Eddie urged regulators to abandon this indirect regulation of silica and make the exposure limit twice as tough that never happened Howard Berkes n.p.r. News in a new federal school's safety report education secretary Betsy Devonish recommends scrapping guidance intended to reduce racial discrimination in school discipline and she recommends arming school staff N.P.R.'s Anya Kamenetz reports the federal school safety commission formed in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland Florida earlier this year it's chair Secretary de Vos recommends doing away with Obama era civil rights guidelines that have been credited with a national drop in school suspensions especially for Hispanic students and it quote urges schools to seriously consider partnering with local law enforcement in the training and arming of school personnel The report also addresses issues like mental health but says little on the topic of gun control which has been the focus of parkland survivors on the cabinets n.p.r. News on Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up $282.00 points or more than one percent the Nasdaq is up $62.00 points or nearly one percent you're listening to n.p.r. . The government of the United Kingdom is increasing preparation for a no deal Breck's it it's possible the u.k. Could leave the European Union next March without an economic plan in place there are concerns that could trigger economic chaos this could affect trade rules and how freely travelers and workers can move in the u.k. And the e.u. Alabama's attorney general has taken over the investigation of a fatal Thanksgiving Day Police shooting at a mall in suburban Birmingham but Cheryl Wheeler Stewart of member station w b h m reports the family of the man killed wants the case returned to local authorities the lawyer for a magic Bradford genius family says Alabama's attorney general did not follow the normal process when he took over the case from the local district attorney law you've been cross alleges Attorney General Steve Marshall wants to protect the officer involved but Marshall says he's stepping in because of a possible conflict of interest with the Da it's standard practice for the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to be involved in police shootings but it's unusual for the state attorney general's office to intervene Braff it was killed by an officer who was responding to a shooting at a mall police say the offices saw Bradford with a gun and fired police later acknowledged that Bradford was not the shooter for n.p.r. News I'm Cheryl in Birmingham vice president Mike Pence is at Cape Canaveral Florida to watch the launch of a new Air Force satellite on a rocket owned by space x. Space x. Has just announced the launch has been delayed by a day this is n.p.r. . Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include Elsevier a global information analytics business comprised of dedicated staff many of whom began their careers in science and health today working to solve the needs of the community Elsevier dot com slash careers local news j.d. Is supported by his e a Motor Company is the Motor Company has been the 4 corner source for Ford and Lincoln sales and service for over 45 years has the motor company at 111 South Broadway in Cortez because the Motor Company 6. Good morning I'm Daniel thanks for making part of your Tuesday morning stay tune in the weather forecast is coming up next. Here. In. Sunny skies across the 4 Corners today for the high desert temperatures reaching the upper forty's as warmest 52 in Shiprock had a mint to the San Juan Mountains a bit cooler with highs reaching around 40 today overnight lows bring those daily highs down about 30 degrees across the region under mostly clear skies more sunny conditions on one se but expect some stronger sustained winds as much as 20 miles per hour and going into the rest of the week more sunny clear skies all across the 4 Corners. Right now though in Monticello It's $27.00 degrees so it's $28.00 now outside of our studios in downtown Cortez under clear baby blue skies It's $23.00 degrees thanks for tuning in right here to k.s. J.t. . It's a tow 7. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News good morning I'm David Greene in Culver City California and I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington d.c. Oh my gosh the busy holiday season to review we have 6 more shopping days until Christmas Congress and the White House have about 3 more negotiating days until a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown President Trump has 2 weeks give or take until a new chief of staff takes over at the White House and lately it seems like every week including this week we learn a little more about Russian involvement in the president's election in 2016 Denis McDonough has a background in just about all of this he was President Obama's chief of staff during a government shutdown and during the 2016 election and he's in our studios Mr McDonough thanks for coming by really thank you for having me Steve so how bad will it be if this deadline is missed on Friday to keep parts of the government open be a big missed opportunity obviously it's pretty clear that the president doesn't have the votes for his position of building a $5000000000.00 wall which. Does not appear to have votes either among the Republicans or the Democrats or Republicans who don't want to spend the money there are Democrats who don't like the idea corrected and there's no evidence by the way that it would have any discernible impact on increased border security but the bigger challenge I think Steve is the fact that shutdowns end up costing the taxpayer more money than any anybody would anticipate that is because it costs a lot of money to prepare for a shutdown and cause a lot of money to spend stand back up. Parts of the government that close during a shutdown so not only is it a huge missed opportunity it's more costly and then I just want to say one other thing Steve which is there are a lot of people a lot of families who are going into the holidays also on will not be getting their paycheck and I think that's a huge mistake that's true not just here in Washington but across the country I'm remembering one feature of the 2013 shutdown that you experienced and that was the deadline was missed it seemed for a minute Ok they miss a deadline by a few hours or whatever but it turned out that was. The deadline was missed it was going to take 17 days to get back which is what it actually took Why would it take considerable time