The House could soon vote on impeaching President Trump are Americans convinced that this is the right move from. N.p.r. In Washington this is one. I'm Joshua Johnson today on one a it's the Friday news round up the impeachment inquiry continued this week weighing the facts presented and. Nancy Pelosi says there's more than enough evidence she announced that articles of impeachment are in the works it's been a busy week in politics with dropping out of the presidential race and Joe Biden having words with a voter at a town hall event and we head to Key West where a new report shows climate change could be worse there than we thought speak your mind on this week's top national stories comments on our Facebook page or tweet us at one. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Janine Herbst the shooting at a u.s. Naval base this time in Florida 4 people are dead several others are wounded after an aviation trainee opened fire with a handgun at Naval Air Station Pensacola officials say the gunman who was among the dead was a Saudi Arabian military pilot President Trump tweeted that he spoke to Saudi King Solomon and that he wants to get to the bottom of the incident Florida governor Rhonda Santas also weighed in today when you have a foreign national involved you know particularly in that part of the world the investigations obviously going to be different then if it were just somebody from a local community and and I think you'll see that as things go on the Saudi presence at the naval air base isn't unusual for national allies regularly Trost train with u.s. Forces in Honolulu the Navy says the u.s. Sailor who opened fire at Pearl Harbor killing 2 before turning the gun on himself was unhappy with his commanders and had been undergoing counseling another victim is hospitalized this came just days before a ceremony remembering those who died when Japan bombed the base 78 years ago propelling the u.s. Into World War 2 the open enrollment period for Medicare is coming to a close this weekend but a report out this week shows only a fraction of seniors are actively looking for better or cheaper coverage n.p.r. Salinas m n stuff and has more during open enrollment seniors who are in Medicare Advantage kind of private insurance version of Medicare or have separate prescription drug coverage can logon and see what's new different plans might be available you can make sure you're in the plan that works best for you but according to the Kaiser Family Foundation only one in 10 seniors actually switches plans during open enrollment It could be that people are happy with what they have or they might find it too hard to shop for coverage adding to that difficulty this year the government's Medicare plan finder tool has been glitchy Selena Simmons deafen and. As hiring surged in November as u.s. Employers added a better than expected $266000.00 jobs N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley reports November's job gain was the biggest since January and suggest the labor market continues to chug along despite slowing economic growth and fallout from the president's trade war the number was boosted in part by the 41000 people who returned to work after the General Motors strike but job growth would have been strong even without that average wage growth is still modest that just over 3 percent but White House economist Tom Phillips and says That's more than enough to outpace inflation if you look at the purchasing power of that wage it has increased the last year because prices have come down of good unemployment dip to just 3 and a half percent in November matching the lowest rate in nearly 50 years Scott Horsley n.p.r. News Washington Wall Street hired by the closing bell You're listening to n.p.r. News from Washington and Iraq at least 11 people are dead including 2 police officers after a gunman drove into Baghdad square and opened fire the people who are in the square taking part in continuing protests against the government over what they see as undue influence by Iran and economic issues Iraqi officials say the gunmen were not part of the security forces deployed to disperse the protesters earlier today the trumpet ministration announced sanctions on 3 leaders of Iran backed groups that it accuses of killing dozens of protesters in demonstrations that started last month. Scientists say they are close as a closer to developing a vaccine against HIV The promising new study comes from a team at Harvard Medical School and Duke University from member station you are Angus Chan has more a vaccine for Aids HIV has proven elusive that's partly because the virus changes so fast treatments struggle to keep up the researchers tried a new strategy and they say it shows promise in monkeys and early version of the vaccine spurred the animals to produce antibodies with some of the key features they need to fight h r u v Kevin Saunders at Duke is the study's lead author It was definitely exciting because it was the 1st time we had seen evidence that we could overcome this obstacle design of the. Sounder says the next step is to finish and test a human version of the vaccine for n.p.r. News I'm Angus Chan in Boston girl prices higher up 1.2 percent at $59.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange the Dow gaining 337 points by the close I'm Janine Herbst n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include a little passports and their new science junior subscription for kids ams to inspire curiosity designed to bring projects to life while utilizing new science concepts more at little passports dot com. Just because you're on the road or live outside the j.p. Our broadcast area doesn't mean you have to give up listening to Jefferson Public Radio you can always stream it from any browser at i.j.a. Org but you can also download the free j.p. App with all 3 j.p. Our services are available to stream on your phone or compatible device that means you can listen to j p r anywhere and anytime download the j p r app from the App Store play and never again be out of touch with quality music and information you've come to expect from j p r. This is one day Happy Friday I'm Joshua Johnson in Washington House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces that House Democrats will begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump attorney general Bill Barr weighs in on protests against police and Democratic candidate Senator Connelly Harris drops out of the presidential race to some of the stories we'll be discussing today on the Friday news round up and here with us to discuss this week's top headlines are 3 of my favorite people starting with Ed O'Keefe a political correspondent with c.b.s. News and welcome back great to see you Sheryl Gay Stolberg a congressional correspondent with The New York Times. And Jeff Mason a White House correspondent with Reuters Jeff welcome great to be with you Don So let's start with impeachment and that announcement yesterday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi she announced that the Democrats are moving ahead with drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump and the announcement was nothing if not somber I democracy is what is at stake the president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt once again the election for his own benefit the president has engaged in at these at Hal are undermining our national security and jeopardizing the integrity of our elections his