Enrollment under the Medicaid expansion started last November Virginia Medicaid director Dr Jennifer lease says they've met enrollment projections and are on track to sign up $360000.00 people by the end of the year but I think the numbers that we're seeing in enrollment are partly due to our outreach efforts in their own strategies but most important it's really the need that it indicates for affordable coverage on these sad Virginian adults the state of Maine is also in the process of expanding Medicaid since January Maine has enrolled roughly 30000 people that's less than half the number it aims to sign up by 2021 for n.p.r. News I'm back in poly in Richmond Virginia the Federal Reserve has moved to cut short term interest rates for the 1st time since the 2008 financial crisis and a widely anticipated move the Fed announcing a quarter of a point rate cut today Wall Street's reaction not positive but I was down 333 points 226864 The Nasdaq fell 98 points the s. And p. 500 down 32 points this is n.p.r. From the David bone at Foundation newsroom at case you're w I met Gillum It's 3 o 4 fresh off a performance in this week's Democratic presidential debates was with Warren is calling for an investigation into the detention of American citizens at the Us Mexico border the Massachusetts senator highlights 2 recent high profile incidents one of which took place in Southern California Benjamin Gottlieb has more Warren references the story of Julia Ysabel Pottle Medina she's a 9 year old a u.s. Citizen and according to reports in Time magazine Customs and Border Protection officers detained her for 32 hours while she was on her way to school from c. Juana to san to see Joe Warren says the girl showed her passport but officers claims she quotes did not closely enough resemble the photograph on her card Senator Warren made this claim in a letter to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security that's the I'm. Well organization for c.b.p. And ice Immigration and Customs Enforcement She's also asked for information about how many times ice has the tainted American citizens in the last 5 years Benjamin Gottlieb the letter from morn to d h s was obtained by the l.a. Times d h s has not responded to requests for comment from Casey or w. . Orange County's homeless population has more than doubled in the past 2 years rising to nearly 7000 people a new analysis shows minorities are much more likely than the white population to be living on the o.c. Streets Darryl Saxman has more African-Americans make up just 2 percent of the Orange County population but they account for more than 8 percent of the homeless people without shelter that's just one sign of the racial disparity among the o.c. Homeless population the numbers are similar for people who describe themselves as being of multiple races and county data indicates that more than half of the homeless families in Orange County are Hispanic or Latino compared with about a 3rd of the population the Orange County Register reports that about one in 6 people identified during a spot count in January were children and one in 11 were 62 or older under pressure from a federal judge the county has been increasing shelter space and making plans to build transitional housing but the problem is growing faster than the fixes are being made the case are no use Darryl Sat's been reporting support for n.p.r. Comes from the levels and foundation committed to improving lives through invention in the us and developing countries and working to inspire and enable the next generation of inventors more information available at levels than dot org It's 306 a case your w. It's All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Audie Cornish and I'm Ari Shapiro it's night 2 for the Democrats and a whole new cast of candidates will be on stage at their debate in Detroit last night was very much a battle of ideas progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were calling for sweeping policy changes on health care as more centrist candidates accuse them of making impossible promises that will deliver Donald Trump a reelection victory Here's how Warren responded to that you know I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for tonight the arguments may be very different and to explain why we're joined from Detroit by n.p.r. Lead political editor to medical Monson our own n.p.r. Political correspondent awesome. Hi guys they're there let's start by taking stock of what happened last night the 1st night of this debate to medical What was your main takeaway Well a real debate broke out you know when we had a debate over health care and on immigration to maybe a lesser extent but tween this moderate wing of the Democratic Party and the more progressive wing I mean you had Senator Elizabeth Warren who we heard there center stage with Bernie Sanders and coming into the debate a lot of people wondered if maybe there'd be some distinctions drawn between the 2 of them guess what not so much they were both allies and what they said after the debate at least people within Sanders campaign said that don't expect them to to criticize each other there's 6 more months left of voting and if the 2 of them are left standing then maybe we'll see Sanders go after Elizabeth Warren We also saw Steve Bullock The governor of Montana really be able to distinguish himself on the moderate wing and it was the 1st time for him in the debate lineup so that was key Ok so let's turn to tonight because last month the 1st night of the debate was practically forgotten after on the 2nd night said our common Harris sparred with former Vice President Joe Biden over his civil rights record they are next to each other once again at center stage tonight so awesome What are you watching for I am looking for the degree to which Joe Biden can defend himself this time you know part of this we should give the Pac stories because Joe Biden enjoys considerable support among African-American voters there is a sense from both California senator Kamel Harris as well as New Jersey Senator Cory Booker who will be on the other side of Biden that they need to peel away some of that support from black voters in order to do well in this primary season that is why they have been attacking Joe Biden you know I will say that over the last week or so we've seen a real kind of public spat particularly for between Biden and Booker Booker has been criticizing Biden for his record on criminal justice reform saying that he was an architect of mass incarceration because of his support for the 1900. Crime Bill Biden of