer claimed the man had turned to point a gun. After a thorough search of the scene, no gun was recovered. The man, who denied ever turning to face the officer, was found only with a cell phone. . .. ”In another case, a CPD officer fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed suspect in the back. The officer told investigators the suspect had turned around to point a black object. This account did not square with the location of the shooting victim’s gunshot wounds and appeared contrary to video footage that showed the suspect running away from the officer.” The department doesn’t have a foot pursuit policy for officers to follow. In all three of these cases, the department accepted the officers’ accounts and found the shootings justified. The DOJ also notes that the shooting of McDonald was a foot pursuit of a person who did not pose a threat, and it, like many other such chases, came to a ”tragic end.” Using Tasers against people who pose no threat, The report found a pattern of officers using Tasers in unreasonable situations, with the department generally not investigating the incidents at all. The DOJ said it was difficult to track this practice, because the department kept such poor records on it — but still, the report found numerous examples. Chicago police chose to use Tasers on: There’s no department policy on using Tasers on children, the DOJ found. Use of force as retaliation and against children, Officers sometimes hurt people as retaliation, the DOJ found — including retaliation against citizens who claimed a police stop was unlawful. They once used pain compliance techniques on a man who ”stiffened and locked his arms while they were arresting him for walking his dog without a leash and refusing to present identification.” The DOJ also highlighted an example of a Latino boy who was riding his bike under his father’s supervision. A plainclothes officer, ”responding to a report of ’two male Hispanics running from’ the area,” pulled the child off his bike, handcuffed him and pushed him up against a fence, without explanation to father or son. ”The officer’s only apparent basis for this detention was the boy’s race, which is constitutionally unreasonable,” the DOJ found. Acceptance of officers’ accounts, in face of contradicting evidence, Time and again, the DOJ found, officers claimed their use of force was reasonable and the police department took their word for it — even in the face of video evidence showing obvious excessive brutality. Here’s just one example. Police officers falsely claimed that a woman had attacked them, the DOJ writes: ”In the video, officers can be seen aggressively grabbing the woman, who was being arrested for a prostitution offense, throwing her to the ground, and surrounding her. After she is handcuffed, one officer tells another to ’tase her ten times.’ Officers call her an animal, threaten to kill her and her family, and scream, ’I’ll put you in a UPS box and send you back to wherever the you came from’ while hitting the woman — who was handcuffed and on her knees. Officers can then be seen discovering a recording device and discussing whether they can take it. Supervisors approved this use of force and the officers were not disciplined until after the woman complained to [the Independent Police Review Authority] and produced surveillance video of the event.” Putting youths in danger as coercion, One section of the report is dedicated to dangerous and potentially unlawful tactics the CPD apparently uses to gain information about locations of weapons, gang activity or drug activity. The DOJ says its investigation indicates that officers will sometimes arrest someone for a offense or on false pretense and refuse to let the person go until he or she gives up information about where police can find guns stashed illegally. If the person can’t or won’t give a location, the officers reportedly will ”take a young person to a rival gang neighborhood and either leave the person there or display the youth to rival members, immediately putting the life of that young person in jeopardy by suggesting he has provided information to the police.” One teenager reported his brother was dropped off in rival territory and told ”better get to running.” There’s video footage of officers standing around a car with a ”cowering teenager” detained in the backseat, as they allow other young men to crowd around the car and make gang signs. ”In addition to the likely illegality of this conduct, its impact on community trust cannot be overstated,” the DOJ writes. ”The fear and anger created by these practices was obvious when we talked with individuals who reported these experiences.” A disproportionate impact on people of color, The use of unreasonable force mostly burdens minority communities in Chicago, the DOJ found. Black and Latino communities in the city suffer from higher crime and have more contact with police — and thus experience more incidents of excessive force. The CPD was found to use force 10 times more often against black residents than against whites. The disparity is especially vivid when it comes to use of force against minors — 83 percent involved black children and 14 percent involved Latino children. Many of the Justice Department findings will come as no surprise to communities of color. Echoing the words of residents and activists over the decades, the DOJ says that starting from a young age, Chicago’s minorities ”have a vastly different experience with police than do white people,” marked by negative and ”often tragic” interactions. There’s also ”routinely abusive behavior” toward minority residents of Chicago, the report found: ”Black youth told us that they are routinely called ’ ’ ’animal,’ or ’pieces of [s***]’ by CPD officers. A black male reported that CPD officers called him a ’monkey.’ Such statements were confirmed by CPD officers. One officer we interviewed told us that he personally has heard coworkers and supervisors refer to black individuals as monkeys, animals, savages, and ’pieces of [s***].’ ” The DOJ found 354 complaints of Chicago officers using the . Only four were sustained by police investigators — two because there were audio recordings, one because the officer admitted to it, and the last because the woman being berated was married to a police officer who took ”extraordinary measures to document the incident.” Some officers, including supervisors, have made discriminatory posts — like ”the only good Muslim is a dead one” — on social media, often without repercussions. Meanwhile, white residents who file a complaint about police misconduct are far more likely to see a result — their complaints are 2 times more likely to be sustained than complaints from black or Latino people, the DOJ says. When it’s an allegation of excessive force, whites are three times more likely to find that the police department accepts their side of the story. In general, nonwhite residents reported persistent dehumanizing and demeaning treatment at the hands of the police, the DOJ says. One black teenager, asked what change he’d want to see in the CPD, said, ”Act like you care.” True scope of problem ”nearly impossible” to uncover, There are multiple reasons why the DOJ thinks the Chicago Police Department has an even bigger problem than this report describes. For one thing, there’s all those videos that call into question officers’ accounts. The DOJ expresses concern that many more officer accounts, in incidents where there isn’t video, might be similarly inaccurate. For instance, one officer wrote that a man had been struggling and kicking, requiring the use of force to control him. That kind of language frequently appears in reports, the DOJ says. But video evidence showed the man had actually been handcuffed when the officer punched him multiple times. The officer’s partner didn’t report the incident, and his supervisors deemed the force justified. The DOJ implies it’s impossible to know how many similar incidents are never caught on camera. Police also use ”boilerplate” language to justify the use of force, with no details to allow investigators to evaluate the appropriateness of the force, and supervisors rarely review or investigate incidents. Consider the officer who performed ”an emergency maneuver to regain control” when an woman was flailing her arms after a fight. The fact that the incident chipped her tooth suggests the true extent of force used, the DOJ says. The young woman — 5 feet 4 inches and 120 pounds — complained to the department that the officer said he ”didn’t give a ” about her injury. He was exonerated without an interview. That case had an indicative injury. In many other files, the DOJ says it is ”nearly impossible for us to understand how much force officers used or whether the level of resistance justified the force used.” Missteps stretching from training through punishment, The failures of the Chicago Police Department start with the training of recruits and proceed all the way through to the punishment when incidents do occur, the DOJ says. Training is inadequate, the report states. For instance, the DOJ observed a training in deadly force that started 10 minutes late, ended 20 minutes early and was based on a video — with information that was legally inaccurate and ”clearly out of date.” One recruit appeared to be sleeping through the class. When investigators interviewed recent graduates of the police academy, only 1 in 6 ”came close to properly articulating the legal standard for use of force,” the DOJ writes. Protocols to prevent excessive use of force are inadequate and often unenforced, the DOJ says. Violations are often not investigated. When the police department does open investigations, they are — with ”rare exceptions” — incomplete and unfair, the report says. Officers appear to collude with one another, not only following a ”code of silence” but actively falsifying reports and lying in testimony, the report alleges. Meanwhile, investigators ask leading questions, union representatives coach officers on what to say, and contradictory evidence is ignored or never pursued, the DOJ reports. Even when serious misconduct is uncovered, officers can frequently avoid significant punishment. The result, the DOJ says, is a system of policing that is less effective and more dangerous for police officers — and regularly violates the constitutional rights of citizens.

