"Live from NPR news in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.
President Trump insisted today he's not putting troops anywhere, but seemed to leave
“the door open to using ground troops in the war on Iran if necessary.”
And PR is more a lie, in reports." President Trump said that the U.S. will do whatever is necessary in the war on Iran, but he told reporters that if he was going to commit ground troops, quote, "I certainly wouldn't tell you." Poll show committing ground troops would be extremely unpopular, on top of a war that most
Americans already oppose.
The President also addressed reports of a potential $200 billion funding request for the
war in Iran, Trump called that a small price to pay. But Congress has not voted to approve the war, and many Republicans could find it hard to justify spending the equivalent of a quarter of the Pentagon's annual budget at a time when gas and other prices are rising because of the war. Mara Lyasin and PR news, the White House.
The Treasury Department has announced it will take over student loans whose borrowers are in default, meaning their months behind on payments. It's a first step towards the education department shedding management of all student loans as the Trump administration dismantles the agency.
Federal judges are speaking out about harassment during high-profile cases, and PR's
Kerry Johnson reports the U.S. marshals have been warning about a rise in violent threats against judges and their families. U.S. district judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C. says she received dozens of emails and voice mails after she issued a decision in a big immigration case last month.
“She said one such message read, quote, "The best way you can help America is to eat a bullet."”
Judge Reyes told audience members on a YouTube panel, "That kind of harassment has become ordinary." The federal court system recently advised judges they could say more to defend themselves and their independence. For her part Judge Reyes says it's a privilege to serve as a judge with lifetime tenure.
She says she and other judges will continue to do their best, notwithstanding all the noise
from the outside. Kerry Johnson and PR News, Washington. NPR has learned that a new company is setting up a lab in New York City to try to edit the genes of human embryos and PR's Rob Stein has more. The company is called Origin Genomics and founder Kathy Tye tells NPR that her goal is to
demonstrate that it would be safe to edit DNA and human embryos.
“"I'm very excited, this is the most important technology of my generation."”
Most scientists and bioethesis say it's too dangerous to try to use genetically modified embryos to make babies and some worry this could lead to a dystopian future of designer babies. But Tye says gene editing embryos could prevent children from being born with devastating genetic disorders, at least two other U.S. startups have recently been formed with the same controversial goal.
Rob Stein and PR News. U.S. stocks largely drop today. This is NPR. A new KFF survey shows many who had affordable care act marketplace health insurance last year are struggling with high health costs. Tax credits that had offset most in roleys monthly
premiums expired three months ago. More than half say they're looking for ways to cut spending on household basics like food. Researchers believe pythons may contain clues to help treat a range of human ailments from heart disease to muscle atrophy or a Daniel reports. A python can go months without feeding. When it does eat, its body undergoes a dramatic transformation, reversibly enlarging its heart and other organs. Plus digestion dumps all sorts of molecules into
the bloodstream. A team of researchers found one molecule in particular that surged a thousand times after a python consumed a meal. It appears to act as an appetite suppressant by targeting the hypothalamus in the brain. Jack Google is a molecular biologist at the University of Colorado Boulder. When we give this molecule to obese mice, they eat less and they lose weight. Suggesting that it could be a strong candidate for a new weight loss drug, the team's now
founded a company to look into it. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. rapper singer Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Forman, has won a defamation lawsuit filed by 7 Ohio Sheriff's deputies. They sued him over music videos that used home security footage to mock them over a 2022 raid of his home. The deputies say they were publicly harassed over the videos. They show rifle wielding deputies busting down his door, searching his shoes and eyeing a cake
on the kitchen table. This is NPR News.
