And now in their fifty's were 16 when another student was shot dead at their school they were blamed convicted of murder and sentenced to life then this year prosecutors took another look at the case and found major flaws including withheld evidence and false witness testimony on Monday a judge apologized and declared the men innocent and Alfred chestnut Ransome Watkins and Andrew Stewart walked free Mary Stuart was there to embrace her son this is the part had been a bit hard not start in about 20 some years this is one for ransom Watkins says most of his family has died since his incarceration fostered their rock we also. Need to put it to how Amy Held n.p.r. News officials in Washington d.c. Have lifted lock downs at the u.s. Capitol and at the White House after a stir of security activity initiated when an aircraft entered restricted airspace concerns about the unauthorized aircraft prompted the military to scramble fighter jets but now an all clear has been issued this is n.p.r. News and 7 o 4 I'm cherry Glaser with k c r w news fire crews in Santa Barbara County are fighting fierce winds as they try to get control of a wildfire threatening homes in Goa Leda the cave fire as it's being called broke out around 4 yesterday afternoon and quickly grew to more than 3000 acres burning mandatory evacuations the fire started were about topic you know so and it made a real quick run down the hill but being pushed by those 15 gusting to 30 mile an hour winds in some spots even higher that Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Mike Eliason speaking to Channel 5 The forecast calls for even stronger winds today perhaps about 50 miles an hour there's no containment at this point Santa Barbara officials have to clear it emergency and ask for help from neighboring fire agencies officials say the fires also threatening Southern California Edison main transmission lines the provide electricity to the southern portion of Santa Barbara County in spite of the high winds Edison did not shut off power in the area as it has in some recent cases. A real estate development company that lost a multimillion dollar home in the recent Getty fire is now suing the l.a. Department of Water and Power This comes after the l.a. Controllers office released a report suggesting that the utility approved new measures to prevent wildfires case here W.'s Jerome Campbell has that story attorneys representing b.w. Partners l.l.c. Say the utility company failed to present to get the fire from sparking by not managing the vegetation around power lines a preliminary investigation from the l.a. Fire department revealed the fire was caused by a broken tree branch blown into a power allied something that video footage has supported Mayor Eric Garcetti called it a quote act of God officials estimate nearly 20 homes were damaged or destroyed in the fire a spokesman for l.a. D.w.p. Did not directly respond to the lawsuit but instead pointed back to the same investigation that report also says the wind carried the branch 30 feet which far exceeds the clearance zone set by state regulations the get a fire broke out during a period of high winds and low humidity. The chancellors of u.c. Berkeley and u.c. Santa Cruz said they want to do away with using the s a t n a c t as admission requirement is case here bashing reports they say the test provides another barrier to admission for under-served student who's the comments came during a forum last Friday when school administrators emphasized how performance on these standardized tests are tied to a family's income and parents' education as universities have grown more and more competitive in recent decades the pressure to score high on these tests has mounted and as a result the number of high profile test taking scams have surfaced this isn't the 1st time the uses of thought of doing away with the S.A.T.'s any C.T.'s last year you see President Jenna Politan a created a task force to analyze the research on them the goal is to make recommendations on whether to keep or discard the tests the group is expected to issue a preliminary report early next year we'll have more on the story coming up later in the program support Fran p.r. Comes from little passports their new science junior subscription for kids aims to inspire curiosity designed to bring projects to life while utilizing new science concepts more and little passports. On this Tuesday you are listening to. You It's 7 o 7. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin good morning for a president who has gone to war with his own intelligence community and members of his own diplomatic corps It seemed only a matter of time before he would clash with the military establishment here overseas and here we are the tension between President Trump and ousted Navy secretary Richard Spencer started over the handling of a war crimes case the Navy had moved to strip Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher of his Navy Seal status after he was convicted of posing with the corpse of an ISIS fighter in Iraq Navy secretary Spencer tried to quietly strike a deal with the White House that would allow Gallagher to stay a seal as long as the president stayed out of the disciplinary process and when Defense Secretary Marc aspart found out he fired Spencer The former Navy secretary is now speaking out here's what he told David Martin of c.b.s. News about the ramifications of the president's interference What message does that send to the troops what message does it say that you can get away with things we have to have good order and discipline it's the backbone of what we do we're joined now by Peter fever he's a professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University and a former National Security Council official Thanks so much for being with us this morning they want to so we we heard Spencer in that clip say that the president's interference sends this message to troops that they can get away with things but Spencer was reportedly negotiating a side deal with the White House in which the outcome of this disciplinary proceeding would be pre-determined that he would guarantee to President Trump the Gallagher could keep his seal status if the president stayed away what kind of message does that send to to the military. Well Secretary Spencer was manage to run afoul of both his bosses President Trump thought he was foot dragging on in terms of not implementing what Trump