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Chapter 1: What recent Supreme Court decision did the U.S. decline to revisit?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a case challenging its decision legalizing same-sex marriage. It did not comment. A Kentucky clerk who had once been jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses had asked the high court to revisit its decision, but it refused.
A group of Senate Democrats and an independent senator broke ranks yesterday and voted with Senate Republicans. They passed a procedural vote that would lead to a short-term spending measure. The aim is to bring the federal government shutdown to an end. The House would have to reconvene to take up the measure, and Speaker Mike Johnson says he is prepared to get started.
The Senate's vote late last night of 60 to 40 opens the door now. The Senate is moving forward on an amended House CR, a continuing resolution, that will reopen the government until January 30th.
The senators say they've gotten a promise from the Senate Majority Leader. It's that the Senate will take up the high premiums that Americans will pay for health insurance next year under the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court again to let it stop paying for the federal food assistance program known as SNAP.
Payments have been interrupted during the government shutdown. Late last night, a federal appeals court had ordered the Trump administration to restore full funding to the program. NPR's Tovia Smith has more.
A deal to reopen the government could get full payments flowing almost as quickly, but the SNAP lapse may have longer-term ramifications.
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Chapter 2: How are Senate Democrats and Republicans addressing the government shutdown?
Food pantries say they expect high demand to continue as many SNAP recipients need to restock their cupboards, and some food banks say they expect to be short on stocks since some large food orders they usually get from the government were not processed during the shutdown. Tovia Smith, NPR News.
China has added 13 chemical ingredients that can be used to make fentanyl to a list of controlled substances. This is in line with trade talks with the U.S. last month where China agreed to do more to combat opioid production. NPR's Emily Fang has more.
Fentanyl traffickers have long purchased large quantities of industrial chemicals from Chinese manufacturers, mixing them elsewhere and then smuggling the final drug into the U.S. In exchange for China's extra controls this week, the U.S. agreed to halve a tariff it had slapped on Chinese goods in retaliation for what it said was China's lax enforcement of fentanyl precursors. China and the U.S.
have cooperated in the past to investigate and arrest precursor makers in China, but that cooperation has been tested by tensions between the two countries, including three years ago when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan, angering China and prompting Beijing to suspend its fentanyl-combating operations with the U.S. Emily Fang, NPR News.
On Wall Street, the Dow is flat. The Nasdaq is up more than 1%. This is NPR. Forecasters say a frigid air mass is hovering over the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. early this week. There are freeze warnings up in southern states from Texas to Virginia, and parts of the Great Lakes are under a winter storm warning.
A new study of people with diet-related diseases points to the benefits of doctors prescribing fresh food. NPR's Alison Aubrey reports the research is part of an effort to put food at the center of preventative medicine.
Participants received a monthly stipend loaded onto a debit card that could be used to purchase only fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy items. After about six months, doctors found participants' blood pressure dropped by 5.4 millimeters of mercury, a small but significant decline that could reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes over time.
Peter Skillern of Reinvestment Partners, the North Carolina nonprofit behind the program, says cost is participants' biggest barrier to eating well. This program reduced that barrier and they changed their behavior. They got healthier. It's one of several new food as medicine studies pointing to benefits. Allison Aubrey, NPR News.
The Justice Department alleges two Major League Baseball players coordinated with sports bettors to place rigged bets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Classe and Luis Ortiz are accused of sharing information about their pitches to help gamblers. Lawyers for both men denied the charges and statements to ESPN. Ortiz is due in court today.
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