Washington encore Va Coleman the Justice Department's review of the origins of the Russia probe has shifted gears to a criminal investigation as N.P.R.'s Ryan Lucas reports the changes already spurred allegations that the department is being used to go after the president's political opponents a person familiar with the matter tells n.p.r. That the review has indeed been upgraded to a criminal investigation there are no details on when the change took place or what prompted it it's also unclear what potential crime is being investigated Attorney General William Barr appointed a veteran prosecutor in May to look into the origins of the Russian vest a Geisha and Democrats criticized bars decision at the time noting that the president had long called for an investigation of the investigators the news that the rusher of you is now a criminal investigation your immediate criticism from the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees they say it raises profound concerns that the Justice Department under bar has become a quote vehicle for the president's political revenge Ryan Lucas n.p.r. News Washington China is demanding the United Kingdom severely punish those responsible for the deaths of $39.00 people found in the back of a truck outside London this week N.P.R.'s Emily Fang reports the victims are believed to be Chinese citizens but China has not confirmed this Essex police and late Thursday at the 31 men and 8 woman found dead there were quote believed to be Chinese nationals but China's Foreign Ministry contradicted that statement telling reporters that a daily briefing Friday that British police had yet to verify their nationality hoped they could do so as soon as possible Chinese state tabloids blamed the British and other European governments for not quote fulfilling the responsibility and protecting the 39 China's ambassador to the u.k. Wrote on Twitter that he read the news with a quote heavy heart and said he was in close contact with British police and leafing n.p.r. News Beijing wildfires continue to scorch parts of northern and southern California boosted by powerful winds north of San Francisco the Kinkaid fire has burned 25 square miles it's bad in Southern California to where winds. Continue to blow strongly north of Los Angeles thousands of people have evacuated ahead of the tick fire Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex of Illinois of a has advice for evacuees we ask everyone who's affected has to be evacuated remember the 6 piece your people and pets prescriptions medications glasses plastic charge cards money papers important documents certificates marriage birth certificates pictures and personal information like your hard drive on your computer everything else you can replace California utilities say they'll continue to shut off electricity to customers if there's a danger damaged power lines have caused some of California's deadliest wildfires the World Series arrives in Washington d.c. Tonight the Washington Nationals will host the Houston Astros for game 3 the Nats lead the Astros 2 games to none in the fall classic. You're listening to n.p.r. Good morning it's 6 o 4 I'm Willow send Meyer with k.c.a.l. You news Santa Ana winds continue to remain a major issue for firefighters in Ventura and Los Angeles counties this morning with a red flag warning still in effect for high brush fire danger we could see wind in the 35 to 55 mile an hour range on the coast gusts approaching 65 miles an hour in the mountains and inland areas the wind is expected to ease as we move later into the afternoon the red flag warning will remain in effect throughout the day because of both heat and low humidity Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties also facing an elevated brush fire risk but the wind is not expected to reach red flag warning levels today the wind did prompt Southern California Edison to pull the plug on power to more than 4700 customers in Ventura County that's part of an effort to prevent snapped power lines from accidently igniting brush fires some people in Cameroon Fillmore Moorpark South appall and Ventura areas were among those impacted by the public safety power shut off last night the number of customers who are on the potential shut off list expanded yesterday to 88000 in Ventura County you can find a link to maps of the impacted and potentially impacted areas in the county at k.c.l. You dot org There are no potential shut off for pose for either Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo County so now the potential for weather related power outages has prompted to school districts in Ventura County to cancel classes and activities today the Filmore and move to school districts are shutting down for the entire day and shut down also means extra curricular activities have been canceled as well the California Department of Public Health is launching a campaign to combat vaporing a related lung illnesses Capital Public Radio Sammy k. Ola reports it targets both teens and their parents in September Governor Gavin new . Some signs in executive order demanding solutions to teen vaporing Now health officials are launching outbreak a series of t.v. Digital and radio spots emphasizing the risk of e. Cigarettes the f.d.a. Doesn't know the cause of this lung illness but it says most of the people who got sick were raping t.h.c. a Component in pot since June California has tallied 138 reports of the illness and all required hospitalization they being among California high school students rose 27 percent between 20162018 according to the department in Sacramento I am say Mikaela California Governor Gavin Newsom is criticizing the state's investor owned utilities saying they need to step up efforts to secure power lines he had harsh words for both p.g. Any and Southern California Edison the governor says he's angry power blackouts for fire prevention are happening in the state as innovative as California the governor says utilities need to be held accountable for financial losses incurred by customers as a result of those power outages the head of p.g. And e. Says the blackouts are weather related and have nothing to do with the quality of the company system currently $77.00 degrees in Ventura $65.00 in Santa Barbara at 6 o 7 support for n.p.r. Comes from Wells Fargo Wells Fargo has committed $1000000000.00 through 2025 to develop housing affordability solutions for transitional housing rentals and homeownership learn more it Wells Fargo dot com slash impact. This is Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm David Greene in Culver City California and I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington d.c. How well is the Republican defense of President Trump working the president's most prominent defenders in Congress are talking less about facts than about process in the impeachment inquiry Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is among those casting doubt on the inquiry in the house it is an unfair process and a better way to characterize it would be called unfair process and inconsistent with the cons of. Procedural safeguards that are rude Cheney provided for people in this kind of situation either in court or in an impeachment process in our country to say the least there's plenty of debate about what would be the regular process at this moment but some House Republicans this week flooded a secure facility where a House committee has been privately interviewing witnesses they demand that those interviews be done in public Jonah Goldberg is editor in chief of a new media venture called the dispatch and a regular guest here Jonah welcome back always great to be had Congratulations on the new publication thank you what are the objections on the process here well I think the Republicans have legitimate complaints that on a scale of $1.00 to $10.00 or about a 4 maybe a 5 and they are claiming they are about a 50. This is not the normal process it's it's a little confusing because the normal process is based on exit exactly 2 precedents of past impeachment sure. What they're trying to one of the reasons which a lot of people point out they're focusing on the process is you cannot defend the president on the merits anymore on the substance of this impasse or tailors testimony this week if if his opening statement is to be believed and he needs to be cross-examined in all of that or the president just simply guilty of what he's been charged of the quid pro quo stuff and the only question then is do you believe that that is wrong or right do you believe that's impeachable or not right if the president came out tomorrow and said Man I screwed this up I'm sorry I didn't I understand how it looks now. I think Republicans would be elated because then they could say let's just move on it was bad the president and Mitt sit contrition is very powerful in our country President is unlikely to do that and so they end up with this process argument now you said you feel there is some some basis for the complaint essentially the complaint is this is all happening with domination of Democrats and it's all happening in private but is that a real objection because Democrats say that they are interviewing witnesses in private and there are Republicans in the room of course because this is how you conduct an investigation and the next step is public hearings and the next step after that if it gets that far would be a Senate trial and that all would be in public and there would be cross-examination that be everything else yes so if you talk to and some of my colleagues at the dispatch of done this to be talked to the Republicans on this bill say look the chairmanship is not giving access to the transcripts he is controlling these selective leaks all these kinds of things I do think show a chairmanship is. Gets more of a free ride from a lot of people in the press who don't hold him accountable for how badly he handled and misled the public on the Russian collusion stuff that said it is amazing I paid very close attention when I listen to the Republicans on the Hill talk about this or you know the people who stormed the skiff in that ridiculous pizza party thing sure edge as a general rule if you find yourself involved in something involving the word storming and the person who's leading use this is Congressman Matt Gates your decision tree has gone a wry oh why would that be because he's a clown and he is a partisan sort of sycophant of the president and that is his business model that said there are people in that group who are serious people and. So I think people in that group who were actually on the committees who were getting in the room in the private sessions but this is the thing the gaslighting that does bother me a lot from the Republicans is it's very difficult to get any of them to admit in front of a camera or a microphone that they're actually Republicans in that room they make it sound as if the Democrats are doing these depositions totally without Republican input and that is just not true. But I do think if you go to impeach the president this is not a legal proceeding it's not it's you know it's analogous to a grand jury but it's not a grand jury it is incumbent on the Democrats if they are if they take this seriously to do it in a more serious way that includes the public that seems above board even if the Republican protests are too hyperbolic if Republicans are focused on the process are they just trying to be where they believe Republican voters are right now still supporting the president and holding their fire on the facts and waiting to see where the public moves Well I think their support for the president is pretty soft in the Senate or softer than you would imagine from watching the public displays of things and the process place is a safe harbor for a lot of Republicans the problem is the Republicans are under enormous pressure from the president and the White House to go to the mattresses on all this and defend him in every regard and the problem is they don't know what's coming out next they don't know what other conversations are coming out and also even if they're selective leaks in his Maybe the other side to it the stuff that is coming out is very damning of the President you mentioned the support for the president may being softer that it would seem someone like Mitt Romney has been very critical of the president or there are other senators you think who are privately moving in that direction I think so so my colleagues in the dispatch did some reporting on this Lindsey Graham tried to rally the entire Republican caucus to take a much firmer stance and sign a letter completely denouncing all of us and he couldn't get Republicans to do it couldn't get them all to sign apparently Senator Tom Cotton of all people stood up and said you know this is going to put a lot of vulnerable Republicans in a bad place if they get completely invested in all of this what about and they say they soften that language. I can see very easily this going to 5 or 10 senators Republican senators that might actually vote to remove but we're a long way from there remember you need something more like 20 Jonah thanks so much thank you Jonah Goldberg of the dispatch. We're used to hearing about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it investigates food borne illnesses and flu