course and his advisors disagree with this and they've been going after Joe Biden's record and I presume we'll hear more about criminal justice reform and racial justice issues tonight so if Biden goes into this debate with a target on his back how is he preparing to defend himself well what senior advisers said this afternoon was that he's going to go after Donald Trump That's his 1st and principal thing that he's going to do but he is prepared to attack back on other people's records they said look if you're going to attack Vice President Biden's record then guess what the rest of the people on the stage they have records too and be prepared to defend those things and as I pointed out when it comes to black voters Vice President Biden is still doing very very well with African-Americans and one advisor said is that you that if that the reason that these other candidates are going after him is because he's got 51 percent of African-American voters in a lot of polls and they want to and you know what if the other things I think that's worth pointing out is that overall you know there will be a conversation tonight on health care because Joe Biden has been very critical of the Medicare for all system come on Harris released a plan recently that is kind of a hybrid between Biden and Sanders it's a medical Medicare for all plan with a limited role for insurance but Joe Biden is already criticizing that here's what he had to say while I find the people who say they're for Medicare for all but they're not going to tax class because you don't need to do that come up with was is this the world here that is the voice of Joe Biden one of 10 candidates on stage tonight at the 2nd night of the Democratic presidential debate in Detroit N.P.R.'s Halid and to medico to Nuoro speaking with us from Detroit there thanks to both of you you're welcome thanks a lot. We're going to take a few minutes now to talk about one of the standouts from last night writer and spiritual leader Marianne Williamson and if you're wondering who she is and where she came from you're not alone her name was the most Googled of the debate participants last night Williamson is not a traditional candidate and that was clear if you think any of this walking this is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country then I'm afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days we need to say it like it is it's bigger than flag it's all over this country it's particularly people of color and particularly people who do not have the money to fight back and if the Democrats don't start saying it then why would those people feel that they're there for us and it's Ok but Ok I was. Going to find out more about Williams And we have Jenny even She's a correspondent for quartz she's been writing about Marianne Williamson Welcome to the program thank you all right for those of us who are just tuning in or is in the middle of our internet search what can you tell us about the background of Marianne Williamson So Marianne Williamson 1st became famous in the early ninety's with a book called a return to live which is really the Cliff Notes on another spiritual guide called a Course in Miracles the whole premise of a return to laugh is about seeing the world in your interactions and through a filter of love rather than fear Oprah made this book famous in Marion Williamson famous and has featured her several times and she's written dozens of books that all sort of come back to the same idea whether it has to do with making money are losing weight or recovery from addiction and she is kind of a hero to the recovery community let's talk about how it applies to politics how are we hearing it on stage how does it help her differentiate herself from the other candidates and from. So I think one way we really saw that last night was her sort of standout moment talking about reparations that she does not shy away from really things in American history and she sort of talks about them and this kind of fearless moral capacity and she talks about apology and she talks about repair beto Rock had spoken about reparations and about supporting h.r. 40 of the building establish a commission and that's not what people are talking about today people are talking about Marianne Williamson sort of taking it on as a as a moral stance she's also not afraid to crack a joke here and there and in one of the more memorable moments last night is when she ended one of her points saying yada yada yada to mock the plan focus comments from her competitors this is something that the head of the r. And c. Was using as a joke online today so could Williamson kind of backfire on the Democratic field it's certainly possible she is self-aware she knows that means she knows the jokes that are being made about her I did hear her say at one point that she will not do anything to take a single vote away from you know whoever the nominee is and 2020 and and it's certainly not her goal to bring the Democrats down it really seems to me that she wants them to start appealing to sort of the emotions of the American people the way frankly that Trump has. How far do you think she can take this Trump has taught us and also you know after sort of steeping myself in the the literature on America all you are going to have a tune to the idea that anything can happen also I don't know that a Marianne Williamson administration would be any stranger than a trumpet ministration. Of courts thank you so much for speaking with us thank you . On Capitol Hill today lawmakers grilled officials with the Federal Aviation Administration about their handling of the Boeing $737.00 Max For months the planes have been grounded for commercial flights ever since a pair of crashes killed nearly 350 people senators want to know why the f.a.a. Didn't ground the max after the 1st deadly accident N.P.R.'s Russell Lewis reports when the 1st 737 Max crashed last October in Indonesia it didn't take long for investigators to 0 in on a new flight control system called m Cas the Lion Air Crew wrestled with their play not long after takeoff as the nose repeatedly pitched down pilots were never told about the end caste system when training on the new plane there was no mention in the flight manuals That's because Boeing didn't feel it was necessary it was after that crash the f.a.a. Learned how overpowering the new system could be so at a Senate hearing today f.a.a. Associate safety administrator Ali Romney was asked why wasn't the plane grounded then so we wanted to basically resolve the issue without having to disclose information