Oh a business because it is a business Gambia seeking to get the court to approve so-called provisional measures against me and Mark to keep it from carrying out further violence against the roving while the core considers the broader case Man March de facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi will lead her country's defense on Wednesday for n.p.r. News I'm Michael Sullivan in Bangkok You're listening to n.p.r. News from Washington. The Trump administration is refusing to approve members of the World Trade Organization and the w t o appellate body is losing its power 6 of the 7 seats on the decision making body are vacant because of term limits now the Trump administration is blocking the appointment of replacements the u.s. Trade representative says the u.s. Has had enough of an organization that they lose to deal with countries that pose trade challenges such as China the number of laws that criminalize homelessness is on the rise N.P.R.'s Pam Fessler reports that's according to a new study from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty the National Law Center says over the past 3 years cities have enacted dozens of new laws targeting homeless individuals the statutes prohibit activities such as public camping begging loitering living in vehicles public urination even the sharing of free food and Violators face steep fines displacement and jail time the laws reflect growing frustration in some communities where the number of people living outside has reached record highs homeless advocates say such laws are counterproductive and that more housing is the answer the Trump administration has signaled that it wants to take a tougher approach to homelessness but it has yet to come out with a plan Pam Fessler n.p.r. News Washington the National Weather Service is warning of bitterly cold temperatures in the upper Midwest today wind chill warnings are posted for parts of the Dakotas Minnesota Wisconsin and Michigan Upper Peninsula wind chill values could make it feel as though it's $35.00 degrees below 0 in some places I'm Corba Coleman n.p.r. News. Support for n.p.r. Comes from I drive providing cloud backup full system back up and on site I drive appliance to protect P.C.'s Macs and servers from data loss due to crashes and ransomware at I drive dot com slash n.p.r. And Americans for the Arts This is a test of the Emergency Alert System. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News Good Morning I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin the f.b.i. Had every right to open its investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia that's the main conclusion from a report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog Inspector General Michael Horowitz and this conclusion directly contradicts president Trump's false claim that the investigation was politically motivated but Horowitz also found serious shortcomings in how the bureau handled its surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser President Trump lashed out at f.b.i. Director Christopher Ray this morning he said Ray will quote never be able to fix the f.b.i. Which is badly broken but it was James Comey who led the f.b.i. In the early stages of the investigation into the trauma campaign yesterday N.P.R.'s Ari Shapiro asked Komi how those mistakes happened I'm not sure I've read the report I think the inspector general found something like 17 separate mistakes and that is really unfortunate and really important that he found them so they can be fixed and that's a worthwhile part of any inspector general report and so I don't want to step away from that but I want to underscore nothing was done with political bias or with improper motivation so many at errors entered into their surveillance petitions around quarter page if the f.b.i. Had this many mistakes even on a high profile politically sensitive case do you think there's a broader problem with f.b.i. Agents taking a cavalier attitude to eavesdropping on Americans I don't I think there is a problem with human beings working hard and making assumptions and not realizing that other people are making different assumptions they make mistakes but they're good people well overseen and checked all right for more on the implications of the Horowitz report written by n.p.r. Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas thanks for coming in Ron thank you there was a lot of buildup to this report a lot of people looking for their own a vindication from this explain more about what the inspector general said here so this is a $400.00 plus page report so there's a lot in it some good for the. F.b.i. Some bad but 2 of the big takeaways are that the f.b.i. Had sufficient evidence to open its investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and the inspector general found no evidence of political bias in the in the decision to launch that investigation and those 2 findings are a big deal they contradict as you said the allegation from some conservatives that the investigation was driven by political hostility against Trump but there were also some very serious problems with the F.B.I.'s investigation as we heard in that clip from from Ari and Komi at the top that relates to the f.b.i. Surveillance of former top campaign foreign policy adviser Carter page the inspector general documents 17 significant inaccuracies or omissions in the F.B.I.'s applications to get court approval for surveillance on page leaving that information out according to the inspector general made the case for surveillance look stronger than it actually was so here we are in the middle of an impeachment inquiry the House is expected to lay out their articles of impeachment today it's a highly polarized time I mean that's like the under statement of the year so how did how did Democrats who are and Republicans respond to this report so on the political front the sides very much just retreated to the wrist respective corners the president described the findings as being far worse than he thought possible he said the investigation amounted to essentially a coup and surprisingly the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee Jerry never had a very different interpretation of this report he said that it bunks deep state conspiracy theories internally within the Justice Department the response to the report has varied f.b.i. Director Chris Ray said the bureau except the inspector general's findings he says he's ordered steps to be taken to address the report's recommendations that includes changes to the f.b.i. Surveillance practices Attorney General William Barr on the other hand released a pretty scathing statement that in many ways pushes back against some of the report central conclusions he called bar called the F.B.I.'s investigation intrusive and he said that it was based on quote the