if that set this deadline is missed by even a little bit well because what happens is people harden into their positions and actually you're seeing that happen with the president even before the shutdown which gives you an indication that he he appears to be motivated to do this for some other reason some other political reason rather than just the budget reason so I think that was clear over the weekend from the people he had out on the Sunday shows but like I hope cooler heads prevail and that he comes around to the position that says let's go with the position that has the votes now White House adviser Mercedes Schlapp laid out the president's position in the last day or so and let's just listen to the way that she phrases it we're going to find ways to get to that $5000000000.00 and make sure that we increase funding not only for the physical barrier but also for technology and for personnel not only the physical barrier but also technology and personnel isn't there actually room for a compromise there because there are people on both sides of the aisle who might like to spend more money on sensor technology or other kinds of ways to secure the border well like Steve I think I think there are people who have supported increasing technology and increasing personnel deployed to the border and that's been going on for several decades now and in fact this is a major thing that we spend a lot of time and 2nd term of the Bush Obama administration. But the question isn't whether there is willingness to compromise and in fact the position that the 2 Democratic leaders laid out the White House last week was a compromise so there isn't indications that there's compromise on Capitol Hill I hope there's compromise in the White House Secondly I think we have to learn a lesson of the last say 6 or 8 months Steve that there's not just a question there's not just a set of policies around deterring people from leaving their homes in Central America there's got to be a set of policies around confronting the violence that's forcing them out of their homes so that means increasing an investment in development in Central America to make sure that. People have access to kinds of opportunities and that they don't have to worry about their kids being pressed into gangs or their family members being threatened What do you make of Mick Mulvaney the guy who I guess they rearranged the White House we're moving into the office you once held Well I don't know much about him but I do know that the assignment that he's taken on here is a very difficult one given the president that he works for over and above the fact that the job itself is quite a quite a challenging 11 of the things that I want to ask about Dennis McDonough as you know very well in the last day or so we've learned about Senate commissioned reports that give greater detail about Russians social media participation let us say in the 2016 election including participation targeting black voters trying to discourage them from voting at all in many cases or going for a 3rd party choice you were in the White House with access to classified information during the election how much of this did you know at the time you recall that. Going into the late summer and early fall of 2016. The. Director of National Intelligence under the secretary of Homeland Security issued an on President did a statement about our concern that there was Russian involvement in our election but did you understand the full extent that seems clear now while the I want to just make one other point here Stephen is that what you've just said and what's been laid out in this report is does not appear to be a set of classified and for information it appears to be publicly available yes no media information Yeah the extent of this reporting that I've seen over the course the last couple days I was not aware of we did and we were aware of and did make public our concern about Russia's intense around the elections and that was obviously a matter of great concern during the course of that summer which led the president to take a series of steps raising it with the congressional leadership and then directly confronting President Putin about it this is something that to many Republican voters still doesn't matter even if they think it happened even if they think the president lied about it some tell pollsters they still support the president what's your case that it did matter. Well at doesn't really matter what my case is Steve I think we gotta let the facts be laid out here I think the facts as gathered by these analyses that you've just suggested for the Senate Intelligence Committee are one set of the facts and then obviously. The special counsel and former f.b.i. Director Mueller is pulling together what appears to be a very comprehensive case and we'll see what those facts add up to Ok We'll have to stop it there Denis McDonough thanks for coming by really appreciate it thanks so much Steve he was chief of staff for several years to President Obama is now the senior principal at the Markle Foundation. But spring Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin salmon toward the United States meeting with industry leaders seeking business and then the death of journalist democracy inside a Saudi Consulate triggered outrage N.P.R.'s Jackie Northam reports on how the killing has turned some but not all Western companies away from business with Saudi Arabia during his u.s. Tour crown prince Mohamed presented Saudi Arabia as a good place to do business the kingdom was opening its doors supposedly allowing new freedoms for its people Hollywood in particular gave the crown prince the red carpet treatment by entertainment moguls seeking to do deals with the kingdom but that changed when the crown prince was linked with the killing of Jamal Khashoggi I would say right now Saudi investment is as radioactive in Hollywood as you can be touchy on a seagull with the Hollywood Reporter says negotiations between entertainment companies and Saudi Arabia have tried up for example endeavor a talent agency that Siegel says produces films and t.v. Shows gave back $400000000.00 that the Saudis invested in the company Ari Emanuel who is the head of endeavor content said basically in the wake of all of this bad publicity we are giving the money back what's so unusual is Hollywood will take money from anybody traditionally and it's sort of like suddenly Hollywood does not want any of this money Siegel says sales of movie tickets could be worth $100000000.00 a year for a studio she says part