I'm Scott Simon this week usually Monday night drag show the stars Regina Thorne Dubois and his skin had to be canceled on the counter hurricane Harvey but the performers put a show on the web anyway for hurricane relief 9 hours and almost 10 or 15 different entertainers later we just kept going to going through the money it was really really spectacular Regina through and through ball later this hour and other news in the aftermath of Harvey also later Congress returns Robert Muller wants to know about a meeting between front page and a Russian lobbyist was Trump Tower Moscow in the works and where there Friday Night Lights in southeast Texas 1st our newscast and Saturday September 2nd 2017. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Barbara Kline some stone eons are in cleanup mode today as his stark levels of flood water recede but Mayor Sylvester Turner says reservoir releases will keep water flooding into some homes for up to 2 more weeks he's urging people in the western part of the city to get out if you have water in your home today. The odds are you going to continue to have water in your home over the next 10 to 15 days and with that being the case and the stress on the strain this man posed on 1st responders as well as your own public safety I am asking you I'm asking you to leave your homes Houston mayor Sylvester Turner the Texas Medical Board says health care workers who are licensed and in good standing with a hospital in other states can practice in Texas says the state faces overwhelming need in the wake of r.v. The Texas State Board of Examiners of psychologists is doing the same for psychologists N.P.R.'s Rebecca Herschel reports mental health professionals are trying to provide emergency services to thousands of people in shelters in Houston Dr John fair Mo is a physician with the v.a. He's one of hundreds of medical staff were volunteering at shelters writing prescriptions assessing patients and even giving out some medications the flood is really concerned about it's like patients running out of their own prescriptions of methadone or suboxone once a one hour medications they may relapse Michael Barry has spent the last 4 days at the Convention Center shelter he and Irving small saw one man who started having delusions in the middle of the night empties were called and they took the man away on a stretcher to transfer them off and make that thing down and think about it all just going to be here all day the acute crises are like little fires flaring up underneath is a larger We have psychological problems that mental health experts are concerned about going forward Rebecca Hersh or n.p.r. News. President Trump is expected to announce on Tuesday whether he'll end up program that shield so-called Dreamers those brought to the u.s. Illegally by their parents N.P.R.'s Richard Gonzales reports the president initially said on Friday that he might have an announcement that day or over the weekend they left the dreaminess without everybody nearly 800000 young people were granted protection from deportation under an Obama era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Dhaka Trump is under pressure from 10 Republican state attorneys general to end the program but some prominent Republican lawmakers such as House speaker Paul Ryan and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch are urging him to leave the policy as is until Congress can act the White House later said that Trump's decision will come on Tuesday Richard Gonzales n.p.r. News this is n.p.r. . The National Interagency Fire Center says more than 25000 firefighters are battling more than 50 wildfires in the Western u.s. Officials say the blazes are burning out of control dozens of them are in Montana where the governor has issued a disaster declaration the union for u.s. Diplomats is calling on the government to provide appropriate care for u.s. Personnel who are suffering symptoms from what it calls sonic Harris meant at the u.s. Embassy in Cuba the American Foreign Service Association says some are diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury and some have permanent hearing loss the State Department says 19 u.s. Personnel have been affected and confirms the latest attack occurred last month earlier the government said the attacks stopped in spring the Houston Astros today played their 1st home game since Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast a week ago Chavez of member station reports the asters are playing the New York Mets in a double header at Minute Maid Park down the street from the Convention Center where thousands of people are being sheltered Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement that the asters should play this weekend to give the city a much needed boost the games he said would help families begin returning to normal life on Friday asters players visited shelters and the team donated 5000 tickets to the mayor's office to give to evacuees and 1st responders for n.p.r. News I'm stolid Chavis in Houston this is n.p.r. Support for n.p.r. Comes from Babble a language app that teaches real life conversations in a new language including Spanish French and German. 15 minute lessons are available in the app store or online at Babble. Dot com and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. $91.00 l.w. Today's forecast sunny and hot with highs near $97.00 tonight partly cloudy with lows around $61.00 tomorrow mostly sunny with hives near $8081.00 and out tomorrow night a plus partly cloudy with lows around the upper fifty's time now is 8 o 6 My name is Dave me or mine or you're listening to Weekend Edition here on 91.7 f.m. K l w 9 o'clock don't forget Wait Wait Don't Tell me will be on. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Scott Simon the response of people in Texas and Louisiana to hurricane Harvey inspired the nation this week next week a group of people with a much lower public approval rating go back to work that's the u.s. Congress will be asked to deal with hurricane relief the debt ceiling and funding the u.s. Government joined now by n.p.r. Congressional correspondent Susan Davis Susan thanks so much for being with us he's got. Hurricane Harvey has been an overwhelming news event has it changed the political landscape in Congress it has certainly changed the agenda at least in the short term the president is now asking Congress to approve about 8000000000 dollars in aid for hurricane relief efforts and this is what is expected to be the 1st down payment of a multibillion dollar assist from the federal government and it's expected to be bipartisan you know natural disasters like this have a way of changing the tone of our politics if only for a little while President through the vigor pardon I President Trump has threatened to