The devastation people continue to try to get off the island small boats are coming in at various ports further south of Marsh Harbor people are also trying to organize charter flights out of one airstrip at the very bottom of the island there are planes that are getting into the Marsh Harbor Airport even though the larger jets have been delayed for sever since Hurricane Dorian hit N.P.R.'s Jason Beaubien on Abaco Island in the Bahamas Meanwhile Dorian still a Category one storm is headed north and expected to make landfall in Halifax Nova Scotia Tonight officials say there are already power outages in the city and toppled trees from rain bands from the wind peace talks between U.S. And Taliban negotiators continue despite a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan meanwhile the American general in charge of U.S. Troops there says Pakistan will be key to any deal as N.P.R.'s Tom Bowman reports General Frank McKenzie is in Islamabad to deliver the message U.S. Officials have complained for years the Taliban forces have enjoyed safe havens in Pakistan from where fighters can slip across the border into Afghanistan and mount attacks on U.S. And Afghan forces it was a safe haven in Pakistan where some of bin Laden was able to hide for years after engineering the 911 attacks today General McKenzie acknowledged that more needs to be done by Pakistan to stop such insurgent movement it's been enduring probably for a number of years I think there there continue to work that I don't think you know that they would say they've completed that work it meanwhile American negotiators are continuing talks with the Taliban to end the 18 year war zone Bowman N.P.R. News Islam about Russia and Ukraine have exchanged several prisoners a swap aimed at ending their conflict that was sparked by Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and fears losing Kim has more there were emotional scenes that key his main airport where 35 Ukrainian prisoners were met by their families meanwhile a Russian plane carrying 35 prisoners who had been in Ukraine. City landed in Moscow Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zaleski said he's ready to sit down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to end the conflict behind the scenes France and Germany are working to make a summit happen and here's Lucy and Kim This is N.P.R. For Delaware public media I'm actually know in the State Department of Education is giving more schools grant money to help teachers achieve better outcomes in the classroom or Public Media's Sara Mueller has more education officials are awarding $85.00 schools $2600000.00 in reimagining professional learning grants for this school year last year more than $541000.00 in grants went to $32.00 schools the Delaware Department of Education opened up the application process to districts statewide because it was able to secure additional funding grantees a plan to use the money in various ways such as creating trauma informed teaching strategies cultivating professional learning communities and hiring learning coaches KATHY KELLY With Dio We says the mentor teachers throughout the year as those initiatives are implemented already have or will ever have an increase learning opportunities for us during the program's past 4 years more than $1100000.00 went to initiatives in 74th in $74.00 schools the increased funding this year is expected to continue for the next 3 years so there are Mueller Delaware public media as climate change causes sea levels rise and whether to become more extreme one option for flood prone communities is to move to higher ground air siders join the University of Delaware Center for Disaster Research this summer she studies this adaptation strategy known as managed to treat every time these disasters hit we have billions of dollars going into recovery we spend billions on seawalls we spend billions on between our Schmidt We spend millions on elevating homes. So one of the arguments is instead of spending all this money trying to hold the ocean back maybe we should take a step back. Siders says a long term strategy of managed retreat will probably be the right answer for some communities in Delaware She says the 1st step in retreating is stopping new development in flood prone areas you're listening to Delaware public media support for N.P.R. Comes from N.P.R. Stations other contributors include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the estate of Joan Kroc whose bequest it serves as an enduring investments in the future of public radio and the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Max founded dot org. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News I'm Michel Martin hurricane Durian is slowly heading north towards Nova Scotia today after tornadoes and storm surges caused extensive damage to the Outer Banks of North Carolina we'll hear more in a few minutes about how that area is starting to recover but 1st to the northern Bahamas where the storm caused massive destruction authorities are warning that the death toll is likely to increase significantly in the coming days and thousands of people lost their homes this morning a cruise ship named Graham celebration brought 1100 Bahamian evacuees to the port of Palm Beach in Florida in the statement the cruise line noted that it spent nearly a full day vetting visas and passport documentation of the evacuees before departing for the U.S. Our next guest Florida State Representative Chevron Jones wants to make it easier for evacuees to come to the United States he's behaved an American along with other Florida lawmakers he's lobbying the Trump administration to waive visa requirements that slow down the process of getting evacuees to shelter in his State Representative Jones thanks so much for joining us thank you for having me Michel So what are the visa requirements for the Bahamas normally are the requests and what are the requirements that you're now asking the trumpet ministration to suspend. So currently now have an individual wants to come over to the state they have to present their birth certificate or they have to present a letter from the police department but considering that many of these individuals do not have those materials because they were lost in the store we're asking to try and mesh ration to await those requirements to allow those individuals to be connected with their family or we can help the Bahamian government in some capacity to try and get these individuals their passports and get these individuals some type of documentation so they can come over here with a family the people who were already cleared to go to come to come to the U.S. Is it your understanding that these are people who what have you that they have green cards or they have. Family members here now that's right so after speaking with the F.S.B. You have some through people's office earlier today the individuals who have come over or now are individuals who are. Recruiting