The Justice Department says an investigation has found Chicago police are systematically violating the civil rights of people in the city through excessive use of force, poor oversight and inadequate training of officers. U. S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the investigation’s findings on Friday, saying the DOJ had concluded there was ample evidence the Chicago Police Department ”engages in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force,” in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The abuse is most prevalent in the predominantly black neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides. The report cited numerous examples of unreasonable force, such as kicking a subject who ”balled his fists” and using a Taser against a suspect fleeing the scene of a ”minor property crime.” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the investigation had found that officers shot people who presented no clear threat and ”tased” people who did not follow orders. Lynch said the city and the DOJ had agreed to enter negotiations about a consent decree to guide reform within the police department. A federal judge also would need to sign off on any final agreement before it would go into effect. The Justice Department’s ”pattern or practice” investigation was launched more than a year ago, after a white police officer shot a black teenager named Laquan McDonald 16 times in October 2014, killing the youth. Under court order in November 2015, the city released police dashcam video of the killing, prompting protests by activists who said the city had tried to cover up the shooting. The police officer, Jason Van Dyke, has been charged with murder and is facing trial. The department has moved to fire Van Dyke, as well as four other police officers for allegedly lying about the shooting. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologized for the killing and the handling of the video. ”That happened on my watch,” Emanuel said in December 2015, and he promised a ”complete and total reform of the system,” as The reported. While the state court system is handling Van Dyke’s individual case, the purpose of the Justice Department review was to investigate how such incidents reflected the larger culture and practices within the entire department. Federal investigators said Friday that they had interviewed hundreds of people and combed through data about use of force and how the police department held those officers who used excessive force accountable. In September, U. S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said the investigation had grown into the largest such probe ever undertaken by federal authorities, according to The Chicago Tribune. It was unclear what immediate effect, if any, Friday’s announcement would have on the practices of the Chicago Police Department. As the Tribune noted, ”It will be months before a consent decree would be worked out and filed in federal court.” Police departments have operated under consent decrees in cities ranging from Ferguson, Mo. to Newark, N. J. and just this week, Baltimore announced the details of a consent decree with its police department. Under President Obama, the Justice Department has increased the number of civil rights investigations into law enforcement practices, as Bloomberg has reported. But Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next U. S attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has indicated he does not support consent decrees. At a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Sessions said DOJ investigations into police departments ”can undermine respect for police officers.” He added, ”I think there’s concern that good police officers and good departments can be sued by the Department of Justice when you just have individuals within a department who have done wrong, and those individuals need to be prosecuted.” In a 2008 policy paper on consent decrees, Sessions described the agreements as ”one of the most dangerous, and rarely discussed, exercises of raw power” and said that ”in practice, a decree can last for many years — longer than the remedy that was needed.”

Next week, white nationalists like Jared Taylor will celebrate a moment they’ve been waiting decades to see, when Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. Members of the white nationalist movement were among the first to embrace Trump’s candidacy, and they celebrated after his election. ”Jan. 20 reflects a significant defeat for egalitarian orthodoxy,” Taylor says. Taylor promotes a very different orthodoxy, one in which race is central to innate abilities and national success. He is working to build a United States explicitly for white people. Trump arguably helps this by telling supporters that they’re the victims of a system rigged against them. ”I see Donald Trump as a kind of steppingstone. He is a step in the right direction in terms of understanding America and history and the world in essentially racial terms,” Taylor says. But white nationalist enthusiasm for Trump has fallen off substantially. Since the election, the has splintered, and the movement now looks a lot less potent than it once appeared. To understand that, it helps to go back to the heady days just after the election. ”It’s too much winning! Could someone please just stop winning, I don’t want to win anymore,” Richard Spencer, who coined the term told a room full of fellow radicals in November. Spencer said that Trump’s victory had just slingshot white nationalism into the mainstream. ”And even if we’re not quite in power yet we should act like it,” he said. But later that day, Spencer gave another speech, a fiery one that ended with some of the audience casting off any pretense of being mainstream. ”Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!” Spencer shouted, raising his glass in a toast to the audience. Some in the crowd responded with enthusiastic Nazi salutes, which captured media attention. ”Right after the election, I think it was euphoria,” says Kevin MacDonald, a retired evolutionary psychology professor at California State, Long Beach