wanted with Gallagher case and Secretary Asper his direct boss thought Spencer was doing an Enron and cutting a side deal with the White House that was different from the United Front that the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley were presenting and so Spencer ended up being without any allies and under the president's prerogative to fire anyone who serves at his pleasure Spencer had to go I want to play a clip of what President Trump said about this case yesterday 106 you know for our armed forces and there's never been a president. That has like the fact that we spent 2 and a half trillion dollars on rebuilding Iraq how do you see this do you view this is the president quote sticking up for 4 u.s. Forces or was he interfering in a military process under minds the military's own values and standards. Well the to me the most striking feature of this is the extent to which the president was ignoring what appeared to be the unanimous advice of his senior military and civilian leadership who had recommended a different course of action the president. Rejected their advice but did so in a very public way that undermined the effect their effectiveness their ability to lead the troops and to have the trust of the troops of the troops could know they could stand up and present their views to the White House and by doing it in such a public way the president managed to undermine his own team and I think that's going to be the longer term. Consequences of this affair the president won his battle but victory might be. A pyrrhic one where the costs exceed whatever gain he got just to be clear though he didn't he would he's allowed to do this his constitutional powers as Commander in Chief allow him to override those military officials certainly in the issuing of pardons and clemencies there's no doubt there was some debate about whether he could force the military to grant a certification the seal status to Chief Gallagher But clearly Secretary esper believed that the president had that authority and under the Constitution the commander in chief powers arc are quite fast so probably the president had the right to do even that but under the principle civilian control President Trump has the right to do these things that doesn't make them right he has the right to be wrong in other words but when a president exercises that right to be wrong on matters that the military care deeply about the president tends to pay a price and I do think there the price will be paid in terms of a loss of trust between the military and the president and that trust is the essential ingredient for healthy civil military relations a number of Republicans from the national security community you among them signed letters in 2016 opposing Donald Trump's Canada see in this presidency you viewed his positions on issues like torture and war crimes as a threat to American democracy 3 years on do you think those threats have materialized. Well on balance looking at all he's done. It has not been as bad as I feared but it's not been as good as I hoped and in the narrow question you're asking me about today about the president's role as commander in chief you know very few presidents start out with a good thing or feel for the commander in chief Roy It's just unusual it's a very different role from what most presidents have done before they became president what is of concern today though is most presidents grow in that job and in the 3rd year they're in and only get better then headed in the 1st year and it's not clear that that's the case the President Trump Peter fever is a professor of political science at Duke University thank you so much for your time this morning we appreciate it thank you. The opioid crisis has put doctors in a tough spot when they prescribe drugs like Oxy coed owner Fenton all they risk contributing to addiction when they don't do that patients in pain may suffer a medical school in Washington state wants to help future doctors decide what to do N.P.R.'s Jon Hamilton reports when Matthew Brown gets out of medical school he'll be able to prescribe opioids but as a teenager he was addicted to them the 1st time I reused an opioid I felt the most confident and powerful I'd ever felt so I said this is it and I want to do this the rest of my life opioids took away Brown's anxiety his inhibitions his depression and they were easy to get I just started breaking into houses and I found it amazing how trusting people were leaving windows open and doors unlocked and I found a lot of prescriptions Viken in Oxycontin Tramadol the drugs were everywhere because at the time doctors and dentists were writing lots of prescriptions even to Brown I didn't need 20 Viken in when I got my wisdom teeth out so I just saved them round stopped using more than a decade ago now he's a 1st year medical student at the city. Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima Washington and he brought his story to a summit on opioids held at the university Ed Bilski is a pain researcher and the university's Provost He says one goal of the event was to get past the angry rhetoric it can get very hostile Bilski is heard people in the addiction community blame pain patients for deaths caused by an overdose and on the flip side pain groups are saying that views these drugs and now I can't get access to something that did give me some semblance of quality of life and now it's been taken away so Bilski had a question how do we get them into the playing each other for the conditions that they're in acknowledging that they have these similarities and whose barriers that they face and working toward solutions together step one make sure groups listen to each other so in addition to people like Brown the summit included people like Katie Bachmann she's a 3rd year medical student who get severe migraines it feels like your head is going to explode and simultaneously for me someone is stabbing me in my right temporal area and on top of that you can't tolerate lie and the Nasi and vomiting is just it's just miserable migraines almost forced Buckman to leave medical school but she's been able to continue with help from a primary care doctor who gets her situation if I'm lucky enough to have the migraine between Monday and Friday from 8 to 5 I can call him and get a shot of them are all an opioid that's rare though Bookman's usual remedy is Benadryl and fluids and her migraines have largely disappeared