concurrently now or the those individuals who have identified family members that that's already over here those are the 2 types of individuals who have been moved out and children along with their families happened also to the poor so you are a Democrat but you mention a Florida senator Marco Rubio who is a Republican you have found some buy in from members of the other party as you mentioned Florida Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent a letter also a sent a letter asking to waive certain requirements after speaking with you are they talking about the same requirements are you 3 on the same page yes we all are talking about the same requirements Listen I think when we are looking at these relief efforts in a way even the fees I believe the people of the Bahamas are not asking about political party they are just in the give our help. Have you heard any response from the Trump administration so far we have not heard anything from the German administration I did speak to Senator Rubio for about 1520 minutes yesterday and he is going to Scott are in we for the president the president's response president has spoken with Prime Minister ministers and they did speak about the suspension of the visas for certain people but no reason though for them Response have come out as soon as it does Senator Rubio I and I will talk again I'm sure at the beginning of the week that is Florida State Representative Chevron JONES He represents part of Broward County north of Miami Representative Jones thanks so much for talking with us thank you for having me Michel. In the Carolinas the water has receded and the skies have cleared after hurricane Dorian brought flooding waters and powerful winds there and as N.P.R.'s Bobby Allen reports today hundreds of people who were trapped on one storm battered Island are assessing Dorian's damage to research a lives in a small house on 4 foot stilts in the low lying marshlands of Coke Island on Friday as she was making ramen noodles in her kitchen she heard what sounded like a fleet of trucks heading straight toward her you know I'm looking out my window and you just see just 3 foot wall of water just I mean it's only 3 feet but it's still like just rushing and then more and more keeps coming it was Dorian making landfall in the Outer Banks bringing galloping winds that push water surging through okra Coke Island I got my dog and some jugs of water and some pop tarts and we headed up stairs so you never know Ray and hundreds of other islanders were trapped as several feet of water kept rising is one thing and that next Beyond Thunderdome next with The Wizard of Oz I mean it was just the noise and the intensity was just outrageous Ray who is a commercial fisherman called her friend Jesse Spencer and begged him to come to her place on his boat to rescue her and then sure enough here comes Jesse and I refuse like grab your don't hug like all right so we talked in the boat and I was just when I saw him when I heard that it was just you know. I was very very grateful the water was more than 6 feet above ground in some parts of okra coke some residents who are sick or elderly were saved by helicopter Ray is back home now and has a busted out wall and other water damage she said she's going to ask her landlord to jack up the stilts on her little home social fare better ahead of the next big storm meanwhile in Charleston Jackie Coogan has been busy Good afternoon to see Jackie Coogan works as a customer service representative at Dominion Energy and is trying to ease the 10s of thousands of residents who still have no power. From Dorian calls like this have been nonstop to this man and I'm so sorry for the inconvenience of hearing the power being out I'll be more than happy to check on the status of that outage for Charleston resident Leo Charisse calling the power company doesn't help him get through a storm but something else does faith and believe in God I'm not a holy roller but I always say my prayers Dorian was the 5th hurricane for shit keris who is a restaurant owner so he knows the drill well put up some walls get out the water pumps get the kids ready take out the generator we live in a beautiful area where that's the only drawback so we just say OK come on Hurricane Ike area around the city crews are still cleaning up hundreds of trees that the storm knocked down and fixing up buildings that suffered damage but Charleston Mayor John tech Limburg says the city is lucky it wasn't worse hurricane management has in recent years been a major part of his job and every time it puts him in the spotlight it's not the kind of attention he likes you all seem to come to town only to see the bad news or the bad weather it's such a beautiful vibrant city we welcome you back to come up in a time where you can just enjoy yourself but 1st he says let us get all the trees out of the way Bobby Allen N.P.R. News Charleston one place that's escaped any impact from Hurricane Dorian is Alabama but they're still a storm of a different kind it's the controversy around President Trump's assertion that the state had at one point been in the potential path of Hurricane Dorian the president 1st made that claim almost a week ago in a tweet the National Weather Service the forecasting agency of the U.S. Government responded with a tweet of its own stated that Alabama would not in fact see any impact from the storm but Trump kept it going he produced a forecast map in which Durance projected probable path was extended into Alabama it was extended by hand using a sharpie pen which happens to be one of President Trump's favorite writing implements then yesterday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or no . The government agency that runs the National Weather Service took the unusual step of issuing an unsigned statement siding with the president instead of its own in-house experts some are now calling this sharpie gate but Joining us to talk more about this and really more important why it matters is Monica Medina She's a former top official at No one she's here with us in our studios in Washington D.C. Monica Medina thank you so much for joining us thanks Michel for having me so let's just give the president the benefit of the doubt very early in the process of tracking Hurricane Dorian did any of the early projections take it anywhere near Alabama in fact they did and the president's information was slightly out of date and the weather service Birmingham office that put out that tweet was responding to lots of confusion about whether the storm was going across the state of Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico potentially to hit Alabama or up the East Coast and it had taken a turn at that point a few days earlier and the information needed to be clarified there was lots of confusion in Alabama and so the weather forecasting office did what it should do and what it ordinarily does and what is routine which is to clarify and to make sure that everyone