There's a battle playing out over who should control American universities.

We're going to bankrupt these universities.

In season one, we were guessing what was to come.

Now we know.

We want $500 million from Harvard.

It's season two of The Harvard Plan.

This time, it really is personal.

Listen to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm.

Momentum is building in the Senate for a funding pathway that could end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

But as NPR's Luke Garrett reports, Congress still has a long way to go.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the chamber plans to vote on a bill Sunday that could eventually reopen the government. The legislative package includes the House passed continuing resolution, but this version would last until the end of January. The CR would also serve as a vehicle for a partial full-year funding legislation known as a minibus. But it remains unclear whether

Democrats will sign on. Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, a GOP negotiator, wasn't too hopeful.

I don't expect anything from the Democrats at this point. Their demands have been so ridiculous.

I don't know what they're going to do. And at this point, I frankly don't get them to cry.

Democrats have pushed for an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies before they would

agree to fund the government. Health care isn't mentioned in this latest plan. Luke Garrett,

NPR News, Washington. More flights were canceled or delayed today because of the government

shutdown. The FAA ordered a reduction of flights because of a shortage of air traffic controllers forced to work without pay.

Millions of Americans are getting their first blast of winter weather a bit early this year.

NPR's Matt Bloom has more on a mass of Arctic air moving through the country.

Parts of the Midwest in Great Lakes region are seeing the season's first round of snowfall as a big surge of Arctic air moves southward.

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