and another white nationalist mainstay. ”But as we get into it now, there’s more trepidation.” MacDonald says Trump’s appointments also have rattled the movement, especially his propensity for tapping rich Wall Street bankers. ”These are globalists in general. They love free trade, they love immigration ” big red flags for us,” he says. And MacDonald says he is concerned about the reliance on generals and hawkish policy leading America into another Middle East war. ”Lot of trepidation, but the big silver lining is Jeff Sessions,” he says. MacDonald hopes Sessions, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, will clamp down on immigration. White nationalists also like the nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who is seen as being close to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a darling of the . But despite its high hopes for the Trump administration, the radical right has largely gone to war with itself. Mark Potok, with the Southern Poverty Law Center, says much of what was once called the has peeled away. ”I mean look, we are talking about a movement which spends literally more time attacking one another than they do attacking their enemies,” Potok says. No one has taken more fire from his ideological kinsmen than Spencer. radicals have disavowed the even called Spencer an operative bent on the movement’s destruction. In the media, he is always tied to those Nazi salutes. ”I think it’s good to be the person talked about, even when it’s negative,” Spencer tells NPR. ”Our ideas are entering the discourse.” But Marilyn Mayo with the League argues that the is watching its illusion of real world influence whither. ”At some point, they may have felt that they could influence policy in some way, but I think that was really a pipe dream for them because they really are a fringe movement, and they’re still a fringe movement,” Mayo says. A movement that sprang from obscurity with Trump’s election seems to be dropping back into the shadows even before Trump takes power.

The website at the Office of Government Ethics went down Friday afternoon, apparently overwhelmed with traffic, as the agency and its director found themselves at the heart of a growing political fight. OGE website administrator Michael Hanson told NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben the site failure came as a result of the usually sleepy office’s website receiving 1 million visitors in just the last three days. Normally, it gets about 300, 000 — in an entire year. There’s a reason the website’s traffic has spiked. The office’s director, Walter Shaub Jr. has been conducting an unusually public discussion about ethics with the and the people he has chosen for his Cabinet. Just Friday afternoon, OGE sent out a tweet that seemed aimed directly at the . Although the office didn’t respond to a question about why the tweet was sent out when it was, it came a day after Trump tweeted praise of a business and encouraged people to shop there. That makes the OGE tweet Friday read suspiciously like a subtweet of Trump. On Wednesday, the same day as Trump’s news conference where he addressed his potential business conflicts, Shaub gave a speech at the Brookings Institution. Shaub — a political appointee of President Obama in his fourth of a term and a career civil servant — described Trump’s announced plans to turn over management of his businesses to his sons as ”meaningless” as it relates to conflicts of interest. ”I don’t think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be president of the United States of America,” Shaub said. But that was far from his first with the and his prospective Cabinet. Over the weekend, Senate Democrats released a letter Shaub sent raising alarms about nominees who hadn’t completed their ethics reviews being scheduled for confirmation hearings. The ethics agency director ended the letter, ”For as long as I remain Director, OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials will not succumb to pressure to cut corners and ignore conflicts of interest.” The Trump transition team responded, saying this was a disservice, and charged, ”It is disappointing some have chosen to politicize the process in order to distract from important issues facing our country.” Late last year, the official OGE Twitter account went on a tweetstorm, written in a style meant to mimic Trump’s own Twitter voice, encouraging the to divest completely. It turns out, as NPR first reported, Shaub personally directed those tweets. Divestiture is something ethics experts from both sides of the aisle have encouraged, but it isn’t required. laws that apply to executive branch employees don’t apply to the president. Trump has made it clear he believes he is going above and beyond what is required by law, but Shaub and others have been quite critical of those steps, saying they are insufficient. This has caused something of a backlash from Republicans, including the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Jason Chaffetz. In a letter to Shaub dated Jan. 12, Chaffetz wrote, ”Your agency’s mission is to provide clear ethics guidance, not engage in public relations.” The letter goes on to issue what some perceived as a threat, mentioning that the Oversight Committee has jurisdiction to reauthorize the office and asking Shaub to come in for a transcribed interview with committee staff by the end of the month. The top Democrat on the committee, Elijah Cummings of Maryland, says rather than a session, he wants Shaub to testify in a public hearing and that Chaffetz was publicly attacking the ethics watchdog. ”The Oversight Committee has not held one hearing, conducted one interview, or obtained one document about Donald Trump’s massive global entanglements,” Cummings said in a statement, ”yet it is now apparently rushing to launch an investigation of the key government official for warning against the risks caused by Donald Trump’s current plans.” This also comes after House Republicans pushed to reduce the influence of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Facing a backlash of criticism, they dropped that plan.