that the investigators did not want us to disclose and from to safety perspective be felt strongly that what we did was it was adequate it wasn't adequate 5 months later an Ethiopian Airlines Max crashed in a similar nosedive that killed $157.00 people in the last week the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have reported on f.a.a. Internal deliberations about the 737 Max after the Indonesia crash regulators learned it wouldn't take much to have another accident but he said he and other senior leaders studied the concerns but still deemed the plane safe in my view the buses was followed at the hearing today f.a.a. Officials said they felt no pressure to certify the plane then or now as Boeing works to fix the problems none of it was comforting to West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin I would say for the 737 Max to get back in the air every Boeing offish. Should be flying that plane for one month to make sure that we have the confidence for passengers to get back on their training I'm not getting on the 737 x. 2 I see the president of Boeing and all his associates be on that plane 1st airlines worldwide of struggle to deal with the absence of the $737.00 service has been cut and pilots have been grounded the plane is Boeing's best selling and a key to its financial future and there's no indication when it will fly Russell Lewis n.p.r. News. Sponsors include v n y l presenting the bird in the bees new album a tribute to Van Halen including the new song Hot For Teacher featuring back learn more. Support for n.p.r. Comes from a financial services firm of Raymond James offering personalized management advice and banking capital markets expertise the legacy of putting clients financial being 1st learn more at Raymond James dot com and Trader Joe's where new products arrive in stores weekly and new episodes of the podcast inside Trader Joe's or occasionally. Are found more at Trader Joe's dot com. Summer nights reaches far and wide this week with 2 more shows coming up tomorrow night it's our 1st show of the season in Santa Barbara k.c. r b u d J Dan Wilcox will be spinning at the always groovy Santa Barbara Museum of Contemporary Art Then on Saturday it's the season debut at k.c. H.q. Come out for the stylings of Black live in Santa Monica for all dates in lineups go to k.c. R.w. Dot com slash summer nights. It is a Wednesday afternoon 319 and you are listening to pay c r w My name's Matt Gillum sitting in for Larry Perot good to have you along Stay with us for all things considered Up ahead on the program dozens of food companies have promised to stop buying from farmers who cut down trees in places like the Amazon rain forest companies have a new tool to monitor farms and it is called satellites they're looking down on these things from space we look at that just ahead on the program and in about 15 minutes on All Things Considered Ari Shapiro is going to be talking with a staff attorney at the Northwest immigrant rights project about a new rule that impacts who can follow 5 for asylum claims a conversation a little bit later in the hour as the program continues on Casey r.w. . Turn our attention now to the freeways in Anaheim on the 91 Easter and Raymond Ave we've got a stalled car there in the middle lane and a signaller right now in Ontario the 10 west of Archibald and hold this incident been going on for much of the day causing a lot of headaches in the Ontario area it's a crash investigation there it's got to slow and out of commission no word on when that might be resolved and in Rosemead on the eastbound 10 at Baldwin Avenue got a stable vehicle blocking the middle lane there about a 30 minute delay behind that one finally in a small bit of past northbound 4 o 5 it's a curve ball center 2 car crash blocking middle lanes 320 the k.c. R.w. . This is All Things Considered from n.p.r. News I'm Ari Shapiro And I'm Audie Cornish Brazilian scientists say the destruction of the country's forests has increased sharply this year those forests often are cleared to grow food many big food companies have pledged to stop this N.P.R.'s Dan Charles says some of those companies are watching what their suppliers are doing from space mom dillies International may not be a household name but its products are with a company that makes Oreo cookies Triscuit and weak since for example this is Jonathan Hurrell company's director of global sustainability we make snacks about nice things to eat all purpose a snack you made right he says they want to make their snacks the right way to do without heating up the. And so the company decided to measure its greenhouse gas emissions and I realized most of them were not coming from factories or trucks it's actually the competitions that are linked to the fire station or forests being cut down in order to produce raw materials that we use ingredients in a product like palm oil from plantations in Indonesia a few years ago Monthly's promised to stop its suppliers from cutting down trees dozens of food companies made the same promise Here's Luis Armorel from the World Resources Institute an environmental group Wal-Mart and mag dollars all the major brands have made those commitments they promise to get it done by 2020 but most of them are not going to make their deadline turns out it's hard to do so Luis and his colleagues stepped in and created a new online tool for companies to use including Mon dillies they call it Global Forest watch pro So the 1st thing you need to do it's actually to log into the system admirals in Brazil I'm in Washington d.c. But with the miracle of Skype and Computer Screen Sharing he can show me exactly how it works I see an image of the globe it shows which areas are covered by trees which is kind of the Google Maps of forests a satellite scans the entire globe every week and updates this map so you can tell of trees disappear from one week to the next another satellite monitors the globe for fires every day the key innovation here is that the computer is doing all that work for us constantly looking at those images as they are being taken to densify if something changed on the tree cover if there is a fire that does happen unit area and then shows me how you can use this to monitor specific farms so in this case you're just let me just give you an example so I applaud it 22 cattle farms in Brazil I see a bunch of rectangles and other shapes on this one part of Brazil those are real farms he got this information from a public database of land ownership and resell with a few mouse clicks we see how much of