singer Jason Mraz is 40 years old. I am the news is next. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Corba Coleman President Trump is poised to sign a bill making it easier for the Veterans Affairs secretary to fire and discipline employees N.P.R.'s Tamara Keith says the bill has bipartisan support the bill the president is signing would shorten the appeals process for firing or disciplining employees at the v.a. After the v.a. Scandal that broke out in 2014 where facilities were covering up long wait times for care there was an issue where it just took a very long time to fire employees there's been a peals process that they can go on for years N.P.R.'s Tamara Keith Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab states that have cut ties with Qatar have issued a list of demands to resolve a diplomatic crisis N.P.R.'s Peter Kenyon reports they include cutting ties with Iran and closing Al-Jazeera and other Qatar funded media outlets Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates Egypt and Bahrain initially said their move to cut ties with Qatar was over Doha's funding of Islamist groups they consider terrorist organizations but this list of 13 demands goes far beyond that the Gulf states want Qatar to close its diplomatic missions in neighboring Iran which shares a giant gas field with Carter the Al-Jazeera news channel should also be closed in addition a Turkish military base in Qatar should close and Turkish troops be withdrawn Turkey's defense minister says he sees no reason to revisit the base agreement cutter's been given 10 days to comply with the sweeping demands but it's not clear what happens if it doesn't Peter Kenyon n.p.r. News Istanbul the u.s. Federal Reserve says all of the country's big banks past this year's economic stress tests these are required under the Don Frank financial regulation law they create hypothetical recessions to test a bank's strength Charles Lane of member station w s h u reports they're also supposed to stop a world economic crisis regulators create a scenario in which unemployment surges and. Thanks lose hundreds of billions of dollars in loans and they ask what would that do to a bank's balance sheet the fear is that our banks are so interconnected now that even a small crisis could bring down the financial system regulatory advocate market Stanley says these stress tests have created a system less susceptible to crisis but if these stress tests are we going to the future they're going to become significantly less reliable and even today one needs to have concerns about both the White House and Republicans in Congress have plans to reduce the rigor of the tests this is the 1st year since the recession that all the country's big banks passed for n.p.r. News I'm Charles Lane in New York on Wall Street at this hour the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 27 points it's at 21369 The Nasdaq is down more than 6 points it's at 6230 the s. And p. 500 has just turned positive it's up a fraction at 2434 this is n.p.r. From k.q.e.d. News I'm terrorist Siler this week in San Francisco Pride activities get started today with the 14th annual trans March cuties Peter John Shuler reports the all volunteer celebration of the transgender community has grown from a few 100 people in the 1st year to one of the world's largest such events the theme this year is celebrating resilience with love and resistance Organizers say the rights and existence of trans and gender nonconforming people are more intensely under attack since the presidential election and are calling for a huge showing to fight back and create community after a day of activities speeches and performances into Laurus park marchers are scheduled to head towards the Tenderloin tonight at 6 on Peter John Schuller k.q.e.d. News in sports cows Ivan rat was the 35th pick in the n.b.a. Draft last night the 20 year old power forward is going to the Memphis Grizzlies the Warriors didn't have a 1st round pick last night but they ended up buying. The 38th pick from the Chicago Bulls ultimately drafting organ's Jordan Bell in baseball the A's lost to the Astros in Oakland yesterday 129 that's their 10th straight loss to Houston they now head to Chicago for a road series against the White Sox the 1st game starts at 5 our time the Giants and the Braves went into extra innings again last night and played well past midnight San Francisco last 1211 tonight they'll be kicking off a home series at 880 against the Mets 1st pitches at 715 for more bear cub Bay area coverage you can follow k.q.e.d. News on Facebook and Twitter I'm Tara Siler k.q.e.d. News support this morning comes from Stanford health care where every day Stanford medicine doctors provide universe of treatments and advanced patient care support for n.p.r. Comes from Exxon and Mobil with synergy gasoline engineered an Exxon Mobil's Formula One fuel lab Exxon and Mobil energy lives here. At 7 o 6 John McConnell with traffic starting our 7 o'clock hour looks like a lot of people are heading to Sears points already jammed up on 37 westbound worse than the usual Friday morning from the Maryland bridge and all the way over to Sears point it looks like it's jammed up the Lakeville toots a big weekend of racing South 17 fully recover from the earlier double Big Rig stall at the summit westbound Bay Bridge it's the usual back up still have a crash before the tunnel but still no significant slowing Joe McConnell for key committee brought to you this time out by t.j. Martell Foundation. I'm sorry and I'm sorry not back this weekend k.q.e.d. As they do list for providing some tips on music and comedy and pride in Journey into no man's land which is at the Ivy rink and there's more on the dubious a guide to the arts and entertainment in northern California this Friday and every Friday morning at 622 in a 22 on key committees Morning Edition. Well thank goodness a cooling trend begins today for most areas of northern California as that onshore flow returns the far into here your valleys will remain seasonably warm to hot through tonight example Sacramento Valley the he warning in effect until 11 pm this evening highs in the Sacramento Valley hot from 97 to possibly 105 today a different story along the coast morning clouds patches of fog rather otherwise sunny and cooler upper sixty's along the water to the mid ninety's far inland. It's Morning Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Steve Inskeep And I'm Rachel Martin the secret Senate Republican health care plan is no longer a secret details were released yesterday Republicans want to fast track vote on the bill by the 4th of July recess Here's President Trump putting in a plan today