since she started on a new preventive drug a few months ago but Buckland still remembers times when she was treated with suspicion when she showed up at the hospital one time I had a doc before he even came in or just himself as as my caregiver he just popped his head in said well you're not going to be receiving any narcotics today those are contraindicated and migraines then there were doctors like Tom Eglin and. The participant in the summit Egland is a faculty member at the university and works in the emergency department at Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital so he knows what happens to drug users who take Fentanyl thinking it's going to be something less potent they're going to arrest try to arrest so you know if they're lucky somebody or an investor you know has the locks on or can reverse that but Eglin also sees patients who need an opioid they may have a kidney stone a fracture or a bad burn pain is the primary reason that people come to the emergency department . Typical they were always writing prescriptions for pain medications Eglin says the hard part is knowing whether a patient with no detectable injury is seeking drugs sometimes it's obvious but the majority of the time it's not just difficult it's impossible and anyone says that may not be the most important point whether they're addicted or whether they're migraine sufferer they're still there for pain relief and most people who are addicted still have the perception bad pain Eglin says people addicted to opioids and people with chronic pain have a lot in common they face stigma they often struggle to get treatment and they need doctors who understand their problem. That's a lesson medical students Katie Buckman and Matthew Brown have taken to heart Buckman says her experience with migraines will make her a better doctor I'll be able to empathize at a different level because I have experienced severe pain and Brown says his own history with addiction will help him treat people with that problem but he says even someone trying to stay away from drugs may need an opioid for certain types of pain my mom actually asked me a question recently it was about would you prescribe an opioid to a person in recovery I very quickly said yes a qualified yes Brown says the prescription would have to be appropriate and the patient would need to be taking active steps to avoid relapse Jon Hamilton n.p.r. News. This is n.p.r. News. On this Tuesday you are listening to. You. Support comes from center theatre group presenting Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake this powerful interpretation of try cos he's masterpiece shatters conventions replacing the traditional female chords of l.a. With a startling male ensemble declared a global phenomenon by The Times of London Matthew born in New Adventures productions deliver a passionate and contemporary Swan Lake for our times performances begin December 3rd tickets at Amundsen theater in. The United Nations is out with an annual report on climate change it finds that greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb and show no signs of peaking Coming up we'll hear from a climate expert about what the implications could be. Sponsors include Netflix presenting the 2 popes from director Fernando Morello's Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan bright star in this intimate look at 2 popes at a turning point in history in theaters Wednesday awards eligible. On the newest episode of Nocturne when the vulnerability inherent in the night is used to threaten and harm the effects are deep and long lasting parents moved to state New York in 1600. Shortly after we moved in that. They didn't want us. To be a parade but. For generations fine Nocturne. Were everyday listen to podcasts. Sounds like there may be major traffic issues in Carson south 110 of the 4 or 5 getting word of a 3 car collision there and apparently only one lane open you are seeing a back up already coming away from the 91 northbound side of the 110 at Avenue 43 this is if you're headed up into south past Scott a one car wreck there. Sunny and windy today highs in the mid to upper sixty's support for n.p.r. Comes from a campaign monitor was c.m. 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Diplomats and other officials testified during an impeachment inquiry people saw different things supporters and critics of the president for example offered their own interpretations what William Burns saw was courage Hereward discipline professionals who are fulfilling their oath to the constitution they were speaking the truth when they were asked to by the Congress however inconvenient may be for an administration at home for much risk to themselves or to their own careers William Burns was for many years one of the top u.s. Diplomats whose many posts around the world included a stint as embassador to Russia now Burns is out of the diplomatic service running a Washington think tank the impeachment story gets burns thinking of how the United States is showing its face to the world in the Atlantic he argues that the president is degrading diplomats the u.s. Needs to face complicated problems around the world from Ukraine to Russia to China I think what we've seen over the last 3 years as an acceleration of a longer term trend in which were hollowing out the institution of diplomacy what we've seen is a kind of bureaucratic arson where you're sidelining career expertise not surprisingly we've had the lowest number of young people applying to join the Foreign Service in 2001000 than any time in more than 2 decades so we need smart effective diplomacy more than ever and yet at this point we're really hollowing it out and you see that as a pattern I mean some of the you know the most recent incidents involving the u.s. Navy as well we should mention when you refer to the Navy you're talking about a Navy Seal who was accused of war crimes and convicted of one of them and was supposed to face discipline and the president said that's not going to happen and ultimately the secretary of the Navy had to resign for disagreeing with the president that's right and this fits in with the pattern you see with diplomats it's a pattern of not sabotage from within. It's sabotage from above essentially it's narcissism that's driving policy it's the vanity of an easily manipulated president when you accuse people of disloyalty deeply unfairly in an institution like the