each. Farm is covered with trees and also how that's changed he points out $140000.00 acre farm half of it's covered in far but 15 years ago we see the whole thing was far east we zoom in closer we can see exactly where the trees disappeared so you can see here that almost all of the tree cover lost within his region actually happened with the specific farm here and specifically within the borders of that farm so that was intentional that wasn't just a wild fire yet that would be exactly my assumption if a company makes a list of its suppliers like this the tool will send an alert whenever it detects deforestation right there so that's the tool Jonathan Hurrell from on the lease International says his company's already using it I think it's actually extremely important because the tool enables you to understand what's actually happening in real time but the really hard part is companies have to figure out exactly where their suppliers are Monthly's is doing that with cocoa farms as of the end of 2018 We've mapped around $93000.00 cocoa farms in Guyana and could give out which of the 2 most important sources of cocoa right now supply chain this is easier to do when companies buy food directly from local producers they often do with cocoa and palm oil but in other cases they don't farmers who raise cattle may sell them to a local slaughterhouse not McDonald's but Armorel from the World Resources Institute says the beauty of this new online tool is it's so cheap and easy to use even local slaughterhouses can use it and they have convinced a slaughterhouse and Paraguayan to sign up for an account. Dan Charles n.p.r. News the band mushroom has built up a huge following in the last decade especially in their home country Lebanon. Where the front man and lead singer is gay and some of the songs are political in the past that has caused problems in Jordan and Egypt now organizers of a music festival in Lebanon have canceled a mushroom Leyla show saying the festival is trying to prevent bloodshed after threats from Christian leaders in the country Lebanon is considered relatively liberal so N.P.R.'s roof Sherlock is with us now from Beirut to talk about what's going on here Ruth 1st you spent time with these guys you did a profile of them for n.p.r. a Couple years ago one of their like well they met as aka Texas students had a Lebanese University and you really feel that when you meet them you know the lead singer how medicine no is wearing glasses and a simple black shirt I say seem quite honest and he spoke to me a lot about how the songs are in part about celebrating diversity everything from. Rights to gender equality at the same time rejecting stereotypes like of Muslim women as being not so empowered to just come to one over again you see all these women who are veiled who are just like celebrating other people's diversity were clearly not. Without agency so this was around the time that song Roman had come out and in that video you see this veiled woman break down saying I want to see them in Lebanon in 2017 and the crowds just loved hearing the song. There was a real mix of ages in the audience and people said that they saw it as being a kind of refreshing take in a region that spends so much for its time focused on war so these guys perform in Lebanon they have a huge following in Lebanon why is their concert been canceled who's opposing them well they were meant to play in the Christian town of bed Bloss and the Christian man. Bishop of that town has said that they violate religious values then Catholic organizations wade into as well as some Christian members of parliament there in particular objecting to 2 songs one called as idols and gin which is a Middle Eastern time for ghosts or spirits Here's some of the music in the room this is going to be. So the Christian groups are objecting to the line I will drown my liver in Jan and the name of the Father in the sun but it's not really clear why they're calling for this now because these songs are from 2015 and mesure Leyla has played lots in this country since then so the song is playing on gin as in a ghost like a spirit or Also gin as in booze like a spirit I mean why are people now raising these objections when the band has played in Lebanon for years I asked that question to Iman man now he's the executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation which works to promote freedom of expression he says this is part of a pattern of growing repression in Lebanon we've had many cases of online activists being summoned the thing journalists being sentenced to prison to a long series of movies books. As well as a cultural event through later he writes for example that were. In the last few months so Lebanon canceled its pride event last year and money says that the state isn't doing enough to push back against these many different religious groups both Christian and Muslim and so it isn't protecting the freedoms of expressions that he says are written into the country's constitution what's the response been for the band they've called the attacks a defamatory campaign and they say that the words in the songs that the Christian leaders cited have been cherry picked and taken out of context they say they don't intend in any way to disrespect people's religions That's N.P.R.'s Richard Knox in Beirut thanks for thank you. This is n.p.r. News. Moment on to the point climate change poses real challenges for cities built for the automobile some of the choices we made 50 years ago have boxed especially in the United States not only in the United States for the next 50 years it's going to be a long process can we save the cities by getting out of our current that's to the point to climate change up to. Sponsors include co-operates unity a locally grown organic market open to everyone committed to good food health sustainability and community giving since 1974 stores in Santa Monica and Culver City more opportunity dot com. At the bottom of the 3 o'clock hour on this Wednesday you are listening to All Things Considered. My name is Matt Gilman filling in for Larry good to be with you. More coming up on All Things Considered ahead coal miners in Harlem Kentucky are protesting this week after Black one of the nation's largest coal companies declared bankruptcy without enough money to pay workers their final paychecks check in on the situation in Kentucky in about 6 or so minutes as the program continues And just ahead we'll have news headlines from n.p.r. And check of local and state headlines on the case for w newsroom could be learning about zoning in San Diego and also we're going to remember a very famous Broadway producer Stay with us that is coming up here on case here w. The time now 330. Live from n.p.r. News and Culver City California and to Wayne Brown another slate of 10 Democratic presidential hopefuls takes the stage tonight in Detroit for some of these candidates though this will be a final chance to break out of the crowded pack but as N.P.R.'s political editor Dominica mountain r.