of the reason for Endeavor returning the money is Jamal Khashoggi was a journalist and Endeavor has among its clients journalists such as Chris Matthews and Ronan Farrow Siegel says most of the major studios also have news divisions and could be scared off from dealing with Saudi Arabia what do you do if you're a Disney and you also own a.b.c. News you're going to have. Internal pressure from the journalists that you employ to not do business with the Saudis Emily Hawthorne a Middle East analyst with Strat for a global intelligence company says foreign investors were already rattled after some serious missteps by the crown prince a year ago he detained a couple 100 prominent Saudis at the Ritz Carlton hotel for 3 months until they paid to be released the Saudi government says it netted the more than $100000000000.00 in fines by Hawthorn says the blowback from foreign investors has been fierce we've seen private investors really lose faith in the Saudi market in part because of a concern over how the rule of law is being practiced in the country we've seen concern over the security of investments concern over a which Saudi investors you're working with in the kingdom and their ties to the government. In October had a chilling effect on an important investment conference in Riyadh Davos in the desert senior executives of dozens of international companies dropped out of the conference and the crown prince's jailing of activists across the kingdom has compound and foreign investor concerns and I think that that in of itself does introduce some concern for investors because again they have to make sure that they're on the right side of that one key decision maker Stephan her tog a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics says sectors such as media tech and tourism are being hardest hit but foreign investment in heavy construction defense manufacturing and oil is still strong her tog says the kingdom's economy is doing slightly better this year because of higher oil prices the Certainly not facing an imminent fist of crisis to get significant fiscal reserves to get significant foreign exchange reserves so that is why some room for maneuver for rephrasing the economy temporarily but her tug says. Over the long term Saudi Arabia will need more foreign investment if it's to wean itself off a dependency on oil and that will depend on whether investors see it as a safe place to do business Jackie Northam n.p.r. News. Thanks for listening this morning we hope you will keep listening later this afternoon to offerings considered lawyers for former national security advisor Michael Flynn have been highlighting his long military career and his Flynn a sense today over a view that career you can listen by asking your smart speaker to play n.p.r. Or your local member station by name. This is n.p.r. News. It's Morning Edition. Good morning I'm Daniel. Coming up later in the edition in about 25 minutes. In the Gulf of Mexico have declined by more than half in recent decades. Development and pollution but new funding is helping scientists recover the oyster beds also as a way to combat climate change story coming up in about 25 minutes. Supported by Ricky King State Farm. Financial Products and. To help people manage the risks of everyday life from the unexpected and realize their dreams. At 1438 East Main Street. Like a good neighbor. Is their Thanks for joining me right here. Ideas stories community it's a 20. This is how. My wife Rebecca and I grew up here we love because it gets us up in the morning and it takes us home at night. The sun has been a great addition to monitor what county bringing arts culture music and film to the 4 corners so. Make your day show your support by donating online. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Focus Features presenting Mary Queen of Scots a rebellious young queen stops at nothing to reclaim her throne search for Ronan and Margot Robbie Starr is warring Queens now playing in select theaters in theaters everywhere Friday from Doctors Without Borders with medical teams on the ground in more than 70 countries providing mental health care to refugees performing surgery in war zones and working to end up Adamic learn more at Doctors Without Borders dot org And from Linda mood Bell learning processes committed to helping all students learn to their potential their learning centers and online private school offer instruction in reading and comprehension Linda mood Bell dot com slash n.p.r. This is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm David Greene and I'm Steve Inskeep good morning we have the story today of the 1st transgender man known to have won a pro boxing fight Patrice you know man well earned a victory this month he is in his early thirty's which is a bit late to start a pro boxing career it took time he says because when he was growing up he was identified as a girl I had always seen myself as you know a boy even though the society basically can't tell me now and when I started going to puberty it was like nature being like now you actually are Girl The matter how much you don't want to be men while began boxing as a girl then a woman at the highest level so you ended up with 5 amateur championships is that right yes that's correct which means we can say and you don't have to sound like you're bragging about your great you know what you're doing and what I was doing but a forced pause in his boxing career prompted Patricio man well to confront those feelings he says he'd had since childhood he told a story at our studios in Culver City California not far from his home when you were boxing was there a point that you were thinking about your your gender and who you were. Yeah I think actually boxing really helped me start coming to terms with it so when I started winning when I started winning national titles and I sort of feeling more confident myself when it come my hair and I started really going all in and presenting masculine they really started a den of finding as like queer and as but and identifying as like a masculine of center person I probably would have gotten there eventually but boxing really helped me get the confidence to be like no this is my identity and I'm claiming it how was it that you arrived at the decision to transition then really because I was at my lowest point I qualify for the 1st ever women's Olympic boxing trials in 2012 but I was met with disqualified as a result of a shoulder injury to have been bothering me for a long time and I lost my leg dream and I think when the sport was