State Department you know a way that I don't think we've seen since the McCarthy era you know more than 60 years ago I think you create real problems for the United States how does the dismissal of Ambassador Marie of on of its former ambassador to Ukraine one of the impeachment witnesses fit the pattern you just described Ambassador you have on of each rightly was pushing against corruption across Ukrainian society not trying to focus it on that one domestic political issue as well and I think that at its core was the reason that she was quite unfairly removed from her position and we should note that she was removed after a campaign alleging that she was against the president there appears to be no evidence for that not at all but Republicans of push back and said listen the president got rid of him bastard Ivanovich but replaced her with William Taylor another highly qualified professional u.s. Diplomat what's the harm in that well Bill Taylor is also a very accomplished professional as well I think the harm is that he raised similar kinds of concerns based on what he saw once he got to keep and you had an abdication of leadership in the State Department no one stood up for him just as no one stood up for Ambassador you have on of it before him so if a current u.s. Diplomat were to come to you which seems quite plausible and say listen I'm baster I've admired you for years and I agree with you on these points and I'm still inside the Government should I stay in and try to make a difference where I can or get out of here what would you tell that diplomat Oh I urge people to try to stay in and do the best they can and I urge them to be honest about their concerns because any institution that beats that sense of honesty out of career people is going to become a more and more hollow institution and it's an honorable profession it's more important than ever to American interests in the world and I urge young people to consider a career in the. In service I think there may be some people who would be little the diplomats we've been hearing from from the left their critics of President Trump and they can't believe that anybody would be and they're trying to clean up the president's foreign policy which is what these diplomats appear to have been doing Yeah but that's part of the discipline of public service of career diplomatic service as well as you do your best to implement policies and choices that are made by an elected leadership but you have an equally important obligation it seems to me to be honest about your concerns within the discipline of that system and that's in any era but particularly in this one that's what's really important is the president in a stronger position to do what he wants now than he was 3 years ago do you think I think in one sense he's surrounded himself largely I think with people who are going to do his bidding who aren't going to question the wisdom of some of the choices that he's making in the way that I think former secretary of defense Mattis did but you know at the same time I think you look at the realities of what's happening on the international landscape and in some ways that's limiting our options over time because what's happening is we're digging a pretty deep hole for ourselves at a time when other players in the international landscape they're not going to sit still and wait for us to get our act together so we will eventually stop digging and we'll climb up to the top of that hole but my fear is we're going to look around in a landscape to tar didn't against our interests in a lot of important ways are you saying that the president is in some ways disarming the United States even disarming himself by getting rid of diplomatic weapons that were available to him a couple of years I absolutely believe that and I think what's specially disappointing about this the day comes on a moment on the international landscape when actually that tool of diplomacy matters more than ever you know there was a time right after the end of the Cold War where we were the singular dominant player in the world and so you know for a lot of people it didn't seem that diplomacy mattered so much because we could get our own way on lots of different issues because of our shared geo political weight we still have a better. Him to play than any of our major rivals but diplomacy becomes an increasingly important tool and when we in a sense corrode that tool we're putting ourselves that a real disadvantage as you look out over the next 5 or 10 years is funny if you think about China and the United States there may come a time sooner than we think when China has a larger economy than the United States does but if it was the United States plus Europe plus Japan plus other allies China never catches up to that you know and I think the reality is President Trump is right to push back against predatory Chinese trade practices but that's where diplomacy matters it matters in investing in alliances and mobilizing coalitions of countries that's what sets us apart today from powers like China and Russia but that's going to be a wasting asset unless we invest in it appreciate its significance and take advantage of the master Burns always a pleasure talking with you thank you thanks so much William Burns was a longtime u.s. Diplomat is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is author of a memoir on diplomacy called the back channel. This is n.p.r. News and you are listening to. I have a neighbor and he's got this boat sized wood paneled station wagon thing is his kids went to college long time ago he's not driving it just moving it around a parking ticket. So I told him hey I get the factor but when you are ready to say goodbye I told Woody you can donate it to Casey our 10. Year old friend integrate radio you can do it to go to k c r w dot com slash cars support for Casey comes from the United Way of greater l.a. Powering everyone in everyone in is a community movement to end the homelessness and housing crisis across l.a. County this year they're celebrating the creation of more than 8000 new homes with supportive services for people experiencing homelessness l.a. Is approved more supportive housing in the past 3 years than in the previous 30 learn more that everyone in l.a. 