-o. Tells us to do that they'll have to pull the spotlight from a former vice president the big question tonight is how does Joe Biden do the former vice president is going to be sandwiched between New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and California Senator Kamel Harris and Booker in particular has indicated he's going to try to come after Biden on racial justice issues and we're going to hear potentially from New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on gender issues and whether or not Vice President Biden has been standing up for women's rights for his career N.P.R.'s Dominican mountain r.-o. In Detroit negotiators from China and the u.s. Will meet again in September to discuss trade tensions between the countries N.P.R.'s Jim Lee reports delegates met today in Shanghai where they talked about Chinese imports of American farm products u.s. Trade representative Robert light eyes are in Treasury secretary Steve minutia and arrived in China Tuesday they met with high level Chinese officials and the u.s. Says they discussed force technology transfers and agriculture sales among other things the talks were brief but the u.s. Side called them constructive and they said the next round of talks will take place in Washington in September just as negotiations were getting underway on Tuesday President Trump sent out a tweet complaining about China's unwillingness to buy American farm products and he accused China of trying to rip off the United States Jim n.p.r. News New York Stocks finished lower on Wall Street suffering the biggest percentage drop in months after the Fed cut interest rates by a quarter point but dampened expectations for further cuts going forward. You're listening to n.p.r. News it's 332 on a Wednesday you're listening to case you're w a Mac. Here's what's happening high rises and density in the city of San Diego could soon be going up in an effort to solve its housing crisis San Diego officials are loosening the city's zoning ordinances in a bid to get developers to build more new housing faster and cheaper. Has more the changes tentatively approved by the San Diego City Council are aimed at boosting new apartment and condo projects near public transit and jobs in suburban type areas the idea is to cut red tape lower permit costs and speed up the approval process for mega block developments projects that combine dense housing with stores restaurants offices and certain industrial uses the city council previously wiped out parking requirements for apartment and condo complex is near mass transit the San Diego Union Tribune reports that builders will have to put in bike paths walking paths or other links that integrate new communities into existing neighborhoods the new policies also encourage developers to build smaller more affordable housing units he certainly is Eric Roy the new zoning rules make San Diego the latest city to confront the housing crisis with this strategy efforts at the state level to force denser housing have been blocked from passing. Fans of musicals like West Side Story or remembering one of their most celebrated producers today the newest. Prince has died at the age of 91 the prolific Broadway producer and director fell ill in Reykjavik Iceland he leaves an indelible mark in his have century career brought audiences blockbuster productions like cabaret fs we need Todd and The Phantom of the opera he worked composers and lyricists like Leonard Bernstein Stephen Sondheim answer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber has attributed much of his success to Prince Prince started as a producer of shows like a funny thing happened on the way to the forum and Fiddler On The Roof later he sat in the director's chair bringing to life Vito follies and many others you want to total of 21 Tony Awards over the course of his long career. And lastly the marketing practices of California based vapor company Jewel are being investigated by Connecticut the inquiry launched today by the Constitution state is the latest probe into the bay product manufactures health claims and appeal to young people Connecticut Attorney General William tongue says his probe is part of a national effort to curb youth of aping Massachusetts and North Carolina are engaged in their own investigations of jewel. Support for n.p.r. Comes from the group or family foundation supporting N.P.R.'s efforts to promote deeper thinking broader perspectives and trust in fact based information always with the goal of creating more informed publics and a k. Bucks abound in support of the David Gilkey and memorial fund established to strengthen N.P.R.'s commitment training and protecting journalists in high risk environments 84 degrees right now in downtown l.a. 73 in Santa Monica it's 335 a k.c. R.w. From n.p.r. News this is All Things Considered I'm Audie Cornish and I'm Ari Shapiro the Justice Department has changed the rules for asylum seekers before migrants could file for asylum if they feared persecution because of family ties now people can be sent back to their home countries even if they have a legitimate fear that someone will kill them because of who they're related to to talk more about the impact of this decision we are joined by Andrea Lino she is a staff attorney with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle and she represents many asylum seekers welcome Hi can you start by explaining what this family ties category means for asylum claims we often hear about people seeking asylum because of their religious beliefs or political affiliation or race what is this category of family ties. Yes So basically when you apply for asylum you need to show that the persecution so the harm that you saw for was on account of one of the protected grounds and one of these particular grounds is particular social group and family has been record highs as a particular social group offered the years has been since 1985 and the Federal Court of Appeals had recognized that and that's just one of the elements everyone has a family you need to show that the harm was on account of that a family member ship so this family group