On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: The father of the suspected Georgia shooter has been charged. Hunter Biden pleads guilty to all federal tax charges he faced. USA TODAY Congress and Campaigns Reporter Riley Beggin breaks down the latest budget fight on Capitol Hill ahead of a looming government shutdown. Teen vaping rates have dropped. But use of another product is on the rise. USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter explains why advocates are applauding the Department of Transportation on steps toward better accessibility, though they say more work remains.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Friday, September 6th, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today, the latest from the Georgia shooting as the suspect's father has been charged. Plus, Hunter Biden pleads guilty to tax charges. And are we heading toward a government shutdown?

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The father of the suspected shooter who opened fire at a Georgia high school, killing two teachers and two students, was charged yesterday in connection with the attack. Colin Gray, father of Colt Gray was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of investigation.

Authorities say his 14-year-old son was armed with an AR-platform style weapon when he carried out the W shooting at Appalachia High School on Wednesday in Winder, Georgia, outside Atlanta. Officials say charges stem from the father knowingly allowing his son to possess a weapon.

14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo and math teachers, Richard Aspenwall and Christina Irmie, were fatally shot. Eight other students and one teacher were injured. The charges in this case followed the conviction earlier this year of the parents of a 15-year-old who killed four of his classmates in a shooting at his Michigan high school. The parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, each received 10 to 15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said the parents had bought their son the weapon used in the shooting and ignored signs he would commit violence.

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In a surprise move yesterday, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all nine federal tax charges he faced. The decision derailed a weeks-long trial as jury selection was scheduled to begin and avoids having to delve into a period of his life when he was actively using crack cocaine as a drug addict. Biden pleaded guilty to three felonies and six misdemeanors. On charges, he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.

President Joe Biden's son said, "When I was addicted, I wasn't thinking about my taxes. I was thinking about surviving." The tax charges carry a maximum sentence of 17 years, though Biden's sentence would likely be lower. He was convicted in June of three federal gun charges for lying about using drugs when he bought a handgun in 2018. The gun charges carry a maximum 25-year sentence.

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As a potential government shutdown looms at the end of this month, lawmakers have to clear a contentious hurdle first. I spoke with USA TODAY Congress and Campaigns Reporter Riley Beggin for more. Hello, Riley.

Riley Beggin:

Hey, how are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good. Good. Thanks for hopping on The Excerpt today. So government funding expires at the end of this month, September 30th. What's Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's plan? And what's this contentious bill he wants to tie to it?

Riley Beggin:

So Speaker Mike Johnson wants to extend current funding levels through March, which would be a six-month extension, which avoids a lot of potential political battles over government funding levels, but it would come with another kind of political battle because he wants to attach this bill to it that would require people to prove that they are American citizens before they can vote.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So does this have any chance in either chamber?

Riley Beggin:

In the House where Republicans have a narrow majority, it could pass. It has already passed once with the support of five Democrats. But given the dynamics around funding and the election year, which we'll get into, there are some Republicans who are saying, "I'm not going to go down this path this time." So even if it does pass the House, which is unclear, it stands really no chance in the Senate where Democrats have the majority and they've made it pretty clear they are not going to support this.

Taylor Wilson:

Riley, I'm feeling some deja vu on this. Have we seen similar strategies to this one from hardline Republicans previously in recent years? And how about from Democrats? How has either side really approached these deadlines in recent years?

Riley Beggin:

Yeah. This is definitely something you've seen before. Basically, every time there is a government funding deadline during this Congress, there have been some of these political discussions. These are considered must pass bills because everyone wants to avoid a government shutdown. So people have an incentive to attach policy to it that they really want to get passed or that they think is going to put their opponents in a sticky situation, which I think is what's going on here.

Republicans know it's not going to pass. They want to force their democratic opponents to make a public stance on this issue. But you're right, both sides have done this in this congress. Republicans have been the ones that have really hold the line because they have this right wing cohort that is willing to flirt with the shutdown in order to push the envelope on policy. But Democrats have done it before as well, and I'm sure they will again in the future.

Taylor Wilson:

So you mentioned the possibility of government shutdown here, Riley. What would that practically mean? Which parts of the government would actually stop working?

Riley Beggin:

Essentially everything that is not considered absolutely essential would be shut down. So that means your family vacation to the national park is not going to happen. It might mean if you need to get your passport, that's going to be a little bit slower. If you're trying to get through to your Medicare and Social Security customer service agents, that might be tougher, but you're going to continue to get your Medicare and Social Security payments. Air traffic controllers are still going to work, you can still take air travel. All of those sorts of things that we consider the nuts and bolts of daily life, those are still going to go on.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned this is an election year. Not only that, we're getting into the final stretch now just a couple months out from election day. How much added pressure, Riley, does this looming election put on lawmakers to really work toward avoiding a shutdown this time in particular?

