She said his lies in years of criminal conduct can't be ignored she sentenced him to $45.00 days in jail which could be served on weekends and 3 years of probation Jackson said in closing that she was certain the criminal justice system is not going to see Gates again Brian Lucas n.p.r. News Washington in Jersey City New Jersey today hundreds of mourners came out for the funeral of a police detective killed last week in connection with an attack on a kosher market that left 5 others dead and P.R.'s Jeff Brady reports police from around the region lined the streets to pay their respects in the cold rain a procession led by officers on motorcycles lights flashing escorted detective Joseph seals cough and from the funeral home to St Aiden's. World as the sheriff in Bucks County Pennsylvania he looked down the street to describe the scene blocks beyond what I can possibly see but officers easily in the thousands honor guards a couple 100 different honor guards from different apartments detective Joseph SEALs was 40 years old and a father of 5 praised for his work removing guns from the streets authorities say he was shot in a cemetery shortly before 2 people attacked a kosher market about a mile away Jeff Brady n.p.r. News Jersey City the u.s. Special envoy to North Korea has left South Korea apparently empty handed after attempting to salvage nuclear negotiations but Stephen begin says the trumpet ministration remains committed to making progress using to plough Mysie I made rising tensions Pyongyang has set a year and deadline for the us to make concessions begin says the u.s. Does not have a deadline I mean he held in Washington and you're listening to n.p.r. News. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Paris to protest President Emanuel Macross plan to overhaul the French retirement system McCrone has refused to budge from plans to raise the retirement age N.P.R.'s Eleanor Beardsley reports among those who walked off their jobs today in protests are opera singers. Performers there on the steps of the Bastille Opera House belting out performances and waving placards with slogans France currently has 42 different retirement regimes and opera performers have their own wants to simplify the system and put them all into one plan but Singer Claire salary else says they fear they will be worse and that their special job requirements will not be taken into account you cannot expect people to sing really really well as we do now when they're 67 years old or 70 years old. These. These opera singers are hoping today's demonstrations will be massive enough to force the government to withdraw its plans Eleanor Beardsley n.p.r. News Paris antigovernment protests in Lebanon and now in their 2nd month are becoming increasingly violent according to state run media attackers burned tents in protest camps in the north and south today and in Beirut protesters tried to overtake a blocked off square by parliament police and security forces responded with tear gas water cannons and rubber bullets the clashes come as Lebanon has been struggling with a battered economy the United Nations has called on Lebanon to undertake serious reforms I mean held in Washington and you're listening to n.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include c. 3 dot a i c 3 died a Eyes software enables organizations to use artificial intelligence at enterprise scale solving previously unsolvable business problems learn more at c 3 died a. Support for you comes from Parker pastries of Monterey holiday offerings include Yule log stolen and handcrafted chocolates more information at Parker who so dot com orders by phone at 630 and from Sunset cultural center in Carmel presenting Darlene Love Live in Concert the singer performs her signature Christmas song from 1963 and more 7 pm Sunday December 22nd tickets at sunset Center dot org from n.p.r. And I'm Jeremy Hobson I'm Tanya Moseley it's here and now another big step in Washington towards the impeachment of President Trump comes tomorrow when the full House meets to debate the articles of impeachment and we wanted to take a closer look at partisanship and how it's playing out in this process a number of vulnerable Democrats announced yesterday that they will back impeachment while 2 Democrats in the House have said they are opposed and will go against their party the situation is familiar to our next guest Paul McHale is a former congressman from Pennsylvania and one of 5 Democrats who broke with the party and voted to impeach President Clinton back in 1988 and Congressman this isn't really a question of Democrats that they're just dealing with this Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan recently left the g.o.p. He's in favor of impeachment What would you tell Congress members who are considering going against their party for this vote I think consistent with what the Constitution expected of members of the house there are there are many routine votes that are cast quite properly with partisan considerations in mind but I think I think under the Constitution it's quite clear that a vote on an Pietschmann is a very different kind of vote it involves constitutional responsibility not simply democratic representation and so I wouldn't stick a finger in the wind on this vote I certainly didn't I cast a vote that was very difficult for me I liked President Clinton I had voted for him . But it became clear to me that he had lied under oath and I felt the house had a duty to hold him accountable Similarly I would say to my Republican friends today do what you think is right this is a vote that will define your presence in the house we are we are deciding what's good for the country and I think that should trump all partisan considerations you know back in 1908 Clint was accused of lying under oath about his affair with interned Monica Lewinsky and obstruction of justice one striking thing you said back then as you voted to impeach him was that you had future presidents in mind and that the rule of law was at stake Looking back it feels like a remarkable statement as we sit in the middle of this trumpet he meant process was this a hard decision for you I mean what pressures that you feel from your constituents in the party on this vote I had great difficulty deciding my boat with regard to President Clinton I have no difficulty at all in the in the present situation I believe the President Trump withheld national security funds from an ally solely to benefit is his political