--:-- Windsor Johnston: There are tens of thousands of veterans behind bars in the U.S., often without any of the mental health services they may need. When you go to prison, you automatically lose your benefits as a veteran. You become a ward of the state. How much do we owe these veterans who have fought our wars?
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Listen now to the Sunday story on the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Senate has taken a major step toward ending the government shutdown. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports lawmakers voted last night to advance a deal that could allow the government to reopen later this week.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: The package includes a stopgap measure to fund the government through the end of January. It also includes full-year appropriations funding plans for some federal agencies and services. It will pause planned cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And also reverses federal worker layoffs installed by the Trump administration during the shutdown and protects the workforce from more cuts for a few months to the end of January.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: That's NPR's Claudia Grisales reporting.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Supreme Court has declined to revisit its 2015 ruling that legalized same marriage nationwide. The justices rejected an appeal from former Kentucky clerk Kim Davis who refused to issue marriage licenses to same couples after that decision.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Davis sought to overturn an order requiring her to pay $360,000 in damages and legal fees.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: President Trump has issued a sweeping pardon of his allies related to the 2020 presidential election.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The pardon names numerous campaign attorneys and people who met five years ago.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: NPR's Miles Parks reports that's when they tried to create alternate electoral slates.
--:-- Miles Parks: The document pardons all those associated with a plot to make false electoral slates that could have potentially interfered with the presidential certification on January 6th, 2021.
--:-- Miles Parks: It names Trump campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Chesbrough, Mark Meadows and John Eastman, as well as dozens of other people who met often in secret to sign documents claiming they were legitimate electors in states actually won by Joe Biden.
--:-- Miles Parks: The pardons are essentially symbolic, as none of the people pardoned have been charged with federal crimes.
--:-- Miles Parks: Some are charged in their individual states, but the pardon has no impact on those cases.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Miles Parks, NPR News, Washington.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: President Trump is meeting with the president of Syria today.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: NPR's Jaina Raff reports.
--:-- Jaina Raff: President Ahmad Ashara will be the first Syrian head of state at the White House in almost 80 years.
--:-- Jaina Raff: He's a former al in Iraq militant leader. A year ago he had a million dollar bounty on his head.
--:-- Jaina Raff: His fighters toppled dictator Bashar al last December.
--:-- Jaina Raff: And since then, Trump has decided that Shara is someone he wants to deal with.
--:-- Jaina Raff: Most sanctions on Shara in Syria have been removed, but there are still some to be lifted.
--:-- Jaina Raff: Trump is expected to invite Syria to join U.S.-led efforts fighting the militant group ISIS.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: For NPR News, I'm Jaina Raff in Amman.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Stocks are trading higher on Wall Street at this hour.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Dow was up 90 points, the Nasdaq up 378.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: This is NPR News in Washington.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most infamous shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: In 1975, 29 crew members on the Edmund Fitzgerald died after the vessel sank to the bottom of Lake Superior.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: A.J. Jones from member station WCMU reports.
--:-- A.J. Jones: The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan's Upper Peninsula will hold two events remembering the tragedy.
--:-- A.J. Jones: Musician Gordon Lightfoot memorialized the incident in the 1976 ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
--:-- A.J. Jones: Mike Fornes is the bandleader of a Lightfoot tribute band that has performed at the museum for the last 15 years.
--:-- A.J. Jones: He says it's an honor to support the families. You really feel a kinship. You can see the pain. You can see the grief that is still with them.
--:-- A.J. Jones: Those 29 men are still in the ship. Divers are not allowed to visit the wreckage because it is an international grave site.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: For NPR News, I'm A.J. Jones in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Starbucks' latest merchandise release is turning into a national flashpoint for caffeine and consumer culture.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The coffee chain's $30 Barista cup sold out within hours of hitting stores last week.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Some locations only received one or two of the limited edition glass cups, leading to arguments and viral videos of customers fighting over them.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Resale listings on eBay show prices in the hundreds, with some topping $1,000.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Starbucks has apologized for the frenzy, but hasn't said if more cups are coming.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: You ever get to the pharmacy and you're expecting your medication to cost 20 bucks, but instead it's 200 or a thousand?
--:-- Windsor Johnston: And you're like, wait, really? Like, are you sure? Is there some kind of mistake?
--:-- Windsor Johnston: This week on the Life Kit podcast, what to do when your prescription costs way more than you expected.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: You can listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Thank you.
