Bob Collins
Friday Jan. 4, 2019
(Subject to change as events dictate. This page is updated throughout the day.)
9 a.m. – 1A with Joshua Johnson
Domestic news roundup. The partial shutdown persisted through a second week, with no end in sight. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump met with congressional leaders who presented a package of bills, but the possibility of resolution remained distant. Now, a new Congress has been sworn in. When will they reach a deal to end the shutdown? And how will a divided legislative branch set the agenda moving forward?
Meanwhile, the shutdown has reverberated well beyond Washington – reaching federal employees, contractors, members of the Coast Guard and more. As the government ground to a halt, the 2020 presidential race kicked into gear. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, announced her candidacy on Monday, becoming the first major candidate to do so. Who else will join the race?
And finally, while the dispute over the border wall remained stagnant, change was in the air for the president’s cabinet.
Guests: Franco Ordonez, White House correspondent, McClatchy Washington bureau; Asawin Suebsaeng, White House reporter, The Daily Beast; Laura Barron-Lopez, national political reporter, Politico.
10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
International news roundup. President Donald Trump reversed a precedent set by several conservative American presidents by suggesting that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was due to a fight against terrorism. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani “described the battle against the Soviets as a “national uprising for gaining freedom” and noted that the Soviet invasion was condemned by the United Nations and the United States at the time” according to The Washington Post.
An Afghan assault on the Islamic State killed 27 militants on New Year’s Day, according to The Associated Press. Officials reported 15 members of the security forces were killed, and the Taliban has mounted almost-daily attacks on security forces. About 7,000 American forces are expected to leave Afghanistan this summer, per an announcement by President Trump. Almost half of Afghanistan remains under Taliban control. Has President Trump’s troop withdrawal announcement strengthened the Taliban’s negotiating position with the Afghan government?
Guests: Indira Lakshmanan, executive editor, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting; columnist, The Boston Globe; Christian Caryl, op-ed editor, international, The Washington Post; David Rennie, Beijing bureau chief, The Economist.
11 a.m. – MPR News with Angela Davis
There’s no end in sight for the partial government shutdown. The shutdown began Dec. 22, after President Trump demanded $5 billion in funding for a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border and Democrats refused to vote for it. We’ll look at how the shutdown is affecting Minnesotans– and what happens if it goes on for several more weeks.
Guests: Tim Nelson, reporter, MPR News; Myron Frans, Management and Budget Commissioner for the state of Minnesota.
11:30 a.m. – Union leader and former middle school teacher Mary Cathryn Ricker will take over as the state’s education commissioner next week. Gov.-elect Walz, who made education a theme of his campaign and is himself a former teacher, chose Ricker to lead one of the state’s most high-profile departments.
12 p.m. – The Takeaway
The 116th Congress is in session and the freshmen members are eager to make change. How long will the optimism last and what can really be accomplished?
1 p.m. – Science Friday
A look at the science behind the Mediterranean and Keto diets. Plus, a new take on that ballpark classic “the wave,” scientists studying the fluid dynamics of human crowds.
2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
The outgoing governor of California, Jerry Brown, tells us how the Democrats can retake the White House in 2020; the battle to drive Islamic State fighters out of eastern Syria; and a huge data breach targets German politicians.
3 p.m. – All Things Considered
The week in politics; the latest on the shutdown; industry executives in the Trump cabinet; the NFL and the Rooney rule; the NRA goes global.
6:00 p.m. – Marketplace
A look at what’s driving the film credit creep. If you’ve been the movies lately and wondered if the credits are getting longer, you may just be onto something.
6:30 p.m. – The Daily
The 116th Congress has been sworn in. With that, Democrats have taken control of the House, and Representative Nancy Pelosi reclaimed her position as its leader. Here’s the scene on Capitol Hill as the day unfolded.
Guest: Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who covers Congress for The New York Times.
7 p.m. – The World
President Trump and Congressional leaders are meeting today to discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown and ways to end it. But there’s little hope the meeting will lead to a breakthrough, as President Trump insists on funding for a border wall and Democrats remain adamantly opposed. We’ll have the latest today on The World.
Also we’re checking how the government shutdown is affecting US diplomatic missions around the globe, amid reports that some embassy functions are having to be put on hold because staff is on furlough.
And we do a reality check on a number President Trump and the Border Patrol have quoted often: 17,000 criminals apprehended crossing the border over the past year. Who are they and what does “criminals” mean?
Plus, The World’s Daniel Ofman takes us along to his Russian grandmother’s naturalization ceremony, and we hear what becoming a US citizen means to her.
8 p.m. – Fresh Air
Israeli writer and peace advocate Amos Oz. He died last week at the age of 79 after a short battle with cancer. He wrote short stories, novels, and a memoir. His memoir, “A Tale Of Love And Darkness,” was about growing up in Jerusalem in the turbulent 1940s and 1950s, when a war-torn Israel was achieving statehood. It was later adapted into a film. His home life was as intense as the world outside. In his family, many languages were spoken. His mother took her own life when Oz was 12. He was born Amos Klausner, but changed his name to Oz, the Hebrew word for strength. OZ won the Goethe Prize and the French Kinight’s Cross of the Legion D’Honneur. He was also awarded the prestigious Israel Prize in 1998. (We feature excerpts from three interviews: REBROADCAST from May 4, 1988; Jan 21, 1991; and December 1, 2004.)