knew what's the latest What's the working forecast but so by but by Thursday when the president produced this map which extended the path of the current came into Alabama at that point was that true at that point it was not at all true it was it was completely out of date and wrong to change that forecast map and there's a statute that prohibits anyone from doing that because that forecast map sets the forecast for all the government forecasters and the private forecasters everyone in the weather enterprise we call it it's a public private partnership and it's really important that everyone be consistent so talk a little more about why this matters that the parent agency which is no more centrally I don't know what other word. To use undermining its own in-house expert stats the right word for it and I'll tell you why I think back to 2015 there was the worst commercial shipping accident in modern history the wreck of the Al Pharo it's been studied greatly that forecast that the all Pharo was using was 9 hours behind it was a similar hurricane that took a turn they were using it outdated forecast they sailed directly into the eye of the hurricane and everyone was lost that's why it's so important so your concern here is that local forecast offices have to be able to correct misinformation even if there's no mal intent and without fear of reprisal absolutely no fear of reprisal because they need to be able to convey the absolute truth and not worry that their political bosses will correct them will punish them for correcting the record that's Monica Medina a former principal deputy administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration she's now founder and publisher of our Daily Planet That's an independent daily environmental A newsletter Monica Medina thanks so much for talking with us thank you for having me. You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News. A new report from N.Y.U. Says social media dissin from Asian campaigns and deep faith videos pose a major threat to the 2020 Alexion we may have multiple hostile foreign countries simultaneously a kind of descending on our elections we'll look at the tactics being used to try and sway the vote that story and the latest news on the next ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News. Sunday at 5 on the D.D.E. From Delaware Public Media your time is really important especially in the morning so we make every minute count with the day's big news stories election analysis and conversations that make you think spend your time wisely with MORNING EDITION from N.P.R. News. The big Museum of American Art supports the lower public media and presents Rebecca Robach or drawings and paintings August 2nd through October 20th the exhibition traces the evolution of the artist's unique drawing technique and recent work focusing mostly on the human figure we're more pigs museum dot org And joining her with these headlines in the Bahamas search and rescue teams are still trying to reach some communities that are isolated by floodwaters caused by Hurricane Dorian official death toll now stands at 43 in the Bahamas although officials expect that number to rise Dorian is now moving toward Nova Scotia Canada the acting head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency is due in Tehran tomorrow to meet with Iranian officials Tehran says it started advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium a further breach of the 2050 nuclear deal that the US pulled out of last year and the dark comic book film Joker won the Golden Lion award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival today I'm Johnny Herbst N.P.R. News in Washington. Support for N.P.R. Comes from this station and from the N.P.R. Wine club where every bottle tells a story and a favorite N.P.R. Shows become exclusive wines like the WAIT WAIT DON'T TELL ME Marlo available to adults 21 Years or Older N.P.R. Wine Club dot org And from 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 and a. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News I'm Michel Martin the MIT Media Lab has been under fire for the past several weeks for its financial links to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein the labs director Joe Ito initially said he had accepted $525000.00 and more for his own private tech investment funds from Epstein and he apologized now The New Yorker has detailed the lengths to which the MIT lab went to conceal its acceptance of millions of dollars more in gifts arranged by Epstein today Ito formally resigned writing quote After giving the matter a great deal of thought over the past several days and weeks I think that it is best that I resign as director of the Media Lab and as a professor and employee of the Institute effective immediately unquote Joining us to talk about this is N.P.R. Media correspondent David Folkenflik from New York David welcome back thanks for joining us my pleasure could you just walk us through the scale of this how far did MIT go to conceal their ties with Jeffrey Epstein You know so the scale originally to it said we accepted a little over $500000.00 for the lab he said he expected someone over a $1000000.00 for his private investments but The New Yorker revealed yesterday that Jeffrey Epstein I've been involved in landing gifts from others of about 7 and a half $1000000.00 The question of concealing the ties these were very conscious act you had a development officer which say a fund raising officer Peter Cohen at that time saying that Epstein's name couldn't be involved in logging the $2000000.00 gift by Bill Gates they wanted to hide that had been done and Epstein's impetus that's his words not mine in. The people around the office according to the article in The New Yorker by running faro called him Voldemort He Who Must Not Be Named conscious effort in 2013 a professor there Ethan Zuckerman and said look this is a guy who's a sex offender he's done these crimes against children solicited procurement of prostitution of minors he shouldn't be. Involved in the institutes are 2 years later when he too was making sure that he could come to the offices to to look around they simply said we've got a box Zuckerman outs of he won't be able to see that that Epstein is on campus so have there been any ramifications to this other than Ito's resignation. Well sure resign and a couple other people resigned affiliations with the lab I think there's real questions focusing on the university why this resignation didn't come sooner why it wasn't forced you don't need an MIT Ph D. To be able to read the writing on the law wall that's in letters that big. And they should have had some accountability responsibility the initial statements didn't you know seem to allow the precise nature of the interactions the precise figures involved to be obscured to the public that's not the kind of accountability you want from a place like MIT Can you just talk a little bit more about what you think the