interest and if that's not an impeachable offense I don't know what it is I want to talk a little bit about partisanship Here's Republican Jim Sensenbrenner in 1908 speaking about how the push to impeach Nixon had to be bipartisan and let's listen . I would ask my Democratic friends to be as bipartisan today as the Republicans were back in 1974 by rejecting this motion to recommit So you hear Republican then calling for bipartisanship and you know there's the argument out there I know you've heard it that Clinton's actions really didn't threaten the country and that his impeachment was partisan I'm really interested to know do you think that many people see that very partisan impeachment of Clinton paving the way for the partisanship as we know it today and the. Process that's playing out today yet Tanya I can only speak for myself and in 1988 I don't think that President Clinton sexual misconduct constituted an impeachable offense if if he had simply done what he had done in the Oval Office I would never have voted for impeachment What made it a public offense was his his lank the deliberate lying under oath in a federal civil rights lawsuit and so that's what made it an impeachable offense not merely the tawdry activity in the in the Oval Office now with regard to President trying again I think it's a question of the rule of law and constitutional responsibility not partisanship I mean I'm you know I had a lot of elections over the years and I understand partisanship and I don't dismiss it there is a certain degree of loyalty to one's political party that's appropriate but heaven help us if we can't under the constitution set that aside in a moment as serious as this to cast a vote that is in the best interest of the nation not in the best interest of a party not in the best interest of one's own reelection this is a vote that is going to be be examined for many years to come and I would urge the members of the house to take the long view in doing what's right not merely what's popular. That's Paul McHale He's a former congressman from Pennsylvania he was one of 5 Democrats who broke with his party and voted to impeach President Clinton thank you so much for joining us my pleasure Well now to a new study that shows that better lighting can help older Americans with all timers and related dimensions sleep better and experience less depression and agitation the study by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute slighting Research Center was published Friday in The Journal of Clinical sleep and for more we're joined by Mariana figure oh he's the lead researcher on the study and director of the Lighting Research Center Mariana What exactly were you studying Well we're looking at how light in packs sleep in behavior now timers disease patients and we measure 2 ways we look at active graphy which is sort of an objective measure of sleep as well as we collect questionnaire data on behavior in this population and what kind of lighting are you talking about the lighting we're using is really 2 to maximally impact the cicada and system of these patients so that tends to be brighter than the typical light that you have in nursing homes as well as a little bit more bluer and we're giving that light only during the daytime hours from the time they get up until 6 pm and then we drop the light levels because you want to have a very robust light in dark and that's the way we're choosing that to mimic the sun basically pretty much obviously it's less bright than the sun but at least it's a lot brighter than what you typically find in person homes and assisted living facilities so what were the major takeaways from your study. It improves the sleep it reduces depression reduces agitation and from observations from the nurses and the caregivers they were more social they were eating better they were behaving better it was really a very I think results because when you consider that you are in the field you are in nursing homes of these are moderate to late stages of dementia and you see the impact beautifully happen and we also had a placebo like so was a light that was ineffective but we were just telling them that we were testing what kind of light was better and we saw that there was no effect with the placebo but we saw the significant effect with the active lighting interventions I mean it was hypothesized that that's what we're going to get but it's really nice to see the results coming out and it also seems to suggest that most patients in nursing homes and assisted living are not exposed to enough light they are not and I think one of the takeaways for me for the study is we can do a lot better than we're doing right now in designing and implementing lighting in nursing homes and assisted living facilities and I think it's such an easy way of doing it we now have the technology it's energy efficient so if you increase the amount of light is not going to hurt as much you know your pocket in terms of energy and the benefits are very impressive So I think that my hope is that people are going to start thinking about doing better lighting in these kinds of environments I wonder if it applies to the general population as well as people who are suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's Absolutely in fact working with any of you who we have here in the Albany area with traumatic brain injury patients and we're seeing very similar results were retrofitting the lighting in their rooms we're also working with Mount Sinai in New York where we're Rector fitting the lighting in k. . Answer patients Rumaila my transplant patients and we're seeing very similar results so the principles are the same I think the Alzheimer's population it's great because they are in one space the entire time so it's very easy to give them that robust like dark pattern because we can't control that so it's sort of the obvious place to start and I think from there you can expand to any other population without any doubt what gave you and the other researchers the idea to look into the effect of lighting on people who are dealing with any number of diseases Well it's knowing that light has this very strong impact on your biological clock it really is the main synchronizer of your biological clock to the local time on earth or the local position on earth so knowing that light has such a an impact and then knowing that the type of light that affects the biological clock is different than the type of light that affects vision