thinnest of suspicions and in his view he said those suspicions were insufficient to justify the steps that were taken so now I mean. Attorney General Bart not only has he released the statement under. The calling into question the id's conclusions he's actually launched his own investigation he asked that u.s. Attorney John Durham launch an investigation into this very thing how is this different than what the Horowitz report was looking at so Durham is investigating similar issues to Horowitz but is understood to be understood to be looking at u.s. Spy agencies and foreign intelligence services as well he's been traveling internationally to meet with foreign intelligence officials he and the attorney general have enlisted the president's help to try to open doors for der overseas now derm released his own statement yesterday and that's a rarity because he's known for being very tight lipped and what Durham said was that based on the evidence that he's collected so far of his investigation he disagrees with some of the Inspector General's conclusions particularly about how the f.b.i. Opened its investigation even though he's not even done with his own investigation it's still ongoing it's pretty exceptional to release that n.p.r. Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas thank you we appreciate it thank you. Long before she was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was a Republican when did that change while she taught law at the University of Texas and it was there that Warren's political identity emerged the ideas that she stresses now about a shrinking middle class and a government that benefits the wealthy came from her academic research N.P.R.'s as Muhammad has the story in the fall of 1901 Calvin Johnson used to walk a block and a half from his house to hitch a ride to work with Elizabeth Warren They were both teaching at the University of Texas Law School in Austin and would debate public policy during their commutes we would go in and we would argue all the way and then we would take a temporary response to teach our course use and do research and then we'd argue all the way back and Johnson who has long considered himself a liberal Democrat remembers thinking that Warren's opinions were strange she was quite consistently pro-business and the I'm sure she would not like to be called an I consumer but he did think she was anti consumer He remembers one particularly fierce debate about public utility accounting it's wanky Johnson says at the time utility companies were raking in huge profits and abusing the rate payers she came out very strongly in favor of business industry the utility Warren was not overtly partisan at the time but she was guided by a law in economics movement that was sweeping through universities critics say this movement was trying to proselytize professors into believing a conservative pro market worldview and Warren was a believer according to some of her colleagues around this time she also became increasingly interested in bankruptcy and when she talks about her attitude from the time she sounds kind of Reagan esque here she is reading from her memoir a fighting chance I might not have said so at the time but I think I was on the lookout for cheaters and deadbeats as a way to explain who was filing for bankruptcy. In 1978 Congress had passed a new bankruptcy code there was an enormous amount of contention over the new car and that's Warren's long time research collaborator Jay Westbrook he still teaches law at the University of Texas the creditors were saying people are just getting away with murder they're not paying their debts or getting an easy discharge and we wanted to know if that was true or not is the Westbrook in Warren helped lead a massive multi-state study to figure out who was filing for bankruptcy and why here is one of Warren's former research assistants Kimberly Winick who helped her go through a lot of the files and this is back when it was all paper and we'd show up with a portable copying machine and you know it rolled like a suitcase and you get it there with reams of paper and start copying it would then sift through the paper files Catherine Nicholson another one of Warren's research assistants says they were looking for answers to specific questions was the debtor employed where their medical bills I mean what kind of does did they have was an unsecured debt if they wrote up everything on credit cards had there been a divorce in the family recently that's just impera call that that's Warren's other research assistant Kimberly Winick again that is how she works ask a question that's a clean question and get an answer we Nick took 3 classes with Warren and she says that one thing she admires about her old professor is that when the facts became irrefutable Warren was willing to reexamine her own opinions when it doesn't remember talking politics with Warren but she had a hunch her old teacher thought people filing for bankruptcy were gaming the system their research ended up illustrating a different story years Warren's co-author Jay Westbrook again he saw more of the very difficult side of life of the people who go through the bankruptcy process she saw their struggles and she saw a variety of ways in which the credit industry manipulates things in. In order to get them ever deeper into debt the end result of their research was unprecedented essentially the 1st independent data driven analysis on bankruptcy in the country it resulted in 2 books and drove almost everything Warren has done since she became known as a bankruptcy expert she worked as a legal consultant for some big corporations like Dow Chemical and for consumers and a major class action lawsuit against Sears recently warns campaign disclosed that she made their early $2000000.00 through her corporate legal work then in the 1990 s. Warren also joined the National big review commission where this is the kind of person that when she sees somebody doing something that she thinks really is going to screw things up she's not going to be quiet about it so Westbrook says Warren started speaking up loudly and political circles about financial issues it's just that none of it was in the context of being partisan until it was Warren's work on the bankruptcy commission made it clear Republicans in Congress were not her ally old colleagues insist all these years of studying bankruptcy changed wording It's why they believe she eventually registered as a Democrat in 1906 The thing is this bankruptcy research did not just affect war and it left a deep impression on how people who collaborated with Warren see her people like Katherine Nicholson who worked as a research assistant for 3 years I'm not always with one forever she cares about families and their struggles. So next year it'll be a hard choice for me about if it'll be