taken away from me I had to really take a look at myself and be like there's more to this than just losing the fight that's making you unhappy and I realized that I had been lying to myself that I was comfortable with being called the female athlete you then I suppose had to go some period without boxing at all both because of the recovery from the injury and the recovery from the surgery and everything else. Yeah you know by the time I transitioned I decided to mentor which transition the shoulder was a lot better I went a brief period of time not boxing was about 6 months which is the longest I had been off since my I started boxing in 2003 and part of that was because of having on gender reassignment surgery or gender affirming surgery and having a 2nd me and top surgery but I also lost my gym that I had them with for a long time as a result of chance phobia so somebody literally said you can't can't handle it can't do this get out of here basically I was told that I could train in there but no one can know that I trained at the gym and I've never lived my life in a closet and I refused to compromise that way so I walked out of the gym and never came back you found another gym I guess yes I did I'm just thinking was there a moment of awkwardness there at the beginning you'd taken some time off boxing you've got surgery you've effectively got it it's the same body but it's a different body how different Did it feel to get slugged as a man than as a woman I definitely felt different expression because my body took a while to fully adjust and develop under testosterone there's a different way that male fighters fight in comparison to female fighters so it was an adjustment to turn from being the person who is always chasing down and breaking down the body of other fighters and then having someone do that to me so you have to be ready for more brutality. Yeah or a different type of brutality because let me say those female fires were definitely definitely teeing off on me too so you you went through this transition you found a gym you did some training you're fought if I'm not mistaken a couple of amateur fights and then you had the opportunity earlier this month at a professional fight what was it like in the moment before you went out into the ring it was it was really exciting I'm not going to lie there was definitely a lot going on there is a lot of pressure there was a lot of media there and I knew that my ability to be seen as a legit competitor really laid upon my ability to win in that fight and I knew there was a lot at stake but I think I really just tried to focus on you know this is what you do you've been through this 60 times even if it's a little bit different in the pro fight and I just really try to also enjoy the moment I really try to when I was there be like Ok be present this you've worked so hard to get to this moment try to enjoy every single 2nd of it did you I did I really did. I watched some video of the fight with a colleague and. I. Both of us had the same response if we did not know your back story we would not have known your story it just looked like 2 guys fighting and that's what it was is that what you wanted to see. That's what I wanted everyone to see just 2 men who were in there doing their sport for hours trying to win. Cyril from her. 2 and he won we should tell people who didn't see the fight not by a knockout but by a unanimous decision of the judges right and yes is correct was that like you know I really wanted to knock out I'm not going to lie I really wanted to knock out my opponent was tough maybe I'll get the knock at the next fight but as long as I keep winning that's what's important to me there's also video of an interview that you did in the ring after the show. Would you describe what happened. There was a large crowd that was sharing but I think a lot of people heard people booing in Jeremy in that moment but you know honestly I'm so used to people. Hating my very existence and that it really didn't even it didn't faze me remember just what you said the 1st thing I said was about it being so long journey to get there people knew Little League to get to me if. I hear some fans are happy it's Ok I'll be back I'll make you happy then meaning I'm going to be back I'm not going to be stopped by that yeah I want people to know I'm not this wasn't a publicity stunt like this is something I love this is something I've invested my entire life to this is just a start. Well Patricia meant well thanks for taking the time to talk thank you so much. To preserve and well as the 1st openly transgender mailbox or to fight and win a pro match in the United States. It's n.p.r. News. For decades the u.s. Government had evidence that coal miners were being exposed to toxic dust. When drollness die on their wall of lead crippled they had but the government did not act to stop it was all you know me and. We just here an investigation into what's behind an epidemic of black lung disease in Appalachia this afternoon on All Things Considered from n.p.r. News. That's this afternoon from 4 to 6 pm right here on k s g d. It's Morning Edition and I'm Daniel rhizome in about 15 minutes to hear about a new restoration project to bring back populations in the Gulf of Mexico where they have declined by more than half in recent decades again that's in about 15 minutes on Morning Edition It's 830 though in the headlines coming up right now live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Dave Mattingly stocks are higher this morning on Wall Street following sharp declines over the last 2 trading sessions the bell lost more than a 1000 points over Friday and Monday right now the Dow is up about $290.00 points and Alyse economic uncertainty amid concerns about u.s. China trade relations continue to weigh on investors grand Thorton chief economist Diane Swonk says the best advice is not to panic panic leads to the one thing that we know is the worst way to behave out there and that is to sell the Federal Reserve is expected to announce another hike in interest rates tomorrow the Fed's 4th this year President Trump is urging the Fed not to Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says he won't be seeking re-election in 2020 Sergio Martinez Beltran with member station. Says the Republican was 1st elected in 2002 long before being a Senator Alexander was a governor he was also a universe. The president and a cabinet member Alexander's decision not to run puts Senator elect Marsha Blackburn on track to be Tennessee's senior senator in 2020 in November