shutdown if his southern border wall isn't funded speaker Ryan says that's not a good idea what's the latest Harvey may have changed the calculations there as well the president has suggested at a came to a campaign rally in Phoenix last month that he'd be willing to veto a spending Bill Tush and shut down the government if it didn't include money for that border wall it is much harder and politically stupid for lack of a better word to force a self-inflicted crisis like a government shutdown when thousands of Americans are suffering in real time so the White House is indicating to Congress that they are increasingly less likely are they're more likely to sign a stopgap funding measure and fight that fight over the border wall at a later date. Even if all that got on President Trump wouldn't have what you which you would still call a major legislative achievement by October 1 of the hopes that Republicans have even promises they made to overhaul the tax code health care infrastructure. In that order yes no maybe. This is I have to go back and remember I put it when you look in that order the tax code as for taxes this is the number one priority for congressional Republicans they promise they're going to get a tax bill to President Trump's desk by the end of this year they see this as their path to redemption for failing to do what they promised they were going to do on health care you know the pressure the administration says they want Congress to keep at it at this effort to repeal and replace the affordable car Care Act but lawmakers are running out of time they only have until the end of September to do it and do it under protected budget rules and a lot of lawmakers are just ready to move on in the Senate there's already a bipartisan effort underway by Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Patty Murray of Washington to see what they can do to repair the individual market or help the individual market not dismantle it so that conversation has moved on and in terms of infrastructure I think it depends on the fate of the tax bill if Republicans can't pass a tax cut there is reason to be skeptical that they could cut back together and pass a big spending bill that brings this up John McCain Senator on both sides of the aisle wrote a stinging assessment of President Trump It appeared yesterday Congress must govern with a president who has no experience in public office he said as often poorly informed impulsive and speech and conduct we are not his subordinates we don't answer to him we answer to the American people I could go on and on to McCain to any sign you talk about some bipartisan efforts any sign congressional Republicans want what amounts to a political divorce from President it is important to remember that in the vast majority of Republican congressional districts President Trump remains very popular which is different than his national polling ratings however that being said I think that there are competing motives here the president has spent a lot of the past few weeks focused on the base and base politics we saw that with his controversial pardon of the former sheriff Joe Arpaio. In the. Contrasts congressional Republicans want to appeal to the middle ahead of the midterm elections so we may see more daylight there as we head into 28 and N.P.R.'s isn't Davis thanks so much for being with us special counsel Robert Muller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election continues in any kind of weather and it seems investigation may look into the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower to a Russian lawyer and representatives of the Trump campaign including Donald Trump Jr and Paul man of for this week Chad day and Eric Tucker of The Associated Press reported that we're not mention a Russian American lobbyist who attended that meeting gave sworn testimony before a grand jury Chad Day joins us thanks very much for being with us thanks for having me what might this testimony say about the direction of Mr Miller's investigation you know this is the clearest indication yet that Muller and his team of investigators you know view this Trump Tower meeting in June of 2016 as a significant part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election it's quite a big step to kind of take testimony before a grand jury and so now that we know that Mr mention has come in and and spoke before that grand jury we know that Muller is pursuing or at least considers it to be significant What do we know about it re not mention any ties to Russian intelligence for example right so there's been some reports that he's been tied to Russian intelligence but what we know is that he denies any kind of formal training as a spy he does acknowledge though that he is a former Soviet military officer who in the late eighty's served in a counterintelligence unit we also know that he's a well known Russian lobbyist presence around town here and he's been lobbying on behalf of Russian interests who are looking to undermine the u.s. Sanctions law called the Magnitsky Act which the Russian government is very opposed to why why would he be in that meeting any idea as he is he so passionately. Concerned about international adoption right so the adoption issue is kind of a code word for the Magnitsky Act sanctions you know the Russians kind of retaliated against the United States for passing that law by banning adoptions by u.s. Citizens for Russian children and the reason that mention was in that meeting at least according to an interview he gave to us about a month ago was that he was invited there by an Italian vessel nice guy who was a Russian lawyer who was supposed to be carrying damaging information about Hillary Clinton that could help the Trump campaign mention says he was in New York at the time and that she called him and said we you come to this meeting and he agreed. It was also reported this week that Michael Cohen who is Donald Trump's personal lawyer had inquired about building a Trump Tower in Moscow now that that may not be illegal but does it contradict what Donald Trump said during the campaign about having no business dealings Oh no interest in Russia right so I don't know if it's a direct contradiction but it's kind of you know splitting hairs in some ways because what we now know is that Michael Cohen is confirming that he kind of early in the presidential campaign started pursuing a business project there is for a Trump Tower Moscow in and then you know was under heavy consideration until January 26th seen and so what we know is that now it's been confirmed that wall you know Trump was running for president his business the Trump Organization was considering pursuing doing business in Russia so. So if not any direct dealings at that particular point it's hard to say that