Live from NPR news in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.
TSA security officers have started to receive some payments today, NPR's Joel Rose reports
“it's the first time they've been paid since the DHS shutdown began more than 40 days ago.”
The union that represents TSA security officers says they've started to receive some of the back pay their owed. Aaron Barker is a president of the local union that represents TSA officers in Georgia, speaking with NPRs here and now. It does give some sort of relief, but officers were expecting to have their full back pay
and that did not happen. DHS says most TSA workers have received the two full pay checks they missed, but are still owed a partial paycheck. The Trump administration says it's using funds from within the DHS budget to pay TSA workers
after Congress failed to reach a deal to fund the department lawmakers have disagreed over
calls for tighter restrictions on immigration enforcement, Joel Rose and PR News Washington. The New York Times says the Pentagon is shouting on a court order that blocked its policy
“limiting news reporters' access to the Defense Department's headquarters.”
The Times claims Pentagon officials implemented a revised press policy that circumvents the ruling in that ruling the judge ruled the Pentagon's new credential policy violated journalist's constitutional rights to free speech and due process. The newspaper is urging the court to force the government to comply with the order. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on birthright citizenship on Wednesday, and PR's
"Deminico-Motinal" reports the public opinion is split on whether people think the practice should continue. A majority of Americans say they're in favor of automatic citizenship for children born in the United States when asked about it generally, but when asked more specifically about those who are born to people in the country with out legal status, or who crossed the
border illegally, that support plummets. A Pew Research Center poll for example found that 9 and 10 say they support automatic citizenship for those born to US citizens, but they're split nearly half and half on it continuing to be granted to those whose parents are in the country illegally. A U.S. survey found even less support when there's that kind of variance, political messaging
becomes even more of a factor in shaping public opinion, Domenico-Motinal and PR News, Washington.
“Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell says it's important to closely monitor inflation amid”
a spike in energy prices from the Iran war as the average price for regular gasoline here is $4 a gallon in the U.S. You can have a series of these supply shocks and that can lead, you know, the public generally businesses, price setters, households, lead them to start expecting higher inflation over time.
Why wouldn't they? But he says that there isn't a lot fed policymakers can do. Powell said that energy shocks tend to come and go pretty quickly and monetary maneuvers work on the longer term. The national average price of a gallon of regular gas is $3.99, the average price in California
is $5.88. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The U.S. has formally reopened its embassy in Caracas, Venezuela after the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country. It comes after the Trump administration captured President Nicolas Maduro in January.
The embassy had been closed for seven years, a small team of U.S. diplomats based in neighboring Colombia has been working in Caracas for more than a month, but the embassy itself had not yet been reopened. The K-pop group BTS returns the top of this week's Billboard albums chart after a long time away, and PR Steven Thompson has more.
BTS recently returned after a hiatus of nearly four years. In that time, the boy band's members released solo projects and completed mandatory military service in South Korea. Four years is a long break for any K-pop group, but BTS picks up where it left off on this week's Billboard charts.
The group's new album, Ari Wrong, debuts at number one, thanks in part to sales of more than 500,000 copies.
Ari Wrong's first single swim also debuts at the Billboard Hot 100, it's BTS's first
number one single since 2021. Steven Thompson and PR News. Ted Martin Dale, owner of a cafe in British Columbia, celebrated his 80th birthday with a massive 17-foot by 17-foot carrot cake. The three ton cake includes nearly 1,800 pounds of carrots, 700 pounds of butter and 2,000
pounds of icing. This is NPR News from Washington.
