2nd novelist Isabel Allende is 76 years old today. And the news is next live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm core of a Coleman President Trump is using Twitter to thank North Korean leader Kim Jong un for returning the purported remains of u.s. Servicemen killed in the Korean War N.P.R.'s Scott Newman has more Trump's comments followed a solemn ceremony in Hawaii as the remains arrived there for identification the president praised him for keeping his word and sending home the missing Trump tweeted to the North Korean leader I am not at all surprised that you took this kind of action the remains are being returned as part of an agreement between Trump and Kim at their Singapore summit in June but it's not clear yet whether they are in fact $55.00 u.s. Servicemen as North Korea says the task of identification now goes to the defense p.o.w. M.i.a. Accounting agency and could take months or years to complete Scott Newman n.p.r. News Washington in Afghanistan Reuters News Agency is reporting militants have killed 3 foreign nationals in the capital Local media say the bodies were found early today on the outskirts of Kabul N.P.R.'s Dean reports from Islamabad cobbles police chief told Reuters they found the bodies of an Indian a Malaysian and a Macedonian who'd been abducted the news agency reported the 3 well for food and catering services company there's been no claim of responsibility so far it was the deadliest incident against foreigners in Afghanistan since January that's when the Taliban besieged to Kabul hotel and killed 22 people including 4 Americans and 10 other foreign as well the Afghans and foreigners have been targeted in the Afghan conflict mostly as bargaining chips are to be ransom for money they include an astray and an American who was seized last August to you had paid n.p.r. News Islam about the National Interagency Fire Center says there are more than 90 large wildfires burning in the u.s. These range from Florida to Alaska although most of them are burning in the West firefighters battling western wildfires will soon get. Horseman's from abroad and some work in Idaho Matt Gillum of Boise State Public Radio has more on the u.s. Partnerships with other countries personnel from New Zealand and Australia are on the way to help firefighters across the West as they battle blazes in numerous states among those coming our division supervisors strike team leaders and helicopter managers the United States partnered with New Zealand and Australian firefighting efforts for over 50 years reporting from Boise the Roman Catholic Church says it has changed its teaching on the use of the death penalty the Vatican now says execution is inadmissible because this is an attack on human dignity previously the church had said the death penalty wasn't acceptable although it stream means to protect the common good now the Roman Catholic Church says there are ways that governments can protect citizens but ensure that the guilty have the chance at redemption You're listening to n.p.r. News from Washington. There's confusion in Zimbabwe over when election officials will release the results of this week's presidential election officials said earlier they'd release the report today now writers news agency reports some Zimbabwe and officials are walking that back when soldiers attacked opposition supporters in the capital yesterday they use live fire to break up crowds as demonstrators began to express anger over what they fear is election fraud Wells Fargo bank will pay a $2100000000.00 penalty to the Justice Department as N.P.R.'s Chris Arnold reports the case involves shady loans made back before the housing crash a decade ago the Justice Department says Wells Fargo sold off mortgages to investors when it knew the information about the borrowers incomes wasn't true my Calhoun is with the Center for Responsible Lending Well Fargo making home loan customers could not afford it reminds us of what caused the crisis 10 years ago and that we need a strong oversight regulation keep it from happening again Wells Fargo recently paid a separate $1000000000.00 fine to federal regulators for more recent misdeeds including repossessing customers cars for no good reason the bank said it was pleased to resolve the issue and move past it Chris Arnold n.p.r. News Tennessee is holding its primary election today for prominent Republicans are candidates for the gubernatorial nomination their Representative Diane Black former Tennessee official Randy Boyd businessman believe and state House speaker Beth Harwell I'm Corba Coleman n.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the Walton Family Foundation where opportunity takes root more information is available at Walton Family Foundation dot org And the John d. And Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation Ed Mack founded dot org. It's 6 minutes past the hour here on Morning Edition from High Plains Public Radio coming up at 20 minutes past the hour is your original news and you know you don't want to miss that so stick around it'll be sunny all across the high plains today highs are going to be in the lower to mid ninety's tonight it's going to be partly cloudy to mostly clear with lows in the mid to upper sixty's. In northwest Kansas northeast Colorado it's going to be sunny with a high near $92.00 tonight it'll be mostly clear with a low around $65.00 in north central Kansas it's going to be sunny with a high near $93.00 tonight it will be mostly clear with a low around $68.00 in southeast Colorado it's going to be sunny with a high near $95.00 tonight it'll be partly cloudy with a low around $65.00 in southwest Kansas it's going to be sunny with a high near $91.00 tonight it'll be mostly clear with a low around $66.00 in the Oklahoma panhandle it's going to be sunny with a high near $92.00 tonight it will be mostly clear with a low around $68.00 and in the Texas panhandle it will be mostly sunny with a high near $92.00 tonight mostly clear low around $68.00 support comes from Garden City family y.m.c.a. Where value meets values putting Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit mind and body for all on the web at Garden City y.m.c.a. Dot org. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Noel King and I'm Rachel Martin good morning it is still unclear whether or not President Trump will ever sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller yesterday the president demanded that his attorney general quote stop this rigged witch hunt right now now to be clear Jeff Sessions can't stop the Russian best occasion because he has recused himself but Trump's demand delivered in a tweet came on the 2nd day of the trial into former Trump campaign chairman Paul man of Fort was it a knee jerk reaction from the president or is it all part of a grand plan let's ask Matthew Olsen He's a former federal prosecutor any work for Robert Mueller at the f.b.i. Matt thanks for coming in great good to see him because he raises some critics of the president looked at that tweet and said There it is clear evidence that the president is trying to obstruct Robert Miller's investigation do you see it that way you know it's I don't see it as clear a dead bang evidence of obstruction it doesn't prove obstruction it certainly starts to build a case or add to the overall mosaic of evidence that indicates that the president is seeking to obstruct justice in the sense that you know stopping investigation as it gets closer to you and closer to the people around you I mean that's textbook obstruction of justice right so how does that not meet the legal standard yes or I just mean I think that in of itself it's not obstruction it's part of the broader the broader case and if you go back just to for example the statements made that the president right after firing f.b.i. Director Jim Comey that's part of that that case as well later in the day White House spokesperson Sara Sanders tried to clarify the president's to each had this to say look the president is not obstructing he's fighting back the president is stating his opinion he's stating that clearly although we've seen the president give actual directives in tweets he has hired and fired people via the tweet So what's the legal standard for determining if the president's tweets are an opinion or an order so you know it's it's kind of beside the point. Whether or not the tweet is his opinion because the tweet is evidence it's a statement by an individual that can be used against the president whether in court or in some other proceeding so it's clearly evident sent to my mind when the president United States says something like this needs to happen now this should happen now I would assume that anyone close to the president or in the president's cabinet would interpret that as a direct order rect. So for more than a year the president and his team have said they've been very clear on the message around this probe they have said there is no collusion between the camp their former campaign in the Russian government but now both the president and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani have been saying something different they have been trying out a new rhetorical line saying collusion is not a crime they're technically right are they not sure I mean collusion is not in and of itself a crime but of course conspiracy is a crime inclusion is really synonymous with conspiracy and what we've seen from the mother team is building the case to now indictments a charge conspiracy to interfere with the elections in 2016 so that case of conspiracy you know quote unquote collusion is being built by the mother team one block at a time central to most investigation is is a possible sit down with President Trump we had you on a few months ago and in that conversation you said it was it would be risky for President Trump to do that do you think you still think that's true I mean even more so now you know as the days go on as the Trump team makes statements like or trying to make statements like he made yesterday indicating more and more this evidence of obstruction as well as at the same time the mother team is continuing to build its case interviewing witnesses gaining cooperation from charged defendants and gathering documents the the Trump team is essentially in the dark when it comes to what Moller and his team know. They've amassed this body of evidence so it's increasingly risky I think for the president to sit down under oath and be interviewed be interviewed by the if he wants 2 years I mean according to The New York Times the president is pushing against his own lawyers and saying he wants to make this happen in the end he's he's the president he's the client sure so it's his call whether to do so and it's quite It appears to be that the 2 parties are engaging in a discussion about how to do that I think that's in both parties interest actually the prosecutors and Trump to see if there's a way to avoid a subpoena because of course if it came head to head I think the prosecution team has the legal authority to issue a subpoena but that would entail a litigation so that the mother team wants to avoid that if they can so they're willing to negotiate I think with the president his team about how to do this The Times also reporting that his lawyers won't allow in person follow up questions as a former prosecutor how do you actually get any answers if you cannot follow up in person yeah I can't imagine that in the end that there will be an agreement not to ask follow up questions or maybe some accommodation to give areas of inquiry in advance so the president has to know where the questioning will go but the sort of whole point of an interview is the opportunity to engage in that back and forth and that's really where both the mother team has something to gain but the president has significant legal jeopardy if he says something that's false do you see an overall legal strategy emerging by the president you know the early strategy if you recall was cooperate we have nothing to hide that's totally changed now that Trump and his team have gone after Mala personally they've changed their strategy from no collusion to well if there was collusion it's not a crime I see the strategy becoming increasingly defensive but really what it looks like to me is not a legal strategy but a public relations or political strategy one that actually I think could backfire Matt Olsen former u.s. Attorney work for Robert Mueller thanks so much You're welcome thank you. A basic principle of economics is that. When demand for something goes up the cost of it goes up too so economists wonder why today's high demand for workers isn't translating into bigger increases in pay even Federal Reserve chair drone Powell has called it a puzzle as N.P.R.'s Yuki Noguchi reports there are a couple of factors that could help explain it economist Dean Baker is among those who worry that this spike the strong economy American workers aren't seeing big enough increases in pay if wages are standing that means that we're doing all these great technological innovations but most people really don't see the benefit of that Baker who is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research says worker pay decreased during and after the Great Recession and has yet