Blackburn won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker space x. Says a computer problem is postponing today's scheduled scheduled launch of a rocket carrying a navigation satellite for the u.s. Military they'll try again tomorrow in Florida this is n.p.r. News from Washington. British Airways says it plans to resume flights to Pakistan next June they were suspended a decade ago after a truck bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed more than 50 people China's president Xi Jinping says Beijing will stay the course with its policy agenda and priorities that's just by pressure from the u.s. To open its economy to more competition N.P.R.'s Rob Schmitz says she's remarks commemorate 40 years of market liberalization there she in pain told not aeons of party officials military leaders and entrepreneur is that no one is in the position to dictate to the Chinese people what should and should not be done when it comes to its economy the 80 minute address it commemorated the 40th anniversary of don't shopping's reform and opening up campaign that unleashed China's economic boom he said the country had entered a new era under his leadership in was poised for a bigger role in global affairs for the 10th straight year the World Economic Forum ranks Iceland as the world's most gender equal country as Lisa shine reports the u.s. Dropped 2 places to number 51 the forum surveyed 149 countries basing its rankings on how they scored on achieving gender equality in 4 areas economic opportunity political empowerment educational attainment in health and survival the u.s. Put in a dismal performance on closing the wage gap between men and women and on women's participation in political life I'm Dave Mattingly n.p.r. News in Washington and I'm Daniel with curious to you vocal news the federal government has released a long awaited look at the future of tribal water rights in the Colorado River Watershed as Luke Runyon reports it could have wide ranging effects at a meeting in Las Vegas u.s. Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Brenda Berman and mounts the completion of the tribal water study a group of 10 tribes that use water from the Colorado River had been asking for the study for years the study documents how partnership tribes currently use their water projects how future water development could. Her and it describes the potential effects of future tribal water development on the Colorado River system altogether the tribes have rights to more water than some states within the basin Currently they're using a 3rd of what they're entitled to tribal leaders continue to push to have their rights recognized in the over allocated Colorado River system and to explore options to secure their water for use on tribal land I'm Luke Runyon this is j.t. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Universal Pictures with welcome to morrow and a new film based on an inspirational true story from the director of Forrest Gump starring Steve Carell in a story about hope friendship and healing in theaters this Christmas from Charles Schwab when it comes to wealth management Schwab believes in asking questions and being engaged so investors can better own their tomorrow learn more at Schwab dot com and from listeners like you who donate to this n.p.r. Station. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington and I'm David Greene in Culver City California thousands of American coal miners are suffering and dying from a disease caused by toxic dust and now we know more about how this happened and why N.P.R.'s Howard Berkes has been investigating this epidemic of advanced black lung disease and what we've learned is that federal regulators had plenty of evidence of the threat going back more than 20 years but did not do what was needed to be done Howard joins us now thanks for coming in Howard Hi there David So before we get to your reporting and what exactly went wrong here I'd just be really clear about what we're talking about this is coal miners working in coal mines it's black lung disease which which we've certainly heard about in the past but this is not about miners breathing cold us this is something else that's right it's about miners inhaling silica dust which is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and it's generated when miners cut into rock containing cts silica while they're mining coal more and more of that has been happening in the last 30 years in Central Appalachia in particular because the big cull seams are gone they've been mined out and what's left are these thinner seems so miners end up cutting a lot of rock with the coal and that creates these clouds of silica dust Ok And what do those clouds of what does this type of dust actually do what are the health consequences the silica particles that are created are very fine they're barbed and sharp they're easily inhaled and they lodge in lungs basically forever the lungs form fiber optic tissue to fight these invading particles and that tissue grows and creates scars making breathing increasingly difficult one pot pulmonologist we talked to describe it as suffocating while alive and you know we interviewed dozens of coal miners about this they're all suffering from this disease and here's what some of them told us this. Jerry Helton Bernard Carlson Jackie h. Charles Shortridge Jimmy Wampler Edward fuller and Roy Mullins The doctor says my lungs start shutting down a set is hardened It's like a lump of coal you get a package spit in black and blood call from to the point of almost throwing is a death sit ins we're going to die for a moment there's no cure for it and knowing that there's coming to you is pretty hard to take as $11.00 voice after another there. Are there regulations in place to protect workers like these there are a lot of regulations that are supposed to control exposure to coal mined us but they don't directly control silica dust or quartz and you know we acquired an analyze 30 years of data collected by federal regulators as they measure dust exposure in coal mines and even though they're measuring dust just a fraction of the time they still found toxic levels of silica dust toxic exposure more than $21000.00 times we spoke with Jim Weeks who was a federal mine safety official in the Obama administration they didn't pay sufficient attention and you know we got the bodies to prove it I mean these guys wouldn't be dying if people of the paying attention to courts it's that simple so I mean that's basically your investigation here the regulators should