and we tend to design the spaces just for vision so understanding that in seeing that we're really in biological darkness when it comes to the lighting in the built environment so we took those patients out of biological darkness and we see the positive impact right away if somebody is listening to this and they are taking care of an elderly relative at home is there anything that they can do now to help make the lighting better they can I think open up the windows sit by windows in let daylight come in go outside for a walk in the morning every day at the same time if you can't do that bring in more light so add more of those table lamps or floor lamps increase the amount of light in the homes but do that only during the day time especially in the morning hours I would say put 4 times more light than what you have right now that's probably what you need but if you can go outside go for a walk half an hour that should at least have. Says Mariana Figaro who is the lead researcher on a new study about lighting and patients with Alzheimer's and other dimensions She's director of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute very interesting thank you so much for joining us thank you for having me and we will link you to that study here and now. Support for k.z. You comes from the law firm of Nolan Tamar Leigh at t n n Haas dedicated to client focused relationship driven service on the Central Coast since 1928 Learn more at an h e h dot com and from me Earth participating in the Monterey County gives campaign to support their community connect environmental stewardship programs for people of all ages details at mc Gibbs dot com. I'm Jack British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the country's deadline to reach a trade deal with the European Union will stand Johnson's 3 affirmation of the deadline a year away comes on the same day that about 100 new conservative lawmakers are sworn into Parliament Britain student leave the e.u. At the end of January with a transition trade period until the end of next year at least 3 people are dead another person injured after a shooting at a Montana casino Authorities say the attack happened early this morning about the suspect who was shot and killed by Great Falls Police u.s. Industrial output is posting its largest gain in more than 2 years the Federal Reserve reports output jumped a 1 point one percent in November buoyed by the end of the General Motors strike but still larger than expected it had dropped point 9 percent in October you're listening to hearing now. Next time on the world Greek authorities plan to close overcrowded refugee camps on its Mediterranean islands by next year they'll have moved tens of thousands of people to the mainland to smaller more controlled camps they've brought all these people there is not to come it's not if you can it's a prison a refugee from Afghanistan considers his future it's on the world join us for the world Tuesday evening at 690.3. Support for Casey you comes from new leaf community markets featuring a selection of non g.m.o. Entrees for the holiday season selections and reservation details available in new leaf markets in Santa Cruz Half Moon Bay capital and apt us village and from Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital with maternity services for high risk pregnancies and deliveries including a perinatal diagnostic center obstetrics emergency department and a level 3 nicu. Funding for here and now comes from the listeners of w.b. You are Boston and Geico celebrating over 75 years of providing auto insurance for drivers across America more information on auto insurance available at Geico dot com or 180947 auto it's here and now many skin cancers go undetected because they are in places that most of us can't see like the back of our necks or the scalp but you know who often sees those areas your hairstylist or barber and researchers say they could be in the 1st line of defense and catching one of the most deadly forms of skin cancer melanoma Joining us now is Suzy music a teacher at Paul Mitchell the school in St Louis Missouri Susie trains people for careers in beauty and hair styling and has been a cosmetologist for over 40 years Susie welcome to here now. Thank you it's pleasure to be with you yes so this is something that we may not think about but it really makes perfect sense our barbers and hairstylists are literally standing over our heads you've had personal experience spotting melanomas tell us more about that is throughout my career I have recommended many people that I have seen suspicious looking things on their head and scout the new ears and neck and have recommended them to actually go to see a dermatologist and as a matter of fact yes several of them did have to have them removed and a very dear friend of mine had a melanoma on her scalp also and if her hairdresser would not have detected it she probably would not be here today. Is so so important I mean it sounds also while not common it happens often where these difficult conversations to have actually they were and that is one of the things I work with my students at the school about talking to someone about something like this usually what I would say is you know I've noticed something that looks a little suspicious on your scouts have you ever noticed it before and then usually the conversation heads into No I didn't know that and so then I usually say Well I'm not sure what it is but the next time you go to your doctor or if you'd like me to take a picture of it I could take a picture of it so that you actually have a visual You might want to have it checked out because it could possibly be something that you really need to have attention to there's now a nationwide challenge to get hairstylist to spot the potentially cancerous moles on their client's heads but so many don't really know what to look for you train your stylist to do scalp inspections what does that training look like well. Well the training that we use is actually a program called Eyes on cancer and I was involved in helping get it started it is on the Internet of course and we use it to teach our students what to look far there are several different examples there is a skin cart that we hand out so they can see the difference between the different types of melanomas or moles we usually do this program about once every 6 to 8 months because we have a completely you know turnaround we have a complete turnaround of students about every year so we