bigger picture consequences are of this I mean what does this lead do and why do you think that it's important people focus on something like this. Well you know look MIT is one was prestigious private institutions in the country and what this does is give have to the idea that elites take care of their own why is Bill Gates why is Leon black the founder of Apollo Global capital using if it's true Jeffrey Epstein to facilitate their donations they have infrastructures to do that apart from from this guy why wife so many other institutions gravitated towards it you know Ito sits on the board of The New York Times and The Times several of its spokeswomen publish Salzberg didn't respond to my questions so far to my knowledge hasn't responded to the newspapers on questions about why he's able to continue to sit on the board I believe he's on the audit committee of that I don't imagine he'll be there for long he's also I believe with the MacArthur Foundation other distinguished institution but what this really does is it it the loony it's the ways in which some of these critiques about how elites operate in society beyond certain kinds of reach are true after all Epstein had served time had pleaded guilty back in 2008 everything Ito did was subsequent and with knowledge of all of that that is N.P.R.'s David Folkenflik David thank you so much for talking with us you bet and New Hampshire today 19 Democratic candidates made their case to the state's early primary voters at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's primary convention here in 3 months Senator Bernie Sanders the motto who and saw winning that nomination. And needless to say I hope it is are. We will or will. Gather to the faith the most dangerous president modern American history N.P.R.'s asking how it was there and she is with us now hi Asma Hi Michelle So as we mentioned there are a lot of candidates in the running and the attendees heard from most of them today how did people do sitting through all those stump speeches today. Well Michele I will say that there is no comparison to what we saw in 2016 when a lot of Democrats here felt like there were not enough choices. People felt like it seemed kind of inevitable that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee now they are excited and they tell me that they would often be happy with any one of these Democrats it would be better than having Donald Trump as president the chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party said that they sold 9000 tickets for today and that is larger than any convention that they've ever had so if for candidates who are from states nearby New Hampshire you know New Hampshire is really considered a must win and this election cycle you've got 2 candidates from neighboring states Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont we just heard and Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts did you get a sense that either of them has an advantage there yet you know if crowd enthusiasm is any metric than Elizabeth Warren was the clear leader when she took the stage before she could even begin talking there was sustained applause for about 2 minutes straight you know her her supporters were really enthusiastic and many of her standard lines got huge applause from the crowd I get it I gather there is all wrought at stake and people are scared but we can't choose a candidate we don't believe because for scare that was not necessarily an unusual line it took on some added significance given Joe Biden's popularity in so many of the polls that we've seen to date and you know her her applause and her sort of support from the crowd was really unparalleled to well OK well speaking of Biden then he is often talked about as another front runner How did he do among the New Hampshire crowd you know he was the 1st candidate to speak this morning and so you can see maybe the arena was not yet full of everyone who is going to be here today he certainly received a lot of applause from the crowd but it wasn't as passionate as what we saw from some of the other candidates you know the central message that we've been hearing from him throughout this campaign is a desire to make sure that Trump is a one term president and he you know spoke about that but he also highlighted some economic messages that we've been hearing from some of the other candidates so as what you've been to a bunch of these so-called cattle. Calls where all the candidates take the stage and make their pitch to voters was there a candidate today who said something interesting or that really caught your attention Well I would see both South Bend near people to gauge and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker seemed to be really warmly welcomed by the crowd has been hiring more staff in some of the early voting states with kind of the flush cash that he's been bringing in and potentially that's you know part of the reason why we saw some more enthusiasm for him today is just the fact that he has more supporters and it sort of more of a grassroots operation now but Cory Booker is someone who I consistently say you know might surprise us he's been really well received by voters in both Iowa and New Hampshire and he's been pushing people to reconsider this idea of electability there's a line that he says often that he delivered today that it got huge applause from the ground we can't make that mistake that says oh we got a place of safety this election is just about finding somebody who can be Donald Trump let me tell you right Now C we've got to be Donald Trump book Leading Donald Trump is go for it it's not the C.E.O. Of the bad stuff. That's outside of the valley but it does have a sort of balance and Michel you know the thing that I've not fully understood is that people seem to be responding really positively to Booker's message is kind of this motivational speaker but if the polls are accurate which you know we can always say if it does seem that it doesn't necessarily yet mean that voters are saying yeah I want to vote for this guy as president over everyone else in the field that is N.P.R.'s a small college in New Hampshire she's been reporting on the New Hampshire Democratic Party's primary convention you can hear them breaking the convention down all around her as well thanks so much for joining us you're welcome. After. The hit Netflix show Orange Is The New Black just wrapped its final season it was a critical and fan favorite for its dark comedy and sharply drawn characters but. Also because it was one of a number of shows like Oz They're trying to shine a light on prison conditions and that story is also being told in an unusual place a comic strip fans of Judge Parker a serial created in 1952 that follows the life of small town judge Alan Parker and his family will have noticed that Judge Parker storyline has taken a hard turn he is in prison and as of the last trip recovering from a brutal beating at the hands of other inmates