a press coverage spine Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes. News is coming up next . Live from n.p.r. News in Washington Oncor of a Coleman Republicans have reached agreement on a deal to cut taxes for most people and businesses N.P.R.'s Kelsey Snell says If passed the cuts would take effect next year Republicans say the plan would cut taxes for most individuals and businesses the deal is not final but Republicans have agreed to cut the top rate for the highest earning individuals from 39.6 to 37 percent there was less the top corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent g.o.p. Leaders hope to vote on the tax overhaul early next week we'll see snow reporting Democratic lawmakers say the tax cuts unfairly benefit corporations and more affluent people over middle class Americans they're also upset the bill gets rid of a rule requiring everyone to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act Democrats say that will increase health care costs for everyone a Kentucky state lawmaker has apparently taken his life admit accusations that he sexually assaulted a 17 year old girl in a Louisville church where he was a pastor N.P.R.'s Scott Neuman reports the allegations against Representative Dan Johnson 1st surfaced in a series produced by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting which is part of Louisville Public Media it's reports were based on police records and an interview with the alleged victim Johnson who had been under fire from fellow lawmakers to resign held a news conference Tuesday at his church he strongly denied the charges and blamed n.p.r. For the story he also mentioned n.p.r. Several times in an apparent suicide note on Facebook n.p.r. And Louisville Public Media are separate companies and n.p.r. Did not investigate or use the story Louisville Public Media's president said the organization was deeply saddened over the apparent suicide Scott Newman n.p.r. News p.b.s. Has suspended distribution of the tab Smiley Show p.b.s. Says an independent law firm has discovered multiple credible misconduct allegations against him Smiley a prominent African-American host has released his. Statement strongly denying the p.b.s. Accusations he is warning that he intends to fight back it's been 5 years since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut Davis Dunn of and of member station w s h u reports on what this anniversary means for a new town parent whose son died in the shooting Mark Barden is co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise the group advocates for mental health legislation in order to prevent gun related deaths he says this work has given him a purpose after the death of his son Daniel in the shooting I can look out for other people and save lives in Daniel's name and nothing takes of my the pain of losing my sweet little boy nothing but this is a way that I can at least try to do some good in honor of my little Daniel Sandy Hook Promise also trains teachers and students to identify the warning signs that could lead to school shootings for n.p.r. News I'm Davis Donovan in Connecticut this is n.p.r. . Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding his annual news conference it lasts for hours he's touched on several subjects from modernizing the Russian economy to repeating that he'll run next year for another term as President Putin also discussed the u.s. Is finding that Russia interfered in last year's us elections Putin again denied the findings by American intelligence agencies he says they're false hoods a new survey of high school students finds that vaporing and marijuana are more popular than cigarette use N.P.R.'s Allison Aubrey reports about one in 3 high school seniors report they've used a vaporing device in the last year the annual survey includes 8th 10th and 12th graders in schools nationwide if found that is they being has become more popular among high schoolers many say they're inhaling just flavoring while about one in 3 said they were inhaling nicotine Nora Volkow of the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse says if this continues it could reverse some of the gains made in preventing tobacco use but concern is that kids because I'm addicted to nicotine but when they are vaporing it then they will be much more likely to transition into smoking cigarettes some teens who vapor research shows don't actually know what they're inhaling Allison Aubrey n.p.r. News just about all of the wildfires burning in Southern California have been encircled but the largest the Thomas fire is less than one 3rd contained it's in Ventura County northwest of Los Angeles it has scorched more than 370 square miles and burned down hundreds of buildings I'm core of a Coleman n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include Trader Joe's where customers will find the Stroop waffle cookie 10 imported from the Netherlands the decorative tans contain thin Dutch waffle cookies sandwiching or caramel filling available at Trader Joe's stores across the country. This is Nancy Wicks with the cave u.t. Board of directors as you're making a list and checking it twice we hope that Kate beauty is on the side nice December is the perfect time to make a year in tax deductible gift to Katie it's another way to give yourself and the greater community the gift of quality news information and entertainment that Katie provides throughout the year visit Kavi orgy slash give and make a contribution thank you and Happy Holidays. This is k b u t community radio heard at 90.3 in Crested Butte 88.7 in going to some and almost Jack's cabin at 94 point one at our signal can be streamed online at k b t v dot a large. Barrier. To. Remote areas. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington and I'm David Greene in Culver City California a President Trump nearing the end of his 1st year in office appears close to a big win in Congress he is urging lawmakers to move quickly now that House and Senate Republicans say they have agreed on a tax plan we are so tell us right now so close fact almost I don't want to talk about it maybe we shouldn't talk about it close but there's also a bit of a rush here Republicans narrow Senate majority is about to get more narrow after a big election loss in Alabama on Tuesday despite Democratic demands to slow this process down a tax vote is being planned for next week and n.p.r. Congressional reporter Kelsey Snow is in our studio in Washington to talk us through what I call say Hey good morning so easy question I'm sure what exactly is in this compromise bill well we haven't seen the bill just yet so what we have right now is what they're calling an agreement and the senior Congressional aides have confirmed the biggest details and we'll start with individuals so they are going to keep the plan to keep the double standard deduction that's that deduction that most people take $12000.00 for individuals and $24000.00 for married couples those deductions are going to go up now and on the right so it's a nearly doubling for for what you write off right off the top of the of your tax bill big change though is the individual top rate for the people who are in the very most will drop from 39.6 to 37 percent and this is where Democrats have said this that this bill mostly benefits the wealthy I mean that's been a point of real contention through this whole process yeah absolutely Democrats say that dropping the top rate and some other changes that they have in here would really do much more for the wealthy than they would for the middle class among those is a plan to I mean Democrats to be fair support this idea but that the that cap on the mortgage interest deduction would go to $750000.00 that's another thing where you know mostly wealthy people would be able to take advantage can I ask you. Just remember how we have arrived here there was a whole lot of wrangling some with Republicans and fellow Republicans talking about whether to eliminate certain deductions to try and pay for these tax cuts where of things landed with this compromise on those things sure this bill looks like it's going to be a lot more generous for individuals than we originally expecting one of the things that they are adding back is a $10000.00 deduction for state and local taxes there's some wrangling about the details about how that would work but it wouldn't really too high cost areas big blue states where Republicans are fighting to keep their majority in and in the suburbs so that's the idea that they would be able to deduct property taxes income taxes and sales taxes paid to states so politically that might help the party keep these votes on board and also help them in some of those states but isn't that going to bring back some of the real concerns about what this plan does to the deficit if you start restoring those deductions Yeah and that's going to something we're going to be looking for when we see a final bill and when those congressional score keepers the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation actually give us a score of how much this bill will cost one way they're going to try to curb the growth of deficit would be by letting the individual's hacks raised expire after 8 years that would mean that the deficit in fact is lower and the other thing that they're doing is they're getting rid of their plan to set the corporate rate at 20 percent and they're going to you know moderate that a little bit to 21 percent they hope that'll make a big part of the difference so do they have the votes to pass this by Christmass as President Trump is is fairy strongly urging them to do here yeah I was speaking with Republicans in the halls of Congress all day yesterday and they seem very confident but I think it's important to remember that in the Senate there's such a narrow majority of Republicans we've talked about that a lot already but that majority has gotten a little bit narrower other. Some concerns that Senator John McCain has been hospitalized he's in Walter Reed hospital undergoing some treatments for brain cancer and there are concerns that he may not make it back in time to vote for this bill there are other senators who may not be here as well so there's a question about how many votes they have Ok So getting close to a legislative victory for the public and party but certainly not quite done yet Wolf to see where this goes N.P.R.'s congressional reporter Kelsey's now Kelsey thanks thank you a new study finds that a lot of money is flowing into races for state Supreme Court millions of dollars are coming from sometimes mysterious donors and a lot of it goes to negative advertising Here's n.p.r. Justice correspondent Carrie Johnson for nearly 20 years the Brennan Center for Justice has been following the money in state Supreme Court elections senior counselor Lisa Bannon says the trends are going in one direction up in 1999 there were 7 states that where there was at least one justice on the bench that had been involved in a $1000000.00 race now the number is 20 so more than half of all states that use elections for choosing their Supreme Court just judges have what we call a $1000000.00 court in the last election cycle alone Bannon says Supreme Court elections tracked it more than $69000000.00 more than half of the financial contributions came from lawyers lobbyists business interests and labor unions about 40 percent of all of the spending in these elections came from outside groups a lot of that went to negative attack ads almost all of it was nontransparent so you don't know the sources of the money Annan says that raises some fundamental questions about judicial independence some research says judges punish criminals more harshly in election years and they're more likely to vote on behalf of business donors but Bannon says there's evidence those practices stop when judges are no longer eligible for reelection because of mandatory retirement or other factors and that really goes the Kents the very role of courts in our democracy. Judges are supposed to be deciding cases based on their understanding of what the law requires not worrying about how it's going to play out in the next election that matters because state Supreme Courts can deliver the final word on environment education and criminal justice issues even though that may not be clear to voters when they go to the polls Carrie Johnson n.p.r. News Washington. Here in Southern California wildfires are still burning the largest has blanketed much of Santa Barbara County with a smoky haze Now many residents fled these fires others did not in some cases fearing they might lose their jobs N.P.R.'s Leila Fadel has the story of some of those who stayed behind a lister I don't think it's night time whose you have need is this rounding up