a hard choice because Nicholson and now lives near Omaha Nebraska describes herself as a conservative Catholic Well Paul Ryan sort of Republican she voted for Donald Trump in 2016 However I believe in Elizabeth Warren to in the time since Nicholson met her Warren has evolved from being described as an economic conservative to arguably one of the fiercest liberal consumer advocates in the country some of Warren's progressive critics say this evolution makes her inauthentic known her argue it's why voters should believe for a small college n.p.r. News. This is n.p.r. News and you're hearing n.p.r. News Morning Edition and we do news all right here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio at 519 Good morning I'm Dave Freeman in 1000 after 5 and Joe McConnell joins me now on this Tuesday morning for a look at Bay Area traffic conditions something's happening on the Bay Bridge Let's check in with Joe and find out Good morning Joe David the stall in the Bay Bridge that actually been there about a half an hour now westbound past the tunnel close to the center Anchorage and in the lane 2nd from the left and traffic is backed up through the tunnel and down the incline and merges with the maze and it's backed up to the overpass and really start to that slow down now many others though the huge All them out of the usual all the mud and 2 of 5 entries it looks like it's back to before 11th Street almost a great line and that might be jamming on 80 south in Fremont there's a report of a crash near Stevenson Joe McConnell and John McConnell and k.q.e.d. Support comes from aid by hate. Offering cloud based communications solutions across voice video meetings chat in contact center on the web at 8 x. 8 dot com 8 by 8 communications transformed. John s. And James l. Knight Foundation helping Public Radio advance journalistic excellence in the digital age Knight Foundation believes informed and engaged communities are essential for healthy democracy more at night Foundation dot org he q.e.d. News an early morning newscast with Brian Watt coming up at 530 this morning and later at 6 the chairs of several House committees are holding a press conference this morning to announce the next steps in the impeachment process and to unveil the articles of impeachment coverage from n.p.r. Start straight up at 6 this morning it will be hosted by Rachel Martin and Steve Inskeep also joining coverage n.p.r. National political correspondent Mara Liasson n.p.r. White House reporter are you sure Roscoe and n.p.r. Congressional correspondent Kelsey Snow will have all the coverage starting at 6 right here on public radio no hearing scheduled today with the exception of the special conference will have our regular programming and Morning Edition support for n.p.r. Comes from John's Day an integrated partnership collaboratively providing legal services for more than a century 43 offices 5 continents serving clients as one firm worldwide more and more of John's Day dot com Drexel University recognizing 100 years of a cooperative education program that prepares students to address the challenges of a changing world more a directional dot edu slash ambition can't wait and by Subaru with their Subaru share the love event now through January 2nd details on the not for profit organizations that it supports are at Subaru dot com slash share love it's what makes a Subaru a Subaru and by the listeners and members of k.q.e.d. . It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin we've been hearing a lot of reporting recently about using the latest genetic technology to try and treat sickle cell disease scientists are also making progress using older d.n.a. Techniques to help people with this common devastating blood disorder n.p.r. Health correspondent Rob Stein is in our studios to talk about the latest news about experimental genetic treatments for sickle cell disease Hi Rob Good morning Rachel so just to start off by reminding us about the effects of sickle cell disease who gets it how common it is yeah it's Or it's Rachel's a really awful disease that affects the red blood cells you know these are the cells that carry oxygen in our body and that genetic defect causes these red blood cells to become defective sickle shaped cells and they're really bad carrying oxygen they get stuck inside blood vessels they cause her both acts of pain organ damage heart attacks strokes that affects millions of people around the world agree about 100000 in this country so has there been any way to treat sickle cell so in this country sickle cell mostly affects African-Americans and many people say it's been and neglected disease in this country some people can get bone marrow transplants but the really expensive and the risky and this country most sickle cell patients they don't make it past middle age that seems to finally have started to change 32 new drugs that are helpful were recently approved for sickle cell but there's really still no cure for most sickle cell patients but there are there are some encouraging possibilities on the horizon right yes so rich as you know we've been following one sickle cell patient named Victoria great closely this year she's the 1st person in the United States to get treated for a genetic disorder with a revolutionary kind of genetic engineering called crisper scientists infused billions of her own cells that have been genetically modified with crisper into a body this summer to try to help or and just recently doctors reported the 1st hints that it looks promising now it's super early so we're not even close to really knowing for it works but so far so good so there there's. Other similar research out there too yes yes so scientists have been working for years really to try to use what's called gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease now Gene therapy is the 1st strategy scientist developed to try to treat diseases at that level it usually involves using hormones viruses to ferry new genes or genetic information into the body gene therapy cause some disasters early on but it's finally started to work and several experimental gene therapy are showing promise for sickle cell disease now how so what specifically can you tell us about yeah so this is a big scientific meeting that's just wrapping up today in Florida where scientists are reporting more encouraging results now one approach involves giving sickle cell patient cells a new gene to compensate for the defective one to make their bodies produce a healthy version of a protein called hemoglobin and that's what Red said blood cells need to carry oxygen in the body Another strategy is sort of similar to the crisper Gene editing approach that Victoria got it involves using gene therapy to make cells produce a different kind of hemoglobin called fetal hemoglobin to make up for that defective