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News in Washington I'm Dave Mattingly snow is causing problems today for many people traveling on this Thanksgiving holiday week winter storm warnings are posted from northern California to Michigan meteorologist Brian Hurley with the National Weather Service says mountainous areas along the west coast will be measuring the snow in feet you're looking right now to see a lot of the mountain there is northwest from California southwestern Oregon and then of course into the Great Basin in Utah a foot of snow is likely in parts of Colorado and Wyoming flight delays and cancellations are reported at a number of airports including Denver and Salt Lake City later today President Trump heads to Florida where he and 1st lady millennia will be spending the Thanksgiving holiday N.P.R.'s Amy Held says before arriving at Mar a Lago the president attends a campaign rally near Miami the rallies taking place in the city of sunrise that's in Broward County a Democratic stronghold in $2162.00 thirds of the vote there went to Trump's rival Hillary Clinton now Florida is among the half dozen coveted swing states that could determine the 2020 Alexion tonight Trump will also be able to declare himself a true Floridian in September he changed his primary residence from Manhattan New York to Palm Beach and aircraft in restricted air space triggered a brief lockdown this morning at the White House and the u.s. Capitol this is n.p.r. News from case I'm cherry Glaser was state and local headlines investigations into a boat fire that killed 34 people off the coast of Santa Barbara County on Labor Day have found that the boat was operating under old safety rules as case here Catherine Barnes reports u.s. Coast Guard had exempted the conception dive boat and many builds boats built before the 1990 s. From newer stricter standards in 1906 the u.s. Coast Guard adopted changes to safety regulation. As for small passenger vessels known as subchapter t it required new vessels to have a larger escape patches and aluminum aided exit signs u.s. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Richard Timmy says older vessels like the conception were grandfathered in without needing to make improvements old subchapter to. Both have many vessels in the fleet that operate under those construction standards they are valid construction standards but that explanation doesn't sit right with Santa Barbara Congressman Salut car ball why do we need to wait until another tragedy to change our current safety rules the l.a. Times reports that conception was one of more than $300.00 small passenger vessels nationwide built before 1906 and given special exemptions from safety standards the Coast Guard says it's now stepped up inspections of these boats following the fire on board the conception California senator and Democratic presidential nominee Connelly Harris is proposing doubling the number of mental health treatment beds available across the country will lead to talk about health care it's not just about the body from there it's also from the neck up and there is a lot that we do. Harris rolled out her mental health platform during a campaign appearance in South Carolina yesterday she called for a significant expansion of care including virtual counseling. Every day. We have. Way for. Depression. Is. Mental health is is under the. Harris also wants to double research dollars for the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to focus on post traumatic stress disorder and other drivers of mental illness and she's pushing a loan forgiveness program for mental health workers who go to areas facing providers shortages. Support train p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations and from Ti I am committed to the idea that while most things in life run out from clean shirts in the morning to a favorite dessert at night lifetime income in retirement should not learn more at t.i.a.a. Dot org slash never run out and from Amazon Studios with the report Adam Driver plays a Senate staffer investigating the CIA's post 911 tactics revealing evidence of a government cover up with Annette Bening and Jon Hamm available Friday on prime video it's 735 It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News Good Morning I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin the title of a new u.n. Report on climate change out today says it all on the brink the findings paint a grim picture pointing to the last decade as a lost opportunity according to the report the commitments that countries made 4 years ago as part of the Paris climate accord are nowhere near enough to combat record high temperatures Eliot derringer is an executive vice president at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions It's a nonprofit focused on climate change he's in our studios this morning thank you so much for coming in good morning so lots of data in this report you've been pouring over it what stands out to you Well Rachel this is really the latest in a series of wake up calls previous reports have painted a very stark picture of the kind of future we face if we don't meet the goals of the Paris agreement this report provides us with a numerical accounting of just how far short we're following it projects where emissions will be with countries current commitments by 2030 and where they need to be if we're going to keep warming under 3 degrees that's the so-called Gap It shows that right now we're on track to 3 degrees of warming and that poses some really severe consequences. But this is very timely because governments are just on the threshold of a series to set of decision. Over the coming year to increase their targets under the Paris agreement and I think that really the bottom line message here is that we no longer have any time at all to waste and 2020 is the year to step up action but you say that world leaders are recognizing that the standards set and the Paris accord were too low but they're giving the me though so what difference does it make that they're saying we're going to increase our commitment Well you know there are there is increasing momentum around the world we have a global youth movement something that's unprecedented we have growing recognition by companies that in fact they face their self-interest is in favor of climate action in some respects the private sector is leading the public sector in addressing this issue so we need to increase the public the political pressure on leaders over the coming year as they step forward to increase their ambition there are hopeful signs the headline