when they found out that he was a judge it's the latest twist in a plot that's turned the comic strip into a platform for educating readers about the troubling realities of prison life it's a lot to take on in a few Illustrated panel so we've called up the writer of Judge Parker Francesco. He took over the Strip in 2016 and he's also the writer of sally forth another popular syndicated comic Francesco Marci only on oh thanks so much for joining us Oh thank you very much so we've spoken to you before I'm not going to get into all the details about why I Judge Parker is in prison because of the little crazy but I'm just going to kind of summarize to say that he was in a way trapped he thought he was doing the right thing and this is what happened and I just have to ask you know where did this come from where did you get the idea to follow this story line well I will say he's not so much trapped he did do the wrong thing and he knowingly did the wrong thing for what he believed were for the right reasons but he still did break the law so there was going to be some sort of comeuppance in regard because I didn't want to do it where he does something illegal and I think that it's the main character let it slide on the other hand the idea was to show that once he's there exactly where he sending people and where the reasons I think found this interesting is there are comics like Doonesbury for example that are known for taking on topical issues but that has always been the flavor of Doonesbury as I said before this is a legacy comic I mean it started in 1952 the people who are reading this comic aren't necessarily used to this and I'm wondering how people are how your fans how the readers of the comic are taking it. I will use the word fans. This is a legacy strip and I'm not trying to go OK now I'm just going to make it so now it's going to be thing but on the other hand you never won any strip or anything to be caught in amber and you do want to always be moving and feel like it's alive so now granted we do have the fantastic elements assassins appear regularly in their eyes I know means and I go and you know this is frontline but it's a thing that I want the strip to feel like it's happening somewhere in this country as opposed to just on the paper what's inspiring you to take on this issue of I don't wanna make it sound sort of dry but like this issue of mass incarceration this issue of what actually happens and in prison what is it that got you interested in this by I know someone whose father has been incarcerated a few times and and someone who has worked with social programs with prisoners and I like comic strips where there is a gray area I like it where you don't go that's the good guy which is why I wanted him to make a mistake and have him make he made a choice and have a make that choice and then the consequences of that because if you write a strip where it's like these are the good guys and that's the one twirling their mustache. At least for my sake I get bored so it was like OK I want to do something this is a legal Strip we almost never handle legal issues it's always a soap opera strip so it was a matter like let's do a legal thing I know we're not going to do a court case because that's visually dull but if we do a prison that at least I'm not saying it has been under strip and I would probably be alive but I haven't seen it recently are you hoping that perhaps you might reach people who aren't going to watch aren't this the new black I mean are you hoping in a way that you'll connect with people who just aren't interested any other way. I hope so I'm not going to make the grand statement like I'm the one who's going to turn him around on this that's not how it works but I think it's interesting for someone to see. The something that they normally wouldn't see and just look at it like I don't mean to go sideways but I did Sally Forth I had Ted's day pass away because my dad had passed away there before and I did the whole aspect of what that meant doing the funeral arrangements the aftereffect Mary thing and there were people who wrote to me thanking me very much for it there were also a lot of people wrote to me is like but I go to a comic strip for laughs which is not something I agree with they certainly are welcome to their opinion that's perfectly fine but strips like this work best if there is a least a little appeared here this is a foot on the ground in reality and so that's what drives some of these stories again I know this is a comic strip there regularly has assassins but I like that at least you feel it sometimes the strip is touching actual soil that is Francesco you Leon know he writes The Judge Parker and sally forth comic strips Francesco thanks so much for talking to us once again I can't wait to see what happens. If you want to tell me No no what I wrote there 3 months ago so I'm kind of forgetting OK All right all right we'll find out together tomorrow OK thanks a lot bye bye to you. You're listening to N.P.R. News. Tomorrow is a local election day in Russia in a country where one leader Vladimir Putin controls the political system from top to bottom you might think voting is just a formality but in Moscow city council elections that nobody used to care about have now become a test for Putin's regime N.P.R.'s Lucien Kim reports this summer in Moscow has been a season of fear citizens fearing their own government and that same government fearing its people. In July protesters shouting Let them run took to the streets after authorities barred opposition candidates for running in Moscow city council elections election commission claim the candidates have not collected enough valid signatures Well the opposition said President Putin not face the possibility of his harshest critics when elected office in the Russian capital. Was . Moscow's mayor astonished Moyle list responded to the growing protests with bright police and mass arrests of the opposition candidates were put in jail and some protestors faced criminal charges this week one was sense to 5 years for tweets he'd made while another got 4 years just for attending an authorised rallies . And a lot as a Swedish with Putin defended the harsh response saying people have the right to protest only if they act in what he called the interests of the country the crackdown betrays the Kremlin's nervousness about the election but also had its intended effect. At a protest March last weekend the mood was much more subdued by us in the US therefore then switching only embezzling approaches are you can turn up a link and I and our historian says of course she's afraid that she feels obligated to defend what's left of her freedom of expression. Loudest critic opposition leader. Believes he can still spoil Sunday's election even without a single candidate in the race in a series of investigative reports on his You Tube channel been focusing on the unexplained wealth of officials in the ruling party United Russia in this