he didn't have any any interest writing and writing on the result of decisions that were going to be made in Moscow right so what's been said is you know Cohen has said that they they cut off this project in January 26th team because of business decision it was a pure business decision but it's hard to ignore that you know during the campaign and then later this you know that it became you know Trump's connections to Russia obviously became something that was significant to you know the election and became kind of a hot button issue and now has kind of dog the presidency now so you know hindsight looking back on this this is something that could play a role in what Muller is looking into and also what congressional committees are looking into when they're looking for connections between Trump and Russia. Day The a.p. Thanks so much thanks for having me. So imagine that violent extremists are force you to flee your home your families made it out safely but now the question is how do you make a life how do you make a living N.P.R.'s Ofeibea Quest Arkan reports from a camp for displaced people in northeast Nigeria. Modood shooty is Atonement who tells of the makeshift booth where he set up shop in the stairwell of an unfinished 3 story building taken over by refugees quarters Charlie was driven from his home in the town of magick in the last year by fighting now he lives in the regional capital Maiduguri which has more than a 1000000 and a half people up looted by Father says most have lost practically everything but many still have their feathers and those fins need to be changed now while I wait getting our dinner I have a little amount of money left in me after I left my view needs for these families so I and I decided Ok let me start off a little business so does write a total far right charge and points then I started 43 year old children a father of 7 has a generator because pack outs are common in Maiduguri He says his life savings of $50000.00 that are about $160.00 helped him purchase the generator and set up it's not a big business at least a viable little enterprise charging mobile phones even here in customs camp Judy tells us as 3 curious little boys peek out from beneath the small store today he says this will means he owns money to look after his family well you know what enough of those I would do the times when day's market a time safety child like 50 phones at times of to on good friends in needy children each child is what people can pay says an affordable $39.00 or $0.10 per act times a Makes 3000 or so a day the. Movement of Navy says Judy smiled I'm good now to time but in my case he's moving to the dreams of leaving the displaced people's camps in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria and heading back to me with his family and all I get out on the line into go back on to about I have a generator yeah child is a generic tool for the business yeah I would walk so does the reason why I said Ok let me just venture intreat says people are using cell phones yeah and it seems Chinese custom is all satisfied. And n.p.r. News made to Kony. And you're listening to n.p.r. News. Headlines residents of Houston are beginning to dry out and clean up in the wake of Harvey. But parts of southeast Texas are still in crisis mode with rescue operations continuing and evacuations from Beaumont which is out of drinking water fire officials in Burbank California have ordered the evacuation of about $200.00 homes as a wildfire is being driven toward them by powerful winds massive fires are also ranging from Washington State to Montana the State Department says mysterious attacks on u.s. Diplomats in Cuba continued in August after saying earlier the attacks had stopped months ago the government says 19 diplomats are suffering. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the financial services firm of Raymond James offering personalized wealth management advice and banking and capital markets expertise along with a legacy of putting clients financial wellbeing 1st learn more at Raymond James dot com from Optum committed to tackling the biggest challenges in health care with data driven solutions designed to improve outcomes and make the system better for everyone learn more at Optum dot com Optum how well gets done and from the listeners who support this n.p.r. Station. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Scott Simon authorities are continuing to watch the or Kemah chemical plant north of Houston multiple fires at the plant which was damaged by floods have drawn attention to the public health hazards posed by the region's enormous chemical and refining industries N.P.R.'s Rebecca Herschel reports that the risk is especially acute for those who live near industrial areas. The Houston area has one of the largest concentrations of petro chemical manufacturing in the world the industry isn't hiding drive 15 minutes out of downtown and the tanks and towers loom up tanker trucks rumble by. Right next to have since. This morning like I wanted off the king year old Arianna Diaz and her father Sotero Carissa now say they've noticed pollution in their east Houston neighborhood Manchester yell about the moment oh yeah I was sick from asthma because of it too it's over yet I have gotten sick from Manchester is surrounded by petro chemical plants or a finery flanks one side there's a metal recycling plant on another and a row upon row of chemical storage tanks next to that smoke stacks rise behind playgrounds compared to elsewhere in Houston houses are comparatively inexpensive and like most people in the neighborhood Carrizo has lived there a long time 40 years what it used to feel in concert like a lot of people have died from cancer because of factors like what we rent out the house next door to like people in a key die from cancer because of these it's difficult to link a single case of cancer to pollution but the Union of Concerned Scientists and environmental nonprofit found residence in Manchester are at least 24 percent more likely to develop cancer or respiratory illnesses than residents of wealthy neighborhoods in Houston and that risk is under normal circumstances before the flood which has public health experts worry this is urged you to. So you look at mud like. Good or bad. That killer stone and guest on because c.s. Are part of a toxicology and at the b. Neology team from Texas and m. That visited the neighborhood on Friday Manchester was actually spared serious flooding but was surrounded by high water like a moat stone can see yes or crouching in a ditch filled with mud water and trash there's an oily sheen on everything we're taking a chance a while and mud and water samples throughout the whole neighborhood and we're looking for any kind of contamination due to the extra