numbers on this report can be gloomy and scary I hope people get to the 2nd half of the report which point points out some of the solutions that are available solutions that are at hand like what. Well we're seeing it already we are switching to renewable energy very quickly it's it's the cheapest cost of power generation right now automakers are rolling out more electric vehicles there are a whole host of solutions that have the WHO's costs have been driven down by the policies that had been put in place over the last decade or so there are investments being made investors asking companies to explain how they intend to reduce their climate risks the opportunities they see in a carbon constrained future so there are a host of technological solutions we need to be open to all of those and we need to increase the investment and that the policy pressure to really deploy those but so often it is difficult for people to to care frankly they let the bad news going to wash over them because they cannot articulate they cannot visualize what the effects of climate change are actually going to bring I understand the need to focus on the positive the things that are going well but can you please help us visualize what what the world looks like in 80 years well I think that's really up to us frankly and I think that you know we are hearing more and more the gloomy predictions of what the world will look like if we don't take action you know we can look out the window right now and see the here and now impacts of climate change the fires in California the increased flooding the fact that so many farmers in the Midwest had to push back their planting seasons by months because of the swollen Mississippi River so we were getting glimpses now of the sort of future that we face if we don't take action but I also think that you know it while it's vital for us to understand the stakes and the urgency it's really just as vital that people have a picture of the kinds of solutions that are available I mentioned the growing global youth movement here in the United States you also see growing global support . The political spectrum for doing the right things states and cities representing 2 thirds of the country remain committed to the Paris agreement even in Congress you're beginning to see Republicans recognizing the importance of addressing this issue so I think there's hope Elliot derringer executive vice president at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions thank you for your time and you're very welcome the latest country shaken by anti-government demonstrations is Colombia days of protests have been serious enough that President Yvonne decay says he will meet the protesters today John Otis has more. Than. I these protesters are shouting Long live the national strike that's what they're calling demonstrations that broke out last week and show no sign of letting up I just consider the last of us were banging on pots and pans is a distinctly Latin American form of protest and people here are angry about everything from lising violence in the countryside to the high cost of education to numerous that the government plans to cut pension benefits this has to stop it does not continue because this is not the round table for what is out bird government when it astounds ourselves I would have our brothers as I would be our guest while we are fighting for Alexander who he is a 28 year old boy or young Colombians like himself rather than longtime activists form the bulk of the protests there is such a change right now on all of the jump to world just gathering there are some places he. Is although still he broke his bones if you are but the level of the law but the quality of life. The marches come amid a wave of often violent demonstrations around South America in Bolivia they helped force out President Abel Morales after fraud marred elections in Chile they prompted the government to consider. Writing a whole new constitution the marches in Colombia have been mostly peaceful but an outbreak of looting and vandalism has led to a security crackdown and allegations of police brutality that in turn has prompted more people to March among them is Christian after the start of the Saturdays but I don't know you know why they say guys in the car is to be hit in the head with the tear gas canisters he says talking about a high school senior who was gravely injured while protesting on Saturday against the high cost of college tuition the student died Monday night but you see some of it's the gentle Eldress you know the treatment. If it were protesting about education why did they respond with violence would it go says after initially resisting officials of President to case Conservative government have agreed to meet with protest leaders starting today. But just doesn't go yet. At a news conference vice president Martin Lucy a roommate has said all Colombians should know that this is a government that will always listen to you for n.p.r. News I'm John Otis in Bogota Colombia. This is n.p.r. News you're listening to. Sponsors include Sony. Once upon a time in Hollywood starring Leonardo Dicaprio Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie now on digital with over 20 minutes of additional scenes learn more at once upon a time in Hollywood movie. California. Industry is still far outweighs the legal part of the reason unlicensed pop up cannabis markets. Take you to one of them. Tuesday morning freeways of a busy ride at this point you are on the north or south bound for all 5 anywhere in the South Bay part of the issue southbound 4 o 5 a Red Beach Boulevard got a wreck taking up one of the middle lanes there then and when to park south on 5 at Valley View as in a car collided northbound side of the 5 you're looking at a busy ride coming up out of Norwalk into the city of commerce support for n.p.r. Comes from Focus Features and participant with dark waters a thriller starring Mark Ruffalo and Ann Hathaway mysterious deaths in a small town lead one man to risk his life for the truth now playing in select theaters everywhere December 6th and from the pajama gram company in creators have matching holiday pajamas for the whole family including dogs and cats with Charlie Brown Star Wars and Grinch themes in its place and flannel available at pajama gram dot com. This is case you're listening to Morning Edition the chancellors of u.c. Berkeley and u.c. Santa Cruz say they