epidemics Well now more than $140.00 scientists and other staff at the c.d.c. Have turned their attention to a new outbreak lung injuries and deaths caused by vacationing N.P.R.'s science correspondent Richard Harris visited the c.d.c. In Atlanta to learn more the title of the C.D.C.'s main publication pretty well sets the tone for the agency it's the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and the agency's been at this often grim business for more than 70 years Geoffrey here hundreds of thousands of suffer from communicable disease and many necessarily for a president who believe that old newsreels looping in the c.d.c. Is Museum helped tell the story from malaria and polio to each i.v. And since the 1960 s. Tobacco today we're talking to a bonfire smoky addict as you see we conceal his identity our centers are responding to issues all the time factor in shock at the agency's chief deputy director says the vaporing long injury investigation fits squarely into the C.D.C.'s mission but in another way she says it is unusual I think it's pulling in everyone's heartstrings because many of the individuals are previously healthy the lot of them are young half of them are under 25 years old and some of them are dying given the scope and the mysterious nature of the illness the c.d.c. Set up an incident command center to coordinate its response by elevating an issue like this shirt that says the c.d.c. Has directed about 140 scientists and other staff to step away from their normal work and to put their full attention on the crisis we have staff you know epidemiologists communication experts laboratory staff and then deploying our disease detectives to work on this issue which you know 6 months ago they were not focused on in this case the incident command center has been set up at the C.D.C.'s 2nd camp Chamblee It's headed by Dr Dana Mead Delman who is now. And actually an expert on tobacco or actually I'm an obstetrician gynecologist So it is not about the expertise in the particular field so why would they tap on your shoulder. This is my 5th emergency response I've done it c.d.c. In my 9 years here I would liken it to a conductor of a symphony so you have like a control room with flashing lights and things like that I do not I would like if you could arrange that instead her team has taken over a conference room and brought in a bunch of laptops as she experienced as the incident manager for it's clear what needs to be done 1st is to be aware that something unusual is afoot and then quickly we need to establish whether it's happening elsewhere for vaporing lung disease that played out quickly over the summer 1st cases in Illinois and Wisconsin but soon reports from across the country next question is the cause we've narrowed this clearly to t.h.c. Containing products that are associated with most patients who are experiencing long injury the specific substance or substances we have not identified yet but even when we do that's not necessarily going to help with public messaging that is alerting the public to the hazard it's like how the c.d.c. Was able to help people avoid aids even before they knew the identity of the virus causing the disease as that message is getting out Chief Data Scientist Macarena Garcia has the an enviable job of gathering data about the outbreak from states each of which has its own way of doing things it's very diplomatic type of experience because you have to negotiate with all of the state partners and territories to access data in a way that can be meaningful when you aggregate it nationally that's been a big lift and it's kept her up at night she says Meanwhile a team of physicians has been working to define the disease and labs on this campus are studying lung tissue sample from people who got ill after of aping they're also analyzing gas. And vapors from suspicious products to home in on the exact chemical or chemicals responsible for the injuries look at the c.d.c. Deputy director says the science part of this investigation is not the biggest challenge some of the underlying factors that have products here are going to be very difficult to deal with you know if it's a point source contaminated food clear cut. When we call a bull product it's very different and an outbreak that we believe is due to behaviors that may be quite common and products that for whatever reason seem to be quite risky risky hard to quit and likely illicit if not downright illegal that's why she and her colleagues are reluctant to say just how long it will take to bring this frightening situation under control Richard Harris n.p.r. News. Let's look ahead to later today on All Things Considered a federal appeals court is set to weigh in on 2946 lynchings Ga The f.b.i. Investigated and dozens of people testified before a grand jury now historian wants access to those sealed records to listen to that story and more tell your smart speaker play n.p.r. Or just ask your member station by name. This is n.p.r. For the California coast k c l u Public Radio Good morning it's now 619 m well less Sandmeyer coming up later this hour on Morning Edition people have come to rely on cell phones to help confirm their identities online security experts say that's motivating scammers to try to hijack people's phone numbers Martin cost he will report on this at 624 right here on k.c.a.l. You k.c.l. Your programming is made possible by contributing members and in part by the level one trauma center at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital the only designated level one trauma center between San Jose and Los Angeles cottage physicians staff and specialists partner with local E.M.'s and Cal star Air Rescue to provide around the clock trauma care to California's Central Coast and beyond more it cottage Health dot org slash trauma. Police say 3 men have been charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a northern California sheriff's deputy who was killed while responding to a falsely reported theft from mail and illegal marijuana growing operation in the rural Sierra Nevada foothills Eldorado County Sheriff Deputy Brian Ishmael was killed Wednesday in the community of Somerset an off duty sheriff's deputy from San Joaquin County doing a ride along with Ishmael was also shot authorities say the 911 caller did not mention that he had a business arrangement with the men who were in the marijuana garden the gunman has been arrested on suspicion of murder another man is charged with being an accessory and the 911 caller has been charged with manslaughter checking our weather forecast wind advisories remain in effect for Ventura County today both for inland and coastal communit