hemoglobin Ok so this is working I mean what do we know about Yeah well again so far so good for example there are doctors in at Boston Children's Hospital trying to make fetal he will go home and and they say it's looking good for the 1st handful of patients that they've treated so far and a company called Blue Bird bio is even further along there reporting promising results from 17 patients who got the most advanced version of that approach that uses gene therapy to add a new team to make up for the defective hemoglobin gene and it looks like it's working it's producing healthy hemoglobin in healthy red blood cells and it even looks like it might be alleviating suffering for sickle cell patients treated so far now you know with all the stuff I have to say there's to hold the highway to go a lot more patients will have to be treated and followed for years to make sure it's safe to really know how well it works and how long it might keep working but it looks like to there's at least 5 hope for. Finally on the horizon for sickle cell patients if it does work the next big question is how to pay for these new therapies are coming with really have to price tag n.p.r. Health correspondent Rob Stein Rob thank you sure thing Rachel an executive order from the trumpet ministration seeks to give local officials the authority to reject refugees in their communities Burley County North Dakota considered whether to become the 1st in the nation to do that but after emotional testimony county commissioners rejected that motion just barely Dave Thompson of Prairie Public has this report Burley County includes the state capital Bismarck North Dakota Governor Doug Brigham had already agreed to accept refugees in the state and with the governor's indorsement it fell to the county commission to accept refugee resettlement to North Dakota counties Grand Forks and Cass have already agreed to take refugees within social services manages the settlement program and overflow crowd estimated at 200 or more came to a local middle school to hear the discussion and sound off on the proposal Treasurer move on is I was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo he came to America at age 16 and is now in college pursuing a degree while working at a local restaurant we're not in this country just to take your government money in fact we're here to work and be successful in life just like everyone else here Geraldine on Bay as a refugee from Cameroon she asked commissioners to consider what refugees mean to the county going to stop here by challenging everybody tonight when you leave you go to Womack and see how many of them I was talking to your shelves at Wal-Mart why you. Did you were know what you're talking about thank you opponents say they were concerned about the cost of bringing refugees to the area and what impact it might have on local schools Lou Kling and Helter is from biz. But I'd like to see before we bring in more people if we're spending money taxpayer dollars to bring these people and can we spend the money to help people that are already here 1st when it came time to take a vote the commission approved it 3 to 2 to Mr Jerry would Cox was a yes vote with the stipulation that Burley County accept only up to 25 G.'s in the next year when you see the success of the refugees that have been here for 20 years and it's been a long term program it's done an excellent job and I was convinced that that was the what we were going to be doing Commission Chairman Brian Bittner voted no saying he did not have enough information I need to know what this costs I mean all together because a seems to review kind of give a point check because as American citizens to refugee resettlement a few I'd like to know more about what it actually costs if the decision has to be renewed every year for n.p.r. News I'm Dave Thompson in Bismarck North Dakota. This is n.p.r. News News with Brian Watt coming up in just a minute on this Tuesday let's go back to Joe McDonald for commuting in the Bay Area and find out what's up with the Bay Bridge it's clear the biggest problem was there west down past the island for about half an hour stall was there but they've moved it it's moving better up the incline or at least when you get to the top of the incline through the tunnel but heavier than you would expect this time of day toll plaza back of this almost of the maze already latest problem among the few we have so far is north what I want to Millbrae there might be a mattress in the right lane and the crash in 80 south that Stevenson in Fremont looks like it's over the shoulder relatively minor one Joe McConnell for key committee support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Mercy Corps has the world's most vulnerable people face the toughest challenges of climate change Mercy Corps is helping families to adapt and thrive more in Mercy Corps dot org And Log Me In featuring the all new you go to meeting designed to help modernize the way people connect were. Together and get things done learn more go to meeting dot com You're listening to k.q.e.d. Public Radio 88.5 f.m. Good Morning the time now is 530 live from k.q.e.d. News I'm Brian Watt top Democratic congressional leaders are planning to announce articles of impeachment against President Trump about 30 minutes from now their press conference comes a day after 2 Bay Area members of Congress took part in a heated impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee South Bay Representatives Oh Lofgren who was involved in the impeachment inquiries of presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton said she'd been reluctant to be part of a 3rd process but the direct evidence is very damning and the president hasn't offered any evidence to the contrary we've asked we subpoenaed we've invited the president and nothing has come forward if he had evidence of his innocence why wouldn't he bring it forward eastbay Congressman Eric Swalwell also referred back to the Nixon impeachment has he question the Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman the famous phrase from Senator Howard Baker was asked what did the president know and when did he know when there's a reason that no one here has repeated those questions during these hearings we know what the president it and we know when he knew it Mr Goldman who sent Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to smear job on a President Trump who fired the anti-corruption ambassador in Ukraine or e of on which President Trump who told Ambassador Sunline and Pastor Volcker to Rupe to work with Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine President Trump and President Trump has declined to participate in the impeachment hearings. The San Francisco supervisor is calling for changes to the way the city handle shelters during rough weather that's after the