Shutdown Politics, Air Traffic Control Issues, Comey Arraignment

About this episode

The government shutdown enters its second week with no negotiations underway, as President Trump threatens permanent layoffs. The impact of the shutdown is spreading to the skies, where staffing shortages have forced some air traffic control towers to close and ground flights across the country. And former FBI Director James Comey appears in court to face felony charges, a case driven by pressure from President Trump.<br/><br/><em>Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/news"target="_blank" >Subscribe</a> to the Up First newsletter.</em><br><p class="readrate">Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Russell Lewis, Krishnadev Calamur, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.<p class="readrate"><p class="readrate">It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas<p class="readrate"><p class="readrate">We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.<br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>