actions defiance of the vision of that founders and the oath of office that he takes to preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States sadly. That with confidence and never say with allegiance to our founders and high full of love for America today I'm asking our chairmen to proceed with I think that was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi making the announcement yesterday morning now Ed O'Keefe I don't think the announcement catches anyone by surprise we pretty much knew this was going to happen but what more do we know in terms of what might be in those articles of impeachment I don't think that's quite been spelled out yet we have and I suspect people like Cheryl are going to figure out over the weekend what exactly they're debating because we expected to issue a committee to spend the weekend mulling their options but essentially we're looking at articles that would have to do with obstruction of justice bribery and then possibly things like abuse of power or obstruction of Congress and it's that bribery one that has really I think stoked a lot of interest and speculation over the last few weeks because it's like well hold on a 2nd what kind of bribery are we talking about and I think one of the things to remember and throughout this whole debate and we saw some of it in the discourse between the law professors this week the crash course in constitutional law we all got whether we liked it or not it was they're not talking about sort of the standard legal definition of bribery but the constitutional one because bribery is one of only 2 potential crimes that are specifically outlined in Article 2 Section 4 treason being the other one and what they're looking at specifically is this sort of. The idea that you get when you take private benefits or ask for private benefits and get them in return for an official act and that is what they're accused in the president of having done telling the Ukrainian leader if you look into the Bidens you will get your visit and I will release the military at least that's what they cues him up and that's one of the big points that's been made this week is that what the founders intended in terms of impeachment had to do with a constitutional violation rather than like a statutory violation of a specific crime that's on the books but Cheryl with regard to what Ed said what do we know in terms of what's going to happen this weekend and in the days to come well I think. The House Intelligence Committee actually laid out some pretty clear parameters for what might be included in articles of impeachment as Ed said we're looking at possible abuse of oath of office almost certainly obstruction of Congress because the president has stonewalled Congress in refusing to allow witnesses like Mick Mulvaney and other top officials to testify and also as Ed said bribery and we did see that debate I think one of the things that the judiciary panel will be looking at will be how expansive to be how much should they include for instance the Moller report in their drafting of articles of impeachment and we're going to see a lot of variety of opinion on this some Democrats those I think in the more moderate camp would prefer that the articles be constructed narrowly to focus on Ukraine others say that they can't ignore the Malo report because special counsel in Mahler as you remember laid out a path for Congress to investigate whether the president had obstructed justice by trying to thwart his investigation so we will see that debate over the weekend on Monday there will be a Judiciary Committee hearing in which lawyers for the intelligence committee will present their reports summing up the evidence that the intelligence committee gathered during its fact finding inquiry then we will see the committee the Judiciary Committee move on to drafting articles of impeachment and they're expecting that we will have a vote on the House floor before the Christmas recess on whether to impeach the president Jeff the president obviously has been very vocal throughout this whole process I mean he tweeted during the Intelligence Committee hearing with of out of it which he responded to in real time yesterday in response to this announcement about articles of impeachment he tweeted and this is a to tweet thread quote The Do Nothing radical left Democrats have just announced that they are going to seek to impeach me over nothing they already gave. Up on the ridiculous Muller stuff stuff in quotes so now they hang their hats on to totally appropriate in parentheses perfect phone calls with the Ukrainian president this will mean that the Beyond important and seldom used act of impeachment will be used routinely to attack future presidents that is not what our founders had in mind the good thing is that the Republicans have never been more united we will win unquote those are 2 tweets that the president sent yesterday after Nancy Pelosi s announcement I hear him in terms of saying that the founders did not intend for us to use impeachment routinely to attack presidents that is true but broader than that what do we make of the president's response Well couple things I mean he hits on a couple pieces there of his strategy the White House the strategy and the Republican strategy certainly the fact that he's underscoring the Republicans are united is key and that's 11 thing that's giving him and the White House a lot of confidence as they know that once this process of the articles of impeachment are completed and moved to the Senate for a trial once he's in the Senate he's got a friendly audience and on the Republican side which controls the body so that that is helpful to him he's also underscoring and argument the Republicans have made which is that his and his actions are not impeachable and raising questions about whether the Democrats are doing this for partisan reasons and casting sort of a shadow over that with that question but he is not in not quite as far as some of his Republicans are saying that he did something wrong but it's not impeachable he continues to say what he did was perfect that was kind of the argument that was made somewhat by Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University School of Law He was one of 4 professors who gave us that constitutional law lesson this week 3 called by the Democrats Turley was called by the Republicans they spoke on Wednesday to the House Judiciary Committee in their 1st hearing about the evidence that had been brought forth. By the Intelligence Committee Here's part of what Professor Turley said about that so-called perfect phone call that President Trump had with the president of Ukraine it's not wrong because President Trump is right his call is anything but perfect it's not wrong because the House has no legitimate reason to investigate Ukrainian controversy it's not wrong because we're in an election year there is no good time for an impeachment you know it's wrong because this is not how you impeach an American prison this case is not a case of the unknowable it's a case of the peripheral we have a record of conflicts defenses that have not been fully considered and subpoenaed witness with material evidence. To impeach a president on this record would expose every future president to the same type of in coate impeachment that was George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley testifying on Wednesday and I understand Professor Turley argument that you need a