water that's come through there testing for heavy metals lead arsenic as well as other potentially dangerous chemicals associated with petroleum Jennifer horney leads the a and m. Team there are $400.00 chemicals and petroleum and so people are never going to be exposed to just wanted a time so we're trying to come up with rapid ways that we can assess what if someone's exposed to 80 chemicals at a time what might be the health and Pact of that without having to look at each one separately she and her team were already studying the neighborhood before Harvey now with contaminated floodwaters in air pollution from refineries shutting down and restarting their work has taken on new urgency they're working overtime to get results from Friday's testing done by next week and horney says problems with contamination post Harvey go far beyond Houston the so-called chemical Coast stretches a long way I think one of the concerns is that some of the areas that are outside of Houston that are also the home of these large petrochemical and industrial sites will be left out because the response will focus on the city of Houston because there are just so many people here but she's concerned that a smaller community could be hard hit by widespread health problems or the loss of livestock what's clear is that even as the water recede. The policeman will remain Rebecca her sure n.p.r. News Kenya's Supreme Court has thrown the country back into a presidential campaign office an opposition leader Rollo didn't get made allegations of fraud and the court threw out the results nullified the reelection of President overruled can Jada N.P.R.'s East Africa East African correspondent Major Peralta joins us from Nairobi editor thanks so much for being with us Scott it's really in the came down on Friday was an enormous surprise and remind us of why I please yeah I mean this is it's a big deal I mean 1st of all because Kenya the whole continent really defers to presidents and this is the judiciary ruling against a sitting president and overturning an election we could only find one other instance in history on the continent but this is also stunning because it was just really dramatic international observers had set the process was above board former Secretary of State John Kerry he was observing the op the elections for the Carter Center said they found only quote little aberrations here and there but the opposition claimed that the elections were hacked by people using the credentials of a murdered elections official and they said it was part of a vast conspiracy to steal a 3rd election from a dialogue being. Has the court found that the elections were actually hacked No the court decision the court didn't explain what happened really you know they basically left open to possibilities that the elections board acted illegally and basically rigged the elections or that they were just incompetent I've spent the past 3 weeks hears reading hundreds of pages of documents talking to politicians and experts trying to get to an approximation of the truth and one of the things that did become clear toward the end of the trial is that a lot of things were suspicious I'll give you one example so each constituency or county as we would call it in the us has to add up all of its polling stations and fill out these tallying forms to make sure that nobody could forge these things the forms had they had security features one of them was a watermark that you could only see under a u.v. Light but when the court ordered the registrar to look through these forms it found that 20 percent of them were missing that watermark Bernhardt and his colleagues at the University of Michigan have also been looking at the elections and they've just found a lot of weirdness a statistical analysis for example showed that in some places there were more voters than people and in some of the computer logs that the opposition released Bernhardt found that some of the electronically transmitted forms were over written many times but were the elections rigged Here's a bit of what met Bernhard told me it's really bizarre to me that you know an election board flight should make all these changes to their. Stuff and just totally you know either ignore them or are not and. Honestly it's one of those things where we're not going. So it could be foul play he says or it could be sloppiness and part of the reason it's hard to tell which it is is because running elections is really complicated and it's just not in the easy thing to do well that if they're going to be in a new round of elections then there are so the court has ordered new elections within 60 days but there's a big problem the opposition still maintains that the i.e.c. Which is the electoral commission is corrupt and the opposition leader Raila Odinga called on its top leaders to step down so I think this is the next battleground here N.P.R.'s East Africa correspondent at her Peralta speaking from Nairobi and her thanks so much for being with us thank you Scott black smoke billowed from the Russian consulate in San Francisco yesterday as they packed to close the consulate today by order of the u.s. State Department the San Francisco Chronicle says the fire department rushed over but firefighters were turned away by consulate personnel who told them there was no problem they were just using their fireplace it was 95 degrees yesterday in San Francisco Rick Smith a former f.b.i. Special agent who once headed the Russian counterintelligence squad in San Francisco told the Chronicle there is finally the realization by the administration that Russians have been involved in intelligence operations at this consulate which they have been doing for decades where the Russians are burning reports from their spies with a burning ballots from the 2016 us presidential elections maybe medicinal marijuana that they can take back to Russia maybe the Russian diplomats were just making s'mores there an old Russian summertime treat after all like some more of Georgia some more of Ukraine. Time now for sports. Baseball is back in Houston this weekend with a double header today the Astros versus the Mets and the Stroh's may have acquired a game changer indeed Howard Bryant of e.s.p.n. And the s.v.n. The magazine joins us good morning Howard good morning Scott how are you I'm fine thanks as the floodwaters began to recede Thursday just before midnight the Astros signed Landa traded for a 6 time all star Justin Verlander the great pitcher from the Detroit Tigers How does this improve their chances in the playoffs and maybe beyond Well it certainly improves them it's when you get a guy like Justin Verlander I think one of the great things about these deals specially at this time of the year is it tells everybody and on your team and on your fan base