local news site mission local reported that half of the city's emergency shelter beds late empty during the recent winter storms. Explains San Francisco responded to 2 weeks of cold wet weather by adding 75 emergency shelter spaces to existing homeless shelters but on average only about half or 41 of those spots were filled San Francisco supervisor Matt Haney thanks that's unacceptable to 75 maps they're not even hope that is abysmal It's an embarrassing number considering the need is now out there currently a person who is homeless and needs shelter during bad weather has to wait until 8 pm and call 311 to find out where to go he says that needs to change there's a lot of different types or outreach including contacting people who are on such a wait list putting signage I'm out on your Muni stops according to the most recent count at least 8000 people are on housed in San Francisco I'm sure a city News San Jose Mayor Sam like Cardo has endorsed former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg for president Cardo had previously backed Senator Kamel Harris who suspended her presidential campaign last week I'm Brian Watt k.q.e.d. News and here's what's coming up on k.q.e.d. On the California report later this hour coming up on the California report as more people do their holiday shopping online how does a historic brick and mortar California retailer survive people still feel good about the tradition of going out with their family and shopping and picking up an item and touching it I think that's definitely a lost part of business and something that you really can't capture over the Internet all fashion retailing of the digital age I'm Saul can solve this that and other stories from the Golden State coming up on the California report states soon you'll hear the calm. Fornia report at 551 again at 651 and 8 51 am today on k.q.e.d. Public Radio Bay Area forecast morning clouds areas of dense fog again today there is a slight chance of rain this afternoon in the Bay Area highs generally in the fifty's dense fog this morning around the Sacramento Valley also cloudy highs 53 to 59 support for n.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 of little passports dot com and Capital One offering a variety of credit card options with features for a range of customers from foodies to travelers Capital One what's in your wallet credit approval required capital one bank USA n.s.a. And by the listeners and members of k.q.e.d. Public Radio 88.5 f.m. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Rachel Martin and I'm Steve Inskeep This program does not forget Americans held in Iran in September we called the New Jersey woman named who were Chu she just had a phone call from her husband she way watching who was inside an Iranian prison he tells me that there's a car you are right that he can spend an hour or 2 half some natural light there and under the Highway Loss and in distance he can see the national flag of Iran. Yes I'll bear and and tea estates people walk in that small space around and around her husband the man who was hopelessly circling the courtyard is the American who was freed by Iran last weekend he spent 3 years in prison on murky charges of aiding a foreign power after being traded for an Iranian prison or she won climbed onto a plane for a flight to Europe and there he met a u.s. Diplomat Brian Hook who is the State Department's point person on Iran and who is here to talk over the u.s. Confrontation with Iran Mr Hooke welcome to program morning I have to say congratulations to you where did you meet she way why exactly and what shape was it I met him in Zurich in the context of the president exchange and so I had brought over on my plane the Iranian and then we are the Swiss who have been great partners who are able to effect the exchange and they they they are us intermediaries where they're you know we don't have diplomatic ties with the regime and it's been that way for 40 years now and so the Swiss are known as our protecting power and the Swiss ambassador to Iran had been seeing she in a regular basis and so over the last few weeks I've been working with him to negotiate the deal that would then bring back a one and you meet him face to face and you've been in prison for 3 years what shape was in he was it was it was a very emotional and powerful moment he'd been in to Iranian prisons for over 3 years in a windowless cell and it was he was just so excited and so grateful and very proud to be an American he's a very brave an amazing man and I'm pleased to report that he has now reunited with his wife and son they they flew over in the last 24 hours or so and met with him yes Germany where he is now yeah military base Yes in Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany after we met with wallowing in Zurich which is where the exchange occurred in. Airport hangar at the airport we then boarded our plane and then flew up to Ramstein in Germany and he's receiving excellent medical care there and then we were able to get a visa for his wife and son to come to Germany and they're reunited Ok used to spend the number of hours with him did he just seem to be together and in good shape Yeah he is in excellent condition and he's tough I really admire his bravery so we had dinner that night for about 3 hours and talked about the entire ordeal he's been working steadily on his doctoral dissertation his of Princeton graduate student and so he kept up with his studies he learned a couple of new languages he is very disciplined when he got time in prison so why not he's now fluent in Farsi and French amazing I do have to ask though Iran's foreign minister after after this exchange has said in public quote Iran is fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange because there are more Americans there are Ronnie ins in American prisons can you trade more prisoners without encouraging Iran to just take more prisoners it's a great question I think this exchange proves that we can make a deal together and the talks went smoothly and so did the logistics so we hope that this represents a 1st step for talks between the u.s. And Iran that will secure the release of all the Americans who are still detained in Iran they're all innocent and they all should be released immediately this the Iranian regime has been condemned repeatedly by the u.n. Human Rights Council for detaining people like. So we're hopeful and we're going to get people out of the u.s. Justice system to give to Iran to trade is that the right way to do this we think what we've been able to do in this case is we were able to bring home an American with no money no sanctions relief and no change in policy. I am going to ask for a consular dialogue with the Iranians for that week. Get the remaining Americans out it's a question for the Iranians really but we are ready