stronger stack of evidence to make the American people feel comfortable about impeaching and removing a president even though there's pulled out of that says By some counts that half of Americans are ready to impeach and move so I totally get that on the other hand the administration has been stonewalling the investigation so they can't build the pile of evidence that they want so I don't know if Wednesday move the needle at all I totally take his argument but in the scheme of things I don't know whether Wednesday made a difference it literally was an academic exercise and I think it was designed to just sort of spin the wheels while they were putting the finishing touches on these plans to come up with articles of impeachment so you now have in the formal record sort of academic and legal arguments about whether or not you can proceed on this but so what you're right it did nothing to move the needle and then I think the hearing though because I think they needed to demonstrate that some sense of forward momentum and that's all it was is that Ok we have started will do this will have. Many had hoped would be a more sober and serious conversation about the outlines in the history of impeachment but broke down along pretty predictable lines and there it was and if you were someone who was really eager to hear what academics had to say about it there was your opportunity but otherwise I don't think it necessarily as you said will persuade folks who are still very evenly divided overall on whether or not this should happen you can dive into certain states or certain congressional districts to see a little more of a difference in opinion but overall across the country we're still pretty closely divided on this and certainly the rancor between Democrats and Republicans was not at all temp down during the hearing it was in some ways hotter than it was in the Intelligence Committee and Cheryl I'd like to pick up with you on that when we continue our conversation also want to. It to some of your questions about this whole process David in Plainfield Indiana e-mailed one question I have about the impeachment hearings is about who has not shown up I would love to hear a list of all the people subpoenaed that didn't show up and all the documents that were not handed over maybe show you can help us get a scope for what the Democrats want that they haven't quite gotten when we continue with Ed O'Keefe of c.b.s. News Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times and Jeff Mason with Reuters We'll get back to the roundup in a minute but 1st we're reaching the end of the 2010 which means looking back on a bunch of Best Of lists from the decade Well this week Spotify releases top 5 most streamed songs and artists of the decade the number one most streamed artist was Drake This song is one dance by Drake and Wizkid which is the 2nd most streams song of the decade I'm Joshua Johnson and you are streaming or listening over the radio to one essay from w.a.m. You and n.p.r. . 5. From my. Song. Just like j.p. R.s. Radio service online. Org provides a one stop gathering place for news arts culture and entertainment visit. Ork for photos articles and links covering regional national and international news click on one of 3 audio services get updated on listener news from j p r contribute to community forums or just check out the weather in your area it's Jefferson Public Radio's website at w w w i j p.r. Dot org. Housing in Oregon begins Monday's Jefferson exchange the housing industry plans on the summit early next year also in our one the University of Oregon Professor researching the link between music and poetry in our 2 you can talk to people you disagree with a Portland State professor tells us how I'm not in Hamilton That's on Monday in exchange the Jefferson exchange. Plays again to 10 pm on the news and information service of Jefferson Public Radio. I'm Marco Werman The World's news room brings you the big picture stories and some other stuff I like words like fat buttery words such as. Gluttonous toady I don't experience black is white would such as mortician liquidate consume real join us and here the world weekdays at 4 pm on the news and information service of j p r. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the Lemelson foundation committed to improving lives through invention in the u.s. And in developing countries and working to inspire and enable the next generation of inventors more information is available at Lemelson dot org from the John d. And Catherine team MacArthur Foundation recognizing exceptionally creative individuals this year's MacArthur Fellows and more information are at mac found dot org And from the listeners who support this n.p.r. Station. This is one a I'm Joshua Johnson it's the Friday news round up with Ed O'Keefe of c.b.s. News Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times and Jeff Mason of Reuters David from Plainfield Indiana e-mailed one question I have about the impeachment hearings is about who has not shown up I would love to hear a list of all the people subpoenaed that did not show up and all the documents that were not handed over Cheryl the list is probably a little as long as a little too long to read right here but I can give you a few Mick Mulvaney the Acting White House chief of staff was subpoenaed Charles' cup a man the former deputy national security adviser who is asking courts to determine whether or not he has to testify energy secretary Rick Perry was subpoenaed to associates of Rudy Giuliani Lev Parness and Igor Freeman both of whom are under indictment right now were subpoenaed those and more than a dozen were subpoenaed and no shows and we also have some pretty significant people who were not subpoenaed notably John Bolton President Trump's former national security advisor whose lawyer has suggested that he has very relevant and interesting information to share but the House has not subpoenaed him thinking that he would just defy the subpoena as the others have and to Professor Turley is point. There are these lawsuits going on and if Nancy Pelosi wanted to she could wait and hold off the proceedings and say let's let the court resolve these questions to see whether or not we can get this information from these witnesses she is not doing that she is simply saying that we are going to move ahead we consider this obstruction of justice and our investigation will go on so that if any of these folks do come out and do testify you know they'll add to their investigation Janet back Golden is a particularly good example there because he's in addition to his attorney he has sort of hinted in various tweets to keep. Self in the conversation that he knows something he wants the calm he seems to want to say something and yet you know it's a little bit of a double edged sword both for the Democrats and the Republicans if the Democrats were to decide to wait and let that issue go through the courts then it delays impeachment which is not in their political interest Republicans on the other hand can right now say look you're speeding this process up for your own political benefit you're not waiting to hear from people but if they did wait to hear from Bolton It doesn't sound like based on what boldness suggesting they would like what they would hear well in terms of speeding up the process deal emailed Why can't the courts expedite rulings on those defined subpoena by committees this is impeachment after all it is urgent