to make up that lost ground at a time when employers are struggling to find available workers wages are increasing at a relatively modest rate of 2.7 percent a year not much more than inflation many economists say that's lower than it should be some point to slow productivity growth which makes it harder for employers to raise pay and some argue recent wage growth may not be as bad as it appears Russ Roberts is a researcher at Stanford University's Hoover Institution he says just looking at wage growth doesn't give you the whole picture he says a strong job market is creating a lot of new opportunities retiring baby boomers for example are leaving their positions creating openings for others so their wages are quite high they're being replaced by lower wage workers who are younger and just more likely to be just starting out which is why Robert says he's not alarmed by low wage growth I think we should be careful in assuming that something's broken because a tight labor market isn't leading to great wage increases I would just simply say that the wage increases we observe are probably understating the actual gains to workers in terms of their shared a living Another factor could help explain the wage puzzle employers say they're spending more on benefits in. Rewards outside of pay and that overall compensation is growing faster than wages Alison Avallone is director of research at World At Work an association that studies compensation she says companies are offering better health insurance coverage flexible work arrangements and wellness programs what we're seeing is that employees say you know what I get out of working is not just a paycheck anymore I will as could not quantify how much more employers are paying for such benefits but says their budgets reflect these shifting priorities Bob Wessel camper agrees he has rewards and benefits consulting at Korn Ferry a recruiting firm there's a changing balance of what drives an employee to move to a new organization and sometimes it's not always pay Wessel camper says 6 years ago his company's survey ranks pay the number one reason workers switch jobs this year culture and purpose rank highest All of these dynamics have played out at 4 Seasons plumbing in Asheville North Carolina owner Max Rose says last year 2 of his staff of 20 left worsening his worker shortage it really hurt us and we were desperate like others in the industry it Rose has had to hike his salaries but on top of that his company started offering a 3 percent match on retirement plans and covering all health care costs it also increased vacation time and eliminated overnight shifts that's a sea change from a dozen years ago when Rose started the company Yeah we 1st started out we didn't have any of the stuff. Especially with retirement in the health care even so Rose says he still spends a lot of time trying to fill open positions and recruiting apprentices to train the biggest thing we've tried to do is culture building and trying to pressure a this idea that there is is room for fancy men and there were a growing company he says that shifted more of his attention from customers. To employees. We have to make sure the employees are happy and in the customers I really feel that if we focus on keeping the police happy then we don't have to worry about our customers tomorrow the Labor Department's July employment reports will offer a fresh look at wage increases Yuki Noguchi n.p.r. News Washington. This is n.p.r. News good morning you're listening to Morning Edition on High Plains Public Radio but current time is 18 minutes past 6 o'clock Central coming up at half past the hour is the oil and gas markets and in just a couple of minutes I've got regional news for you so stick around support comes from a rat Amorello recovery from alcohol and drugs this is not rehab this is recovery more information at a red Amarillo dot com. The . President. More. Favorite. Internet. Till. Monday through Thursday from pm to midnight Central. From n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Dave Mattingly 3 Ukrainians are under arrest charged with hacking restaurants casinos and other businesses and 47 states in the u.s. And these hackers think they can hide behind keyboards in faraway places and that they can escape the long arm of United States law I'm here to tell you and I think this announcement makes clear they cannot do that that's u.s. Attorney and that haze in Seattle announcing the arrest she says data from about $15000000.00 credit and debit cards were stolen forensic experts at a u.s. Military lab in Hawaii will be examining bones and teeth to try to identify the remains of what are believed to be dozens of American soldiers from the Korean War has Bill Dorman with Hawaii Public Radio reports they arrived at a base there yesterday aboard a u.s. Military cargo jet a military honor guard carried $55.00 boxes draped with American flags office the 17 aircraft to Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam the remains are presumed to be Americans although it will take extensive lab work to identify them and perhaps their nationalities 16 United Nations member countries fought alongside u.s. Service members in Korea and some have never recovered any of their war dead the remains were handed over by North Korea as part of an agreement between President Trump and Kim Jong un at their summit in Singapore I'm David Mattingly in Washington. In a regional news campaign filings reveal an unusual amount of money in the Kansas governor's race coming from the candidates themselves University of Kansas political scientist Patrick Miller says that more than half the dollars in the campaign have come from candidates which is extraordinary and bizarre for a governor's race even in modern expensive campaign America Republican secretary of state Chris Kobach raised $1700000.00 almost all of that came as loons from his running mate Wichita businessman when Cartman other Republicans consult Sir Patrick Q chair and Jim Burnett have also put money into their own campaigns independent candidate Craig Orman donated $650000.00 to his campaign Democrat Carl Brewer has also helped fund his own run that story from the Kansas News Service a collaboration covering health education and politics across the state for High Plains Public Radio I'm Ben keeper Eric media can be an essential tool to understanding the world that we live in whether you receive your information through print or through radio it has powerful repercussions The great thing about absorbing the news through High Plains Public Radio is that you hear the raw emotion of the people being interviewed you hear if they