And what we saw in 2016 in the United States N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt British Prime Minister Johnson says questions are now settled about Bracks it he'll move decisively to pull the u.k. Out of the European Union by the end of January u.s. Consumers kept a somewhat tighter grip on their pocketbooks last month N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley reports retail sales in November fill short of analysts expectations the Commerce Department says retail sales rose just 2 tenths of one percent in November well below what forecasters expected the bigger suggest growing caution among consumers who spending has been one of the major pillars propping up the u.s. Economy Internet retailers are taking a larger share of the consumer dollar online sales rose 8 tenths of a percent in November electronics and appliances ales were also up but elsewhere spending was more restrained department stores and clothing stores saw their sales decline in November consumers also dial back spending in bars and restaurants forecasters had expected stronger sales given the healthy job market and modestly rising paychecks Scott Horsley n.p.r. News Washington on Wall Street the Dow is down 36 points you're listening to n.p.r. . Congressional negotiators have reached agreement on a spending package worth $1.00 trillion dollars to fund the federal government a deadline is coming next weekend without spending legislation the government will partially shut down n.p.r. Has learned the package contains more than $1000000000.00 for its southern border fence President Trump saw more than $8000000000.00 for a wall Pakistani officials have reported 4 new cases of polio in the country's north Pakistan is grappling with a surge of polio cases this year after it had nearly eradicated the disease and P.R.'s Dia had deed reports from Islamabad the cases bring the country's polio count to $110.00 for the This comes after a multi-million dollar a years long program by the Pakistani government the un and large aid groups to try eradicate the virus and in twenty's. Tain the country only had 8 reported cases but they showed up after the current Pakistani government led by the prime minister Imran Khan came into power earlier this week vaccinator was gunned down after conducting a 3 day drive and some militant groups falsely state the vaccine is part of a Western conspiracy to make Muslims infertile to you to date n.p.r. News Islam about a New Zealand military team made a risky trip today to a small island to recover 6 bodies of people killed this week in a sudden volcanic eruption the death toll which stands at 8 people is now going to rise several people were badly burned in this week's blast 2 people remain missing on Korver Coleman n.p.r. News in Washington. Support for n.p.r. Comes from Progressive Insurance offering a way it's a buy home insurance with their home quote explored tool custom quotes and rates are available online learn more at progressive dot com or 1800 progressive Now that's progressive and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This is Climate Connections. Each winter tens of thousands of volunteers head outside with binoculars to count and identify birds and their communities are taking part in the Christmas Bird Count a National Audubon Society program now in its 120th year Brooke Bateman a senior scientist at Audubon says this annual census provides important data about how bird populations are changing over time the signs that I do around climate and would not exist without the people that go out and do community science and collect data for birds across the country data from the Christmas Bird Count is used by Audubon the e.p.a. And other organizations studying how bird habitats are shifting in response to the changing climate but the bird count is more than a way to gather data for many it's a beloved Daniel tradition I come from a family of birders my grandmother was a bird or my father feeds his birds at his feeder and my daughter. I still remember when my daughter was able to find a ticket. And get it added to the list of birds that we had seen particular talent and she was 4 at the time and it just was really exciting to Sara that with her so the event provides a way for bird lovers to get outside and help exam science. Climate Connections is produced by the Center for Environmental communication learn more connections. This is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Rachel Martin King good morning the u.s. And China looked to be on their way to the 1st phase of a trade deal phase one that would avoid another round of tariffs that was set to take effect this weekend President Trump tweeted about the agreement calling it quote an amazing deal for all Chinese officials confirmed an agreement in a news conference they said both sides have committed to work quickly to put details on paper for a formal signing ceremony N.P.R.'s chief economics course by. Scott Horsley is with me in studio is Scott good morning oil so over the last 24 hours there have been conflicting reports about what is actually in this agreement do we know anything definitive Now both sides have been pretty stingy with the details and of course in the past we've had a lot of hyperbole about an agreement that didn't actually pan out so we do want to be careful but we did get a fairly cryptic news conference from the Chinese side of this morning that was followed by some celebrate or tweets from the President Trump and then finally a one page readout from the u.s. Trade representative the put a little bit of meat on the bones Here's what we think is happening on the basis of that the next round of tariffs which were to kick take effect on Sunday on $160000000000.00 worth of Chinese imports those tariffs have been suspended the most recent round of terror which took effect in September and about $112000000000.00 worth of Chinese imports those are going to be cut in half it had been a 15 percent tariff that's going down to 7 and a half percent and then the remaining u.s. Tariffs on about $100.00 x. Amount about $250000000000.00 worth of Chinese imports which were 25 percent those tariffs are going to stay in place for now not exchange for the tariff relief the president says China has agreed to quote massive purchases of farm goods energy and manufactured products but we haven't seen any explanation of what massive means there and then China is also expect to provide some more protection for intellectual property which is something they were already sort of in the process of doing Ok in the tariffs you mentioned the ones that the u.s. Was getting ready to impose this weekend those were