"I've never heard of anyone ever sanctioned or talked about for prosecutorial misconduct," he said.
All:
Nelson, who is Black, was the only one of the 13 prosecutors in Ohio to be admonished. The others, who faced no consequences — including three more assistant prosecutors in that office — are white.
We are delighted to announce that Kelsey Snell will formally take over the role of Congressional editor (formally, because she's been doing the job for months now). Kelsey, whose reporting focus was budget, tax and economic policy, brings a wealth of congressional experience to the job, reporting on two historic presidential impeachments, the confirmation hearings for three Supreme Court justices, and the infrastructure bill. She has also guest hosted most of the network's shows and live coverage for some of the biggest political stories.
Nelson eventually was fired from the Hamilton County office for unrelated reasons. Nelson said he believes it was a political move after he was accused of helping the former elected prosecutor's rival in an election.
More recently, she has shepherded the Hill team through the historic defenestration of a House speaker, a senator's unprecedented hold on military nominations, and yet another government shutdown. Kelsey takes the role at a particularly crucial time for Congress and indeed American democracy as our team puts its finishing touches on a plan to cover a very long election season.

Supervisors have histories themselves

We know that her years of covering Congress will provide critical insights to the network during this election season and beyond.
Responsibility for training and disciplining prosecutors often falls to front-line supervisors. But in some prosecutor's offices in Ohio, these supervisors have histories of misconduct themselves.
Also, please welcome Stephen Fowler who joins the Washington Desk as a reporter. Before joining NPR, Stephen spent more than seven years at Georgia Public Broadcasting, where he was a political reporter and host of the "Battleground: Ballot Box" podcast, covering voting rights and election law, state government and campaigns.
Seth Tieger is one of the team leaders in the felony division at the Hamilton County prosecutor's office. They oversee junior colleagues, offering legal guidance and on-the-job training. At times, they co-prosecute cases with their apprentices.
Stephen has been a frequent contributor to NPR's newscasts and news programs, chronicling fallout from the 2020 presidential election, the evolution of the Republican Party and other changes driving Georgia's growing prominence in American politics.
Tieger, a 42-year veteran of the office, is widely viewed as a talented litigator adept at winning convictions in complex trials. But he also has a history of prosecutorial misconduct.
A lifelong multigenerational Georgian, he is a 2016 graduate of Emory University, served as the Executive Digital Editor of The Emory Wheel and was part of the inaugural cohort of the Georgia News Lab, a yearlong investigative journalism program.
His reporting has appeared everywhere from the Center for Public Integrity and the Columbia Journalism Review to the PBS NewsHour and ProPublica.
By 2018, after nearly two decades as a supervisor, Tieger had amassed two misconduct rulings and four findings of improper conduct, records show. In those latter four cases, appellate judges found his conduct was not egregious enough for a reversal. Over the next three years, the appeals court found he had violated standards during closing arguments in three more trials. Only one would end in a reversal. That was the case of Samantha Davis, who had lost control of her vehicle and was thrown from her Dodge Ram truck before it veered off a 90-foot-high overpass, plummeting onto another car and killing its two passengers.
In his free time, he sings with a competitive men's barbershop chorus, collects interesting musical instruments and enjoys coming up with terrible puns. Stephen will be with us until the end of the election season as part of a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
At Davis' trial in March 2019, records show, prosecutors relied on testimony from an accident reconstructionist to argue that the single mother of two had driven recklessly. But they hadn't submitted a report identifying that witness as an expert at least 21 days before trial, as required by a state rule governing what evidence prosecutors must share with the defense.
Also, Lexie Schapitl, our producer extraordinaire, will take on an expanded role for the election, serving as both producer and editor on the congressional and politics teams. Anyone who has worked with Lexie can attest to not only how sharp her news judgment is, but also that she doesn't hesitate about sharing her views on what makes a script better – whether that's through more sound or better writing. Lexie's role will provide the desk with additional editing strength during an intense cycle.
"Now, we don't keep anyone longer than a week [to reduce their risk of hospital-acquired infection], which is often not enough time to recover from malnutrition," Dirham said.
Please join us in congratulating Kelsey and Lexie and welcoming Stephen.
"One of my major concerns is places like Taiz that have not seen the kind of benefit that the de facto truce has provided to other populations in the country," said the U.N.'s David Gressly. "I'm concerned about that from a larger point of view, because we want everybody to have a stake in peace and to believe that peace will be of benefit to them."
"There are just people who want to show their support, who want to be a part of it," Perlstein said, adding that many people tell him it's their favorite holiday of the year. "There was someone last year who was scheduled to be out of town, and changed his ticket to come back because, he told me, he would never miss this event for anything."
– Krishnadev, Dana, Muthoni, Andrew
Malia Qassim Mahmoud, the 27-year-old mother who has seen repeated instances of malnutrition in her family, said she was hopeful that her 1-year-old son would recover soon. But once they go back home, nothing will have changed. She will still only be able to feed her family with flour and water. And as long as Yemen remains in desperate need of aid, Mahmoud said it's likely that she and her family would end up at the hospital again.
Perlstein says there's been a notable outpouring of support this year, in the aftermath of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and amidst a sharp uptick in antisemitic incidents across the U.S. He says local police proactively reached out to him to ask if the event would still take place and assure they could provide extra security for it.
Perlstein acknowledges that some in the community are feeling fearful this holiday season, and says it's important to not let those concerns stop them from celebrating Hanukkah, with the right precautions.
And he believes the act of coming together and sharing the message of the holiday — which is about bringing light to the world in dark times — is more important than ever.
"That little bit of kindness we can share with a neighbor, regardless of who it is, goes a whole lot further than all the arguments and debates that we can try and create," Perlstein said. "Just that hug can do a whole lot more. And I think that's what the world needs to hear."

JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown
SCARING THE HOES

Release Date: March 24

Anarchy is not a word commonly associated with rap nowadays. Droning 808s and low-vibrational BPMs have long since lulled the genre into a sonic snoozefest of predictability. But JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown are this generation's patron saints for making rap noisy again. As solo artists, they've clearly been about that life for a decade apiece. Both serve as unwieldy experimentalists in a field where going against the norm provokes the kind of condemnation illustrated by the album's hyperbolic title, SCARING THE HOES.
Yet this collaboration shouldn't work as well as it does. Pairing Danny Brown's frenetic, helium-pitched flows atop rapper/producer JPEG's high-octane, chaotic production style should clash like the titans. But they prove two weirdos are better than one, as they take sex, drugs and sacrilege to the head. "Fell on my knees when I caught a felony," Danny raps on the gospel sampling "HOE (Heaven On Earth)." "Tell me who there for me / Think I need therapy." The album's release was preceded exactly one week by Danny publicly announcing at SXSW his plans to go to rehab, but SCARING THE HOES feels like a sobering slap to a rap industry drowning in monotony. —Rodney Carmichael

Stream JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown's SCARING THE HOES

But maybe what I liked most, the farther from the film I got, is that it takes themes of the family's celebration of Hanukkah — miracles, especially — and lightly incorporates them, so that without being heavy-handed, when the characters talk about the holiday, it resonates a bit with the underlying story. (And with the eventual resolution to the time loop, which is a delight.) Between the traditions the family observes (not just the menorah, but the food, the prayers, and so on) and some recognition that this is not a huge gift-giving holiday for adults but mostly a family celebration, it really seems like a Hanukkah movie, while also being a lot of fun. (I don't celebrate Hanukkah, but here's a similarly positive take from someone who does.)

boygenius
the record

Release Date: March 31

The term "polyfidelity" was coined at a commune in San Francisco called Kerista, where tight alliances formed under the name "best friend intimacy clusters." Contrary to rumors, the singer-songwriter trio of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus is a professional collaboration, not a throuple. Yet the ecstatically beloved ensemble specializes in the thorniest aspects of best friend intimacy — how it matters within love affairs, can arise among casual acquaintances, defines periods of life only to end with a thud. "If you rewrite your life, may I still play a part?" Dacus sings at the site of one such crash in "We're in Love." With more focus than on its two previous EPs, boygenius presents camaraderie as the generative force that created rock 'n' roll (hear it in its Simon & Garfunkel-esque harmonies, see it in the endless nods to The Beatles and the other boy bands the trio is superseding) and the space in which people can make the most painful and necessary disclosures. boygenius is bigger than the record — these three had a year like Taylor Swift's and Beyoncé's, claiming festivals and arenas for their all-woman band — but it's the album that forms the ground of the phenomenon, with every song a generous collaboration that feels like one bestie intervening exactly at the moment when her confidante loses the ability to speak, every harmony a trust fall, every empathetic lyrical mind-meld a dare to take that leap and love somebody, maybe not in the way you expected to. —Ann Powers

BRUSSELS — The European Union failed to agree on a 50 billion-euro ($54 billion) package in financial aid that Ukraine desperately needs to stay afloat, even as the bloc decided Thursday to open accession negotiations with the war-torn country.

