"Lie from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi saying.
ruling out the possibility that writers who believe they were wrongfully prosecuted over
“the 2021 insurrection of the US Capitol, Mike Epade from a more than $1.7 billion fund.”
The Justice Department sparked concerns among members of Congress that setting up a fund to resolve President Trump's multi-billion dollar lawsuit against the IRS would amount to a taxpayer-funded payout to Trump's friends. At a budget hearing today Blanche told Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine the fund is structurally similar to an Obama-era fund designed to compensate Native American farmers who alleged they were victims of racial
discrimination." "It is true that this is unusual. That is true. But it is not unprecedented and it was
done to address something that had never happened again either. So there is an unprecedented
nature of what we did yesterday in response to years and years of weaponization just to correct a few things." Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollett of Maryland says the fund is "peer theft of public funds."
“The death toll from the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen”
to 131 according to local health authorities, and Piers Jonathan Lambert reports more than 500 people are suspected to be sick because of the outbreak. On Tuesday, the head of the World Health Organization said he is deeply concerned about the scale and speed of this outbreak. A rare or species of the Ebola virus called Buendabuyo
is behind it. Standard field tests often miss this virus and it's likely that it's been
spreading in the region for weeks under the radar. At least one American, a doctor who is working in DRC, tested positive and is experiencing symptoms. The risk to the US, however, is low as Ebola doesn't spread as easily as an airborne disease like COVID. The risk to Central Africa is high because it's a rare or species. There are no approved treatments or vaccines for the virus that's spreading. Jonathan Lambert and PR News.
President Trump's discount website for prescription drugs called Trump RX is getting
“an update. The site will now include hundreds of generic drugs.”
Here's NPR Sydney Lepkin. Trump RX has added 600 and 2 generic drugs. That's in addition to the brand name drugs available to cash paying patients at a discount. The site offers what it calls presidential deals on brand name drugs that range from 10% off for GSK's anti-viral inhaler Rolenza to up to 93% off for no viruses, multiple sclerosis pill, mazint. Users can print coupons to use it
a pharmacy or follow links to drug company websites to purchase medication. Trump RX also includes generic drugs at what it calls standard prices. It directs users to our discount sites like Amazon and cost plus drugs. President Trump says more than 10
million people have visited Trump RX.gov.
Sydney Lepkin and PR News. This is NPR. Train service is starting to gradually resume on the Long Island Railroad now that a tentative deal is in place to end a train worker strike that shut down the country's busiest commuter rail system for days. Limited service on the LIWR was expected to begin
this hour, then full speed by evening rush hour. The labor dispute over salaries and health coverage among other items affected rail service it typically serves more than a quarter million people every day in the New York City area. A group of big cities and small towns in conservative Utah is working to bring more renewable energy to the electric grid. The effort could be a model for other US cities to take climate
action even as a federal government pulls back on clean power. David condos of conversation KUER reports. The coalition called Utah renewable communities has a big goal. Generate enough clean power to offset the electricity used in nearly 300,000 homes in businesses. To do this the communities plan to build new energy projects like solar and wind. It's a unique
collaboration with the projects funded by a small monthly fee on customers bills and the regional utility delivering the power to the grid. Emily Quinton is sustainability director with Summit County, one of the coalition's 19 members. It shows us that at the local level you can continue to move on climate strategies, kind of regardless of the federal wins.
The group plans to begin adding new power to the grid by 2030. For NPR News, I'm David condos in Castle Valley, Utah. NPR News shows new music new movies keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full-time job. Thankfully over at pop culture happy-hour, it's literally our job. We break down what's actually
worth watching listening to and pretending you already knew about. So the next time someone says, did you see that? You can say, yeah, obviously. Follow NPR's pop culture happy-hour