try to make sure that the student gets this training at least once while they're in school you've been as I mentioned in the cosmetology industry for over 40 years and really what I'm hearing from you though is if a hairstylist sees anything abnormal on the scalp it's really a simple conversation to have with your client that hey I'm seeing something that may be normal but it may not and you should just check it up exactly very easy conversation to have once you have some training on it I think so many times today with all of the technology that we have that sometimes students cosmetologist their communication skills maybe you know you need to have a little bit of help with that and that's what we're there far is to help them be professional and not alarm a client when we do see something like that how's your friend doing now you mentioned that her hairstylist spot it something on her scalp she is doing great and she actually has spoken at some of our events that we have had and she came in and spoke about how fortunate she was that it was found by our hairdresser and she's 100 percent great she's still doa has to go very often about every 3 months to be checked since she has had a melanoma but she's doing well and she attributes it to her. Early detection man I mean I know that most probably yourself included you didn't get into this business for this but it's got to feel good to know that you may be saving someone's life exactly it is and is just it's so rewarding being able to. Especially teach our students. And to actually to talk to our clients about such personal things Susie music is a former hairstylist and current teacher at Paul Mitchell the school in St Louis Missouri Susie thank you so much thank you for having me and as Susie said early detection is so important which is why having a regular stylist who can see these changes often helps Joining us now to talk more about early detection is Dr Ramona a dermatologist and assistant professor in the department of dermatology at St Louis University School of Medicine Welcome thank you let's talk a little bit about your program you started stylists against skin cancer Tell me more about what the program does so you know we had a week where about 4 or 5 patients came in with very aggressive melanomas that were all found on the scalp and they were all identified by their hair stylists and all of these melanomas were caught relatively early so that is when you want to catch the melanomas you don't want to catch them when they become advanced or spread to other parts of the body so I started to think about how I could leverage hairstylists in assisting the dermatologist as they had in not you know 3 or 4 cases and what I realized was that a lot of them were actually very hungry for education but the way that their schooling and education is set up they get very limited education in medical things that could affect this. Yes because I can only imagine that if a hair stylist sees something honest some someone scalp I mean they need to know exactly what they're looking at such training is very important when it comes to that it could be something like a mole or a skin tag understanding the difference right. I can tell you as a physician patients don't love coming to see their physicians but they do look forward to seeing their hairstylists hairstylist see their clients you know on a monthly monthly basis dermatologist are lucky if you get to see them you know once or twice a year and because of that frequent nature of the visits that you have with your hairstyle as they can actually monitor things they can see that something wasn't there last month or something wasn't there 2 months ago I was just wondering about if I mean the idea that of course if you're having this discussion and someone says I see something that looks like you should have it checked out is there any risk with that like in bringing up cancer causing unnecessary emotional stress. In most cases people are very appreciative but it does have to be in the right way and in very similar terminology to what you just used which is something that's not alarming but just to let the client know you know I see a spot here on your scalp that I didn't notice a month or 2 ago you may want to have this a value weighted just to make sure that there's nothing unhealthy growing on your scalp and the nice thing about the program is that it connects hairstylist with dermatologists that are local to them. And it puts them with these sort of business cards that they can give to clients where you know there's an image of the scalp they kind of they put an x where they see what they're concerned about and then on the back is a website where the client can then go and look up you know a dermatologist that's close to what it lets the hairstylist do is. Connect the client with someone who can then go ahead and evaluate things further So question for you I mean you your program is in St Louis it sounds like it's an amazing program what would you say to the country who are hearing you but they may not be that comfortable with speaking up what resources do they have you know we actually are starting to take this program around the country so I'm hopeful that they will get this education through the American Society for Dermatologic surgery on their website there are Powerpoint slides and resources for people to you know obtain this educational materials there's also a that we came up with it says which is shade and it's supposed to be upon the word here shade because a. Term but it describes what you're looking for so for surface you know if something is elevated or depressed below the level of the skin . For height. As for age so skin cancer is much more likely in people who are 40 and above and as I get older I actually think that's quite young but you know 40 is where skin cancer really starts to become more frequent and then the d.n.a. Is what we would love and that is for the hairstylist to feel comfortable or have a connection with the dermatologist it's done for. And really the point of including that was to reassure hairstylist that again they're not alone in making these diagnosis or telling clients what they have on their scalp if they do find something on the scalp that is unhealthy Dr Ramona is a dermatologist an assistant professor in the department of dermatology at St Louis University School of Medicine thank you so much thank you. To the hair training programs mentioned. Here now. When it comes to your child's prospects neighborhood matters the social fabric of the neighborhood help us raise our children but a racial divide in most urban areas means more opportunity for some kids than others even just a few blocks down the street in one part of Albany New York some residents are trying to change that on the next Morning Edition from n.p.r. News Morning Edition Wednesday until 9. 