that we're here to win the World Series we're not here to make the playoffs obviously they've had a great year they've got the best record in the league for virtually the entire season and the message is is that there's only one outcome for us this year and that's to win it all and so when you have a guy like for a lander and you've got the colors and you've got you've got the pitching staff that nobody wants to go through and it's a wonderful deal for Houston because once again the Astros have been to the World Series once they lost to the White Sox in 2005 and they've brick Los a couple years ago didn't get there they lost in the l.c.s. And so right now this is a this is the kind of deal that sports fans love it you want your team to try to win you care about it and now the organization is showing that they are doing everything they can to bring you a championship it's it's impossible not to wonder if the Astros are going to play with an extra spark of intensity following Hurricane Harvey now is that just romantic nonsense on the part of us fans yeah you know Scott it is and I try at times I'm conflicted about it quite constantly to be honest and I. I feel like here we go the minute the hurricane hit I thought we were going back to the Katrina narrative or you're going back to the narrative when the economy crashed in Michigan Michigan State lets you know when it went for Michigan or when it for New Orleans or I think that that trivializes what's really taken place right now the the Houston Astros and the scope of the devastation there when you look at those photos when you see what's happening and you're dealing with people whose lives are going to have to it's going to take months and years to put them back together it's it's insignificant it means nothing on the other hand there is value in giving people who are dealing with a lot of devastation a lot of pain whether it's in your life personally or whether it's a national day natural disaster to give them something that makes them feel good and baseball does that. We were both in New York in the days after 911 I will never forget the tangible electricity of those October games at Yankee Stadium the now my Was there absolutely the cop was saying God Bless America Frank Sinatra's you know recording New York New York of the team pulling the marathon of the field I mean I'm not a Yankees fan but I sold it each time they won that that fall I like to think that made some small Exactly you had to feel that I talked to Joe Torey about this was the manager of the Yankees at the time just a few weeks ago and he was telling me about after the towers fell they went to the armory to just be supportive and they walked in and I think Joe was there and Willie Randolph and Don Zimmer Derek Jeter Bernie Williams were all there and Joe walked around and he thought this is stupid I don't belong here these people you know they're all the pictures were on the walls trying to find their loved ones and he said I don't belong here why are we here and then Bernie Williams walked over and said to a woman that I don't have anything to say I don't know what to say to you but you look like you need a hug and he gave her a hug and and everybody vendor. That broke the ice and everyone came over to the Yankees to see them as their heroes and then Joe said I do realize now that we have a job to do that this is important to people and we have to give them some something to be happy about within all of this and it changed his mind about the value of of what they could bring to the people of New York yeah and we'll just note on our way out a lot of Houston athletes of publicly stepped up in the in the wake of her name j.j. Watt 15000000 he's raised in a you know week Howard Bryant of e.s.p.n. Thanks so much for joining us you know my pleasure. I am Gene Demby so much of what we read in the news doesn't really take the story past the headline right one of the things I love about working at n.p.r. And listening to n.p.r. Is how often the stories go outside of those places and we hear who's on the other end of these big conversations that we're having people who live in small towns and in big cities who are rich and who are poor Those stories are incomplete without that part and we're here to tell those stories that for this into this goes to show . This is 99 percent in there's a ball I'm Roman Mars. The most iconic James Bond villain is arguably Goldfinger do you expect me to talk. The Overstock takes pictures right there is this dirty fun fact that the Bond villain Goldfinger was actually named after a real person that's trouble Avery the real Goldfinger was an architect Goldfinger and he made giant hole King last year a concrete buildings Goldfinger's buildings were decreed soulless inhabitants claim to suffer health problems and oppression from spending time inside them and yet many architects praise the Goldfinger's buildings this divide this hatred from the public and love from designers and architects tends to be the narrative around buildings like Goldfinger's which is to say gigantic imposing buildings made of concrete what some people refer to as brutalist architecture brutalist buildings are pretty pervasive throughout the us and Canada and a lot of folks beyond the creator of James Bond love to hate them absolutely I mean it has these connotations of the marriage Soviet era construction sometimes 3rd world construction this is Professor Adrian 40 all these negative associations as harsh as it looks concrete is an utterly optimistic building material really from. It was seen as being the material that would change the world concrete was this material that seemed boundless readily available in vast quantities and could create massive spaces unlike any other material so concrete sprang up everywhere it's the 2nd most heavily consumer products in the was the only thing we consume more of than concrete is water concrete buildings were wrecked it all over the world as housing projects court houses schools churches hospitals and city halls you'll stand outside and a tour bus will go. And they'll be it ladies and gentleman voted the most ugliest building in the world the Boston City Hall How do you compete with that Chris criminally is up against a lot but he is trying to restore Boston city halls reputation my name is Chris grimly I'm with my fellow heroic people Mark Pasternak and Michael Cuba Chris Mark and Michael have embarked on what they call the heroic project chronicling the concrete structures in and around Boston rather than referring to these concrete buildings as brutalist they prefer the term heroic because like so many superheroes these structures have the best most noble intentions but are sorely misunderstood you have to situate Boston in late fifty's 1960 s. Boston like a