have known how bad this was how bad the threat is and done a lot more. That's right you know we discovered these over exposures in the data of the Mine Safety and Health Administration the regulating agency and we also found internal memos from that agency from as far back as the Clinton administration showing that federal mine safety officials were alarmed by clusters of advanced lung disease way back then they recognized the connection to silica exposure way back then and they were worried about the ongoing risk risk to miners in fact they sent out warnings to mining companies but they didn't. And no administration then or since in in more than 20 years a Democratic or Republican has done anything specific about silica and you played us the voices of maybe a half dozen or so people suffering from this how many miners overall org are suffering from this disease we've been counting for 2 years we have been contacting clinics all over the country our count is now about 2000 miners more than 2000 miners suffering from this advanced stage of black lung N.P.R.'s Howard Berkes thanks so much you're welcome and have much more about this investigation on All Things Considered later today and there's a lot right now at npr dot org The low level war that Russia is waging inside Ukraine has divided 2 nations that share similar cultures and it has divided their dominant faith many people in both countries observe Orthodox Christianity the main Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Moscow which Ukrainians say they can no longer tolerate N.P.R.'s Lucien cam reports. Vote for the e.u. In the On Sunday the new head of Ukraine's Orthodox church celebrated mass under the golden domes of St Michael's Cathedral in Kiev just a day earlier a council of church officials had established a unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church distinct and autonomy from the Russian Orthodox Church speaking to believers on Saturday Ukraine's president. Said his country would no longer drink Moscow's poison from Moscow's chalice such as if there were. So example this food human. What kind of church is it partially because said it's a church without fled the mere Putin for more than 3 centuries it was Russia's Orthodox Church that dominated religious affairs in Ukraine following Russia's military intervention which has cost more than 10000 lives many Ukrainians see the Moscow based church as an unacceptable lever of Russian influence in our country Rocco has always considered Ukraine historically part of the greater Russian world Edwards a chin ski is a professor of Byzantine theology at Stockton University in New Jersey in many circles in Ukraine the idea of the creation of an independent Orthodox Church independent from Moscow is the culmination of Ukraine's political independence you can't have one without the other the Russian Church is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox the nominations the Moscow Patriarchate says the Ukrainian Church is efforts to separate are comparable to the split between eastern and western Christianity 1000 years ago. Alexander Volk of a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate told Russian t.v. The new Ukrainian church was nothing but a farce and President Putin's spokesman accused the Ukrainian president of mixing religion with politics but the Russian president is deeply involved with the Orthodox faith. Is frequently seen on state television visiting Orthodox churches and monasteries in September Putin in the Moscow patriarch laid the cornerstone of a giant new cathedral outside Moscow it will be the main house of worship of the Russian armed forces theology professor such as before the communist revolution a century ago there wasn't any separation between church and state in Russia there's always been this idea that there's are was responsible for the maintenance of Orthodoxy now Putin has. Stepped into that role and it's the proximity between the Kremlin the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian army that's been driving Ukrainian believers away we've seen Kim n.p.r. News Moscow. It's n.p.r. News. It's Morning Edition m k s j d. Good morning I'm Daniel rhizome. Was in about 9 minutes N.P.R.'s David Greene looks into the history of the feast of the 7 fishes and Italian American tradition served on Christmas Eve any searches for those answers in an upcoming interview again in about 9 minutes here on k s j.d. . Taken another look at the weather today sunny skies are expected all across the 4 Corners for the high desert temperatures reaching the upper forty's says warm as 52 in Shiprock you have been to the San Juan Mountains a bit cooler today with highs reaching around 40 degrees overnight lows bring those daily highs down about 30 degrees across the region keep in the skies mostly clear and more sunny conditions on Wednesday but expect some stronger sustained winds as much as 15 to 20 miles per hour. Thanks for joining me right here every weekday morning and k s j d ideas stories community. The k s j d daytime collective is coming up at the top of the hour with a d.j. B.j. Stay tuned for some great music it's a $44.00. Hi this is Tom Yoder programming and media director at k s j.d. Over the past year you've heard us say the words ideas stories and community a lot and while we think we have a pretty good idea of what these words mean we want to know what you think send an e-mail to Tom. And let us know how k.s. J.t. Exemplifies ideas stories in community to you we would love to share your thoughts about these 3 simple yet complex words with all of his duties listeners and as always thanks for listening to k.s. J.d. . Good morning I'm David Greene with news of an unexpected vacation Alou of a cat snuck into a box by soon not realizing this box was being shipped from his owner's home in Nova Scotia 700 miles to Montreal c.t.v. News reports the parcel arrived and the shipping company discovered the passenger they used the shipping code to figure out where the package and Baloo came from a nonprofit was helping Bellew get home had to feel like 1st class compared to that trip outright It's Morning Edition support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from t. Rowe Price offering a strategic investing approach that examines investment opportunities 1st hand institutions advisors employers and individuals choose to Rowe Price to Rowe Price invest with confidence and from Zoom Zoom offers cloud video conferencing online meetings and a video conference room solution and one platform featuring digital video and audio with screen sharing account registration and more at Zoom dot us. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm David Greene oyster harvests along the Gulf Coast have been in decline for decades now actually this year Alabama canceled its season because there were so few oysters N.P.R.'s Greg Allen reports that help may be on the way thanks to millions of dollars in aid after the b.p. Oil spill. Off Cedar Key on Florida's west coast this is some of the most pristine water in the Gulf it's long supported a thriving seafood industry who calls in the city commissioner here says one of the best places to harvest oysters used to be the lone cabbage oyster reefs when the tide was really low she says there were so many oysters you could walk along the reef and pick them up we would allow our children out of school on a really really really really tight and everybody would pick up and get as many as you could in that time that they were exposed to those days are long gone on loan cabbage reef over the last 30 years Peter Frederick a wildlife ecologists from the University of Florida says oysters that build and make up the reefs have died off so once they die and you lose those then the reef starts degrading and losing elevation so we've been saying about 3 to 4 inches loss a year of elevation which is a lot here when the reef is gone and leaves behind sand bars that young oysters can attach to it's a problem seen throughout the Gulf scientists say 80 percent of the oyster reefs have been lost in recent decades there are many reasons over harvesting drought even hurricanes but Frederick says a major factor is a lack of fresh water agriculture and development is claiming much of the water that used to flow down rivers leaving estuaries like this one too salty the eastern oyster which is what we have here likes an intermediate salinity doesn't like full strength sea water and at high salinity is it tends to become susceptible to its diseases and parasites and so they tend to decline fairly rapidly here and throughout the Gulf a lot of work is going on to help oysters and the communities that depend on them Frederick has been. Overseeing efforts to restore a lone cabbage wreath it's a nearly $7000000.00 project that has rebuilt the 3 and a half mile long reef standing on a barge alongside it Frederick says instead of oyster shells this creek was rebuilt using rock to we've had to have heavy equipment like barges and cranes trucks and breaking equipment at a quarry in order to get all the stuff out here it's a project paid for with money from the b.p. Oil spill settlement billions of oysters were killed in the spill and that was just a small part of the extensive damage done to the environment $160000000.00 of the fund is earmarked for oysters to Horizon oil spill is a unique maybe once in a generation or forever opportunity to reverse the decline of oysters in the Gulf Bob Indic is overseeing several projects to restore oysters in the Gulf for the Nature Conservancy the group has recently helped rebuild an oyster reefs in Texas Matagorda Bay is beginning a similar project soon in Florida's Pensacola Bay Bendix says one idea being discussed is a project that would build a chain of new Auster reefs across the Gulf they could be kind of oyster sanctuaries that would produce more oysters on Florida's Big Ben Coast there's a lot of support for efforts to rebuild oyster reefs fishing harvesting oysters crabs and clams is an industry and a way of life here that's long been under pressure Jack Payne who directs natural resource research at the University of Florida says restoring the reefs may also help prepare us for climate change or series or wonderful natural barriers to storms and hurricanes that we're going to see more of and the sea level rise so this is something that we hope we can apply throughout the Florida coastal system on lone cabbage there are already encouraging signs researchers say young boys are beginning to show up on the reef Greg Allen n.p.r. News Cedar Key Florida. And this is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm David Greene and I'm Steve Inskeep. Broadcasting to the. Good morning. They'll be screening the sea gypsies' the far side of the world that's on this Thursday December 20th at 7 30 pm the film is a documentary about a. Gypsy boat to sail from New Zealand the Patagonia tickets and more information are available online at some. In the community. School will be holding. A celebration of student student learning on Tuesday December 18th. From 5 to 7 pm at the campus located at 4. Doors a club for active seniors. Walk along. From Santa Rita park to Home Depot. At 9 30 in the morning participants. As much as must be least. Required visit the seniors outdoors org for more information. At the court public library on early school released from 2 30 pm until proximately 4 30 pm it's a free program for students 8 to 12 years of age activities in December will include holiday decorations of the movie home. To Morning Edition on. Its 851. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm David Greene you know we're coming up to Christmas Eve soon and there's this tradition that I get to experience every single year I married into an Italian American family and my Italian American father in law makes the feast of the 7 fishes on Christmas Eve I have always wondered where this tradition comes from and what exactly are these 7 fishes and I've never really gotten a clear answer from my family so I thought I would turn to an expert she is a tie in American She's also the executive editor of Survivor magazine it is Stacy at a mando and we spoke yesterday to Stacey can you answer the question that the Italian American family I married into can never answer what is this tradition the feast of the 750 Where does it come from All right well I'm going to say up front that it does have murky origins but what I'm trying you know is that the feast is a Christmas Eve celebration and so Italian Americans classically have celebrated this with an abundance of fish the idea is that you abstain from eating meat in the Roman Catholic tradition on the days leading up to the holiday so obviously an abundance of fish was a great replacement for that but we're not sure exactly where the number 7 came from there's no official list somewhere that people keep that you know it is the size it is there is out there Can someone let me know basically people have gotten a little bit wishy washy on how many fish are served if you get around 7 I think it's