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This is here and now from n.p.r. And I'm Jeremy Hobson as the stock market overall appears poised to gain 20 percent or so this year Boeing may end the year with its shares about where they started and you can chalk that up to the $737.00 Max The company announced yesterday will pause production of the Macs starting next month because the Federal Aviation Administration is still reviewing whether the plane is safe to fly for more let's bring in Ali Velshi m s n b c anchor and economics correspondent Ali a germy and did Boeing really have any choice in this matter given that the f.a.a. Hasn't given it the all clear or and what does this mean for Boeing to pause production this is a very big deal because they had about 5000 of these planes on back order and they were making about 50 a month they had reduced to about 40 a month and they're all backlog now they're sitting in storage because they can't sell these planes they can't get they can't give the planes over to the people buying them because they're not cleared to do so so the bottom line is they're just piling up airplanes and they'd This has gone from what was a small problem and I don't want to minimize plane crashes but they thought it was a small problem that could be easily fixed and as they have delayed this we have learned more and more about these planes and more people are having pause about flying on them putting them back into service approving them buying them so no I think in the end this was not Boeing's choice and what does it mean for all of the employees who make this plane well for the moment I mean Boeing is a very very big company and it's in it's in space work it's in defense work it's in airplanes so it says it's going to redeploy the 12000 workers who build the max plane to other projects and for the moment it is not saying that it expects layoffs or furloughs that said this is a major major project I mean they are making as I say about 40 of these planes a month where they were so something's going to have to happen but Boeing doesn't have somewhere obviously to put these workers and when you start to think about 12000 workers that could actually have some impact on the. I mean these are people who they're well are they're strong earners and they're involved in a major project that has at least 10 years or more of life in it so it's going to become a problem if this plane doesn't get approved for service fairly soon now the reason that the plane is grounded is because of the 2 crashes one in Indonesia the other in Ethiopia the Ethiopian crash happened in March and since then despite all the work that's been done to fix the problems with the Macs I'm not sure anybody would feel safe at this point flying in one What is it going to take to get the confidence level up to get these planes back in the air so with airplanes it always becomes a you know leadership by the by the company the f.a.a. Sort of getting the media and the public on side the c.e.o. Of Boeing the other day said that he actually called this he said this could be the safest plane ever and now 340 people have died on these things planes like the 787 the a 350 no one's ever died on them so statistically that's probably not even possible and earlier this month there was a former Boeing manager who told the House Transportation Committee of Congress that for the 1st time in his life he said I'm hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane now the truth probably lies somewhere in between the 2 that it may not be deadly It may not be the safest plane ever but this is up to Boeing to somehow demonstrate to the public what it is done to make these planes safe and then have everybody have airplanes based writers and journalists and safety people say yeah they believe that part of the problem is Boeing took so long to acknowledge the problem that it is hurt their reputation that is all about she m s n b c anchor and economics correspondent Allan Thanks my pleasure you're listening to here in. This is c s u m b president and one of the help ensure that Kate is a us here for years to come through our financial planning create a lasting legacy and benefit future listeners by naming Casey you in your will or trust you can make a difference through planned gift card more details online at Gazey Utah or under the link support or call 831-582-5290 I'm Jack Lepi our Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rejecting a call from his Democratic counterpart to bring witnesses in a Senate impeachment trial at least for now but Connell says whether witnesses are called is something to be decided at a later date though he says he is inclined to oppose it he's also calling on House Democrats to oppose impeachment when they vote tomorrow and the White House is proposing new rules to make it easier for people to become organ donors the move would allow living donors to be reimbursed for lost wages or child care during their hospitalization and recovery organizations that secure organs after death would also face more scrutiny House lawmakers have passed a bill to fund the government through next September the measure passed with bipartisan support it now heads to the u.s. Senate where it is expected to pass You're listening to here and now. Amazon's in-house slogan is work hard have fun at this time of year at shipping facilities or fulfillment centers or working at breakneck speed but recent reports show Amazon's obsession with speed has made its warehouses unduly dangerous how much care is being shown to those working hard for our convenience Next up on what a one a tonight at 9 year on $90.00 k.z. U.n. Stream unit keys a huge out of Oregon. Support for key easy you come from Mt Madonna Institute offering an accelerated path to become an Ai or Veda health counselor or an eye or Vedic yoga therapist course begins on January 30th learn more at Mt Madonna Institute dot org And from Natividad weight loss offering gastric bypass league astronomy and lap band procedures to help manage weight and obesity related disease learn more at Natividad dot