to get required testimony. I mean why aren't they speeding up somebody else's case and I think that's the argument is that it just takes a while and and these things are necessary designed to be fast tracked I think if we get to a point where some of the starts piling up on the front steps of the Supreme Court they may have to rush some kind of a decision if something is is a little more urgent but it's not what they like to do no not at all and that's the other argument the Democrats have been making as to why they're just proceeding now as they know that if they wait for the courts this could run until next summer possibly up until the election and they don't want to do that but worth noting that $974.00 in the Nixon administration it was only after the Supreme Court ordered the release of the famous 18 minutes worth of tapes that Republicans started abandoning the president in droves Republicans held tight with Nixon for a very long time and then once that evidence came out there was a rush to the exits and as we know he resigned rather than face impeachment so you know one could argue that there perhaps would be a similar moment such as that down the road I don't know I think it I think. It's hard for me to envision I'll have again sometime later after that but right it's hard for me to envision it but nonetheless the historical precedent is out there and just because they're doing this impeachment doesn't mean either of these committees is going to stop investigating intelligence and judiciary have both said they will continue investigating aspects of this even after an impeachment vote later this month so court cases could become relevant that forces the course the president's hand and potentially force the political will of either party so Jeff we know that the House Judiciary Committee is meeting basically over the weekend to prep for Monday where they'll be more hearings eventually they will vote on whether to draft articles of impeachment more than likely they will because the committee is controlled by Democrats the House will vote on articles of impeachment which will probably approve because the House is controlled by Democrats the Senate still feels like the place where impeachment goes to die. And I'm not sure what's been going on in the Senate in preparation for this whether the Democrats have a strategy for this whether they're going to ask for something short of removal like censure or something else it just doesn't feel like there's any strategy to go beyond anything but what I think a lot of Democrats would consider a slap on the wrist a rubber stamp and saying you not a boy don't you do that again I mean I can certainly say that there's a strategy on the Republican side and on the White House and side and that is to go in and try to prove that the what the president has been saying that this entire process is a sham is in fact a sham and have you call some witnesses try to distract by calling 100 Biden probably and Adam Schiff and putting on a robust case whether or not the Democrats I mean it doesn't seem to me that the Democrats are willing to go for anything less than asking for removal even though it's just super super unlikely that that would happen based on the numbers in the Senate there's one other aspect of this that we should touch on and then we're going to move on if we could we could literally talk about this for the next 3 hours but one aspect of this that I think has come up repeatedly is just the constitutional nature of this in terms of the check and balance that Congress represents on the president President Trump has said repeatedly that this should never happen to another president this is outrageous this is beyond the pale no president should ever go through that that is literally incorrect that is not what the founders intended and the idea that the president would say you can't do this to me is exactly one of the reasons why the Democrats have started leaning on him harder to say all will prove to you that we are actually a co-equal branch of government exactly and thank you for going there because this grinds my gears when you hear the argument that he makes about due process and and you know that he's not being given his chance look. There as an ever been a court ruling on whether you actually do get due process rights in an. Impeachment proceeding it's never been brought to courts to be settled he can make that argument due process may not even ultimately ever apply in an impeachment proceeding it is a political proceeding it is not a legal proceeding he has Republicans and the president are trying to take what goes on in law and order and apply it to an impeachment proceeding but that's not the case because this is a political matter set up by the Constitution the only road map you have is what's in there and whatever legal interpreter court interpretations of come from it and on this specific issue it's never happened you can make a fairness argument that's totally valid Bill Clinton did it to some effect because remember Democrats pretty much held on in the following election they'll make it over the next year Republicans will and they may have a point but this is not a court of law this is a political matter and it will be treated as such by Democrats well this will definitely set some political precedence going forward regardless of which way it goes but there is other news that we want to talk about this week but there are you do you know I'm sorry you don't don't blame me they wrote a script and the next thing in the script has to do with William Barr the attorney general he made some comments this week that got a lot of attention and several of your sentence comments about this so I want to dive into this quick because this week he said that he is skeptical that the f.b.i. Had enough information to begin that probe into whether the president's associates that now president's associates conspired with Russia in the 2016 election the inspector general of the Department of Justice initially wrote a report that set that investigation in motion attorney general Barr cast doubt on that report and the report is due out next week Jeff can you impact this a little bit in terms of what the big deal is about this report and how much of this is political versus legal serve I mean number one in terms of the political side the president and in this case his attorney general have put a lot of weight and raised a lot of expectations that this report would come out and say there. Investigation should have never been started in the 1st place and that is what apparently the attorney general is casting some doubt on in terms of the conclusions because the conclusions apparently do not say that and in many ways I think that's attorney general bar you know trying to stay good with the president and if anything has shown that he is on the president's side in many of these things which is drawing a lot of criticism for him because opponents anyway are Democrats and other critics have said you know you're not the president's personal attorney or the attorney general of the United States but at the end of the day Jeff I mean what impact what is it would it have if the and if the i.g. Report says what we think it's going to say it's not saying that about William Barr he was in the attorney general of the time Jeff Sessions was at least the 1st attorney general like what impact does it have on him well it has an impact on him and so far as it's