Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryan Lynn Barton.
A federal judge has denied a request to temporarily block the Justice Department's nearly
“$1.8 billion fund to compensate President Trump's allies, who say they were targeted”
for prosecution and PR's Ryan Lucas reports. The lawsuit was filed by the group's citizens for responsibility and ethics in Washington. The Justice Department says the case is moot because the department has said it is not moving forward with the anti-weaponization fund. The watchdog group, however, says the fund has not been formally rescinded, and so
on paper it still legally exists. So it is asking the court to temporarily block the fund for now. At a hearing in federal court, U.S. district judge Richard Leon denied that request. The judge said the issue does appear to be moot because of the Justice Department's public declarations, but he also warned the government not to play possum with the court.
Ryan Lucas and PR News, Washington. Voters and several states made their primary choices yesterday, setting the stage for this year's midterm elections. The two major parties won't face each other until the fall, but as NPR Stephen Schowler
“explains, Democratic turnout was up in key states.”
Let's look at South Carolina. It's a southern state where Republicans actually blocked a Trump-backed push for redistricting this year out of concerns among other things that it would juice Democratic turnout and a pretty Democratic friendly year. They were right, Democrats literally doubled their turnout from the 2022 midterm primaries,
and it was record early voting. You had similar turnout dynamics in Nevada, which has some of the most competitive governor and house races this fall as well. And PR Stephen Fowler reporting, a Republican led effort to repeal a ban on logging in what are known as roadless national forests is now gaining traction in Congress.
And PR's Kirk Siggler reports Senate Republicans successfully attached an amendment to a broader wildfire prevention bill. The quarter-century-old roadless rule bans logging on tens of millions of acres of pristine national forests, though there are carvouts for wildfire prevention work.
Republicans on the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee want a full
repeal, though. Its chairman, Mike Lee, of Utah, has gained national attention for pushing to sell federal public lands, which in a hearing caught the eye of Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell. On our side of the aisle, we would like to continue to acquire public land. And set it aside for the general public to use.
The GOP push coincides with the Trump administration's recent plans to repeal the roadless rule by administrative action.
“That's how it was originally created by President Clinton in 2001.”
Kirk Siggler and PR News. Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, consumer
prices rose 4.2 percent in May from a year earlier, posting their third straight monthly
increase prices have now risen faster than wages for several months, families are dipping into savings and more people are falling behind on credit card bills. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney says a new bridge across the Detroit River that President Trump threatened to block may take longer to open than anticipated, a ribbon-cutting ceremony
for the Gordy Howe International Bridge, which is jointly owned by Canada and Michigan is set to take place on Friday, but the White House now says a timeline to open the bridge to traffic has not been finalized. A warming climate could mean hailstones will get larger and do more costly property damage to Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies has more.
U.S. losses from hailstorms have increased fivefold since 2008, according to Victor Jincini, a professor of meteorology at Northern Illinois University.
Last year in the United States alone hailed over $50 billion in ensure loss.
He says there's evidence that the warming atmosphere creates more powerful thunderstorms in stronger updrafts, so that's the air that's rushing upward towards outer space. As those updrafts get stronger, it suspends these hailstones. But the bigger hailstones eventually come crashing down, Tincini says hail could get 75% larger as climate change continues. For NPR news, I'm David Martin Davies in San Antonio.
Veteran Japanese politician Yohei Kono has died at 89, as Chief Cabinet Secretary in 1993 Kono issued a historic apology to Asian women for sexual abuses by Japan's wartime military. His statement acknowledged Japanese military involvement in forcing women into work at frontline brothels. The apology led to Japan's broader acknowledgement of wartime atrocities in 1995. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.
Hey Lulu here, whether we are romping through science, music, politics, technology, or feelings, we seek to leave you seeing the world unmu. Radiolab adventures right on the edge of what we think we know wherever you get podcasts.