video he list a luxury cars owned by a Moscow politician. Still enjoys high approval ratings United Russia is so unpopular all of its candidates are hiding their affiliation and running as independents in the Moscow city elections. Voters should not boycott the election but consider a referendum on caste protest ballots to kick out pro-government lawmakers somebody clearly does not like in of all these plant. Police have repeatedly raided the offices of his corruption foundation its equipment has been confiscated and it's bank accounts blocked but not giving up. Is just the 1st step in changing Russia's government. Why there it's me Kristy Lee host of Live From here didn't for the launch of our season with guests as Rick K. Dick a Vampire Weekend Atalia law for cottage that Bronner and Holly the red Jake Gyllenhaal will also be there to share an excerpt from his recent Broadway plays seawall a life or fall season is here that just won't be the same. Today at 6 on 91 point one. From Delaware public media minus. The Milk Carton Kids join us on the next mountain stage along with Steve Holmes who is did pine Griffin House and hero Sola Hi this is Joey Ryan and kind of guilt of the Milk Carton Kids join us this week in live performance on mountain stage. Tonight at 8 on 91 point one. From Delaware Public me I'm getting hurt with these headlines the president of MIT is ordering an independent investigation in response to a report about ties between the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and the Media Research Lab at the school the head of that lab resigned today because of the Revelation hurricane Dorian is making its way to Nova Scotia where the Category one storm is expected to make landfall tonight the storm left behind flooded communities in North Carolina's Outer Banks this week and people are trying to get out of the Bahamas where the storm did massive damage and caused more than 40 deaths and Zimbabwe is observing several days of official mourning for the controversial longtime leader Robert Mugabe who died yesterday at the age of 95 I'm Janine Herbst N.P.R. News in Washington. Support for N.P.R. Comes from this station and from the financial services firm of Raymond James offering personalized wealth management advice and banking and the capital markets expertise along with a legacy of putting clients' financial wellbeing 1st learn more at Raymond James dot com from the Christie foundation expanding opportunities in America's cities through grant making and social investing more at crazy dot org And from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at our W J F dot org. This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News I'm Michel Martin we're going to talk about bodies now athletes bodies we look at them all the time in Motion of course running climbing jumping throwing skating hitting but maybe we don't stop to think about how varied athletic bodies really are and that's exactly what the body issue E.S.P.N. The Magazine says annual feature sets out to celebrate the body issue features athletes from across the sporting world and across gender and carefully composed nude photographs from the super famous to the less well known this week we have the final print edition of The Body Issue henceforth the issue will become part of a multimedia E.S.P.N. Platform we wanted to mark the moment so we called editor in chief Allison Overholt and she explained where E.S.P.N. Got the idea of creating a body issue in the 1st place there were some conversations that came actually out of the action sports an X. Games world where some of the athletes had done an art project where they took nude photos and they're actually very beautiful I mean you started to get a sense that body types were very different depending on sport then there was you know Daniel conversation around swimsuit and whether that really had anything to do with sports and you know how we felt about that in our field then there was sort of perfect perpetual conversation around training and fitness and you know body has never actually gotten so explicitly into that space but this felt like you know a way for us to begin to talk about you know what you would do athletes do in order to make their bodies into the machines that they are well it's a thing now I mean it's the kind of thing that as you know people who follow sport or you know at all probably know about but what about at the beginning did you have trouble at the beginning persuading people or did the athletes kind of get it right away Oh absolutely but 1st year was crazy you know I mean we openly had conversation about how this might be completely impossible we also knew that it would hinge on one or 2. 2 influential people saying yes and that making other people feel safe and it actually hinged on Serena Williams our editor in chief at the time approached her on the red carpet at the S.B.S. And and asked her if she would do this and you know had an elevator pitch ready and explained to her what he thought it could accomplish she was a star of course but she was building you know her public image and you know her reach with fans beyond tennis and she looked at him and you know asked him a couple questions and then said Would you put me on the cover and he said yes and she said I'm in but but she was our 1st body cover and to have somebody like Serino Williams I mean that cover is still just one of the most iconic that we've ever published for her to do that made other athletes say you know are right this is something you know speaking of feeling safe. We are in the ME TOO moment and many people in various fields particularly women but I would have to assume not exclusively women. Are being very vocal about their working conditions and being vocal about making sure that they have dignity in these sensitive moments are there special steps that you take to ensure that people have a dignified environment you know it's I'm just fascinated by some of those behind the scenes videos like for example at the Philadelphia Eagles lineman they seemed very comfortable no matter what they were hilarious absolutely when they decided they wanted to do this you know they they just said you know we would like to have a tailgate so we threw a tailgate for them and it was a naked tailgate the strangest thing to imagine that but they had a they had a ball but absolutely we take a lot of special steps and one of the earliest conversations that we had specifically about body was the need to bring it you know into focus around a mission statement that that we developed that's very simply everybody has a story and so every single piece that we did every time we approached an athlete we wanted to know 1st what's your body story you know what is the story that they want to tell and then we work with them to figure out what would be the creative expression visually of that story and based on that we're pairing people with photographers who can bring that vision to life