not producing what I think he would like to have produced out of the Department of Justice and it will not give President Trump a talking point that he was looking for now there may be other things in that report that the president will like and he has already indicated that he thinks there's been some misquoting and thinks that it's going to be a blockbuster report so we have to see the rest of the results next week there's another comment that the attorney general made this week during a speech about the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve he was speaking at the Attorney General's Award for distinguished service in policing event on Tuesday and here is the part of his speech that caused so much controversy and they have to start showing more than they do. The respect and support. That law enforcement the service and of communities don't give that support and respect they may find themselves without the police protection they need that was attorney general Barr speaking at an awards event on Tuesday Now yesterday we had Houston's police chief art us a video on our program he's the president of the major cities Chiefs Association among other things we asked him to react to the A.G.'s comments and he referred to Bill bars comments in his words as hogwash attorney general Barsh statement shows little naiveness and a little oh not being familiar with the heart of the American police officers we don't when you call not one we don't ask whether you're white black brown Jewish Muslim Christian man woman straight gay We don't ask whether you're a supporter not supporter we don't ask where your zip code and it was we don't ask to be your critic friend we ask what is the problem what is the correct were you located and we that was Houston Police Chief Art us of a to who is the president of the major cities Chiefs Association we have gotten a ton of comments on Facebook about a.g. Barres comment Aaron writes that is a terrifying comment coming from the top law enforcement official in the country what exactly does he mean by respects allowing them to do whatever they want without challenge this sounds uncomfortably like places like China contrast that with what James wrote on our Facebook page James writes currently municipalities everywhere are struggling to hire police officers because quite simply nobody wants to do the job anymore that is a result of the current societal conditions but if they don't improve then fewer and fewer people will want to be police and thus a massive shortage will occur that's what bar is saying Cheryl you covered the protests in Baltimore after Freddy Gray died in police custody you've covered a number of cases in terms of law enforcement police brutality What do you make of the attorney general's comments. Well 1st of all it was very clear that he was directing his comments to minority communities specifically black communities like Baltimore and in those comments I think he completely ignores the important history that his own Justice Department has documented and that is a history of abusive behavior brutal behavior on the part of police in minority communities like Baltimore like Ferguson I spent a lot of time in those communities talking to people I can tell you that people in those communities want a police presence they but they want the right kind of police presence they want foot patrols not officers in cars running out of their cars to run down drug suspects like Freddie Gray they want officers who understand the nature of their communities and I think that I think they were it was a very unfortunate comments by Bill Barr as we heard offensive not only to minority communities but also to police chiefs themselves although from a policy perspective Cheryl it's not terribly different than what we heard from Jeff Sessions he was very well that law enforcement adamantly talking Well that's true but if we go back to President Obama and his Justice Department there Justice Department was very aggressive in going after civil rights violations by police that unit has pretty much been decimated under the trumpet ministration and I would add one other thing the attorney general was suggesting in a way that police would quote unquote stand down if communities did not respect them and that is something that we saw happen after Freddie Gray there was a great controversy over whether or not police were backing down because there had been an uprising in which some officers were attacked and injured the police chief there said very strongly that police were not standing down I don't think that that is what the chief law enforcement officer of the United States wants to really encourage. In duly sworn police officers and there was another story related to crime and law enforcement this week that had to do with federal executions more than a dozen states asked the supreme court to resume federal executions and that came a day after the trumpet ministration asked justices to let the federal government carry out for death sentences what is this about and how does this factor into what the current makeup of the Supreme Court well it's one of those issues that's been sort of percolating through the years is one that could be revisited under more favorable ideological conditions and so that's clearly what they're trying to do here and I as I recall executions could resume as soon as Monday I believe at least could be a federal execution as soon as Monday this coming Monday right so you know this is one of those that now with the current makeup of the court like the gun control issue that was debated by the court earlier this week like possible abortion ruling cases abortion rights cases that many believe could potentially you know be considered differently now that you know as a conservative majority on the court Jeff does this feel like an election year kind of a thing where the administration is talking more law enforcement as an appeal to its base I hesitate to say that simply because this as I said surely feels kind of consistent policy wise with what the administration has always said yeah it's a good question I mean certainly President Trump has tried to emphasize his law enforcement themes and that those are popular with the base attorney general Barr has made a push on the death penalty since coming back I don't know if that is a rallying cry for Republicans per se or for people who support President Trump certainly a controversial issue in this country but he's putting up as his on it and wanted to show some progress I think it is a rallying cry for the president the president has talked about executing drug dealers that who he has talked to the. He said to police officers don't be so nice when you go into these communities you know basically saying rough them up a little bit he's a law and order guy and that appeals to the base it's red meat for the base We'll get back to the round up in just a moment there was a new report on climate change the directly affects parts of the u.s. Including my beloved South Florida we will have a report from the Florida Keys in just a moment but 1st we remember a legend of cya fine Dorothy Katherine Fontana better known as d.c. Fontana died this week at age 80 she wrote more than 10 episodes of the original Star Trek series and was a story editor she contributed to the next generation Babylon 5 and a half dozen other classic shows after her passing William Shatner who played James t. Kirk tweeted that fun Tena was a pioneer and that quote her work will continue to influence for generations to come a Star Trek pioneer d.c. 