that's going to be negotiated would love to have some Democrats support but they're obstructionist and never support we will get one no matter how good it is but we will hopefully get something done and it will be something with hard and very meaningful that was the president speaking yesterday at this point Senate Republicans don't have the votes they need to pass this bill the bill would reduce Medicaid funding and change how the program insures poor Americans reducing subsidies and removing taxes on businesses and wealthy Americans that were put in place to help fund Obamacare to find out what some doctors think of the legislation we reached David Barbe he is president of the American Medical Association which represents about a quarter of a 1000000 doctors in this country Dr Barb's also a practicing family doctor in mountain Grove Missouri which is where we reached him this morning Dr Barbara into the program thank you very much good to be with you is this a bill you can support. It is not this does all of the things that the h.c.a. Did reach and will reduce coverage for individuals and will gut Medicaid. Being the House version of this bill. So what what needs to change I mean do you see a path forward at this point. Well you know we the A.M.A.'s house of delegates met just a couple of weeks ago and we came out very clearly opposed to caps on Medicaid funding we think that the current system in which Medicaid funding can vary based on the needs of a given state is a much better program than to put arbitrary caps or block grants but and correct me if I'm wrong the Senate bill and the House bill the whole gist of it was to give states more more control that the states understand how to best fund Medicaid and so the power responsibility was going to be given back to the states. Saw that may be true but we give back the power to the states with a much much smaller. Pool of money to work with we have to remember people covered by Medicaid are the most vulnerable in our society they are the frail elderly they are the disabled they are adults with very low income these individuals often have greater health needs than even an average American and to cut funding to that program is just the wrong direction your statement very didn't actually expand Medicaid as as it could have under the Affordable Care Act So would reductions in Medicaid cause that much pain. So I see every day in my practice people that are uninsured who would have been covered had Missouri expanded Medicaid the average household income in my area of Missouri is less than half of the national average so that let you know that we depend very heavily on programs such as Medicaid for insurance coverage for many of the people that take care of my practice every day is there anything in this bill you think is a good idea. You know there are not really many parts of this that we like if we go down the list of things does it improve coverage No Does it improve affordability No Does it stabilize the safety net Medicaid No The only thing maybe it says for 2 years it does replace the cost sharing payments that insurance companies get we are very concerned about insurance companies dropping out of the exchange market stabilizing that even for a couple of years should help so maybe that's a tiny silver lining but that does not offset the other cuts that are really going to be bad so in your state there are some 25 counties with no health insurance options people can't buy insurance outside of a company sponsored plan this isn't very many people because this is a very rural state these counties in particular but still Republicans have used these pockets of the population to demonstrate what they say are shortcomings in Obamacare do you think that's accurate is that fair. That is accurate the 4 these last insurance company pulled out of 20 counties in Missouri that were still 97 of 114 counties that had only one choice the state of Iowa now it's my understanding that 94 of their 99 counties will have no offering in the insurance exchange so there's simply no way that those individuals can access insurance just briefly what now how is it organizing How is your organization trying to influence this process I mean lobbying up in hell so we are lobbying individually as the American Medical Association but we're also partnering with many other organizations I was in Cleveland just earlier late last week and partnered with the American Hospital Association American Diabetic Association American Heart Association and other groups that are interested in patient protections just as we are Dr David Barr president of the American Medical Association thanks so much thank you very much the president of China is taking a step that's rich with symbolism he's been campaigning against corruption and he's been doing that in part by attacking the game of golf N.P.R.'s Rob Schmitz reports China's Communist Party hasn't always demonized golf by spending a dung. But I'm Show land. The staying wished business from the people the public of China January $979.00 the White House President Jimmy Carter welcomes Chinese leader done shopping for an historic trip to the u.s. And vice premier dung on behalf of all Americans I welcome you here to our house. Dunking sitting down to open Transcona me it's been ravaged by decades of violent political campaigns but if American executives were do invest in China they would need to travel there and if they were to travel there they would need a call for course at a stop in Seattle President Carter introduced dung to Robert Trent Jones Jr one of the world's top golf course architects Jones remembers dongs reaction he brightened up he said Yes I like sports and I said What is golf I said it's a small ball that over a big field and to all and people gamble about it they have by each other trick so perfect Tiny's will love it together Jones in China's leadership build Shanghai his 1st golf course in the communist era it was a milestone in China's complicated history with golf a sport declared forbidden by Mao in 1949 only to be reincarnated by dung 30 years later the pendulum has now swung back and golf is again in the crosshairs of China's Communist Party which often I go wait you're going from there and I'll shoot you what's your state media report this year outline the government campaign against the sport many golf courses were built on valuable farmland through corrupt land deals others used too much water and parched areas of the country most golf clubs were private exclusive to businessmen who often invited local government officials and as a result the government is shut down a 5th of all golf courses in China and it's banned construction