Riley Beggin:

Yeah, exactly. This is a different ball game than it was earlier this year and late last year when we saw this happening repeatedly, because we are just a few weeks out from an election. This is when voters really pay attention. I think a lot of politicos and people who are paying attention inside the beltway here have been thinking about this for a year. But for the vast majority of Americans, they are just tuning in. They're going to watch this debate next week. And if this happens in the middle of this very tight multi-week window where voters are looking at the landscape, considering their options, they might blame one side or the other for a government shutdown.

So neither side really wants to take that risk. So there's likely to be either some deal making or a lot of finger pointing in the case that we get close to a government shutdown. But I think for listeners, you are unlikely to face a government shutdown here because the incentive is so strong to avoid one.

Taylor Wilson:

Riley Beggin covers congress and campaigns for USA TODAY with a great breakdown for us as always. Thank you, Riley.

Riley Beggin:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

A half million fewer school-aged kids vaped this year than last. That's a win for public health officials who have warned for years of the health risks posed by these nicotine delivering devices. The 2024 National Youth Tobacco survey reported that 1.63 million school-aged children had used e-cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days from the time of responding down from 2.13 million a year ago.

Teen use has plummeted since reports reached an all-time high in 2019 when more than 5 million school-aged kids reported they vaped prompting the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on the devices. But according to this year's survey, more teens have turned to nicotine pouches. In recent years, nearly half a million school-aged kids used nicotine pouches in the past 30 days more than double the 200,000 youth pouch users in 2021. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Advocates are applauding the Department of Transportation on work to boost accessibility, but they still want to see more upgrades. I spoke with USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter to learn more. Hello, Zach.

Zach Wichter:

Hey, how's it going? Thanks for having me on.

Taylor Wilson:

Good. Good. Thanks for hopping back on. So, Zach, let's just start here. You spoke with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. What did he highlight during your talk with him in terms of improving accessibility for disabled travelers?

Zach Wichter:

Secretary Buttigieg was pretty clear-eyed about the fact that accessibility in the nation's transportation system is a huge issue. People who rely on like mobility devices and travelers with other kinds of disabilities can really have a lot of different kinds of hardships when they're getting around.

And to that end, the Department of Transportation over the last few years has invested billions of dollars both in physical infrastructure improvements to help make things more accessible. That's things like building ramps, elevating railroad platforms so that people can board without having to climb stairs when they're getting on their train. It's also things like improving street layouts and sidewalk layouts for pedestrians. And even things like investing in and supporting companies that want to improve their training for people who work with those who rely on accessibility services.

And so the DOT is really doing a lot of work and a lot of different avenues to improve accessibility across the transportation network, but both Secretary Buttigieg and the advocates who I spoke to acknowledged that there's a lot of work still to be done and the things that are happening now while they are major investments, it's really just a start.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So what exactly do you hear from advocates in terms of obstacles that still remain in some of these gaps that are still out there that they want to see addressed?

Zach Wichter:

It's a bunch of different things. I think in a lot of ways accessibility gets addressed in a piecemeal way. So one of the biggest problems, and I've written a lot about this, is damage to wheelchairs when people who rely on wheelchairs and other mobility devices fly. Airlines typically damage or destroy 10 to 15,000 wheelchairs a year, and that's a huge hindrance to the people who rely on those devices to get around if they land in their destination and they no longer have access to their mobility aid.

But there are lots of other things also. There are all kinds of invisible disabilities. So those are folks who have disabilities that don't require the use of a wheelchair where it's really apparent that they may be disabled. Both the secretary and the advocates that I spoke to said a lot more work needs to be done to make accessibility a priority for all different kinds and levels of disability.

But I do want to emphasize that the advocates say that this Department of Transportation Under Secretary Buttigieg has really made strides in improving accessibility, but they just acknowledge that there are a lot of things that need to be done to make the transportation system in the U.S. Fully accessible to everyone. And one person who I spoke to said that it's not work that's ever truly going to be done. She said there's never really going to be a moment where we say we arrived and now transportation is accessible. So it's something that is going to be continuously worked on and improved on. And what all of the advocates I spoke to said they just really hope to see continued investment and this continued high level of attention to this issue going forward.

Taylor Wilson:

You know, Zach, one of the things I'm curious about here is we're often talking about private companies, will the industries actually follow suit? How much can government actually do here?

Zach Wichter:

So that's a big part of what the Department of Transportation is doing on its own policy and enforcement side. The secretary said, when it comes to these wheelchair damages and some other issues at airlines, he wants to make it clear that the damage is a violation of what's called the Air Carriers Access Act, which is essentially the Americans with Disabilities Act for air travel.

And so Secretary Buttigieg is working to ensure that airlines face serious financial repercussions when these kinds of damages and other accessibility oversights occur. And so he said, and the advocates who I spoke to seemed pretty optimistic that these financial levers are one of the more effective ways of getting airlines to comply because these laws have been on the books for a long time. But people have said that the companies don't really face harsh enough penalties, and so with stronger penalties for damages, airlines will be more incentivized to treat all of their customers and their customers goods with care.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Interesting insight and perspective. As always, Zach Wichter covers consumer travel for USA TODAY. Thank you, Zach.

Zach Wichter:

Thanks for having me on. Always a pleasure.

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Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.

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