we're talking to them about you know do you feel more comfortable with an open set or a closed set do you want to bring people with you who are going to make you feel more comfortable they're looking at images on screen as they're coming through which is something that you know we don't do it every single shoot but for something like this you need to be comfortable with the material would you mind picking one or 2 stories that you thought was really special for the final print edition absolutely So there's a young woman in the issue name Scout Bassett and she's a Paralympic track and field athlete she was born in China and she was abandoned at an orphan and was actually caught in a terrible house fire and. At a very very young age and as a result she lost her leg so she wasn't adopted by her Merican family until she. She was you know probably middle elementary school and didn't begin running until she was into her teens and she became an incredibly accomplished track and field athletes she now competes at U.C.L.A. And when she decided she wanted to do the body issue she was very specific with us and said I want to make sure people can see my scars because I want them to understand that scars are part of what makes you who you are and you can have strength and beauty and power even after overcoming an experience like what I went through that is Allison Overholt editor in chief of E.S.P.N. The Magazine September is the magazine's last print edition it is the body issue Alison Overholt thanks so much for talking to us thanks for having me. And finally today the N.F.L. Is celebrating its 100th season this year which officially began Thursday night when the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 10 to 3 but really the N.F.L. Has been in the news all year long there was the sudden retirement of one of the game superstars there were monetary settlements for players Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reed who accused the league of blackballing them in retaliation for kneeling before games there is this ongoing debate about on field protests and then there's this new partnership between the N.F.L. And the rapper an entrepreneur Jay Z. With all that we thought this was a good time to ask what all this might say about the state of the N.F.L. Today in the future of what is still the most watched U.S. Sports league so we've decided to take this to the barbershop because that's where we talk with interesting people about what's in the news and what's on their minds and joining us today are Kevin Blackistone of E.S.P.N. In the University of Maryland here with us in our studios in Washington D.C. Welcome thanks for them but also here Dave Zirin sports writer at The Nation He's also the host of The Edge of Sports podcast Welcome back to you as well great to be here thank you for joining us on the line from Phoenix Arizona is Jason Reid of E.S.P.N. The undefeated He's a senior N.F.L. Writer Welcome to you it's good to talk with you. Thank you so much and I don't start with today's big story wide receiver Antonio Brown has agreed to a one year deal to join the New England Patriots this is just hours after the Oakland Raiders announce that they are releasing him big star he has been talking about this on social media and he wrote I'm going to have to edit this for N.P.R. Knesset but he says you are going to annoy a lot of people when you start doing what's best for you and he says and that's fine I've worked my whole life to prove that the system is blind to see talent like mine now that everyone sees that they want me to conform to that same system that has failed me all those years I'm not mad at anyone I'm just asking for the freedom to prove them all wrong and I know that people always have a lots of opinions about different sports stars but Kevin is going to get start it does this say something bigger about the state of sport sure he is free to be who he wants to be and few times do in a fellow players actually exercise that but he has done that he has gotten out of a situation that he didn't want to be in for whatever reasons and he has gone a very Securitas route in order to get to the best football team in football where Championships come down like rain and so I think he should be an example to other football players to really take take hold of your of your future and don't let it be run by coaches and general managers and owners Yeah Antonio Brown has a child one of his children is named autonomy and one Tanami Brown which in addition to being a very cool name I think speaks to his attitude towards his place in the National Football League Antonio Brown is someone who wanted to be able to control his situation and controlling your situation as a National Football League player is not easy in a league that does not necessarily have guaranteed contracts and or players aren't able to move around as easily as they would like much of their destiny is controlled by the team themselves and when you consider that the average career is just 3 and a half you. Years your time in the spotlight and your ability to max out your prime is something every player has to take extremely seriously so Antonio Brown chose to take as Kevin put it an extremely circuitous route to express and his own autonomy and he did leave money on the table I mean it has a lot of my dad left at least you know the 1000000 on the table for that so it obviously meant something to him Jason thoughts about that. Well I I mean I thought well for player empowerment I've always felt that you know with the way professional sports is historically been stealing against players that I always or generally speaking I come down to like a with the players and yet the risk of injury the fact that it's all there are really lot of guarantee contravene truly guaranteed but I kind of take a little different view on this leaving the Antonio Brown things to get out of Pittsburgh and you know we can we can debate you know the N.F.L. And their salary structure and their time track structure but he did things to get out of Pittsburgh and he went to the Raiders and you know by all accounts from everyone I've talked to about this situation the Raiders were very supportive of him throughout the whole helmet thing throughout the week with the thing with his feet with the cryogenic chamber and I do think that there is also a certain point that you have to take personal responsibility and you have to be professional and just talking to guys I know in the game no one I know is the friend in his behavior right now I mean so I too think that that while yes there's a lot to be said about player autonomy and players being empowered to you know to get what they can I don't necessarily think this is quite that situation after all right fair point that's why people that that's why sports is fun because people have lots of different opinions about it well let's talk about some of the other issues in the game has only the things that all of you have