Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor, Johnston.
Two democratic senators are demanding answers from the Treasury Department about the
“decision to settle a case over the leak of President Trump's tax returns.”
NPR's Terry Johnson reports the lawmakers want a watchdog to investigate the arrangement. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyne of Oregon are writing officials of the Treasury Department to get more detail about what they call an outrageously corrupt
deal that creates a nearly $2 billion tax-payer fund that could compensate January 6 writers
and other Trump allies. The senators want the Inspector General for Tax Administration to probe whether any laws have been broken that bar political interference in the audit work of the IRS. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch is defending the settlement, asserting Trump and his family will not receive any direct financial benefit.
But the deal also seems to shield Trump from any legal problems over his past tax returns. Kerry Johnson and PR News Washington. Officials with the CDC says they're sending 7 Ebola experts from Atlanta to Central Africa to help contain the current outbreak.
“Dr. Satish Pillai is the agency's incident manager for Ebola Response.”
We continue to support DRC and Uganda Country offices and Ministry of Health colleagues
with near-term focus on expanding infection prevention and control efforts, strengthening contact tracing and surveillance operations, accelerating laboratory confirmation, addressing logistical gap, and enhancing risk communication in community engagement. The World Health Organization says the number of suspected deaths from Ebola in the democratic Republic of Congo stands at 177, neighboring Uganda has reported three new confirmed cases
of the virus. About 40,000 people remain under evacuation orders in southern California because of a hazardous chemical leak. Public safety officials in Orange County are working to prevent flammable materials from exploding in a densely populated area.
Still replugal from the birthstation, LAist reports some 40,000 residents were told to evacuate
“early Friday when public safety officials determined the tank was likely to fail.”
Officials say that could send some 7,000 gallons of its toxic contents spewing into the air or spilling out into the surrounding area. But Craig Kovie, Division Chief with the Orange County Fire Authority, says his team is working around the clock to prevent that, "It is not okay with me, just to sit back and watch this thing blow up or fail."
The tank, which is owned by the company GKN Aerospace, is filled with a chemical known as MMA. It can cause skin and eye irritation, respiratory problems, and can also affect the nervous system. This is NPR.
New details are emerging about a botched execution in Tennessee. The execution of death row in May, Tony Carothers has been delayed for at least a year after officials failed to establish an IV line for the lethal injection. Maria DiLibaroto is a senior attorney with the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project. "They started poking him with the knife that they're going to cut him with, and asked
if it hurt and Tony said it hurt, yes, I can feel it, it hurts, it hurts." The execution was postponed Thursday after courts rejected last-minute appeals from the ACLU and anti-death penalty advocates. SpaceX has conducted the 12th test of its massive new Starship rocket, and PR's Jeff Rumpfield reports the launch on Friday was partially successful.
The huge Starship rocket shot into space from its launch pad in South Texas. The rocket's massive booster separated, but its engines failed to steer back to Earth and it was lost before it could return to its planned. "It looks like the booster and its mission there in the Gulf, but we've got a ship still flying."
Starship also had some engine trouble, but it made it to space where it released some test satellites, then it landed in the southern Indian Ocean. The mixed outcome of the test comes just a few weeks before SpaceX plans to go public.
Starship is a critical part of its future, Jeff Brumfield and PR News.
"I'm Windsor Johnston, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington." On consider this NPR's afternoon news podcast, we cover everything from politics to the economy to the world, but every story starts with a question, and NPR, we stand for your right to be curious to make sense of the biggest story of the day and what it means for you.
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