When President Obama took office in January 2009, the country was on edge, the economy in . The federal education law, known as No Child Left Behind, was also in need of an update after earning the ire of teachers, parents and politicians alike. In short, there was much to do. In time, that update would come, but President Obama’s education legacy begins, oddly enough, with his plan to bolster the faltering economy. Race To The Top, In the summer of 2009, Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that a small piece of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka The Stimulus, would be used to create a competitive, $4. 35 billion grant program for states. They would call it Race To The Top. The administration used the money to encourage — Obama’s critics would say coerce — states to embrace its education policies, including charter schools, college and standards and evaluations of teachers using student test scores. The money arrived as many states had been brought to their knees by the Great Recession. Governors and state education agencies didn’t just want the extra money — they needed it, and agreed to big changes in hopes of winning it. While the grant program was voluntary, 46 states and the District of Columbia applied. Common Core, Race To The Top was a boon for the common standards movement and, specifically, for the controversial Common Core State Standards. While the learning standards in English and math were not developed by the Obama administration, the Education Department made the adoption of new college and standards a key component of applying for the grant money. States didn’t have to adopt, but they knew that doing so would help their cause. Obama didn’t create the Core he adoption. His administration also used $350 million to bankroll two testing consortia, PARCC and Smarter Balanced, that would develop standardized tests aligned to these new standards. Initially, most states signed on to one or the other, but, after years of blowback from Common Core critics, the consortia have hemorrhaged members, with many states keeping the Core but choosing their own tests. Today, the Common Core standards, or something very like them, are still used by the vast majority of states, though Donald Trump has made clear he’ll do all he can to the standards once and for all. Teacher evaluations, By 2011, it was clear that the key requirement of the No Child Left Behind law, that all children be proficient in reading and math by 2014, wasn’t just unrealistic but impossible. So the Obama administration began offering states a way out — a reprieve from the law in the form of a waiver. In return, though, states were required to do several things, none more controversial than this: Evaluate teachers using student test scores. The move infuriated many teachers and their union leaders and no doubt contributed to what would later become the ” ” movement. It also angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill who considered waivers an around them. When Congress finally reworked No Child Left Behind in late 2015, renaming it the Every Student Succeeds Act, lawmakers notably decided not to require that states evaluate teachers using student test scores. Preschool, President Obama talked early and often about the importance of preschool for all. He said this in his 2013 State of the Union Address: ”Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 are enrolled in a preschool program. Most parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for a private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives. So tonight, I propose working with states to make preschool available to every single child in America. That’s something we should be able to do.” Obama even proposed a $75 billion plan to provide universal preschool to the nation’s but congressional Republicans balked at his pitch to pay for it: a tax increase on cigarettes. Ultimately, as he did with Race To The Top, Obama used the promise of federal dollars to entice states to create or expand their offerings. In 2014, the administration’s Preschool Development Grants spread more than $200 million across 18 states, expanding access to preschool to 33, 000 children, according to the department. 83. 2 percent, The high school graduation rate hit an high under President Obama, reaching 83. 