Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.

Voters will have less time to get mail-in ballots to elections officials this year.

Multiple states are eliminating grace periods for casting ballots by mail, as NPR's Ashley Lopez reports.

Almost 20 states and territories count ballots that make it to officials after polls close.

Most require that those ballots be post-sparked by election day, though.

These laws are in place to give voters wiggle room in case there are issues with the mail

or other unforeseen problems.

But four of those states passed legislation that require ballots to be received by the

close of polls, regardless of when the voter mailed their ballot.

Trump signed an executive order, much of which is currently halted by a court order that sought to eliminate these grace periods altogether.

Ashley Lopez, NPR News.

19 states have raised their minimum wage.

The bottom rate varies by state, but the highest is $17.13 an hour in Washington State and $16 an hour in Hawaii. The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour, where it's been since 2009. American farmers hurt by U.S. tariffs are learning how much federal aid they can expect per acre.

The Agriculture Department says payments from a recently announced $12 billion Farm Aid package should begin arriving by the end of February, but some farmers say it will not be enough.

Authorities say is too soon to speculate on the cause of a deadly fire that claimed at least 40 lives at a ski resort bar

in the Swiss Alps. President Guy Parmalen calls it one of the worst tragedies and was Swiss

history. As NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports, a social media video appears to show flames spreading

above the bar. There's also what seems to be a promotional video from last year for the bar,

and that shows female staff wearing biker helmets striding through the place,

carrying sparklers stuffed into alcohol bottles.

People have also been asking whether last night the bar was overcrowded.

So there's clearly lots of questions to be answered in this investigation. For now,

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