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The Kennedy Center lifetime artistic achievement awards will be presented Sunday on the next fresh air we'll hear from one of the recipients Michael Tilson Thomas conductor of the San Francisco Symphony and will remember Mary Previti who worked with youth in detention and at risk youth she died last month join us stay with us for fresh air today at 3 and 7 here on the news and information service of j.p. Our. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the Alfred p. Sloan Foundation bridging science and the arts by supporting science themed musicals such as Einstein's Dreams running through December 14th at 5959 theaters more at Sloan dot org from the William t. Grant foundation supporting research to improve the lives of young people more information is available at w.t. Grant Foundation dot org And from listeners like you who donate to this n.p.r. Station. Back now to the Friday news round up with Ed O'Keefe of c.b.s. News Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times and Jeff Mason of Reuters We'll get back to our panel in a minute but for just a minute let's get out of the beltway and head down to the Florida Keys not just because it's warm there and it's cold here but because there was a new report that came out about rising sea levels and the amount of money that it would take to keep the region dry Joining us now to discuss it is w l r N's Nancy Klinger who covers Key West and has covered it for some time Nancy welcome to the program thanks for having me Joshua give us a sense of what this report shows what's the most dire aspect of it for folks in the Keys I guess the dire aspect of it is just what it would cost to keep all of our roads dry with the sea level rise that's projected and whether that cost is worth it if you're only paving a road that reaches you know a couple dozen homes give us a sense for those who haven't been to the Florida Keys of exactly what these roads are like basically when you drive down to the keys you're taking us one and it kind of leads you all the way down the island chain from Key Largo through Iowa Marotta to marathon all the way down to Key West right that's right and that road Us One is obviously going to be kept viable for his long as possible but the people live most people live on the islands off us one and there are smaller lower roads that lead to their homes a lot of those homes are elevated up on stilts because of flooding but keeping the roads dry is important because you need to be able to reach your home how much work has been done up to now in terms of dealing with sea level rise in the Keys Well they've started building new public buildings like new fire stations much higher for flood projections so you know we've we've known for quite a while that this is coming and nobody who lives in the Florida Keys and sees sunny day flooding is really in denial about. I meant change but what was really eye opening was the cost projection for elevating some of these roads they did a test case of a road on sugar key and they found that to keep it dry from the king tides the very high tides we get in the fall just 55 years from now could cost $25000000.00 a mile and for the flooding expected in 2060 that would be 60000000 dollars a mile and that's a lot for you know a neighborhood of 30 homes and by the way we should be clear when you go on either side of us one if you're not like traveling over water the neighborhoods on either side sometimes are just a few blocks like you could be 23 blocks that juts out from us one and then it goes right back to narrowing That's right and they're quite rural in most places now Florida Governor Rick Scott now senator told scientists during his term not to use the terms global warming and climate change in states documents that got a tremendous amount of pushback. What's the mentality of Florida's government in terms of dealing with this I imagine if the state is not interested in working with the federal government then this feels really rather hopeless Yeah we've seen a real turnaround on that with the new governor Rhonda Santos He's appointed a chief science officer and a chief resilience officer and both of them appeared at this climate summit in Key West this week and you know definitely are acknowledging that change is coming and that we have to deal with it what will we lose if we lost key west talk about what it is that makes that place special to people who live there well Key West is actually among the higher spots along the Keys that's why it was one of the 1st to be settled you know I mean the original settlers were on the higher ground so. But the keys as a whole I mean it's just a really beautiful and a lot of the time tranquil island community you have Florida Bay and the Gulf of Mexico on one side the Atlantic Ocean on the other so every day we get both gorgeous sunrises and sunsets we have an amazing environment we have 2 national parks a living coral reef and really wonderful communities with lots of interesting people doing interesting things before I let you go Nancy I remember from every hurricane that I ever covered in South Florida as a South Florida native that the one group of people you could count on to not to evacuate or 3 people in the Keys there you know we've ridden them out before we're going to ride it out again and they do and they make it all the way through what about now is this beginning to change the way people think about riding it out if climate change is going to dramatically change their home well I think some of our recent experience with hurricanes like Irma and Wilma back in 2005 have changed that to some extent but there is definitely a resilient attitude among islanders of survival and figuring out how to make that happen I mean people lived here before there was a road before there was a pipeline bringing fresh water and I think there's ideas about how to make that happen again be more resilient. That's w r N's Nancy Klinger who covers the Florida Keys Nancy thanks for talking to us thank you let's bring it back to the panel with Cheryl and Jeff by the way did you know that there are direct flights Washington to Key West oh you know oh you knew Ok now I want to visit Oh yes so you've already kind of planned your post 20 twentieth's Kay Well it's not the list it's actually definitely on the lot of Brando's Mary on point something you know but 1st we got to get through the election but one person who is not going to be making a deeper into the election cycle is Senator Kamel a Harris she launched her campaign what they're calling good segue that's what she launched her campaign with a rally in Oakland before more than 20000 people and now less than a year later she's dropped out of the running this week Jeff what do you think were the big factors that forced Kamel Harris out well the biggest factor apparently appears to be money she just wasn't getting enough and she wasn't fundraising enough to stay viable mean she was had already qualified for the next debate in December the Democratic debate so it it seemed a little bit surprising the timing that she would she would pull out when there are you know other Democratic candidates who have not qualified but she said in her announcement that she couldn't in good faith go forward and telling her supporters that she