com slash weight dash loss funding for here and now comes from the listeners of w.b. You are Boston where the program is produced and your n.p.r. Station from Numa or offering a personalized weight loss program based on a cognitive behavioral approach with the goal of losing weight and keeping it off for good Learn More knew him an o.m. Dot com and from Life Lock reminding consumers that only one in 5 victims of identity theft discover their theft through a bank or credit card company learn more at Life Lock dot com. This is here and now the Iowa caucuses are 48 days away and Democratic presidential candidates are preparing for their 6th debate on Thursday night in Los Angeles joining us for a look at the State of the race is n.p.r. National political correspondent Asma Khalid. Ok well let's start with the recent polls which show that there is kind of a top 4 emerging right now in the race Joe Biden at the top then Bernie Sanders Elizabeth Warren and then Pete booted judge do you agree that that's the top 4 and are things still fluid Yeah I would wholeheartedly agree I mean this is the top 4 candidate field that we've been seeing now for a couple of months it's something that was confirmed in the latest n.p.r. P.b.s. News Hour merest poll that we put out yesterday and you know I think there are some candidates who are trying to bump up and we see some of them resonate a little bit more in some of the early states say like any club senator from Minnesota who seems to be tracking well in terms of local you know on the ground sentiment in Iowa but we don't see that translating out to national sentiment at this point and what about Michael Bloomberg who has started to rise in some of the polls kind of still below peak. But he's he's going up as he spends so much money he's not going to be on the debate stage Thursday night will that matter to his campaign Yeah I mean you're right you know Jeremy in saying that he has been put up a bit we see him at 5 percent or 6 percent in some of these national polls and you know my take on this is at this point in time he's kind of a fascination for a number of voters he will not be on the debate stage in part because he's not really playing in any of the early voting states Iowa New Hampshire South Carolina Nevada that's not his game plan his game plan is that he will in it in sensually just compete in states after that point you know will it matter that he's not in the debate stage I think for any candidate who is seriously trying to contend for the nomination to be on this debate stage to see how you interact with some of your . Editors is crucial and you know we've seen that we've seen how Joe Biden has been able to be somewhat resilient despite attacks during some of these debates and we've also seen Howell is both Warren has been hit a number of times and her stances for Medicare for all during some of these debates and how that has affected her in the long run so him not being in the debate stage I think it does hurt him and he'll still be allowed to you know put out ads that show his message nationally but at this point in the in the game at this point in in the campaign you do need to be competing rather sort of effectively in Iowa New Hampshire in particular Ok let's see if we can quickly try to get through the top 4 candidates starting with Joe Biden today his campaign is putting out an ad of speech highlights in early voting states. His chum for more years this is a country Invision by Washington this will be the nation founded gathered by Lincoln. Lifted up by Roosevelt inspired by one upping the nation the broccoli bomb. Toward just now he's of course come up in the impeachment fight with Republicans accusing him and his son of corruption in Ukraine he got into an argument a couple weeks ago with an Iowa voter about that over the summer he was struggling to raise as much money as his rivals How's he doing now. So you know Jamie what we've seen from Joe Biden is that despite all of these things that you outlined his campaign has been remarkably resilient as the months have gone on I've seen him you know most notably I would say in South Carolina and Nevada states that have more diverse electorates and he still remarkably popular he brings out really large crowds at the color Union in Las Vegas his message seems to resonate with people despite you know some of the questions that we've seen thus far both from Republicans and some of his opponents interviews and at rallies Bernie Sanders has been criticizing some of his rivals for taking big money donations hereis in a tough on Sunday I don't. Want to. Vote We want to democracy where there is a clash. And move. Sounds a little like he's going after Bloomberg or Tom Styer the billionaires in the race he is Sanders staying in the top tiers in the polls what's the state of his campaign and you know just like Joe Biden I would say he's been remarkably resilient he has a really loyal base of followers and I do think that early on in this campaign there was an assumption that some of his supporters might go to a candidate like Elizabeth Warren but when you look at the polls Bernie Sanders still seems to have a plurality of support from progressives and young people another key constituency for him are Latinos and I was actually out in Nevada just this past week he seems to look better in the polling than even Joe Biden when you talk about Latino voters it's a constituency he did pretty well within 2016 and he's been building up larger support from Latinos from younger voters of color and I think that we're seeing that in terms of just his overall resiliency thus far Ok let's talk about Elizabeth Warren who is on a fair share road tour in southeast Iowa last week she spoke about the economy in a speech at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. Everybody else. And the powerful have written the rules for our economy so that they suck up all the gains for themselves it is corruption plain and simple and it's holding back growth in our economy. As my word has slipped in the polls lately after some worry that her Medicare for all plan would be a problem for her with voters who don't want to lose their current health coverage she seems to be starting to moderate that plan a bit. Yeah I mean I think that part of what's happening for Elizabeth Warren is and I would argue that the slippage in the polls actually even predates a little bit when she came out with specific concrete policy plans it was because of the fact