kids to eat at a daycare center on the east side of Santa Barbara and the Casa de in the us a community center that serves the Latino population when the schools close the low wage hourly workers seek us out that us as a community resource so they call up here and they say I have to go to work I'm a gardener I'm a housekeeper and I'm a cook and I have nowhere to take my kids so Rodriguez a community organizer helps create a temporary daycare here that opens its doors on Tuesday there are volunteer therapists dance teachers yoga teachers if you can prepare for your time here in. Santa Barbara is known for the rich and the famous think Ellie and Oprah but more than 15 percent of the county lives below the poverty line these are the the the parents who are keeping our community operating under this crisis and they don't have anywhere to bring their kids. Here my kids play soccer area or eternal bean bags into hula hoops Rodriguez says everything from food to games was donated in a matter of 18 hours a few miles away Max rarity is at work we're lucky to have generators here to back up this enormous refrigerator vaccines and this is flu season and so we've got a lot of needs for Vaccines and the Powers been intermittent this fall we found that it is expected to continue. She's a behavioral health specialist at the Santa Barbara county clinics to serve the uninsured are immigrants without the tension. Her friends have mostly fled to smoke but she and her family are still in town because of her job but we are centered in the neighborhoods where people don't have medical care so our patients are coming in with respiratory complaints and I'm a psychotherapist and my patients are coming in full of anxiety so she says they're not going to leave and most of the doctors and medical staff here made the same decision some driving through the worst days of the fire to get to work or staying in nearby hotels because their homes are in the fire zone everybody's house in southern Santa Barbara County her wife Kate MacDonald a history professor watches their month old son since his death or will or be up at 1st other family stick around but when the fire got worst most took the kids and fled the smoke staying has been anxiety inducing She lists the daily questions if you know you're supposed to go to work are you supposed to leave town 1st are we going to catch on fire tomorrow. Their newborn sneezed 3 times today McDonald says so she worries their 2 year old daughter gel is going a bit stir crazy how do you tell a 2 year old that you can't go outside because the air is toxic I mean it's been a it's been kind of a game of hey we're going to have this new fun adventure now the subtext is apocalypse but we don't own sake that she says in 2 years they've lived through 4 fires here I asked if she thought about moving to responds with a series of climate change disasters this year we love it here and at some level it's like where you going to go. Pretty recently power Texas is underwater you can't evacuate for the rest of your life so we have to figure out how we're going to live here in this in this new world in this new normal the new normal in the fall of the n.p.r. News. This is n.p.r. News. Found . 88.7 in. The 94.9. Thanks for joining us today. From n.p.r. News in Washington I'm sure a rom the Federal Trade Commission is expected to repeal the regulations on so-called Net Neutrality Today N.P.R.'s willing to sell you access now internet providers must give the same service to all Web sites the current rules say your phone carrier or your internet provider at home cannot block or slow down any of your websites or apps and on the flip sites the Internet service providers cannot make some traffic load a little faster say their own content or somewhat side that pays a little more N.P.R.'s legal counsel has filed comments asking the rule not be changed Dr Without Borders says at least 6700 were killed in the violence and memoirs Northern Rock and stayed in August and September Michael Sullivan reports the group says at least 730 were children under the age of 5 more than 647000 fled the Myanmar military as brutal crackdown and are now living in squalor camps in neighboring Bangladesh that's where I must have conducted its surveys and it says the numbers are probably higher since they don't include families who never made it out of me under me and Mar insists that only targeted militants who attacked 1st the u.n. And the u.s. Called the military's actions ethnic cleansing House and Senate Republicans say they've reached agreement on a plan to overhaul the tax code they say they want the measure on the president's desk by Christmas I'm Norah Rahm n.p.r. News in Washington. K.b. U.t. Is not just a radio station it's a resource when you're in need I'm Jeff Brady from n.p.r. News here to ask you Did you lose or find an item around town did your pets live out the back door do you need a ride or can you help others with a ride in or out of the Gunnison valley your friends at k.b. U.t. Are always here to help visit k.b. U.t. Dot org and click the info central button thanks. Support for n.p.r. 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News good morning I'm David Greene and I'm Steve Inskeep the Walt Disney company is buying most of 21st Century Fox Disney takes over a big part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire although Murdoch retains control of the Fox t.v. Network and Fox News n.p.r. Media correspondent David Folkenflik is on the line from New York I David good morning Steve why is Murdoch want to sell Well Murdoch and his sons of talk a lot about the importance of scale that means size that they can compete in the modern world and they conclude they couldn't they looked at the billions of dollars spent on generating new content effectively like t.v. Shows and movies every year in the years to stretching head from Netflix and from Amazon in particular possibly Apple as well and said we just can't do it so they think their assets may be at a peak and it's time to sell they're going to focus on t.v. In terms of the broadcast network and the stations they own they're going to focus on their Fox Sports Network and their particular focus on Fox News and Fox Business its sister station Fox News being really the economic engine that propels the Murdoch's And what they're selling I guess is the Hollywood stuff right the