had a pathway when she didn't see one herself and that had a lot to do with money in terms of why she wasn't making that money mean she made some mistakes during her campaign and one of them certainly had to do with health care there seemed also to be a little bit of a backfire after that moment that she had with Vice President Biden about race and and apparently some perhaps some infighting in the campaign as well sheryl you know I was going to say there's a core reason why she wasn't raising that money and that is that she seemed not to have a clear idea of what her policies were and why she was running and she kind of did some flip flops but more important as Jeff just raised there were a lot of internal difficulties within her campaign and there was a lot of tension a lot of controversy my. Colleagues Jonathan Martin and others wrote a very explosive story a few days before she withdrew detailing the resignation of one of her top canned pain staffers who said that you know basically the campaign wasn't disarray that 90 days before Iowa they didn't have a clear idea of what they were doing we had people on the record a congresswoman on the record saying that she thought the campaign manager needed to be fired Kamel Harris had put her sister in charge of the campaign and so there were just all these internal difficulties and I think the bottom line is if you can't run your own campaign you really can't be president worth noting though and with the with the departure of Tom The Harris the Democratic pool gets a little more white Yes it does. Cory Booker yesterday and earlier this week in Iowa actually few times pointed out that the party now runs the risk of having more billionaires than black people in the race notable comments from Mike Bloomberg on Friday morning to Gayle King on c.b.s. When he was asked about this and he said look. Diversity obviously a big concern but diversity for diversity sake in this race isn't necessarily worth it if the voters are not accepting those candidates they got in they started their campaign before whatever reason voters aren't they're not resonating with voters so why change the party rules if they're not resonating is essentially his argument maybe didn't give it isn't is artfully as he could have but he makes a point which is this is a marketplace of ideas and for whatever reason they haven't been able to sustain themselves to things and Harris is ruling regarding timing it was money but it was also timing Friday is the deadline to appear on the ballot in California and her team decided that I mean all these problems it be a little weird to be on the ballot in California and then have potentially have to remove your name from the ballot it would expose her as vulnerable to a potential challenge when she's up for reelection to the Senate in 2022 she survives the other is impeachment if she had to sit in Washington for more than 2 weeks in January for an impeachment trial any momentum she. Was hoping to have an Iowa would be lost and so now impeachment is essentially. You know victimized at least one member of the Democratic field with regards to the front runner of the presumptive front runner Joe Biden he had a heated exchange yesterday with a voter who kind of squared off with him in Iowa the voter was questioning his son Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine with oil company barista and it got pretty tense Here's a clip with Trump has been messing around in the Ukraine over there but you were on the other hand thank your center for their good jab and never for gas company that you had no experience of I think method in order to get access. For the rest. Of their water it's good to know what it is and then. I go on you see how do you know why do you want to do this where I was it. Was part of the exchange between Joe Biden and a voter at a campaign event in Iowa. Jeff this is one of the 1st times that Joe Biden is actually like even a full throated defense of his son but set that aside for a 2nd when Joe Biden called that voter a damn liar with his assumption about Hunter Biden what actually is the story with Hunter by 1st of all I think a rich kid getting a job that he's not qualified for that is not new that's that's kind of the American way in some places well I'm not really a rich kid Well you know and rightly but what is the real deal with hunter like well if you think if you different things to unpack there. Hunter Biden had a job at a Ukrainian energy company and it has come under a great deal of scrutiny because and he has even conceded really in one of his interviews that he probably got it because of his last name so Republicans have focused on that. A great in agreement with a lot of attention during this impeachment process that has put some pressure on Joe Biden's campaign but there has been no evidence of wrongdoing one of the reasons Republicans have raised questions about it is because while Vice President Biden was in office he was sort of the point person on Ukraine and so they're drawing some connections there that perhaps. Something shady was going on no evidence to suggest that nothing has been proven about that and Biden as we saw in that clip gets hot about his son and I it's actually it's I don't think it is the 1st time that he has robustly defended his son it is however a sign that if this keeps coming up which it on doubt it Lee will certainly if he gets the nomination President Trump is going to bring it up on the debate stage the vice president's going to have to be ready for it Catherine emailed I was disappointed to hear that Kamel Harris was dropping out of the Democratic race for president I found her to be a strong moderate candidate with good leadership style I was also heartened by the fact that she is a person of color as well as a woman and I felt that she would be a valuable candidate I'm Joshua Johnson You're listening to one and a few more stories we should get to in the time we have left including Sheryl about . Congressman Duncan Hunter Republican from California he pled guilty to a felony this week Duncan Hunter was one of the early supporters of Donald Trump in his campaign but this felony is kind of a big and not exactly a fall from grace but it's been a a quite a saga over the last few months yeah it's a big deal he was accused and pleaded guilty to one count involving a scheme in which he and his wife who by the way was going to testify against him diverted $250000.00 from their campaign account to their personal use when Hunter was indicted over the summer he was stripped of all his committee assignments in the house and now that he has pleaded guilty to just one count the House Ethics Committee told him yesterday that he needs to refrain from voting so frankly I'm not sure what there is left for Duncan Hunter to do we know that Kevin McCarthy the Republican leader spoke to Hunter yesterday and McCarthy told reporters that some kind of statement would be forthcoming from Hunter but as of now he remains a congressman without the ability to vote and without the ability to serve on committees but he hasn't said he's resigned he hasn't said he's resigning so you know I don't know how long you can hang on it one more story from the administration that affects hundreds of thousands of people on food stamps this program snap is the official name of the program what's the change and why is the administration making Yeah so Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and