2 percent in . In October 2016, when Obama announced this latest uptick, he used the moment to reflect: ”When I took office almost eight years ago, we knew that our education system was falling short. I said, by 2020 I want us to be No. 1 across the board, so we got to work making real changes to improve the chances for all of our young people. . .. And the good news is that we’ve made real progress.” Now, it’s difficult to say how much credit Obama deserves for that progress. Some, to be sure. But the NPR Ed Team has also reported extensively on state and district strategies to artificially boost their graduation rates, including this recent ”black eye” for Alabama’s department of education. The pipeline, Obama drew national attention to the issue of ”zero tolerance” discipline and argued that such policies disproportionately target black and Latino students for minor infractions like truancy, dress code violations and profanity. He vowed to have his administration — the Education and Justice departments — crack down on states and districts that had gone too far. It’s unclear how much of an impact this had on school disciplinary policies across the country, but some advocates who’ve spent years calling for an overhaul of these policies at the state level credit the Obama administration for bringing lots of attention to the issue. ESSA, As we mentioned, by the time Obama took office, the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind had alienated just about everyone with a stake in America’s schools. But few could agree on a fix and, even with Democrats in control of Congress early in his first term, Obama did not prioritize a rewrite. So the law stayed on the books until midway through his second term. By then, a consensus had formed around a few big fixes: 1. Annual testing and breaking those results down into specific groups of students is important and should continue, 2. But the federal government should no longer be the grand arbiter of how to measure school success or remedy failure, 3. Because that job, along with the adoption of standards and evaluation of teachers belongs to states, period. The ESSA is in many ways a repudiation of NCLB’s unrealistic expectations and tactics. Though some civil rights groups worry that the new law devolves too much responsibility back to states who, in the past, have sometimes failed to protect the interests of their most vulnerable students. Higher ed, Soaring college costs and student debt were two major concerns for President Obama when he took office. During his tenure, the total amount of outstanding student loan debt for the first time exceeded a trillion dollars, prompting the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys to issue a warning: A ”student debt bomb” was on the horizon. Student debt The administration moved quickly to bring relief. In 2009, the Education Department launched an ” ” repayment plan using students’ discretionary income after graduation. Students saw their monthly payments drop considerably. The administration also reduced the interest rate on Stafford Loans, the biggest loan program, and put an additional $50 billion into Pell Grants for college students, raising the award to its current maximum of $5, 775. These will be remembered as some of the most sweeping changes in the federal government’s oversight of higher education, in particular Obama’s decision to end the federal government’s partnership with banks and private lenders who for decades had issued loans to college students. Instead of having to deal with private lenders and banks, borrowers and schools now deal with only one — Uncle Sam. The administration argued that by removing private lenders, the program would save over $60 billion that could be put back into more loans and grants. College scorecard, In 2013 Obama floated another controversial proposal, a federal ”rating” system designed to help students and parents compare colleges based on cost, financial aid and academic quality. Colleges would be required to disclose in a more way things like student default rates, dropout rates, graduation rates. For the first time, institutions would also have to disclose their students’ earnings after graduation. Despite the pressure to hold higher ed more accountable for the hundreds of billions of dollars colleges get in federal funds, private and public institutions lobbied successfully to kill the rating system idea, saying that it was based on the wrong metrics and therefore would result in ”unfair comparisons.” While the rating idea didn’t fly, the administration compromised by creating a ”scorecard” that provides a wealth of data on colleges and costs, leaving students and parents to make their own comparisons. crackdown, Obama came into office at a time of mounting concern over some colleges and whether they were giving students their money’s worth. The administration worked with Democrats in Congress to create a plan that for the first time tied federal aid to something called ”gainful employment.” The idea is, if you’re going to pay an arm and a leg for a college degree, it should at least guarantee you a job with a living wage. Eventually this led to a crackdown on colleges that were taking federal aid but too often saddling students with enormous debt and worthless degrees. In the end, President Obama’s efforts to expand access, lower college costs and introduce reforms to higher education were overshadowed by a growing perception among many Americans that, for all its promise of upward mobility and opportunity, higher education is becoming too expensive and detached from the real world of work and good jobs.