of new courses Party officials in the southern province of Guangdong are now forbidding from golfing during work hours Ozzie laying manager of Shanghai Xenia golf club says government inspections squads now show up unannounced so they were common check on you and then they will say Ok So on this day is this guy was here they actually look through computers in. And they start checking you know they buy Dave this and that and how much he spends you know how much he who is playing with you know that this new norm is a challenge for the survivors of China's golf industry. At Shanghai Junior Golf Academy young pros tee off on the driving range head coach Garrett Winslow used to coach China's national women's team says golf has become a tricky business in this new environment you know you have to go if you can't immediately have a pro shop local schools whatever it is and you want to promote it through some marketing but at the same time you want is going to stay under the radar and not promote the fact that you'll in the Gulf industries Yeah it's very challenging and even Shanghai's 1st golf course of the modern era the Shanghai country club the one that had its beginnings with President Carter and done shopping even that course was not immune to the party's war on golf China's government shut it down last year for being too close to water reservoir course architect Robert Trent Jones Jr takes it in stride he's been designing courses for decades and he's seen everything when he designed the Soviet Union's 1st course the Soviets were suspicious and then Jones reminded them that Karl Marx used to play golf want to explain that to the Russian. People fell down and we move forward and if the image of the founder of communism out on the links isn't enough to convince the leader of China's Communist Party to reverse his direction on golf perhaps the rise of Chinese golfers will function Shann one of the best women players in the world won a bronze medal for China at the Rio Games leading the way for other young Chinese golfers golfers who are playing not because they want to complete a business deal but because in the words of Jones to former Chinese leader done shopping they enjoy hitting a small ball over a big field into a home Rob Schmitz n.p.r. News. It's n.p.r. News. San Francisco will celebrate pride this weekend tens of thousands of people will stream into the city for the annual lesbian gay bisexual transgender parade and this year fee events taking a political turn I'm Daniel Venton to hear how organizers are shaping this year's pride message tuning to the California report on k.q.e.d. As Morning Edition. Join us later this morning at 850 want to am and then at 9 it's for this is Michael Krasny Here's what's coming up later today on form with Mina Kim This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case Loving versus Virginia which made it legal for interracial couples to marry We'll talk to 2 couples about what role race plays in their relationships today and we want to hear from you what ways figure small this race continue to have impact on your relationship with your partner So coming up later today on form from 9 to 11 am here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio Good Morning the time is 719. From n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Dave Mattingly sales of new homes in the u.s. Rebounded last month the Commerce Department says they rose almost 3 percent led by stronger demand in the south and west President Trump admits overhauling health care in the u.s. Is a complex and difficult process it's a very complicated situation from the standpoint you do something that's good for one group but then for another it's a very very narrow path that's the president speaking to Fox and Friends on the Fox News Channel 4 Republican senators say the Senate's health care plan unveiled yesterday as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act doesn't do enough they want changes made before next week's Senate vote family and friends are mourning the death of longtime Arizona State University football coach Frank Kush He was 88 Stina sick with member station k.j. Z.z. Says Kush coached a.s.u. For more than 20 years racking up 176 wins cushion of the fundamentals from 1958 to 979 under his direction the team to co many conference titles and bowl victories because she was also known for being hard on this team he was fired after a lawsuit by a former player who cues him of mental and physical harassment Kush eventually mended fences with a.s.u. And the school's football field is named after him on Wall Street the Dow is off 25 points I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington and here is John McConnell on k.q.e.d. With more of a area traffic information for you heading to 580 Castor Valley east down near Eaton Candy the c.h.p. Is running a traffic break to clear a bunch of debris out of the lanes South $680.00 treat Boulevard crash in the shoulder slow behind it from about Gregory lane the right on 80 westbound might be slowing down Iran cutting Boulevard there's a report of the metal debris in the right lane otherwise 80 has been relatively light 580 to the Richmond Bridge slow from Canal Joe McConnell for Kiki Woody Joe's report brought to you by a lucky stores. Support for k.q.e.d. Comes from smart Sonoma Moran area rail transit a new way to get around the North Bay offering passenger rail service to 10 stations between Sonoma County airport and downtown San Rafael more it's a no memory in train dot org And by mime Cas his business moves to office 365 mind cast help stop email phishing scams before they happen over 26000 companies worldwide use real time cloud based solutions from I'm cast mine Cast dot com More Morning Edition along with Story Corps ahead and the softer No I'm sorry 3 of us and on the next news hour Judy Woodruff talks with the head of pharma the drug industry's largest trade group about the challenges facing health care that's Friday on the p.b.s. News Hour that story and more news of today at 3 this afternoon the p.b.s. News Hour heard right here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio 88.5 f.m. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from at last Ian maker of collaboration software Jira confluence bit bucket and working to help teams across industries ascend to new heights to create what's next learn more about Lassie and dot com At last team up from American Express Open which is committed to helping businesses turn their best ideas into reality American Express Open wants to help with money and know how so businesses can say yes to their best ideas and get business done from Kaspersky Lab Internet Se