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KU professor on trial over China ties

The trial of University of Kansas professor Feng "Franklin" Tao started on Monday. Tao was arrested as part of much-criticized Trump-era program designed to catch spies sharing American intellectual property and secrets with China. Plus, some Kansas jails are finally allowing medical care for opioid addiction.

Opening arguments for the trial of University of Kansas professor Feng "Franklin" Tao started on Tuesday. He was the first to be charged under the China Initiative, a Trump administration program that resulted in increased attention to Chinese American academics and about a dozen arrests. As John Rutwich reports for NPR, the initiative was shut down last month, but that hasn't stopped ongoing cases like Tao's.

Decades of research shows some medications are very effective at helping people overcome drug use disorders. Now, a few Kansas counties are allowing this kind of medical care for people in jail. For the Kansas News Service, Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports that experts say more jails need to take the same step.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love with Trevor Grandin and edited by Gabe Rosenberg & Lisa Rodriguez.

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As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
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Trevor Grandin is a contributing producer for KCUR Studios.
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