The six faith leaders Donald Trump has invited to pray at his inauguration come from diverse backgrounds, but they have something in common: All have personal ties to Trump or his family or have in some way signaled their approval of him, his politics or his wealth. The group includes an megachurch leader from Detroit, a Florida woman known for her lavish lifestyle and preaching on ”abundancy,” a rabbi from Los Angeles, and a Hispanic evangelical — as well as Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, who leads Great Faith Ministries in Detroit, played a key role during the presidential campaign by inviting candidate Trump to visit his church. For Trump, it was a rare appearance before a black congregation. Presenting Trump with a Jewish prayer shawl during his visit, Jackson said, ”There are going to be times in your life that you are going to feel forsaken . .. but the anointing is going to lift you up.” With his invitation to Jackson to pray at his inauguration, Trump returned a favor. Jackson lives in a mansion in Detroit and drives luxury cars. He preaches that being rich is not bad and that Trump’s wealth shows he is ”blessed by God.” Such teachings exemplify the ”prosperity gospel,” which holds that God rewards faithful Christians with financial success. It is a faith tradition with which Trump long has been associated. His ”spiritual adviser” is Paula White, who as the leader of New Destiny Christian Center near Orlando, Fla. is perhaps the best known prosperity preacher in the country. ”Every day you’re [living] your destiny, designed by God and discovered by you,” White said in a recent sermon. ”You’re either in a position of abundance, you’re in a position of prosperity, or you’re in a position of poverty. Now that’s in every area of your life. . .. You’re living abundant in your affairs of life — and that includes your financial conditions — or you’re living in poverty.” Not surprisingly, Donald Trump is drawn to those preachers who say that one’s wealth is a sign of God’s approval. Paula White has her critics in the evangelical world, some of whom consider her a heretic, but she endorsed Trump’s candidacy, and he reciprocated by inviting White to pray at his ceremony. Another evangelist who will be praying at the inauguration is Franklin Graham. During a recent interview with Lou Dobbs on the Fox Business Network, Graham said ”the hand of God” was evident in Trump’s election. ”I think God intervened and put his hand on Donald Trump for some reason,” Graham told Dobbs. ”It’s obvious that there was something behind this, and it was more than people understand. I just think it was God.” By appearing at Trump’s Franklin Graham will be following family tradition: His father, Billy, prayed at the inauguration of several presidents, from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton, and Franklin prayed at the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001. His inclusion as a prayer leader may also signal Trump’s comfort with Graham’s political positions. During his campaign, Trump focused a lot of attention on the threat from ”radical Islam,” a theme Franklin Graham also has emphasized. Shared political views may also explain Trump’s invitation to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founding president of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. In a recent television interview, Hier said it was ”outrageous” that the Obama administration chose not to veto a recent United Nations resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policy, echoing Trump’s own criticism. Hier, the first rabbi asked to pray at a presidential inauguration since 1985, says he will hit ”modern themes” during his inauguration appearance. ”It will be a short prayer, but it will reflect on the 21st century,” he says. Hier also has ties to the Trump world through Jared Kushner, Trump’s and close adviser. Kushner’s parents are old friends with Hier and his wife. One indication of Trump’s unorthodox approach in choosing inauguration prayer leaders is the absence of any representative of mainline Protestantism, the dominant faith tradition of U. S. presidents throughout the country’s history. On the other hand, Trump is the first to invite a Hispanic evangelical leader, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and senior pastor at New Season Christian Worship Center, an Assemblies of God congregation in Sacramento, Calif. Rodriguez accepted the invitation despite some misgivings about Trump’s immigration views. ”There was a bit of angst due to the fact that throughout the course of this campaign, the rhetoric and tone, as it pertained particularly to the immigrant community, did not line up with the ethos or the values of the NHCLC,” Rodriguez told NPR. He agreed to come to Washington for the inauguration after ”prayerful deliberation and discussion” and a conclusion that he could not pass up an opportunity to pray on ”the quintessential political platform on the planet.” Among Hispanic evangelicals, Rodriguez is one of the more conservative leaders. While he did not endorse Trump, he told NPR that he has heard a ”change of tone” from Trump in the past few weeks, and now has high hopes for better relations between Hispanics and the Trump administration. ”Thirty percent of Latinos voted for Donald Trump,” Rodriguez points out. ”There’s a great possibility that the and his team have come to the realization that this constituency could be engaged successfully.” Generally, Trump’s selection of inauguration prayer leaders reflects his tendency to break with mainstream thinking — and the importance he places on loyalty. With his invitations, he has rewarded clergy members who support him politically, endorse his views, or even offer a religious approval of his great wealth. The least surprising prayer leader choice is Cardinal Dolan. Most U. S. presidents in recent years have asked a prominent Catholic bishop or theologian to pray at their inaugurations, and as fellow New Yorkers, Dolan and Trump have known each other for a long time.