Stream boygenius' the record

The aid was vetoed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, delivering another tough blow to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he failed this week to persuade U.S. lawmakers to approve an additional $61 billion for Ukraine, mainly to buy weapons from the U.S.
The start of accession talks was a momentous moment and stunning reversal for a country at war that had struggled to find the backing for its membership aspirations and long faced obstinate opposition from Orban.
Hungary's leader decided not to veto the accession talks, but then blocked the aid package.

Watch boygenius' Tiny Desk concert

The solstice draws nigh! As you frantically prepare to feast with your brethren — which unfortunately includes Uncle Balfor and his embarrassing insistence that the family henge was raised by aliens — take a break for the news quiz (and maybe suck down some mead).
Take DeSantis' efforts in Iowa — if there is a checklist on how to win the Iowa caucuses, DeSantis has attempted to check every box. He has the endorsement of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. He's traveled to all of Iowa's 99 counties; a tour that helped previous GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz win past caucuses. But participants at the Florida governor's events haven't grown in the way that politicians who have done well in past caucuses have like those Republican winners or past Democratic candidates like then-Sen. Barack Obama who won the state's 2008 caucuses.
In final remarks, Tieger asked jurors to find Davis guilty, reassuring them that the judge "will do the right thing in figuring out what sentence will be appropriate," according to trial transcripts. Davis was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide and sentenced to eight years in prison.
While a steady stream of people are showing up for DeSantis' events, Trump is packing them in. At an event at a bar in Ankeny, Iowa in early December people waited hours to see the former president, then in the crowded space, some stood on the bar's counter to get a better view. This week, Trump made his 11th visit to Iowa since September where he celebrated his placement in recent polls and painted a dark picture of the U.S. in ruin as ominous music played under his closing remarks. Trump's campaign is also working hard to get people to show up on caucus night, hoping to turn his star power into momentum.
Davis claimed on appeal that the prosecution had violated her due process rights during closing arguments and accused her defense attorneys of not properly objecting to the expert testimony.
Trump's appeal to conservatives remains strong as well in New Hampshire. On Saturday, he'll rally supporters at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore Center, which can hold up to 7,500 people.
In May 2021, Ohio's First District Court of Appeals agreed that Tieger's remarks about sentencing were improper, but wouldn't have affected the verdict. The court also called the expert testimony "instrumental" and said that without it, the jury may have considered the remaining evidence differently. The court granted Davis a new trial based on her attorneys' failure to properly object to the expert testimony.

Some moderate Republicans search for a Trump alternative

Davis, now 33, opted instead for a plea deal this year rather than risk getting an 18-year maximum sentence. She also said she feared facing Tieger again.
On Tuesday, New Hampshire's Republican Gov. Chris Sununu endorsed Haley who has been gaining ground in the state for some time. To the extent that endorsements can be consequential in New Hampshire, Sununu's backing is highly coveted. He's never lost an election. He hasn't always been popular with hardcore party activists, but he's popular with middle-of-the-road voters. Those are the sorts of voters any candidate looking to challenge Trump in New Hampshire needs. Independent, or undeclared voters, as they are called in New Hampshire, comprise about 39% of the electorate and can vote in either party primary.
"I felt I was judged right away and that facts almost didn't matter," said Davis, who is serving time at a women's prison near Columbus until next October.
Tieger did not respond to several emails and phone calls seeking comment.
"I can inform you that 26 leaders agreed on the (budget negotiation)," European Council President Charles Michel said. "I should be very precise. One leader, Sweden, needs to consult its parliament, which is in line with the usual procedure for this country, and one leader couldn't agree."
The decisions required unanimity among the EU's members.

Wednesday
Rat Saw God

Still, Michel, who was chairing the Brussels summit, called the start of accession talks "a clear signal of hope for their people and our continent."
Although the process between opening negotiations and Ukraine finally becoming a member could take many years, Zelenskyy welcomed the agreement as "a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe."

Release Date: April 7

"History is made by those who don't get tired of fighting for freedom," Zelenskyy said.
The financial package could not be endorsed after Orban vetoed both the extra money and a review of the EU budget. Ukraine is badly counting on the funds to help its damaged economy survive in the coming year.
Michel said leaders would reconvene in January in an effort to break the deadlock.
Orban had warned before the summit that forcing a decision on the Ukraine issues could destroy EU unity. Decisions on enlarging the EU and on a review of its long-term budget, which contains the 50 billion euros ($54.1 billion) in aid for the government in Kyiv, must be unanimous among all 27 member countries.