to get going and we're hopeful if you can find things to give them that seem fair you will do that I want to ask about the continuing protests in Iran they've been deadly but we should note that lots of governments face protests so in an interview that aired on this program yesterday we asked Robert O'Brian president trumps national security advisor what exactly these protests mean let's listen is this an inconvenience or something that could seriously threaten their stability it's hard to know because you know for one of things they did was they shut down the Internet so that word of the protests could not get out of the killings of their own citizens can get out so it's hard to follow I mean I remember the Berlin Wall came down if you want to ask me 2 weeks before the walk and now and I would have told you that the Berlin Wall was going to come down in 2 weeks so you just never know with these things Brian Hawk is there really a chance of a Berlin Wall moment here. It's very hard to predict how these things go but there are a couple things we do know this is the deadliest political crisis in the history of the Islamic Republic and what we've seen is that the regime keeps losing constituencies in its revolutionary base 1st it was the students and then you had the middle class and the merchants and now you're seeing the working class and even many of the clergy in these protests there were 9 seminaries that were burned this is the core of the regime support and so at this point the regime is maintaining its grip on power by brute force we expect they're going to have to increase more gas prices and keep rationing things and so the people are very unhappy and it was a gas price increase that seems to have triggered this now you send in a press conference last week there were about 1000 dead in Iran some people were surprised human rights organizations have had lower different numbers can you name your source for the thousands we have a number of sources are public reports eyewitness accounts we opened a tip line for people to send information with photos videos and. And also just messages we received 38000 described a video actually an excruciating video of Revolutionary Guard soldiers surrounding people and shooting them with Mr Machine guns are you able to release that video I have seen some of those videos that have been publicly available we have other videos but this is in the town of the shower and in that massacre alone there could have been over we think there were over 100 people who were killed that exceeds the total number of people killed in the 2009 green revolution that the regime violently suppressed this is the worst crisis they faced Will you release this video. I will make the request to see if we can is it a us government product then rather than something that just came over the over the transom through that tip line it did come through our tip line but there were many videos that we saw from that Ok Brian what Thanks very much really appreciate your time thanks to fledge you could come in again this morning Brian what is the United States Special Representative for Iran. This is n.p.r. News and support for k.q.e.d. This morning at 543 comes from t. Mobile for business who has invested nearly 30000000000 dollars on their 5 g. Network design for workforce mobility helping keep businesses connected where they are today more at t. Mobile for Business dot com Half Price Books offering a broad selection of holiday gift ideas including books movies and gift cards more ideas it for San Francisco area locations and h.p.d. Dot com seasons readings from Half Price Books just letting you know it's 6 this morning the chair of several House committees will be holding a press conference to announce the next steps in the impeachment process and to unveil the. Articles of Impeachment the special coverage starts at 6 from N.P.R.'s Rachel Martin and Steve Inskeep also joining n.p.r. National political correspondent Mara Liasson n.p.r. White House reporter. And N.P.R.'s congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell that's out of the California report live coverage starting at 6 no hearings today and that means he returns at its normal time. A new chapter in the impeachment inquiry unfolds this week as Democrats begin drafting articles of impeachment historian Julian Zelizer How does this inquiry compared to others in u.s. History next time. Also on your public radio schedule here on the takeaway returns there are nearly 440000 children in the United States in the foster care system 25 percent of children. For 2 years are without a permanent family that's a concern we examine when a child should be removed from the home and for how long that's next time on the take away from the n.p.r. a Full hour during the lunch hour today from no. One on the next fresh air Peter Bergen national security analyst for c.n.n. And author of the new book and his generals the cost of. Talk about how Trump went from bragging about the generals and his administration to later basically going to war with them Bergen says now that the generals are no longer in the administration is surrounded by yes men join us. Next time around the world the Saudi owned oil company Aramco is going public it's the world's largest oil producer and arguably the world's worst corporate polluter as buyers line up we look at the environmental price of the. World join us today international stories started to after fresh air support for n.p.r. This morning comes from the john. On d. And Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation recognizing exceptionally creative individuals this year MacArthur's fellows and more information are at mac found dot org And by the George Lucas Educational Foundation creator of edge of topia an online resource dedicated to improving the learning experience for America's students with information and strategies about what works in k. Through 12 education learn more at edge of topia dot org. This is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Rachel Martin and I'm Steve Inskeep we have news this morning of a lawsuit in California a lawsuit that will be of interest to anybody who ever took the S.A.T.'s or a.c.t you know those tests that you take that can be a factor in college admissions and n.p.r. Has obtained a draft of the complaint in the suit to be filed today it points to research that shows that tests are biased against low income and non white students and the lawsuit demands that the University of California system stop using the tests in admissions N.P.R.'s Allison nad Warney covers higher education and is in our studios Good morning Steve what are the details of this lawsuit the lawsuits being filed by the pro bono law firm public counsel on behalf of students and a number of advocacy organizations the complaint draws heavily on