How much criticism can a single episode of television sustain before it gets the ax? On Friday, we may have gotten our answer: An episode of the British comedy series Urban Myths — which drew widespread complaints for featuring the white actor Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson — has been canceled by Sky TV before it could air. ”We have taken the decision not to broadcast ’Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon,’ a episode from the Sky Arts ’Urban Myths’ series, in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family,” the European company said in a statement. ”We set out to take a look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offence. Joseph Fiennes fully supports our decision.” Those ”concerns” had been expressed quite bluntly by the late singer’s family on Twitter. For instance: The proposed show ”honestly makes me want to vomit,” Jackson’s daugher, Paris, wrote. ”No words could express the blatant disrespect,” tweeted his nephew, Taj. The episode was to depict Jackson on a . 11 road trip across the U. S. in 2001, with Elizabeth Taylor, played by Stockard Channing, and Marlon Brando, played by Brian Cox. Intended to be a ” look” at an event rumored to have actually taken place, the episode had been positioned as a satire by its creators. ”It’s a sketch about a story that could have been a legend or could have been true,” Fiennes told AFPTV in Rome early last year, though he, too, admitted he ”was shocked” that he was cast in the role of Jackson: ”You have to ask them as to why they would want to cast me.” The director of the episode, Ben Palmer, told The Guardian this week that the casting was based partly on the challenge of matching physical resemblance, partly on the basis of Fiennes’ performance. ”We were really looking for the performance that could unlock the spirit, and we really think Joe Fiennes has done that,” Palmer said. ”He’s given a really sweet, nuanced, characterful performance.” To be sure, though, the questions came fast and furious — especially since the announcement was made smack in the middle of last year’s #OscarsSoWhite controversy over a lack of diversity in the entertainment industry. And the release of the trailer for the upcoming season, which as you can see above features footage from the Jackson episode and others, did nothing to stem the criticism. It appears that trailer is the only glimpse we’ll get of the episode.

Lila Downs has spent her career exploring the furthest reaches of Mexican folk music. With a voice that borrows heavily from opera, Downs performs the kind of mariachi singing that would fit right in at Mexico City’s Garibaldi Square — ground zero for mariachi. She can also coax the most tender moments from romantic boleros. But Downs is at her best when she and her band gather all of those influences to create expression that breaks down musical barriers. Entertaining and inspiring, she’s as much a storyteller as a singer, and her banter lays bare the Mexican soul, only to have it punctuated in song. Balas y Chocolate is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon) (Spotify) (Google Play) Lila Downs (vocals, jarana) Paul Cohen (sax) George Saenz, Jr. (trombone) Hugo Moreno (trumpet) Marcos Lopez (seated percussion) Yayo Serka (seated drums) Rafael Gomez (electric guitar) Leo Soqui (jarana) Luis Guzman (bass). Producers: Felix Contreras, Morgan Walker, Maggie Starbard Audio Engineer: Brian Jarboe Videographers: Morgan Walker, Maggie Starbard, Morgan McCloy Production Assistant: Carlos Water Photo: NPR. For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.