written about as Andrew Luck retiring we talked Dave we talked with you about that the you know star quarterback and a lot of you have different takes on the significance of that so I don't know Jason you wrote about this I'll go back to you on this you says you wrote about what you say you say it says about the future of football especially in regard to other players in the league particular to a new crop of black quarterbacks talk about that for a minute if you would well yeah I'm doing a series for the pretty E.S.P.N. On the seat on kind of you have a little black quarterbacks in the N.F.L. And just. And of things that I look at with the retirement of walkers I mean clearly you talk about someone who is was at the pinnacle of the game you just want to come back Player of the year award ready he is really an elite pocket passer he's a guy who probably had about $200000000.00 or more in earnings and he was so mentally taxing and physically taxed because of the toll this game takes some players that he just said you know I can't do this anymore and I hope he created an opening for Jacobus said who is a young African-American quarterback who is now going to be the coach starter so he created a lane for him but I definitely think to be honest though when you look at you participate in the N.F.L. Which to me in football not being what it once was this is kind of an ominous sign I do believe OK Dave you talked about those 2 exactly I think this is an accidental crisis for the National Football League because in Andrew Luck you have a player who's under 30 who comes from a a wealthy background who is a Stanford graduate and who is like and this is exactly the demographic that is turning away from the National Football League that's turning away from looking at football as a perspective sport that's turning away at the high school level that's turning away at the Pop Warner level and so what you look at is an acceleration of trends in the National Football League that already exist where you have a sport that is probably played by African-American talent from poor economically disadvantaged backgrounds for a largely white fan base and as that develops and as people don't necessarily play by choice but play because they have to you do you're going to develop into more situations where people start wondering about the moral calculus of the league itself and Kevin you've been talking about this to you mentioned that N.F.L. Viewership remains high and by some accounts is up at attendance at the Games is down right and I may be more of a function of the way we entertain ourselves in sports these days it's much easier and much safer to watch games on our tablets and at home in the comfort of an in the comfort of friends and family. But what I think the engine luck situation and the robin cals Q situation start tight in who also retired in and cited just the mental strain in the physical strain of playing the game just reminds me by how difficult a game it is knows the game going away we have seen different reports about participation at the high school level but what the concern may be is that it turns into a gladiators for exactly right and so that is populated by black athletes from more difficult means and and everyone who's watching them is not their brother or sister and their parents that leads to the last thing I want to talk about that we have time to talk about today is this whole question about how the N.F.L. Is going to respond to the demands that were you know put forth most sort of acutely by the collar capper Nixon Eric reads but to have more to say about the social justice issues that affect the majority of the players and Colin Kaepernick in our greed to find those as police conduct but there are others that you know that Jaycee's partnered with them now. To do some things to direct the music on big events and so for that there's already converse about some of the that the groups that they are partnering with and I just wanted to ask each of us briefly as you can for a topic as complicated as that what you make of all this well it is a complicated situation you know one thing I would say is that. Players just like those of us sitting around this table need not wait for an organization to be put together for us to contribute to either monetary early or with our feet to make to make some strides against. Strides with social justice and so. Saying that I don't think they should wait around for the league I think they should pressure the league as much as they can but I think they should also step out and form their own organization they have a players' association which does something on this along with social justice were quickly days like in the N.F.L. Is not. Social justice organization it's like asking a dog to meow and so I agree with what Kevin said I mean that the players want to see social justice they need to figure out a way to organize and act for it asking the N.F.L. To do it well and with discussions like this where there is perpetual dissatisfaction OK Oh thank you for that I see you and I raise you OK. I'm going to come back to you next time on that one that was the nation's Dave Xyron That was Kevin Blackstone of E.S.P.N. The University of Maryland we also heard Jason Reed of E.S.P.N.'s the undefeated Thank you all so much will try to do better next time for you day for Saturday that's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News I'm Michel Martin and we are back tomorrow we thank you for listening and we hope you have a great weekend. Support for N.P.R. Comes from this station and from the Main Office of Tourism with wild landscapes and rugged coasts to inspire original lifestyles and authentic adventures Maine offers travelers an opportunity to discover their very own main thing at visit Maine dot com and from 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 and a. A new report from N.Y.U. Says social media dissin from Asian campaigns and deep faith videos pose a major threat to the 2020 Alexion we may have multiple hostile foreign countries simultaneously kind of descending on our elections we'll look at the tactics being used to try and sway the vote that story and the latest news on the next ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from N.P.R. News. Sunday at 5 on the D.D.E. From Delaware public media Christiana Care supports public media and encourages Delawareans to love your health annual visits to a primary care doctor promote a happier healthier life don't have a primary care doctor Christiana Care dot org slash primary care can help a healthier you starts with a regular visit to the doctor my. Son. The Milk Carton Kids join us on the next mountain stage along with Steve Holmes who is did pine Griffin House and Vero Sola Hi this is Joey Ryan and head of that guilt of the Milk Carton Kids join us this week in live performance on mountain stage thank. You night at 8 on 91 point one. 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