research that the test scores are more strongly connected to your family income than how well you'll do in college and it claims that by requiring these tests the onus is the admissions process is basically legally discriminating against applicants on the basis of race and wealth and therefore it's not treating all students equally under the California Constitution Ok so that's what the complaint is and we've heard those kinds of things about standardized tests before and colleges keep using them could this suit really forced the University of California system which is huge yet to get rid of them so what's interesting about University of California system is it was one of the 1st schools to adopt the S.A.T.'s 50 years ago and back then the companies behind the s.a.t. Lobbied them pretty hard to make this a reality when they did adopt the test kind of set a national precedent so it's potentially that if they drop it again could could be a national president again saying Yeah I mean the university even back then was debating whether or not they should use this just last year the president of the u.c. System ordered a faculty taskforce to study the use of standardized tests they say they're waiting for that task force to decide what to do I guess if they do abandon the tests they wouldn't be the 1st right because some colleges that haven't been so. Just gotten rid of considering the tests and the missions Yeah so the test optional movement has been gaining steam just in 200-1000 alone there were more than 50 schools that dropped the. Requirements and admissions. Had a huge you know multiple campuses more than 250000 students so that would be a really big deal you know I'm just thinking through what the value of these tests are I mean we've just heard about the disadvantages and entirely aside from things like race and income it's just like your anxiety level people test in different different ways but the argument for the test was here is a standardized fair way to evaluate students who came from different high schools different levels of education what do colleges do when they get rid of the S.A.T.'s Well that's the big question I mean grades have shown to be correlated with how well you can do in in college but grades are subject to inflation I mean here's the issue with the college admissions process is the whole thing is you know rife with inequities so and this stems from k. Through 12 so we know that nonwhite schools are more likely to be underfunded they're more likely to have less access to advanced courses like a.p.s. So this whole system is really sad up to to kind of give more power to to the wealthy students is there anybody other than the people who make the essay tear the a.c.t who is saying oh I love this test we've got to say we've got to preserve the history of the test you know surprisingly there are some access organizations that say rather than a limb an 8th the task of the test is so much power we should really be giving students material we should be helping them study for this test Mr interesting take our take on this whole this whole debate Ok Alyssa thanks for your reporting and we'll continue paying attention is that lawsuit goes forward Thanks Steve N.P.R.'s Allison that morning. And this is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin. Now let's pay attention to John McConnell's traffic report in the Bay Area focusing on Interstate $205.00. Where it's crawling along every day and made worse by a crash today westbound to a 5 past mountain house park way over to the side so traffic from 11 street was backed up worse earlier if you're traveling 80 in Fremont new problem there southbound Parkway report of a possible either overheated car or on fire just smoke seen so far Bay Bridge approach backed up to the maze Now that might be hit and run or the toll plaza also but what you know on the bridge are Ok there was a stall for half hour but that's clear in the traffic has improved Joe McConnell for key committee traffic support this morning comes from play Piper dot com support for k.q.e.d. Comes from Carbonite offering data protection to businesses including e-mail spreadsheets calendars and more Carbonite data protection for small businesses his best charity gift cards meaningful gifts with a small footprint where the gift giver makes a donation and the gift receipt the end chooses which charities receive it more it t i s b e s t or. The music industry as with so much of this economy is changing these are shifting times from formats to the way that people are consuming music the experience so it's always you know the friends knowing. How to get people to listen to place do listen if you could we greatly appreciated marketplace add 4 and again at 630 today here on member supported. Morning fog again also for the Bay Area Sacramento Valley dense some parts with 0 visibility reported this morning so do drive carefully extra caution Heise $53.00 to $59.00 around the Sacramento Valley tonight a chance of showers a possibility lows 45 morning fog dance in some parts of the Bay Area otherwise cloudy today also a chance of showers highs in the Bay Area in the mid fifty's k.q.e.d. a Good morning it's now 551 good morning this is the California report and I'm sold in solace in Los Angeles yesterday the u.s. Sent. For Disease Control issued another e-coli warning to consumers and retailers the message stay away from packages of chopped salads produced by the sleen a space company Fresh Express 8 people in 3 states fell ill after eating the salads the c.d.c. Doesn't know yet that this new outbreak is related to an ongoing e-coli warning focused on romaine lettuce grown by Fresh Express suppliers in the Salinas area meanwhile the company's trying to deal with the p.r. Fallout when you call the 800 number for Fresh Express this is what you hear on precious salad products company sold in the United States and Canada do not contain remains from some Lena making penguin Maine other growing regions that regulators agree are not implicated in the outbreak equalise a bacterial infection that can cause severe stomach cramps diarrhea and vomiting and in some people it can cause life threatening health complications Let's turn now to money the state of California is projected to have a $7000000000.00 budget surplus next year but up to $2000000000.00 of that surplus could go away at the federal government doesn't allow the state to keep taxing companies that operate the state's Medicaid program Phil ting is chairman of the assemblies Budget Committee there's no real impact on the federal government they just need to give us permission to do it which they did a couple years ago Assemblyman ting says the legislature is approaching budget planning with the assumption they will get that extra money which he says means fewer resources for programs like