in essence what they're trying to do is eliminate the benefits for about $688000.00 adults by making it more difficult for states and is reading here because it's easier to do it that way the way requirement that adults without children work at least 20 hours a week or lose their benefits this is been a longstanding push by mostly Republicans to tighten up the rules in a bid to save money and make the program more efficient Congress last year in the farm bill kept this kind this proposed stricter requirement out of the farm. And food bill but there was language in it that said if the White House wants to go down this road on its own go right ahead and so they're doing that but they will likely face legal challenges for doing it could save several $1000000.00 over the course of it but again likely be challenged in court and arguments have been made this week this is unfair to some of the neediest people in the country one last story before we go because this was a busy week for politics for sure and next week will be the same but it was a really good week for many pop culture fans a viral video features a song about a character in The Man Delorean a new Star Wars series on the streaming service Disney plus in its 1st episode the man to Laurie and a bounty hunter makes a moral decision to not turn over the biggest catch of his career a child that looks like a baby Yoda thanks to fans of the show and fans of adorable big eyed babies in general baby Yoda is now in a skate of all fans of the Broadway hit Hamilton will recall the song Dear Theodosia near the end of Act One moment dear theater that song became the viral parody dear baby Yoda and it is equally adorable will play it for in a 2nd now the character's popularity may have caught Disney by surprise it has no plans to release baby Yoda toys until spring at the earliest and in the meantime fans are making their own merge but Disney is celebrating another Star Wars milestone the opening of a new attraction called Rise of the resistance the early reviews are overwhelmingly positive for what the company calls its most high tech ride ever baby Doda baby and I hate to say it but rise of the resistance kind of sounds like Washington d.c. . But so you've written it you know what baby you know it is so cute it is adorable if you've not seen you know I'm a mom I just wanna cuddle baby Yoda I agree with you completely Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times thanks for joining us thanks Joshua Jeff Mason of Reuters thanks Jeff thank you Joshua and Ed O'Keefe of c.b.s. News thanks great to be with you one last time one of these lead audial engine here is Jake Cherry. With technical help from Josephine Leo Di our digital producers are Gabrielle Healy and Chris Christie on a daily Humphries at the program to learn more about our team visit the one a dot org this program comes to you from w am you part of American University in Washington distributed by n.p.r. Until we meet again I'm Joshua Johnson thanks for listening and enjoy your weekend this is one essay. Form. Does raise a. 100. Men . Will make it all right. To come. In Mickey sing for you. And. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from the size seems foundation since 1905 supporting advances in science education and the arts towards a better more just society more information is available at sys same's Foundation dot org from a similar family foundation supporting shatterproof a national nonprofit dedicated to ending the devastation of addiction and transforming treatment in America learn more at shatterproof dot org And from the listeners who support this n.p.r. Station. For years Chanel Miller was known only as Emily dough in 2015 she was sexually assaulted by Brock Turner a star swimmer at Stanford his case sparked a national debate about justice and leniency now she's telling her story as a sister daughter artist and stand up comedian Chanelle Miller on trauma and resilience next time on one and. Recognizes the nonprofit community support of Lithia artisans market and the Briscoe art when the Lithia artisans announced the 200-1000 holiday market at a new location this year the Medford armory December 13th 14th and 15th the holiday market features artisans of the list the artisans market offering their locally made works of art jewelry pottery clothing hats woodworking and more there will be live music throughout the week in the Lithia artisans holiday market at the Medford armory is open to the public the 13th 14th and 15th of December. This is the news and information service of southern Oregon University's Jefferson Public Radio 12 30 am k s j k talent and 9 30 am k a.g.i. Grants Pass also heard in the road Valley 102.3 f.m. News of the region the nation and the world. From w.h.y. Why in Philadelphia this is Fresh Air I'm David Bianculli in for Terry Gross today Michael Tilson Thomas longtime conductor of the San Francisco Symphony on Sunday he'll receive the Kennedy Center lifetime artistic achievement award his grandparents were pioneers of the you dish theater when he was a kid his grandmother took him up on stage and pointed to the last row in the balcony telling him up there are the cheapest seats at and those seats sit the people who love the show the most also remember Mary Previn for 30 years she worked with teenagers in Camden New Jersey where the detention center she ran became a model for others across the country we took terror out of their lives when boys and girls come in one of the 1st messages the officers will say is we will not let you hurt somebody while you're here and we will not let anyone hurt you Mary Previn He died last month at age 87 1st the news from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Jeanine Herbst White House is declining to participate in House impeachment proceedings N.P.R.'s i Reports House Democrats had offered to allow President Trump to send counsel to represent him at the hearings White House counsel passable only rejected the offer from Democrats ahead of the deadline set by the House Judiciary Committee in a short 2 paragraph letters sublimely said the inquiry is quote completely baseless he said Democrats in the probe now and not waste any more time with hearings but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already announced that Democrats intend to move ahead with drafting articles of impeachment against trop the Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing next week that will allow staff attorneys for both Democrats and Republicans to present their perspectives on evidence for impeachment I Seraphs go n.p.r. News the White House meanwhile the top Republican on the committee Doug Collins also sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler urging him to subpoena. Several people including the whistleblower Hunter Biden and House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff cousins also wants Republicans to be allowed to call their own witnesses security video from inside a Border Patrol cell is contradicting the official account of the death of a sick Guatemalan teenager who died in federal custody in May As N.P.R.'s John Burnett reports that video which was released today by the news website Pro Publica appears to show that federal agents did not perform welfare checks on the dying youngster as they had claimed the disturbing black and white video shows Carlos Gregorio are known dead as collapsing on the concrete floor of a Border Patrol.