a big deal because they were going to hit a lot of consumer goods right during the holiday shopping season right and unlike some of the previous tariffs these were going to fall on things that ordinary people like like laptops cell phones children's toys and now they wouldn't of affected items that are currently on store shelves the tariffs are assessed when cargo containers arrive at the port but there was a worry among retailers and other businesses that just the news of another round of tariffs might have put a damper on holiday sales during a very important. Season we got news just this morning that November sales were a little below expectations so there's a you know some concern out there that consumer spending is a huge pillar propping up the u.s. Economy so there's going to a lot of relief now in the business community that those December 15th tariffs that were going to take effect on Sunday have now been postponed indefinitely or so we have been talking about this trade war for 18 months now does this agreement mean that we are finally done. No the trade war I think is not over but we do have I guess a temporary truce it remains to be seen how much additional stuff China actually buys from the us thus far we haven't seen that quantified the president has floated some astronomical figures that probably aren't realistic but nobody is putting hard numbers on that right now if there are also other items that the kind of big ticket items that are still out there to be resolved the reason that the president launched this trade war initially was all about intellectual property and in the force transfer of technology the u.s. Trade representative statement does make some reference to those items today and some structural changes that China supposed to make but details are are pretty thin right now Ok that battle may not be won Scott Horsley thanks so much you're welcome the long slow Breck's at story has just sped up British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his conservative party just won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections this morning he promised to end 3 years of political paralysis in the United Kingdom over its exit from the European Union and he says it's going to happen fast I will put an end to all that moans and we will get Brett sit down. By the 30000 of January no ifs no buts maybes the vote represents a major shake up in British politics we've got N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt on the line from London good morning Frank and good morning Rachel no doubt a huge win for Boris Johnson how did he make it happen Well he you know that it's interesting the conservatives picked up 47 seats this is the biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher's win in 1987 in the way he did it was just what you heard that line he said Get Bracks it done he had a laser like focus on this slogan and it was very effective and the reason for that is also what you were just mentioning earlier and that is over 3 years of political paralysis people are exhausted here I've been traveling around the country for the last number of weeks talking to voters and not only were people who voted in 2016 in the referendum to leave the European Union who wanted out of Europe those. People it really appealed to that line from Johnson but even people who want to stay in the European Union felt that the country just needed to move on even if it would do economic damage even if they were against this they just felt enough is enough and I think that that message really was the most important thing that Johnson did in the campaign I mean what happened to labor I mean they they ran on a very different kind of platform but he did it and I thought they would do bad Lee I didn't think they would do as badly as they did Rachael it's the were showing since 1035 for them so they have dug a deep hole for themselves and there are 2 things that happened here one is that Jeremy Corbin remarkably understand why did it he would not take a position on Bracks it which of course is the biggest issue to face the country in decades and the reason he did that is he had voters Labor voters on both sides who had different feelings he didn't want to alienate either side so his platform which was very hard to explain on the doorstep as people say here and in British politics and when you're kind of pitching to ordinary voters he said what we'll do is I'll get a new withdrawal agreement on that renegotiate this with Brussels and then we will take it back to the people for a referendum either to accept it or stay in the European Union that just did not sell the other thing is that Corben politically is pretty far to the left here he wanted to nationalize the rail roads which are problematic and has a point but he was also talking about tuition free universities which is very appealing but people weren't sure they could pay for it and he also his negative ratings were 61 percent in a recent poll so he really was a drag on the party. Explain how this changes British politics I mean Johnson really carved together this surprising coalition representing a real change in the political and I mean I think the political landscape is completely revamped and what I'd like to focus on is what's known as the Redwall up north of here in the north of England and in the Midlands even northern Wales Labor had this sort of traditional heartland industrial coal mining factories things like that that they. Always been able to rely on and a lot of them had voted to leave the and so Johnson was able to really go after that area and pick up very big when the other big story of election night was the strong showing of the Scottish National Party which ran on a platform of holding another referendum on Scottish independence how likely is that well not any time soon but this is a very serious issue and I think people are expecting in the next couple of years you're going to see a constitutional showdown between Nicolas sturgeon leader of the Scottish National Party and Boris Johnson N.P.R.'s Frank Langfitt reporting from London thank you so much happy to do it Rachel. Half as many newspaper reporters will head to work this morning compared to a decade ago Americans are making local political decisions with less and less information but Frank Morris of member station Casey who are reports there are signs of a turnaround at one Kansas news site. The Shawnee Mission Post covers a quarter of 1000000 people from this small clean colored house street in suburban Kansas City headquarters world headquarters a West off is the director of sales and subscriptions it's been 10 years the 1st year we made $500.00 and you