want to do away with s.a.t. And scores as admission requirement it's a debate that's been gaining steam across the country for more than a year now since the prestigious University of Chicago said it was ditching the standardized tests as a requirement adding fuel to the fire a number of wealthy parents caught up in the recent college admissions scandal paid to have their children standardized tests corrected in an effort to get their kids into big name schools Eric Hoover is a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education he explains why there's a push to do away with standardized tests as a requirement for getting into college. More and more and more evidence if he and S.A.T.'s scores correlate with family income or the family's education level and also with an applicant's race you know to a light person and we think Ok you're applying for college you give them your transcript you give your test scores. And so the idea that you're going to drop the S.A.T.'s or the a c. T. Has a lot of people asking well what's going to take its place that's a reasonable way of assuming it all works but as so many admissions Deans who have studied this question have told me it's really wrong to think of standardized tests as being like roughly half of the kind of quantitative equation that they're looking at if you're looking in able to see all the relevant information about an applicant's high school the rigor of courses that were available to him or her in the courses that he or she ended up taking and most importantly the grades were and you've got a very very full picture of that applicants ability and potential to succeed on your campus if you add that students' test scores to that you're given an incremental additional piece of information but it is not as I've been told repeatedly anything close to like half of the puzzle so what else to college admissions officers have to look at they are looking at extracurricular activities and increasingly they're looking not just at the number of activities or the nature of those activities but how much time really not just may be measured by hours but level of commitment has a given student put into something that's listed on their activity list or maybe something they describe in their essay. The University of California is also considering dropping the requirement and now it's facing a potential lawsuit if it doesn't civil rights groups in the Compton Unified School District are threatening to sue the u.c. System saying the tests violate California's civil rights law could this have significant national ramifications just because of the sheer size of the u.c. System I think it is conventional wisdom that if if the u.c. System were to drop its testing requirements and make the a.t.t.n. S.a.t. Optional that you would over time see a major shift and that that would diminish the stature of standardized test using undergraduate admissions. U.c. System is already examining its use of a C.T.'s 80 scores and sometimes probably next year it's expected that they will make a determination that we still need to require these tests or not some schools are talking about replacing the S.A.T.'s a.c.t scores with other standardized tests in the u.s. He's case something called smart or balanced which assesses English and math skills based on a common core curriculum one that just really pose the same problem you're just shifting from one standardized test to another no test is perfect and any test to some degree I think it's fair to say is going to reflect all kinds of things including inequities in the kind of educational experiences that students in any state have so any assessment is likely to pick up on those in equities and so some people want to go so far as to say look we we should just make all tests optional and the potential plaintiffs in this lawsuit in California what don't even want that they want to go a step further and say we should just stop which just throw out the a.c.g. In a city altogether but yes I think it's completely reasonable. So you suggest that no matter what tests you plug in in place of a security you're probably going to have similar problems and you're also going to have affluent parents with the means able to afford test preparation services that we're going to help their son or daughter succeed on any tests no matter what it's called or how it's done. Is it one thing for a liberal arts school or even a university like the University of Chicago to say Ok We're going to do away with this requirement but is it another thing for a huge state wide system like the u.c. Where they are trying to admit thousands of people is it really feasible for them to completely walk away from standardized tests part of the enduring appeal of these tests is that it helps if he did the admissions folks do their jobs more efficiently I think the question is more difficult at a school that has turned and tens of thousands of applications that institution that maybe only 1020000 or fewer applications Eric Hoover is a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education You're listening to. Support comes from getting played sprees in an Academy Award nominee Andy Garcia in the world premiere adaptation of. The l.a. Times declare Garcia's high voltage portrayal of mobster Johnny Walker infuses the play with crackling by town Don't miss this classic book called thriller on stage now performance is extended through December 15th tickets and information I guess I'm playing house dot org. 