lot of other American cities it was plagued by a loss of manufacturing jobs and white flight to the suburbs and for decades Boston had the highest property taxes in the nation and almost no development so Boston's that's an agenda to make the city great again with big soaring capable thoroughly modern buildings made of course out of concrete and though some of these buildings were celebrated others were really not what we call the 3rd rail of Boston concrete modernism a city hall when Boston City Hall was built in 1988 critics were put off by this concrete style it was called alienating and cold and since it was a government building this criticism became impossible to remove from politics Boston City Hall became a political pawn mayors and city council members kept trying to win public support with promises to get rid of the building. Former Mayor Thomas Menino actually started a study to really look into tearing it down it turned out as a result of the study that you would need something like a nuclear grade weapon basically to destroy this building because it was so it's so heavily overbuilt into concrete and so when they couldn't tear down city hall officials. Chose to ignore it people that occupied the building for decades and decades didn't like it and so they did invest money into the building and effectively wanted to see the building go away this is called active neglect that happens with a lot of concrete buildings they are intentionally unrepaired and renovated and uncared for which only makes the bill the more ugly and then more hated and then more ignored it creates there's a vicious cycle where the public hate Boston City Hall beat itself and then the discussion years on really became about what the original architect had done wrong as if this were not a failure of maintenance but a failure of the initial design concrete architecture now finds itself at a potential inflection point to outdated to be modern too young to be classic in a small but growing band of architects architecture enthusiastic and preservationists would like us to just wait a bit and see maybe with a little time and we might discover some architectural diamonds in the rough that we just can't see right there. 99 percent Invisible was produced this week by a very same Greenspan kid mingled had more doom in me Roman Mars we are a product of k l w find out more and 99 p.r.i. Dot org entries most influential judges Richard Posner is retiring today from the 7th u.s. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago he's written more than 3000 opinions in several books over 36 years on the bench I'm Barbara Kline n.p.r. News. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from care of olution committed to connecting health care to improve population health through patient and gauge mint and care coordination solutions for providers health plans and communities learn more at Care evolution dot com from Eli Lilly and company striving to unite caring with discovery to make life better stories on what inspires lowly scientists in their pursuit of life changing medicines to treat breast cancer is available at Lilly for better dot com and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Friday nights usually mean bright lights and high school football in Texas but over 100 games have been canceled in the Houston area alone in the wake of Hurricane Harvey for years Angel Hriday who wrote about high school football for the used in Chronicle He's now a communications specialist for the cypress Fairbanks school district and joins us now thanks so much for being with us not from Thanks for having me I gather sure you had to leave your own home. Are there a lot of schools but that are being used now to help shelter people and handle supplies. Yes Basically every corner of the Greater Houston of course that goes down all the way down the greater corpus and even now the Beaumont area because they kind of caught the tail end of the hurricane Harvey and then and the bay the rain there are there are pockets of school's administration building and anything that's being used back and back and House charges you know faith based organizations I know in my district for example our largest building called the barycenter which is basically a complex that houses in a rain theater Conference Center plus the net plus the neighboring adjacent football stadium that's become sort of a point of distribution where we're gathering a lot of our donations and distributing as well has been used in the shelter because we've sort of some of the partners about but one of the large churches in our independence which in the in the area has sort of become the shelter 1st site there and again it's hit all corners and when you look at every every side of Houston the north side the south side which of course was closer to the water you're going to find shelters a place to send your donations and of course the main thing that we've seen not just with what we do with everyone but student athletes and teachers in fact the staff members everyone in all corners of Houston have been helping to rescue people and to rebuild and collect and you know to dig out all that. Water a lot of drywall and furniture all that kind of stuff and the guys on the football team can be really useful doing that maybe more so yeah I mean yeah yeah I mean if you if you need to you need to get through part of her you know the heavy lifting now's the time to get those off and defensive lineman and again it's it's you know we you hate that it becomes that an event like this is what helps show just how great human nature can be but again it's another example of how people can come together and I've seen not just my own school district but a school schools from all all up and down the Texas coast that we've that I've covered as I've seen just athletes football players coaches I mean people helping each other people helping their neighbors people they don't even know just any anyone that needs help there I mean social media has been a big help to get word out that people are getting into. Kind of assistance they need right now I can to keep an eye on Lamar and Houston and I gather the game against Westfield last night was was cancelled but once school is back and I think that's on September 11th if I'm not mistaken from what I read. Is football going to be a little more important than ever Yes because I mean we we've seen it specially in Texas to have hurricanes along the coast tornadoes in other parts of the state that and really all across the country that sport and anything that involves your community has of way to bring it back to normalcy sort of galvanised you know I was glued to the T.V.'s today. They had a special Texas high school to the u.r.l. Which is sort of the governing body of Texas