that this is a candidate who has you know really clear policy positions on so many things but she kept saying that there would be no middle class tax increase but yet she was going to have a Medicare for all system that eliminates private insurance and that's kind of when we began to see a little bit of her slipping in the polls you know as time has gone on and I think that what she's struggled to do is to kind of clearly articulate a middle ground between both Bernie Sanders and people and when you look at where her support is coming from it's coming from both progressives and a lot of college educated whites these are pokes to support different candidates in the field right now and some of this I do think is getting a little muddled because she's put out a Medicare for all plan this is an idea you know eliminating private insurance is not an idea that a plurality of voters want and so she's trying to sell a position to voters that not everybody seems onboard with or at this point they seem a little nervous about let's talk about Judge who was fund raising in Silicon Valley yesterday and reporters asked him about the head of Netflix Reed Hastings who's an advocate of private charter schools hosting a fundraiser for. Clear where I stand on these issues there are 700000 donors to my campaign some may disagree with me on some of those issues my stance will not change including my support for teachers and my support for later. Holding up under the increased scrutiny of breaking into the top tier of candidates. You know I would say he's been pretty effective in terms of being able to combat criticism that he's faced I would argue one of the most frequent criticisms he's received is his lack of support amongst voters of color and when he's been criticized for this I mean I'm thinking most notably there was a pretty candid piece in The Root by Michael Harriot who criticized people to judge what the mayor of South Bend Indiana did was he called. The author and then the author wrote about what happened so he's you know taking a kind of effective tactic of when he's been criticized to kind of candidly explore those conversations in a way that we don't often see candidates do I mean that being said though Jeremy he still has struggled and continues to struggle with voters of color in the polls and I do argue that you know there it's a very hard thing to do to pull off and become the nominee of the Democratic Party if you cannot get a substantial amount of support from black and Latino voters to other candidates will be at the debate that would be Tom Styer and Andrew Young and 8 candidates will not be at the debate Cory Booker Julio Castro. Michael Bennett John Delaney Deval Patrick and Marianne Williamson anything we should say about all those people I mean at this point a number of them are still trying to gain ground specifically in Iowa with the idea being that if they could pull off an upset win in Iowa that could potentially catapult them on further at this point you know there are 2 people in particular among that list I think that I want to point out to and that is Amy closure a senator from Minnesota as well as New Jersey Senator Cory Booker both of them have been building up you know I would say fairly substantial robust whether it's ground games or endorsement lists both in Iowa New Hampshire I think the difficulty again is you know we were talking about earlier if you're not on the debate stage that's just a lot of kind of free airtime to deliver your message that these candidates are not going to get and yes Iowa is very very important but the national narrative that we see for these candidates matters I mean it's to the point why we see a candidate like Michael Bloomberg kind of bump it up in the national polls airtime does matter and a president who will be their eventual opponent is getting a lot of air time himself holding another rally in Michigan tonight and Quinnipiac poll has him at his highest approval rating ever in that poll 43 percent that is n.p.r. National political correspondent thank you. It's here. Support for Casey you comes from the vein clinic of moderate base specializing in the treatment of varicose veins in an outpatient setting in Santa Cruz and now in Salinas information at 831-464-9962 from Cabrio choruses and ensemble moderate Chamber Orchestra presenting a messiah sing along concert and gallery SEPs in 7 pm Tuesday December 17th at peace United Church of Christ in Santa Cruz tickets at Cabrio chorused dot org. Coming up on the next On Point president trumps executive order defining Jewishness as a nationality or race does it help fight discrimination on college campuses or enable anti-Semitic tropes plus allow me to really do smart self My name is Jay z. At 50 Michael Eric Dyson joins us on why he believes the hip hop superstar is also one of the greatest poets of the American story that's coming up next on point from n.p.r. On point Tuesday at noon on $90.00. 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It's here and now there were 22 executions in the United States this year down from 252018 these numbers according to a report issued by the Death Penalty Information Center are part of a larger trend that shows a decline in the use of capital punishment in America the report which was issued today highlights New Hampshire's decision to abolish the death penalty earlier this year and California's moratorium on executions as some of the reasons why we have with us now the author of the study Robert Dunham is executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center welcome to here now thank you for having me yes so let's get started with the evidence that the death penalty is on the decline what else does your 21000 report find the report shows the death penalty is disappearing from whole regions of the country and eroding in others you mentioned New Hampshire New Hampshire is the 21st state to abolish the death penalty California when it imposed a moratorium made so now 25 states that either don't have a death penalty at all or have gubernatorial moratoria against executions there is now a whole area in the northeast where there really isn't a death penalty at all and we had the 5th straight year where there were fewer than 50 death sentences imposed Contrast that to the mid 1990 s. When in 1995 in $96.00 each of those years there were more than $300.00 death sentences imposed so out he had 85 percent reduction What are some of the reasons that we're saying this