--:-- Ira Glass: This is Ira Glass of This American Life. Do you know our show?
--:-- Ira Glass: Okay, well, either way, I'm going to tell you about it. We make stories that hopefully pull you in at the beginning with funny moments and feelings and people in surprising situations, and then you just want to find out what is going to happen and cannot stop listening. That's right. I'm talking about stories that make you miss appointments.
--:-- Ira Glass: This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The election interference criminal case in Georgia against President Trump and several others will move forward after a new prosecutor was appointed before today's deadline.
--:-- Alex Helmick: From member station WABE in Atlanta, I'm Alex Helmick.
--:-- Alex Helmick: The prosecuting attorney's counsel of Georgia executive director Pete Skandalakis said that dismissal at this point was not the right course of action and has named himself to lead the case and perform what he called a comprehensive review to determine how to proceed.
--:-- Alex Helmick: In a statement, the president's lead defense counsel, Steve Sadow, calls the case a politically charged prosecution and says that a review of the facts will lead to dismissal.
--:-- Alex Helmick: Alex Helmick reporting.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis originally brought the massive racketeering case but was removed by Georgia court for her personal relationship with a special prosecutor
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The 43 government shutdown which is now over delayed funding for a program that helps millions of Americans to pay their heating bills to buy fuel and to repair broken equipment.
--:-- Sophia Schmidt: Sophia Schmidt with member station WHYY says it is still unclear when people will receive that assistance.
--:-- Sophia Schmidt: Several states have delayed their low-income home energy assistance programs, or LIHEAP, while they wait for federal funding.
--:-- Mark Wolf: Mark Wolf heads a group that represents the state agencies involved.
--:-- Mark Wolf: He says it usually takes the federal government about a month to release LIHEAP money after Congress passes a funding bill.
--:-- Mark Wolf: But that was before the Trump administration fired the staff that administer the program this spring.
--:-- Mark Wolf: And for families that use delivered fuels, heating oil and propane, that could put them in a precarious situation because they have to pay the vendor to get fuel delivered.
--:-- Sophia Schmidt: The Department of Health and Human Services says it will work swiftly to administer the funds.
--:-- Sophia Schmidt: For NPR News, I'm Sophia Schmidt in Philadelphia.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Ukrainian forces say they are holding on to a key city in eastern Ukraine, even as Russian forces say they're closing in.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Nearly two years after they first launched their fight to occupy it.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports that both Ukraine and Russia also see the battle as key to shaping narratives about who is winning the war.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: NPR spoke to four Ukrainian brigades whose soldiers are defending the eastern city of Pokrovsk a city which Russian attacks have largely destroyed
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Small groups of Russian troops have infiltrated the city leading to intense street battles
--:-- Volodymyr Polovyi: Volodymyr Polovyi is with Ukraine 7th Rapid Response Corps.
--:-- Volodymyr Polovyi: The brigades are really exhausted.
--:-- Volodymyr Polovyi: The enemy has changed its tactic. We have the infiltration of infantry groups and they are covered by the swarms of drone.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Russia is also using an elite drone unit called Rubicon, which hunts down Ukrainian drone operators.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kiev.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: It's NPR.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Three Chinese astronauts are back on Earth after being stuck in space for more than a week.
--:-- Emily Fang: Their return vessel had been stuck by, struck that is, by space debris, damaging it.
--:-- Emily Fang: NPR's Emily Fang with the latest.
--:-- Emily Fang: After six months on a tiny space station, the three astronauts of China's Tiangong Space Station were supposed to land back in Inner Mongolia at the start of this month.
--:-- Emily Fang: Instead, space debris cracked the window of their return vessel, the Shenzhou 20.
--:-- Emily Fang: Debris can travel at thousands of miles an hour in the vacuum of space, and even tiny particles can cause big damage to instruments and spacecraft
--:-- Emily Fang: Adding to their troubles a new rotation of three astronauts had already come up to relieve the initial crew
--:-- Emily Fang: So China space agency said the stuck astronauts landed safely back on Earth using the new rotation spacecraft, the Shenzhou 21.
--:-- Emily Fang: The three astronauts that just landed back on Earth spent a total of 204 days in space, China's record since they started their space program in 2003.
--:-- Emily Fang: Emily Fang, NPR News.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The Oakland, California Police Department says a suspect has been arrested in the shooting of college football coach John Beam, who remains in critical condition.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: No further details were released.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Beam was featured in the Netflix docuseries Last Chance U about junior college athletes working to improve their lives as heard through this trailer.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Welcome to Laney College.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The 2020 season starred Beams Laney College Eagles.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, the latest on Democrats in some blue states redistricting.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: A lot is still uncertain, but the picture moving into the midterms for Democrats isn't looking as bad as it once did.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Plus, the government shutdown is over.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: What's Congress focused on next?
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: That and more daily political coverage on the NPR Politics Podcast.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