mental health care for the homeless and prison inmates every time there is an opportunity to fight for firewood California the for the ministrations really taken up that mantle and really tried every turn to Fort many barky policy agendas and this wouldn't be the 1st conflict California has had with the feds far from it Attorney General Javier beset a has sued the top administration more than 50 times let's turn immigration new numbers released yes. Today by u.s. Customs and Border Protection show the number of people caught crossing the southwest border illegally last month dropped by a 3rd compared to a year earlier that's a drop from over 60000 people 240000 in the San Diego sector the c.b.p. Reports a 40 percent decline in the number of apprehended families in Washington c.b.p. Acting commissioner Mark Morgan credited a host of Trump administration get tough immigration policies for the fall in apprehensions that ever of catch and release is done coming to this country with a child is no longer going to be a passport in the United States that is done thousands of migrants though continue to travel north only to find themselves living in squalor conditions while waiting on the Mexican side of the border speaking of migrants and refugees a Claremont churches nativity scene featuring the baby Jesus in a cage has stirred some controversy k.p.c. Sees Erica Lindo has the story outside of Clermont United Methodist Church there are 3 large cages instead of a manger baby Jesus and one kitty swaddled in a foil blanket the Virgin Mary is in another cage with their arms outstretched order child Joseph is in the 3rd cage Reverend Karen Clark Christine says the scene is meant to represent migrant families separated at the border we see the Holy Family standing in for nameless families and we hope it inspires people to think about compassion the church has a long tradition of using its nativities seen actual commentary photos of this year's scene went viral causing people like Steve and them to come on Monday morning to see if he was not a fan I believe people are right to say and do what they want to do but I think this is inappropriate but others said they came to see the nativities because they were impressed by the powerful message from the California report I marry go and go in Claremont and here's another holiday story this time about the Hollow. A shopping season according to a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers for the 1st time consumers this year will do more of their holiday shopping online instead of in physical stores so how does a small independent brick and mortar retailer in California keep up I recently visited Keeble car Clothiers in San Francisco to talk about that founded in 1939 it's a family run men's clothing store that sells old school British fashion the tweed jackets well in caps and walking sticks Jonathan Levin is the store's manager I think we're definitely the last of the survivors in San Francisco I mean I think there's maybe a dozen other stores around the country and most major cities throughout the Midwest and East Coast had 3 or 4 men stores. We were just thankful for you know being in San Francisco I think being in a city where there's a lot of activity and and there's still a gravity to people yeah and there's people who have this kind of close actually and people have resources here which is helpful I think opening up a store in the middle of you know a suburb or something to be very difficult why are you important once a business like this important to kind of the The Life and Times of a great city like San Francisco. I think that at the end of the day stores like cable car or stores that are so very similar bring the community together people still feel good about the tradition of going out with their family and shopping and picking up an item and touching it I think that's definitely a lost part of business and something that you really can't capture over the Internet and quite frankly San Francisco has a long and proud tradition and a lot of people want to survive and they say thank you for being in business and they want to shop locally and it makes them feel good so I think that's what keeps us relevant and Ok we try to create an environment where people feel good and they can come in and take a break from or and kind of park. Report of the. Bridge. 24 might be. Sions across voice video meetings chat in contact center on the web at 8 x. 8 dot com 8 by a communications transformed additional support from Total Wine and more with over 8000 wines 2500 beers and 3000 spirits for holiday gifting now open in Stephen's creek I'm Dave Freeman Good morning you're on k.q.e.d. San Francisco and North Island Sacramento now 6 am. You're listening to Special Coverage from n.p.r. News I'm Rachel Martin good morning this morning House Democrats are expected to lay out articles of impeachment against President Donald j. Trump House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairs of the committees investigating the president will hold a news conference shortly we will broadcast that live when they come to the podium they are expected to explain which articles of impeachment they will pursue N.P.R.'s national political correspondent Mara Liasson and White House correspondent are with us in studio this morning we also have N.P.R.'s Kelsey Snell joining us on the line from Capitol Hill welcome to you all. Kelsey I'm going to start with you you've been talking to your sources on the Hill what have you been able to glean about what the substance of the articles will be what we are expecting to hear is that there will be 2 articles of impeachment and from what I'm hearing it looks like they have. If they've settled on abuse of power and obstruction of Congress now what the details are of the additional charges within those articles has yet to be revealed I think it's really important to look at what that will include though because that'll tell us a little bit about who they expect to vote for these different articles the articles themselves are kind of an overarching umbrella and they can contain a bunch of additional charges and they can also contain the additional evidence so we could see part of the Ukraine investigation and one but as some members were telling us even as early as last week there was pressure to try to put a pattern of behavior and establish that by discussing things that were put in the Miller report so we'll be eager to see how they establish their their case for the 2 charges that they are going to put forward today but Mark is it wasn't there a risk of including the report in this like people out there saying if you make this too broad if you go back to the whole report then that's going to make it harder to sell one of the debates the Democrats have been having among themselves is whether that's.