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You're listening to Morning Edition I'm cherry killings are California's legal cannabis market is on track to hit more than $3000000000.00 in sales this year but the thriving on license market is expected to be much bigger almost 3 times as big at an estimated $8700000000.00 So where is all that on license weed being bought and sold well some that comes from all the many pop up unlicensed cannabis markets also called a session case. He takes us through a nondescript warehouse store it a secret location in downtown l.a. To find out how some everyday Angelenos are buying there we. It looks like a regular weekend farmer's market except you will find organic tomatoes and peaches here I'm inside a large space filled with $20.00 to $30.00 picnic tables each boasting a variety of cannabis products buds passion edibles and big cars for customers to choose from while the phrase black market elicits visions of shady characters selling illegal goods out of the trunk of a car or the inside of a trench coat what you'll find at this session is an open atmosphere where some people are simply shopping and others are hanging out smoking and socializing music is booming from the d.j. Booth and food trucks are right out the door for when folks get hungry it's not if you know you know type of the you know what I'm really spoken about I had for ties anymore so it's kind of like if you're in an you know or if you're cool enough someone will let you know. If you're a medical cannabis Beijing in the know you can find a session in l.a. On almost any night of the week the organizers will announce the location via text and social media a couple of hours ahead of time and all you need to get in is your medical cannabis recommendation you've got out people opening up bags looking at nerves you've got people getting up nails ready to take get higher you've got people in line waiting for specials it looks like you know. Reboot has something that they offer that someone else doesn't like you know trooper take or buy 3 get one free Mark this is Adam born and bred in the San Fernando Valley He's the unofficial host of tonight's event he's got long black hair pulling down glasses and a joker t. Shirt the customers the vendors everyone knows that the place is packed with mostly young mostly black and Latin next patrons feeling the good vibes as they smoke in Perth I come for the environment I come for the medicine and some are there to party and hang out. During the night he rarely in their right here behind a love that I love he also there's a practical reason why sessions sees so much foot traffic right I feel like rain is the best thing but what you spend $50.00 here for he'll probably get a lot more and a lot better stuff that you would spend $50.00 at a compliant. Compliance store that's a licensed dispensary like Mad Men or any other legal shop at a compliance store you pay a sales tax of up to 25 percent making products prohibitively expensive for some medical cannabis patients who used to pay no tax on weed at all medical cannabis patients tend to consume more than just a small recreational amount the ones who can afford current dispensary prices come here to buy wholesale sort of like a Costco not to mention they don't love the new compliant packages which they say is ruining the shopping experience if you are over 21 you can't just walk into. money in the past week. But finding the best we can come in it's own cost one customer Jay could Garcia who works for Whole Foods by day says he's been a medical cannabis patient since 2005 as a long time smoker he knows that there's some risk involved with buying in a sense I've been doing cannabis for a long time so I kind of know it's look for I'm not going to fit in everything here is clean and safe but I have my trust my my you know. The benefit to buying weed at dispensaries is that products are rigorously tested so you can trust what you're buying is likely clean but to sell we did a session there's no requirement to test your product here's out I'm not saying everything is traditional market and I'm just saying you have a lot more risk out here and one concern on everyone's mind as of late are the carts the cartridges cartridges I buy Ever since all that all the controversy that a lot of people are really with those he's referring to the recent national concerns over baby related illnesses and deaths and data showing that additives found in counterfeit unlicensed bakes like the ones bounded sesh is could contain dangerous contaminants the state of California has warned consumers not to bait and not to buy bootleg cannabis products but a crackdown on carts isn't stopping session vents and the unlicensed market from thriving in general. Is the owner of hitman glass a pipe and barn company he's been in the cannabis industry both before and after recreational legalization he says that session events like this one are going to be around for a long time there's always going to be a wholesale. Market for the full scan of this and to be quite frank I'm in a financial position where if I have $400.00 I am going to buy 2 ounces instead of it now it's like I just can't afford to pay the taxes right now California is taxing every single level of people that are cultivating processing the distributor and there's no logical reason for any of these people to transition. Maybe the customers are content not to transition into the legal market but for many of the vendors at this session going compliant and selling their cannabis in a licensed dispensary is the ultimate dream Aaron the 1st vendor you heard from said he's tried to transition to selling on the legal market but that road hasn't been easy here in California actually it's it's kind of there's a lot of red tape and it's expensive for most companies to just jump in we need to raise capital and that's where a lot of people are still in the black market that being said he's trying to go legit we're currently working on getting a license the thing is this just though it's been so because on to the lot of these places you have to build out infrastructure that's where the black market is currently writing because there's all these people that want to do good and that want to provide a good quality model but the regulations just make it almost impossible to do so you know not just now want to be in the recreational market an hour into the sash there are about 200 people browsing the aisles smelling and filling their shopping bags vendors can sell enough product in one night to take home thousands of dollars in cash that's why Adam tries his best to make it a safe environment for everyone that's good security where they're you know I think anywhere where there's a lot of people. Products should always have to carry. You never know what people are going to do. At the night's peak and ice cream truck pulls up a bunch of very high folds quickly it's definitely a great spot. Where there is demand there will be supply for k.c. R.w. . You're listening to members supporting a use Santa Monica Los Angeles. Santa Barbara k c r I. Ventura. County where a community service. You can listen worldwide from our app or ask your smart speaker to play. Coming up the latest on a wildfire in Santa Barbara County it's 8 o'clock. Good morning a federal judge found the former White House lawyer must.