college high schools teamed up with Fox Sports Southwest they put on this basically this specialty high school football games in the regular season on Fridays have never been telecast live sort of in a way of keeping people going to the games but they kept their televised Thursday to Saturday but I was glued because I had to watch because I wanted to see and again come the games have been cancelled we'll have still more next week and I think we'll get going a little more in the weeks after but yes you'll have communities that once once we do get going and once we get once we get to games to communities that have been sitting here waiting for something good to happen though at least for those 2 or 3 hours we'll have a chance to go out and root for the players that have helped them to play the kids that they know and just again everybody talk about normalcy and that will definitely help Angel for day how Thanks very much for being with us and you know probably tomorrow morning we'll continue our coverage including the lingering public health dangers in Texas from e-coli to contaminants in the water and mental health questions that's tomorrow with Lou on Weekend Edition Sunday. Home again is a rom com where boy or 3 guys actually meet a girl who's a single mother and old enough to be their teacher pay them from me. I'm pretty angry. So I looked over to buy you drinks but really I think the bartenders slaving under the impression that I'm taking her in tonight. They are not known. Because I'm just I'm sorry you Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney Pico Alexander is hairy one of the filmmaking trio of young men need a place to crash while they try to make an impression in Hollywood the film is written and directed by Allie Meyer Shire her 1st film and is produced by Nancy Myers who's written and or directed signature romantic comedies that include Private Benjamin Something's Gotta Give father of the bride I could go on they joined us from the studios of n.p.r. West thank you both very much for being with us so happy to be here thanks for having us thank you there's some others and daughters who love each other but can't have lunch together without getting into an argument so what's it like to make a movie together it was a great experience I mean she knows so much about making a film making romantic comedy so she was the right woman for the job and my mother also which was nice adage edition you kind of have to put aside if you can the mother daughter relationship when you're working together it was interesting and unique and certainly was nothing I'd ever you know or how you never done before but I had never done any of it before but what a service to the movie so that's always the goal and that's the endgame so it's funny we've been interviewed a lot and you can tell some of his relationship with their mom because either approach us with well it sounds like or what was that like you know you can just feel tension or delight in the concept did you ever have. To hold yourself back from saying that's not how we do it. Holding things back is not one of my strengths so you know I very much wanted Halle to make her movie The way she wanted to make her movie but I I did feel if I saw something going on that I knew I could help by just turning things a little bit one way or the other I always said it but I didn't try to impose my stamp on her work no Pelley Mayor Cheye or did you ever did you ever have to put a cork in it. Like I raise that well you know I welcomed her opinion and her advice throughout the whole process I mean obviously there's times when you feel that you need to fight back but you know it's ultimately those discussions help you arrive at an even better place usually in any sort of partnerships or collaboration's and making a movie is such a collaborative experience that there's there's always a lot of cooks in the kitchen when you're making a movie it's a real Hollywood story Alice played by Reese Witherspoon as the daughter of a film director the 3 lads who who wind up in her guest house and then some Let me put that. Way want to make films solely Meyer Shire did you grow up. Not perhaps not analogous situation but in a you know Hollywood household like that well I grew up in a household that really valued cinema so we watched lots of movies films were being cooked up in our guest house where my parents wrote together and then after their divorce even more films were being written in my in my house and and when your parents are filmmakers you actually get such a good insight into what actually making a film is all about and you know I would see it from the writing process to the casting and pre-production and then shooting post-production and marketing you know the whole way through May I ask Did you ever slip and refer to the. Writer and director of this film happens to be your daughter by like a family her childhood nickname. I do color Halloway a lot but I didn't stop doing that. Doesn't sound so bad on a film so let's think you this question ever by the. Right I wasn't sure what to call her on our 1st day I I said Should I call mom and or Nancy so I tried Nancy it sounded so weird so when right back to Connor mom question for you both are from the attitude maybe of different generations what makes a signature rom com What are some of the elements Hell I just point it at me so Ok so I don't answer that way. I know this sounds ridiculously obvious but I do think romance is part of it and I think comedy religious comedy is part of it and you know I've said this to Halle quite a few times but I've never been in a group of people when somebody says to somebody else hey how do you 2 meet where the whole group doesn't lean in to hear the answer everybody has that story and everybody's interested in your story telling is that most movies you know of the Tom Cruise action movie whatever you know he's going to be Ok at the end it's how you tell the story that matters and same with a romantic comedy you know they may end up together although And in some movies that's not always true but you know generally in a romantic comedy somebody's going to end up with somebody so it's how you tell the story and how smart you can be about telling the story and how entertaining how am I or shy or what do you think are the signature elements of a good run come I mean I think it's sort of the signature element of any good film is being really invested in your in your main characters and caring about their journey and you know where they end up usually in a romantic comedy it's in a relationship and you know that's why I think this movie is a bit more of a modern take on a romantic comedy because it's really about this character finding herself and figuring herself out versus finding love but there's actually