know I don't know how many tens of people read this as the tiny web publication battled for a foothold hundreds of newspapers bit the dust including the one that used to cover the same suburbs way back on coverage penny muse Abernathy at the University of North Carolina says news deserts spread across the country what is at stake is our democracy itself and we all have a stake in whatever replaces the 20th century version of the newspaper print advertising largely funded the old model digital ad revenue has never come close to replacing it for papers or digital sites so in a last ditch move to save the shiny. Machine Post publisher j. Center tried putting up a paywall Oh you tried everything we could think of to avoid having to take that move this was 3 years ago honestly he wasn't that hopeful even with all the readership we had we hadn't been able to figure out a way to make it work and we're going to probably have to shut it down just like the norm was not that you paid for local news at that point but people did pay Ok. Welcome and today Center is calling the staff together to plan for next year and a big expansion in news coverage we're in a totally different position as of this year we will make more money from subscribers that we do from advertising is Never happened never centers $2700.00 subscribers are paying up to $72.00 a year for its content but summer he hopes to hire another full time reporter tripling his new Stefani year and a half just one gains in subscription revenue there has been a sea change from advertising dependence to subscription dependence Jim directs the Linn fest Institute a nonprofit group helping news organizations develop new business models he says leading national newspapers have been relying primarily on subscriptions not ads for years and coverage benefits if you are 1st and foremost seeking I balled scale for advertisers you're more likely to focus on. The car dash on the other hand focusing on subscribers means doubling down on local governments and schools civic journalism I am surprised and incredibly heartened by the fact that we've been able to figure out how to make this work here but kind of like where you know a Saqlain sticking out of the ashes of a forest fire the Shawnee Mission post isn't the only one a few other suburban sites are thriving on subscription revenue and the news organizations are bringing in more money from special events donations or grants of course. None of this makes up for the collapse of so many print newsrooms but if the new funding models expand coverage that's good news for everyone here News I'm Frank Morris and. This is n.p.r. News. Stay tuned later this morning how do you like your new this coming up it's by line Mendocino a new program at Keys e y x local news media at Roundtable hosted by Ilesha Bales the show will feature local reporters in conversation about stories they're following in Mendocino County with a focus on media lives literacy and increasing digital and polarized and profit driven news a landscape tune in every other Friday starting this Friday at 9 o'clock right here in case you were x. And z. . It was $970.00 and a pregnant Air Force captain found himself if you're pregnant you cannot be activated if you have a you cannot be active duty so she sued this week on The Media examines the case that almost set the course for women's reproductive rights instead to Justice Ginsburg's dismay. On this week's On the Media. Every Sunday evening at 6 pm. And. Never thought her teenager's football career could turn deadly and I watched him take a pretty hard hit one that caught my attention keeping kids safe from concussions the next Sunday afternoon at 3 here on Casey way Xx. RINGBACK Comes from this station and from campaign monitor with c.m. Commerce an e-mail marketing solution that connects to e-commerce platforms with a library of pre-built workflows for abandoned card emails and post purchase receipts and surveys campaign Monitor dot com from Total Wine and more where in-store teams can recommend a bottle of wine spirit or beer for any occasion shoppers can explore more than 8000 wines 2500 beers and 3000 spirits more at Total Wine dot com and from the pajama gram company creators of matching holiday pajamas for the whole family including dogs and cats with Charlie Brown Star Wars and Grinch themes in its fleece and flannel available at pajama gram dot com. This is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Rachel Martin and I'm Noel King good morning more than half a 1000000 people in this country do not have homes it's a crisis and you see it especially clearly along the West Coast there are tent cities along sidewalks parks and highway underpasses and they are at the center of a huge legal fight a federal appeals court has put limits on how far cities can go to enforce bans on camping as N.P.R.'s Leila Fadel and Kirk Siegler report this case could be headed to the Supreme Court Boise Idaho is maybe an unusual place to start this story the homeless crisis is overwhelming the big cities on the West Coast but Boise bills itself as one of the country's most livable cities touting its good schools its safe leafy neighborhoods and access to the outdoors yet it's this prosperous mid-size city that's at the center of a divisive legal battle over whether people can sleep on public property the case goes back nearly a decade when Pam Hawkes and her then partner were homeless here she says many nights they had no other choice but to pitch a tent in a wooded area along the Boise river I was like I just need somewhere to lay my head over night and it's not like we left here we always packed up and we always kept it clean yet police routinely ticketed her for camping in public or each talks in Spokane Washington where she's since moved she was on a city bus on her way to a job interview trying to press 31 they call it being in public which then I feel it makes me feel like I'm right Max downtown is Ok In all reality I was tried my time to stay out of view of the public eye hawks and a half dozen others in a similar predicament sued the city of Boise and last year they won a federal appeals court ruled it's unconstitutional for cities to ticket people for sleeping in public if there are no shelter beds available this is now the law of the 9th Circuit that covers much of the West Boise is appealing to the u.s. Supreme Court but for now from here to Seattle to cities in California you can't just. Criminalize people like hawks for not having anywhere to sleep with 24th to go. Boise's of all rights attorney Howard bellowed off still keeps copies of the dozen public camping tickets Pam Hawkes got she couldn't pay them so s