Day: January 18, 2026

L.A. County Public Defender Noah Cox noticed the disturbing trend. Many of his clients seemed to struggle answering even the most basic questions about the crimes they’d been charged with, questions like, “Where were you that day?” It seemed, Cox said, “like they were having troubles related to some sort of intellectual ability.” But when he dug into their records, Cox could see that while many had committed serious crimes, most had never been identified as disabled or offered resources to help with cognitive impairments. So Cox set about to change that. He helped create a new unit in the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office dedicated to representing people with cognitive disorders. Today on The Sunday Story a look at the possibilities and challenges of helping those with cognitive impairments stay out of prison and get the resources they need to live productive lives. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

More than 200,000 consumers in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region were left without electricity on Sunday, the Moscow-installed regional governor said, after a Ukrainian drone strike on Saturday.

The Sumgayit Regional Center of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations has conducted a training exercise focused on search-and-rescue operations for missing persons in forested areas under snowy weather conditions.