Live from NPR News and Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.
President Trump posted on social media tonight that his administration is getting close
“to meeting its objectives during the war in Iran and considering winding down military”
efforts. But earlier in the day, the administration deployed more warships and another 2,500 Marines to the region, and that Pentagon is asking for an additional $200 billion in funding for the war.
Trump also called NATO allies' cowards for not joining operations to secure the critical
straight of war moves. The war has tested Trump's traditional approach of negotiating through threats over the last week. The President has run into some significant political limits, as NPR's Tamar Keith explains. Trump didn't build a case for this war with the American public or with traditional allies.
He didn't build a coalition of the willing in advance. And now he's coming in after the fact, telling Americans high gas prices are a small price
“to pay for defeating the Iranian threat, and slamming the NATO alliance for not sending”
in ships to help open the state of Hormuz, it's much harder to get buy-in after the fact. NPR's Tamar Keith reporting Georgia is the first state to suspend its gas tax in response to the war in Iran, which has caused fuel prices to spike from member station WABE, but O'Bally reports the suspension takes effect immediately. Lawmakers cheered after Governor Brian Kemp signed a 60-day suspension of the state's
motorfield tax that was quickly pushed through the legislatures this week. In the coming days and weeks, as retailers get new shipments of motor fuel, those prices on the billboards will not include the 33-cent excess-excised tax on gasoline in the 37-cent tax on diesel fuel. Like the rest of the nation, Georgia has seen gas prices jump since the war in Iran started
according to AAA regular unleaded, it is jump more than $1 a gallon to $379, it's been even worse for diesel, which has jumped from $361 a gallon to $5.25 a gallon.
“For NPR News, I'm Raul Bally in Atlanta.”
A federal jury has found Elon Musk liable for attempting to drive down Twitter stock prices ahead of his takeover in 2022, Katie DeBennadetti with member station KQED reports. The civil lawsuit accused Musk of making misleading statements about the number of bots on Twitter and falsely saying that his takeover was temporarily on hold. Attorneys for the former stockholders say the billionaire was trying to manipulate the
market to get a better deal. Here's attorney Mark Mollumfi speaking outside the courtroom.
The jury's verdict sends a strong message that, just because you're a rich and powerful
person, you still have to obey the law and no man is above the law. Musk's legal team declined to calm him. The plaintiff's attorneys estimate Musk could owe up to $2.6 billion in damages. For NPR News, I'm Katie DeBennadetti in San Francisco. This is NPR News from Washington.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to drop charges against two Louisville police officers tied to the raid that killed Brianna Taylor. The officers have been charged with falsifying parts of the warrant used to enter her apartment in March 2020. Police shot and killed Taylor after they broke down her door serving a no-knock warrant
and her boyfriend fired at the officers. The Trump administration is suing Harvard University over allegations that the Ivy League school violated Jewish students' civil rights in the latest action in the administration's ongoing back and forth with Harvard. NPR's a listen at Warny reports.
The suit says that Harvard failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students by being deliberately indifferent to harassment and hostility and for not enforcing campus rules when it comes to Jewish students. The suit filed in federal district court in Massachusetts is looking to recover millions of taxpayer dollars from Harvard.
In a statement, the university said it has taken steps to curb anti-Semitism and cares deeply about its Jewish and Israeli community. The Trump administration has launched multiple legal actions against Harvard University in the last year. Just last month, the Justice Department sued Harvard over admissions records.
A listen at Warny and PR news. A real live and fluffy possum was found among stuffed animals in an Australian airport gift shop,
a browsing passenger first spotted the marsupial peering out from among the stuffed kangaroos
on the display shelf. The airport says it's still a mystery how the possum got into the store and how long it's spent there, staff were able to remove the possum from the airport unharmed. This is NPR News.