elements of drama. And you know comedy which are the the 2 baking gradients but I really think it comes back to character and really caring about that person and. Rooting them in reality. Because there's such thing as a mother daughter rom com. There should be I mean you could make a you could make a comedy about the mother and daughter working making a film together I suppose we have no material. I think that one might be too close to home. We like guys in our movies to. Write Well you always have to have you know you have a couple standing around looking pretty. Healthy Meyer Shire who was written and directed home again produced by Nancy Meyers they happen to be related thanks so much for being with us both of you thank you so much doesn't mean yes. Regina Thorne Dubois is a drag queen from Houston and every Monday for the last 4 months she's hosted a show called The Broadway at an area bar called Michael's outpost last Monday though the Broadway had to be canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey So Regina Thorne to walk out together with some friends to raise money with the show from her apartment that they streamed live on Facebook. Regina Thorne Dubois also known as Ryan Barrett joins us now thanks very much for being with us Oh thank you so much for having me I'm excited to be here and how did the idea for this come about well we was stuck in an apartment complex that thankfully was not getting damaged at all by hurricane Harvey and I had a whole I was in contact with a bunch of members of the cast of our show all around the greater Houston area and we were all stuck inside we'd all been stuck inside for a couple of days now and the cabin fever was getting to us but we wanted to find something to do to not only pass the time but help the city out so I sat down and I said well what if we got all the cast of the show that was supposed to be performing on that Monday night me went and got on a Facebook and performed for a couple people asked people to donate money and see how it went and then 9 hours and almost 10 or 15 different entertainers later we had just kept going kept going and kept raising money it was really really spectacular for what did you perform I personally performed I know we did defying gravity from Wicked we did a couple of ballads too that we thought were going to be nice and powerful and help spread the word about what was going on we perform something from the show waitress and the entertainers that we brought in to perform did some non Broadway drag performances or some non Broadway singing to add a little bit of variety to the shows Regina I think if I may call you Regina Oh feel free one of these days been like for you and your friends it has been difficult I will say we have had it much easier than most of Houston so for I know for me personally the thing that was most difficult about the last couple of days and how I've really been feeling was helpless for a lot of it but then I started getting hopeful once we started doing these fundraisers and being able to reach out and assist the people of Houston in a way that not a lot of people were doing or you get you gave people your Yes exactly the. It was that was what we were wanting to do we wanted to make sure that even if we didn't raise any money if no one had donated at all if we had just been able to allow our drag to entertain other people and make them forget about the disaster that was going on outside their walls for just 5 minutes we would feel like we succeeded. What have we learned about Houston through these these days of trial. And courage and so much world attention I think that we have proven that the 4th largest city in America is a lot smaller than you think everyone has come together to form this amazing community I thought when I originally came here that it was going to be very easy for me to feel alone in the city because it's so big and over the past week I have never felt like a more important member of a community it's sad that it takes a natural disaster to bring the community and the nation together but when it does the relationships that come out of it are beautiful and almost what brought me more emotion than seeing some of the negative things out there was seeing just the sheer outpouring of love and support for those people who are suffering can we have can we have a few bars of a ballad Well one of my favorite songs is maybe this time from Cabaret I would love to hear a little bit maybe this time as a candor and abseiling I'd love to hear a little of it if you can help us yeah oh for sure I see we can do here and maybe this time I'll be lucky maybe this time he'll stick a. Maybe this. For the 1st time love won't hurt no they. There you go a little time then. You do that beautifying I'm so glad Regina Thorne Dubois of Houston thanks so much thank you Scott. I'll be. There. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Scott Simon. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the nada creators of the Japanese made Dreamwave massage chair was shot support detection and 16 program to massages including morning and night time sessions retail dealers nationwide more at Dreamwave chair dot com and from t.i.a. Whether it's investing advice banking or retirement t.i.a.a. Believe smart financial decisions should enable life not define it t.i.a. Calls this the new success story learn more at t.i.a. Dot org. A Court Appointed Special Advocate and she suggested that we should do a little feature on the program so for the story it was kind of a little profile of a relationship and that's what a casa is is having a long term relationship with someone who's constantly in transition in life so I got to know Nick and his Casa follow them around and have lunch with them and just kind of observe their relationship really when the story aired one of my really good friends after she heard it she decided that she would go to one of the meetings and she met other of them in there who heard the story and that's why they were there I was definitely surprised and I wasn't really expecting anything after hearing the story so it was kind of nice to hear you know a friend of mine decided to go and learn more herself just to have that information out in the world and to inspire people to maybe just go to a meeting in the 1st place that feels pretty cool to makes the work even more enriching for me for sure my name is true when and I am the membership coronated or at w. . Has a story on k l w move you to take positive action we want to hear your story of engagement with local public radio tell us all about it. Org or on Twitter or Facebook. This is 91.7 k l w safe Francisco Stay tuned for wait wait don't tell me followed by headlines from London. This is Wait Wait Don't Tell me the n.p.r. News quiz.