to climate Emeline during our prosecutors less likely to seek the death penalty what are some of the reasons you're saying part of it is that states have moved away from the death penalty by abolishing it we've had 9 states abolish the death penalty this century but also people are becoming more and more aware of the defects in the system we have 2 more exonerations this year and that brings to 166 the number of people who are wrongly convicted and sent to death row and. Exonerated since 1983 we also have tremendous evidence of the geographical arbitrariness of capital punishment whether you get the death penalty depends less on what you're accused of doing than who the prosecutor is in the county in which you're accused right now using actually this talk more about this that it seems that capital punishment is geographically isolated and I'm just wondering what this tells us about public sentiment in those areas 90 percent of the executions this year were in the south but even then the number of new death sentences lags far behind so we had for example in Texas which had more executions than anywhere else in the country had 9 that was still a decrease from last year and there were only 4 new death sentences that were imposed in the entire state so we're seeing even though it's concentrated in the south we're still seeing significant reductions in the number of new death sentences there what's happening at the federal level and clued in how the Supreme Court is now handling death penalty cases the court has been taking fewer death penalty cases to review the merits whether there was an appropriately. An appropriate conviction and an appropriate death sentence they've been denying review in a number of cases and the court has expressed increasing hostility to attempts to challenge the method of execution and to obtain stays of execution so I think going forward the question is going to be how seriously is the court going to attempt to enforce constitutional rights they seem to be right now very hostile to the question of stopping most executions so we'll have to see yeah yeah I mentioned I asked you about public sentiment and a Gallup poll shows that 60 percent of Americans believe life in prison is a better punishment for murder than the death penalty your organization. And does not take a position on the death penalty but you are critical of how prisoners are put to death correct the Death Penalty Information Center provides information and analysis on death penalty issues but we're critical of the way in which it's administered because if you're going to have a death penalty you should have a death penalty that is fairly administered consistently administered not arbitrary and as the number of death sentences has decreased by 85 percent the number of executions has dropped by 75 percent The hope would be that prosecutors would start really tailoring the cases in which they sought the death penalty to the narrow group of the worst of the worst crimes and the worst of the worst offenders in fact that hasn't been the case 22 executions this year the 2nd lowest in 28 years but they were not the worst of the worst crimes in the worst of the worst offenders 18 of the 22 were individuals who had evidence of serious mental illness of brain damage of chronic exposure to lifelong trauma and a number of them were people who were aged 18 to 21 at the time of the crime and it turns out that we are not seeking the death penalty against the worst of the worst and executing the worst of the worst it it's now tending to be those defendants who are the most vulnerable and the cases in which there's the worst of the worst legal process Robert Danin is executive director at the Death Penalty Information Center and author of the group's $21000.00 report which is out today there's a link to that study at here and now dot org Thank you for speaking with us Robert thank you for having me back and here now is a production of n.p.r. W.b. You are in association with the b.b.c. World Service antonymous and I'm Jeremy Hobson this is here in. Funding for here and now comes from w b u r Boston and at last Ian whether it's keeping thousands of people on the same page or managing projects from start to finish at last Ian works to unleash the potential of all types of teams with collaboration software more at last Ian dot com. I'm Tanya mostly I'm Jeremy Hobson for only the 4th time in history the House of Representatives gets set to vote on her articles of impeachment against the president the vote is expected to fall largely along party lines with Democrats voting to approve and Republican standing by the president we'll have that and the rest of the day's news next time on here and now. Support for k.z. 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Major funding for on point is provided by Geico offering auto insurance coverage for cars trucks or S.U.V.s and providing 247 customer service more information on auto insurance at Geico dot com or 180947 audio. From n.p.r. And you are Boston I Magna Charta Bharti this is odd point this president trumps executive order interpret in Judaism as a race or nationality achieve its stated goals to allow the federal government to penalize colleges for the flowering of the divestment movement against Israel will it be Semitism is on the rise in the u.s. Far right marches in Charlottesville mass shootings in Pittsburgh but does the executive order do anything to push back on that hate what does history tell us about what happens when the Jewish community is labeled a nationality different from the nation they live in up next on point Jewish Voices on the president's executive order 1st the news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I mean he held with bipartisan support the House of Representatives has just approved 2 massive spending bills totaling $1.00 trillion dollars that funds the government through September 2020 the Senate is expected to approve both bills and send them on to President Trump who has indicated he will sign them into law that will avert a possible government shutdown at the end of this week meantime the House Rules Committee is still hammering out the parameters for tomorrow's expected vote on 2 articles of impeachment if the House votes to impeach Tromp the next step is a trial in the g.o.p. Led Senate today Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected Democrats' request to call witnesses saying that's the House's job it appears at the Mosul.