status had been a protected category for more than 30 years on Monday the attorney general announced that it would no longer be and then Tuesday the day after just yesterday you were in immigration court representing a client who planned to make an asylum claim based on Family Ties 1st tell me about that case and then what actually happened when you were in court yesterday so I can know talking specifically about the keys because this is still ongoing I understand but one of our legal arguments is that my client saw for persecution on account of her relationship with the one of her family members he was the guy wanted to harm her because of her relationship with some of her members of her family and we lost yesterday we don't know the exact reasons but based on Day line of questioning that the judge was asking my client It seems that he it's pretty much seen that family has a particular social group has to change her they attorney general decision on Monday which is very problematic because he's seeking Norine. Years of years of precedent recognizing family as a particular social group let me ask you a lot of people suffer all kinds of harm for all kinds of reasons and asylum has always been limited to certain groups not everybody who is suffering death threats will be granted asylum why do you think it's so important that one of those groups include family status so that's a good question these is international treaty rights for human rights purpose says someone who is suffering persecution based on their rays or their release in just such a human right that these people should be protected at but then people who are almost sexual or transgender or people who have testified in court are not protecting many many many contracts are around the world so with these particular social our group definition we can include small groups of people and that's why family has being recognised on their day lol for many years because people suffer is in many places because of the family membership when you heard about this policy change on Monday knowing that you had a case in court on Tuesday where you were going to try to make an argument of family member ship what went through your head. Is just like bad luck is is is every day something can happen with this administration every day we come to the office and we find that another decision was made or that there is another new policy the president is trying to do in another contrie to try to affect asylum seekers So is this if these hearing would end being 2 days ago the outcome might have been different and this is just when we are talking about someone's life Ethan is devastating Andrea lino is a staff attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle thank you for speaking with us today thank you Ari. There's a standoff underway in Harlan County Kentucky coal miners and their supporters are camped out on train tracks blocking a coal train for moving Ok Ok. Ok. No pay no call the coal company Blackpool one of the country's largest declared bankruptcy suddenly earlier this month many of its employees haven't been paid in weeks but the company still loaded up a train with coal the protests started with 5 miners blocking the tracks on Monday Considered from n.p.r. News. In cities around the u.s. Swimmers have started to tiptoe back into waters that have been off limits for decades because of pollution here in Washington d.c. a Bright green mat of algae used to clog the Potomac River each summer in fact it's been illegal to swim in any d.c. Waterway since the early 1970 s. Now after years of cleanup efforts city officials are starting to rethink that swim ban Jake unfenced and reports from member station. Picture this it's one of the hottest days of the year heat index one o 7 here lounging by a slow moving river feet dangling in the water it's so he laughs and how he has acted to sit here all day Jeffrey Matthews is watching his 2 young kids splash around in the shallow water but not in the river there in a fountain a few steps from the Anacostia River itself would you ever miss women in Augusta I don't think so that. Generations of d.c. Parents have told their kids to stay away from the Anacostia River it's been the poster child for a degraded urban waterway for decades Aaron dharnas Holmes who works for the nonprofit Clean Water Fund and he says there are 2 obstacles to swimming in the Anacostia one is the technical challenge of making sure that the water is actually clean enough that he says is actually easier than the other big challenge convincing people that we're actually getting towards a space where you can stick your hand in and pull it out and there will be more than just the skeleton left Washington d.c. Is one of 700 cities around the country where antiquated sewer systems regularly overflow into nearby waterways on and rains but in the Anacostia there's a lot less sewage than there used to be an upgraded sewer system is now preventing 80 percent of sewage overflows a similar upgrade is in the works for the Potomac and for the 1st time in many years people are starting to ask what swimming could look like in D.C.'s rivers so you could have a large lap pool for instance you could have just a general swimming area Meryl St Leger is an urban planner she calls this a river. Or pool and says cities all over the world are building them in formerly polluted urban waters Copenhagen has a number of really interesting examples of harbor bath St Leger visited 4 of them last summer and brought back photos platforms in the middle of the Danish capital packed with swimmers and sunbathers there are similar examples in Paris and Zurich and there are plans in the works in London Boston and New York City in Washington City officials are on board Tommy Wells is director of the District Department of Energy and Environment I believe we will have swimming platforms Washington d.c. No later than 2025 and people are already getting in the water. On a recent evening a dozen or so swimmers lined up on a dock and jumped into the light green Potomac I was initially worried about when the Potomac I figured I was going to jump out of water and my skin was going to fall off or something like that gardeners a triathlete in this group has been swimming in the Potomac weekly for the past decade just outside the d.c. Border where swimming isn't officially banned so because the water. I have been in water far less than this within the city's borders officials have been inching away from the swim ban Now it's possible to get a special permit for swim advance Holmes says he's been