Approving accession talks a "clear message to Moscow"

Stream Wednesday's Rat Saw God

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called the opening of membership discussions a black eye for Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It is a very clear message to Moscow. Us Europeans, we don't let go of Ukraine," he said.

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today's top stories

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is in Jerusalem to discuss the future of Gaza with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The U.S., Israel and Palestinian and Gulf leaders disagree on who should be in charge of the Gaza Strip after the war.
It helps that Michaelis comes from oddball comedy — they hosted a show for the comedy streaming service Dropout, and they've worked with Upright Citizens Brigade. You can see those comedy chops in Rachel's sharp approach to her dilemma that is somehow both confident and baffled. The script from Tamar Laddy and the direction from Stacey N. Harding are very well-suited to the project.
When I tell people a Hallmark movie is good, they often assume that there's an undercurrent that you grade these things on a curve — that they are not good in the way other things are good. Round and Round is plain old good, a spry and funny romcom I'd have been delighted to discover inside or outside the Hallmark universe.
This piece also appeared in NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what's making us happy.
Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Discussions are focused on three things: reconstruction of Gaza after the war, security to ensure no more attacks on Israel, and who will govern day-today life, NPR's Daniel Estrin reports for Up First from Tel Aviv. The U.S. wants the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to gradually take over Gaza. Israel's leaders demand a different kind of Palestinian leadership in Gaza. They say those in charge in the West Bank, who have not condemned Hamas's attacks, cannot play a role.

Check out npr.org/mideastupdatesfor more coverage and analysis of this conflict.
About 100 prosecutors in Ohio violated standards meant to preserve a defendant's civil rights in criminal trials, an investigation by NPR and Columbia Journalism Investigations revealed. The report analyzed four years of state appellate court decisions and found a pattern of improper conduct including failing to disclose evidence or making inappropriate comments to the jury.

Though the investigation focused on Ohio, similar cases were found in other states, NPR's Cheryl W. Thompson says. She speaks to Bennett Gershman, a prosecutor who now teaches at Pace University Law School. Gershman says the pattern of misconduct NPR uncovered in Ohio is a "microcosm" of the criminal justice issues across the country.

Orban said that his opposition remained steadfast, but that he decided not to use his veto because the 26 other nations were arguing so strongly in favor. Under EU rules, an abstention does not prevent a decision from being adopted.
Global public health experts warn that new mosquito- and tick-borne tropical viruses are coming to the U.S., and the country is unprepared to face the looming threat. This year, the U.S. had locally transmitted cases of malaria, Zika and dengue fever. Globalization and climate change have made insect-borne diseases spread more widely worldwide.
An EU official, who insisted on not being quoted by name because the summit negotiations were private, said Orban was "momentarily absent from the room in a pre-agreed and constructive manner" when the decision was made.
A 28-year-old man has been charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of Samantha Woll, a Jewish community leader in Detroit. Police said at a press conference that they believe Woll was killed during a break-in and the incident was not a case of overt antisemitism, as was initially feared. Woll was found dead outside her home two weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Kara Jackson
Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?

Orban said he stepped aside since all of his counterparts were committed to putting Ukraine on the EU membership path, though their position did not change his mind.

Picture show

"Hungary's perspective is clear: Ukraine is not ready for us to begin negotiations on its EU membership. It's a completely illogical, irrational and improper decision" he said.

Release Date: April 14

Others lauded Orban's gesture. They had been preparing for the summit spilling over into an extra day Saturday.
"Certainly quicker than any of us expected," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said.
"Damn the dickhead blues," Kara Jackson moans on her debut LP, her deep, liquid voice floating on the fingerpicked chords of her guitar as a xylophone, strings and a Wurlitzer form a translucent arrangement around her. As she goes on to list just what dickheads do and how she's learning to refuse them — "I am pretty top-notch," she repeats, reminding herself — it's easy to imagine the tilt of her chin and the way her jokes clear the catch in her throat. The 24-year-old Jackson, an award-winning published poet who started playing piano at age 5, tugs on the line between the profane and the profound with the self-possessed ease of the century of blues storytellers who set this stage for her. Like those writers, Jackson builds her boat from casually devastating wordplay and lets her stray thoughts carry her to points of revelation: "just when you should sharpen me, the angels licensed you to leave," she sings of a colored pencil-collecting friend who died too young, pinpointing how a loss during adolescence can arrest a person. Elevating her accounts of mourning and resilience is the unobtrusively magical production by Jackson and her cohort of undefinable Chicago indie artists (KAINA, NNAMDÏ and Sen Morimoto); frameworks that seem skeletal at first glow with hidden details, offering new depths to explore with each listen. —Ann Powers

Stream Kara Jackson's Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?

Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode Found in Translation
Bacteria coordinate attacks using their own chemical language. What if we could decode these messages and thwart their plans? Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi invented a tool to spy on bacterial chatter.
About Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi
Fatima AlZahra'a Alatraktchi holds a Ph.D. in nanotechnology and molecular biology. She is also a renowned fiction writer and the founder of PreDiagnose, where she's created next-generation diagnostics for early bacterial detection. She's an expert in developing micro- and nanosensors for the detection of cellular molecules and microorganisms. As a result of her research, Alatraktchi has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Lundbeck Foundation Talent Prize for outstanding research talents in medicine and health and the Ph.D. thesis of the year award by the Technical University of Denmark. Forbes listed her as one of the 30 most influential people under 30 in Europe within science and health in 2019.
Tieger isn't the only one on his team known to have committed improper conduct more than once in criminal trials. Allison Oswall, once a Tieger subordinate described by one long-standing attorney in Cincinnati as his protégée, also has more than one improper-conduct case, records show. Each one occurred under Tieger's supervision.
Mike Kilty, an independent from Nashua, backed Trump four years ago but now says he wants to make sure he doesn't return to the White House. Kilty was at the event for Sununu's endorsement of Haley saying, "I liked her going in. But Chris Sununu's endorsement kind of solidified my vote for her."
During a rape trial in June 2019, Oswall questioned a nurse about her professional opinion without having identified her as an expert witness to the defense. Like in the Davis case, the appeals court later found the testimony had damaged the defendant. It granted a new trial.
Some voters in Iowa and New Hampshire say they like Trump, or like what he did for the country, but they just want to move on from his brand of politics. In Iowa, many voters are considering backing Haley, rather than Trump, because they say they prefer what they see as her less divisive approach to leadership.
Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Found in Translation
Using spectral imaging, Gregory Heyworth can bring new life to old manuscripts. He is able to decipher texts that haven't been read in hundreds of years, and in the process, change history.
About Gregory Heyworth
Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Found in Translation
Gregory Heyworth is an associate professor of English at the University of Rochester. He is a medievalist and founder of the discipline of textual science. Professor Heyworth directs the Lazarus Project, a not-for-profit initiative to restore damaged and illegible cultural heritage objects, especially manuscripts and maps, using spectral imaging technology. He has helped recover numerous important objects including the Vercelli Book and the 1491 Martellus Map.
On Jan. 1 , Illinois' new law meant to slow the rapid rise of books being challenged or pulled from library shelves goes into effect. And librarians across the country are watching to see if a similar law would work in their state – particularly when it comes to threatening funding for libraries.
About Ralph Chami
The Illinois law states that in order to be eligible for state grants, a library or library system must adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, which says:
Ralph Chami is a financial economist and co-founder of Blue Green Future and Rebalance Earth. He retired from the International Monetary Fund after 25 years, where he most recently worked as an assistant director. He's developed a novel way to tackle both climate change and biodiversity loss: namely, to reposition species such as whales and elephants as crucial allies in the quest to sequester carbon, secure climate-resilient ecosystems and generate income for local communities. Chami himself experienced the majesty of whales firsthand in the Sea of Cortez in 2017.
The former president might not be putting in as much of an effort in Iowa as some of his other competitors, but he is still coming to the state. On Wednesday, at his Commit to Caucus event in eastern Iowa he asked supporters to go out, vote and caucus. "We have to put big numbers up," he said.
Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Found in Translation

Supervisors have histories themselves

JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown
SCARING THE HOES

boygenius
the record

Some moderate Republicans search for a Trump alternative

Wednesday
Rat Saw God

Approving accession talks a "clear message to Moscow"

Today's top stories

Kara Jackson
Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?

Picture show

Supervisors have histories themselves

JPEGMAFIA x Danny BrownSCARING THE HOES

boygeniusthe record

Some moderate Republicans search for a Trump alternative

WednesdayRat Saw God

Approving accession talks a "clear message to Moscow"

Today's top stories

Kara JacksonWhy Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?

Picture show

JPEGMAFIA x Danny Brown
SCARING THE HOES

boygenius
the record

Wednesday
Rat Saw God

Kara Jackson
Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?