generally exciting and if you want to go up to 12 Some people do 12 but they think it might be the 7 sacraments or the 7 days of the week I mean there are a lot of theories out there but I don't think anyone really knows for sure where the 7 came from Ok I feel better it's not some secret that I wasn't you know on is it hard to find 7 or even 12 different types of fish to make on Christmas Eve Well it depends I mean for some people they've been celebrating this tradition for so many generations that they have their go to right so you know you're going to incorporate for many families it's back allow which is the salt cod we don't do that in my family and I think a lot of people you know it's a very polarizing ingredient so you either love it or hate it but that is very popular and Italian American families and. And Italian families on Christmas Eve a lot of talian families will also eat all in some form that's a little bit less common here in the States and then it can be anything from small fish like anchovy or even to not that you can sort of work into dishes you can serve raw oysters or shrimp cocktail the kind of up your number or you can mix in a number of fish into one dish so we do that in a chilled seafood salad it's got. They call it or conch it's got some shrimp in it some call Maryse laced up or people might do the same with a pasta mix multiple kinds of seafood into one dish so there are ways to be sneaky and get the count up you said about salt cod that not everyone likes that I feel you could say the same thing about and show views like is this a meal that some people in some families are just going to be like I don't want and . Don't give me somebody I guess I'm so unfamiliar with that but of course there have to be families out there that don't love seafood and you know there's a tradition for everybody but in Italy you know especially from I'd say around Rome to the south of Italy every family is eating fish on Christmas Eve This was a tradition where it led back to fish at a certain point being so abundant that it was considered almost a meager food so this was sort of a cuisine of the poor compared to meet so on Christmas Eve They're trying to be fasting in a way and that would be a little bit more of a meager meal but of course they go over the top in Italy the tradition is called the Julia So it's the vigil night some describe it as a never ending feast of seafood and they you know also serve a number of fried vegetables there's fried potatoes right artichokes you might be fried squash blossoms little pickled vegetables all kinds of things so it's a bit of an over the top fees that probably has something for everybody so seafood is a big deal the night before Christmas in Italy but is the 7 fishes like is that a tradition in Italy or is that more of an American thing so the fascinating part and I think so many Italian Americans can relate to this we all have been celebrating this for years and assuming that it must have come from r.l. . To than Italy at some point right but my research talking to a number of Italians be they food writers food experts from all parts of the country they all had never heard of the 7 fishes before in Italy no never heard of it one chef actually told me that she had to look it up on Wikipedia to see. What are these Italian Americans doing we don't do this here in Italy yet and I think what happened was it is an interpretation of the Julia dinner which also again is an abundance of seafood but somehow got translated to 7 and people in America have celebrated and stuck with the 7 So does that tell us something about I don't know a tongue in American culture versus Italian culture and some sort of larger sense who I don't know there David you're getting pretty deep I will say that the thing that is carried over is the abstinence from meet and the celebration of the vigil night we all hold that in common whether you're actually a tie or Italian American but you know one food expert I interviewed said the 7 fishes is about as the talian as veal parmigiana which is not at all which is not really time but you can get it almost any Italian American restaurant exactly and she actually said that in Italy if you had told somebody on Christmas Eve that there were only going to be 7 fish dishes they'd say well where's all the food. Well did you do this in your family you do the fishes every Christmas Eve we do we do and it takes a number of days to prepare so it's sort of a love hate relationship with all the cooks in the family you know just cleaning the seafood alone takes a few days and it can cost you it can be a little bit of expensive seafood but also there are ways to sort of stretch it we stretch it by having a pasta course the obviously fills everybody up we do a lot of the shellfish stuff so will stuff it with bread crumbs and garlic an olive oil and that kind of helps it go a little bit longer and fill people up as well so part of the fun is the tradition of standing around to doing it all together all right I'm going to finish with 2 questions like a lightning round weirdest most unique seafood dishes ever served at this. Who Well I think that a lot of people find the skin jelly salad to be kind of odd I mean we buy canned conch you know it's sort of a robbery Chewy gray colored fish but it's delicious and actually really tender and carries the flavor of the marinated well and then it also has blanched calamari so it's got the legs and the bodies of the squid and some shrimp and a bunch of chopped celery Lemon parsley I mean I love it it's one of my favorite dishes it's got a little bit of a pickle note to the marinate you know my father in law has made and I love it too Ok And then what's your favorite dish to make my favorite dish to make not only on this day but any day of any time of year is linguini and clams So in my family we shock the clams by hand and actually harvest all the fresh juices from them and that becomes the sauce for the pasta so we probably make 5 or 6 pounds of pasta to feed not that many of us I think are ready and eating 3 quarters of a pound of possible but some pretty good and succulent and saucy it's perfect All right well thank you for I guess you didn't exactly answer the question about what it is but you did better than anyone in the world could so we would just like to thank Richard have a great holiday you too. That was Stacy out of mondo she is the executive editor of. And this is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm David Greene and I'm Steve Inskeep. Stories . It's 9 o'clock.