thinking about applying for one on the Anacostia where we have a spring day in the river maybe jump off a dock and test it out and Portland Oregon started opening swimming beaches on the will and River in 2014 Washington could be next with its 1st swim days as soon as next summer for n.p.r. News I'm Jacob fence and. With all the news happening every day can be hard to keep up check out our podcast a 1st look at the day's biggest stories about 10 minutes it's available every weekday morning reverie you get your podcast. You're listening to All Things Considered from n.p.r. News a mask. The electric guitar Carlos Santana has been releasing hits for decades and you've heard them here on the case here and over the airwaves and now we're celebrating Santana's the latest record Africa speaks with an exclusive sweepstakes support today for your chance to win a signature model p r s electric guitar signed by Carlos Santana himself in the new year membership or make a donation by sending out the your chance to go to k.c. R.w. Dot com slash joint and good luck. Support for comes from the David Bonior foundation advancing social justice and higher education through support for the David residential college for a living and learning environment that nurtures personal growth through community action more at b.o.h. Any t.-t. Foundation dot org. Sponsors include neon presenting honey land a documentary portrait following one of Europe's last wild beekeepers and examining the delicate balance between humankind and nature now playing at select theaters 349 on this Wednesday you're listening to All Things Considered on k c r w sitting in for Larry my name is Matt Gillum good every company still to come in the 3 o'clock hour of the program the book because internet breaks down the rules of the Internet age because l.l. Doesn't always mean laughter these days you know breakdown of Internet culture coming up on All Things Considered and in the 4 o'clock hour of the program the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates today for the 1st time in more than a decade it has done that and the stock market is definitely feeling its effect the Fed is taking a period of action to prolong the economic expansion details on that ahead in the 4 o'clock hour on the northbound screwball Center Drive we've got an issue there in the past a stall in the middle lanes and in downtown l.a. On the northbound 101 at the 110 a stalled car there is blocking the center lane your stop and go from Cesar Chavez it's 358 case your w. . From n.p.r. News this is All Things Considered I'm Ari Shapiro And I'm Audie Cornish The Internet has become a place where we spark and build relationships we're all one l.o.l. Away from friends family or a potential love match and yet there is plenty of potential for miscommunication who among us hasn't wondered whether a message in all caps meant urgent a furious really enthusiastic missing comma can throw you into emotional turmoil the new book because Internet aims to clear things up with some rules of internet language the old rules are these sort of top down you know here's how you use an apostrophe Here's how you use a semi-colon type of thing the new rules are about how are other people going to interpret your tone of voice what can you do to make sure that people are reading you the way you want to be read author and linguist Gretchen McCulloch says a lot of the confusion stems from the fact that people approach this vocabulary differently depending on when they 1st went online for instance there's a difference between how these different groups use l.o.l. Or Lol the acronym which initially stood for laughing out loud and if you talk to people in some of these older generations who you know had been using the Internet for 20 years but came online in a less social space they see it Ok here's an acronym they're told it is an acronym it must be laughing out loud and so they still use it as actual laughter whereas when you talk to the youngest groups lol became more a marker of irony or softening or I'm not angry at you I'm not feeling hostile you know this these additional sort of subtle social meanings and for the the youngest group of people there's there's no literal meaning of left field Lol at all it's almost like either fail or the way people would say like well yeah it's it it's a filler that specifically indicates that there's some sort of double meaning to be found and sometimes that double meaning is. You know if I say something that could be interpreted as a router hostile like oh I hate you if I say I hate you lol now I'm joking so it's fine I'm not laughing out loud while I hate you like in a malicious sort of way I'm undermining my message and saying I hate you lol but that's not serious about it but in the inverse if you say I love you lol That doesn't soften the message anymore now that means oh no I fake love you like I'm being quite mean about that so it's not always a softener it just hints towards some sort of double meaning which could be good or bad you talked about the idea of a hostility and I was surprised to learn how much debate there is around the use of a period so for the rest of us who just use a period at the end of a sentence. It made me feel as one producer put it old as dust to learn that it also can be seen as passive aggressive Yeah the period is such an interesting new battleground for internet language because there's definitely a traditional use which is still found in formal writing you know the book contains many periods and they're not passive aggressive because it's a formal context but in an informal context you don't need the period anymore to distinguish between one sentence or one phrase and the next because you're just going to hit send in a chat context you can just send the message and that makes your messages easier to read than this massive wall of tax particularly on a tiny screen. That means that the period is now open and available for taking on other sorts of meanings and other connotations and one of those is that very sense of formality and you read a formal sentence like and now over to the weather and you sort of drop your tone of voice making your voice deeper at the end of the sentence like you conventionally do with a period in formal writing adds a note of solemnity or finale to you or seriousness yes let us say what I'm going for right but the problem is if you say Ok sounds good and you add that note of seriousness now you've got positive words and serious punctuation and the clash between them is what creates that sense of passive