Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
Green Markets fell after President Trump left China with no firm trade deal for American soybean farmers. And here's Kirk Sigler reports, "Many farmers are nervous going into the planting season with China historically being their biggest buyer." There had been hope that the summit would result in China committing to buy even more than
the 25 million metric tons of soybeans that the White House says.
It's agreed to annually, that's only a verbal agreement, and nothing out of the summit was put on paper nor was there a deal to buy even more, which caused prices to plummet by 24 cents. Here's analysts Brian split in the podcast, "Standard Grayne." We're running out of time to get additional details, and again, hopefully if there are
details, it's something concrete, not just, "Hey, it's billions of dollars of goods by the end of the season."
“I think the trade would really like to see something specifically.”
This sport-dependent farmers tell NPR they're nervous about that, and that no other firm deals were inked for commodities like corn. Kirk Sigler and PR News, New York.
Colorado Democratic Governor has shortened the prison sentence for Tina Peters, a former
clerk convicted of tampering with election equipment after the 2020 election. Colorado Public Radio's Benta Berkland has more. The controversial decision follows a month-long pressure campaign from President Trump and his administration to free Peters from state custody. Governor Jared Polis says her nearly nine-year sentence in 2024 was too long.
She will be eligible for parole, June 1st. This is not a part-in, it's really making sure that her free speech was not a criteria for her overly harsh sentencing. A Colorado appeals court ordered she'd be resentent last month, saying the judge had sentence Peters too harshly for her beliefs.
“This commutation puts Polis directly at odds with his own party and election clerps.”
For MPR News, I'm Benta Berkland in Colorado. The CIA director it made an unannounced visit to Cuba yesterday, delivering a strong warning from President Trump to Cuba's communist leaders. This is Cuba says it's run out of fuel and it's dealing with near total blackouts. There are questions on whether President Trump will do to Cuba what he did to Venezuela
and ousting President Nicholas Maduro in January. If your Greg Myri has more. We should note that Trump dispatched Ratcliffe to Venezuela in January, less than two weeks after U.S. troops seized that country's president, Nicholas Maduro, who remains in U.S. custody in New York.
Now Ratcliffe laid out what the U.S. expected of Venezuela at that time and the Trump administration describes the relationships in generally positive terms, though it's mostly the same people as before, minus Maduro. And here's Greg Myri reporting that as well as supplied Cuba with oil, but the U.S.
“now controls Venezuela as oil industry and a stopped shipments to Cuba.”
This is NPR News. And Ebola outbreak in Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed at least 65 people, according to Africa CDC. And here's Jonathan Lambert reports the outbreak has alarmed some global health experts. The DRC has experienced several Ebola outbreaks recently.
This last fall, an outbreak, killed 45 people over the course of several months.
The fact that this new outbreak has already reported more deaths in just the first official
announcement is causing major concern. So far, officials report 246 suspected cases. They're concentrated in two mining towns, Mongualu and Rampara, where many people come and go for work. There's also ongoing conflict in the region.
That could help fuel transmission in nearby cities, though the risk to people outside that area is currently low. Initial tests suggest the strain behind this outbreak isn't covered by the one licensed Ebola vaccine. That could make containment harder.
Jonathan Lambert and VR News. The Texas Supreme Court today refused to declare that the Democratic lawmakers who briefly left the state in 2025 to block a vote on new congressional maps, pushed by President Trump, have vacated their offices. Governor Greg Abbott and State Republicans wanted the Democrats punished.
For allegedly abandoning their offices, Democrats say they were exercising their right to dissent. The state's high court says Abbott and other Republicans had already handled the matter through fines and noted that the Democrats returned on their own within a few weeks. I'm Janine Herbst and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.
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