aggression how do we avoid misunderstandings we talk to each other you can ask people what they mean but isn't that seen as I don't know sort of dorky. As you're saying it is though someone might actually pick up the phone and start talking and less and less that's happening I mean you don't have to talk to people by picking up the phone you can talk to people by saying what did you mean by that or are you actually mad at me in the text message you know sometimes I say this is associate with older people and people take that as a criticism but I think it's just as incumbent on younger people to say maybe I shouldn't be over interpret ing hostility or passive aggression when someone sending me maybe I should just be interpreted in this with the context of I know this person is older and so they're not actually being passive aggressive Acme doesn't mean that just because this is what the kids are doing means we all have to talk like that but having increased understanding across different generations can help people avoid miscommunications in their text messaging which is really what I'm trying to do with because Internet you talk a lot about how informal writing is mutable and changing Is there anything you've learned or new trends that you've seen recently that you wish you were able to get into the book. That's a good one. And one new trend that I've seen that I really wish I had been able to spend more space on in the book is the continued evolution of key smash so key smash is when you bash your fingers against a keyboard to you know convey this incoherent emotion but what I was just noticing as I was writing the book and didn't quite have enough data to include is that he's mashing has also been changing as we use mobile phones more because when you key smash on a full mechanical keyboard you do have your fingers on the home row with a.s.d.f. And so on but when you key smash on a smartphone keyboard you have your thumbs over like g h s d s k something like that so instead of going a.s.d.f. From left to right you might end up with like s k s k s k or d h d h.g.h. Or something going back and forth between your thumbs near the center of the keyboard and so the way we keys Nash has been changing partly in response to the social pressure partly in response to the devices were using and it's such an interesting example for me because it looks like we're just being monkeys typing randomly on a keyboard and producing something totally incoherent and yet there are social patterns to it they are relinquished to trends to key smash even something that looks so random. Their words we type in social media so often that are just spur of the moment messages and reactions Why do you think we should take this type of writing so seriously. For a long time linguists have been arguing that the most interesting type of language is the informal speech that you produce when you're not thinking about it because when we do stuff fast and without seemingly thinking about it too hard we access these levels of unconscious linguistic awareness that we all have and I think that informal writing online has similar things that make it very interesting if we only analyze the language in books we only analyze one type of language if we analyze the language on the internet we can analyze so many different types of languages so many different ways of talking and get a bigger picture of what it means to be a person rather than just what it means to be the type of person who writes a book. Gretchen McCulloch is author of the book the CA's Internet understanding the new rules of language thank you so much for speaking with us thanks for having me. You're listening to. Support comes from u.c.l.a. Health u.c.l.a. Health is proud to be ranked number one according to u.s. News and World Reports. Number one and number one in California they also happen to be number 6 in the nation they know that comes from putting up with a culture that always strives to make health care the best. For hospitals and over 180 neighborhood locations Everything begins with you. Support for n.p.r. Comes from the Main Office of Tourism with wild landscapes and rugged coasts to inspire original lifestyles and authentic adventures Maine offers travelers an opportunity to discover their very own may visit Maine dot com. Working to harness the power of research make a difference in the lives of children teens and young adults for more than 80 years learn more Grant. Org and Ebsco leveraging the expertise behind. To provide tools that support nurses with dynamic evidence based resource nurses learn skills that to further impact patient care more health dot. Com. It is just about mental for 4 o'clock on this Wednesday good day for company it is the final day. Of the warm clear and sunny skies across Southern California tonight mostly clear with some areas along the coast seeing a few clouds. The region Thursday downtown get to the mid eighty's. In the mid ninety's to 100. For the next few days. We are community service of Santa Monica. California. After the. Live from n.p.r. News ay in Washington I'm Jack Speer John more presidential hopefuls are set to take the stage tonight in Detroit for night 2 of the 2nd Democratic primary debate N.P.R.'s Amy Held reports 2 of the party's top candidates are expected to once again spar over race former Vice President Joe Biden has been on the defensive about his civil rights record since the 1st debate when California Sen Kamel Harris blasted his past opposition to federally mandated busing I was probably overly polite in the way I didn't respond tonight Biden says he won't be so polite health care will also feature prominently many of the candidates support a version of Medicare for all while Biden wants to expand on the existing Affordable Care Act for others including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Sen Kiersten Jila brand and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbert tonight could be the last chance to stand out they have yet to meet the polling and fund raising thresholds to qualify for the next debate in Houston Amy Held n.p.r. News a federal judge has set a tentative trial date for fame and seared Jeffrey Epstein Epstein facing charges that include sex trafficking and conspiracy involving dozens of underage girls in New York and Florida charges he has denied us District Court Judge Richard Berman today said the trial could be going in June rejecting defense lawyers request for additional time review what they describe as 1000000 pages of discovery in the case Epstein is being held in.