Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell released a statement on his health today saying he won't
“be returning to the Senate yet on the advice of his doctors after he was hospitalized for”
several weeks after falling and sustaining minor injuries. He says he later develops pneumonia and is now out of the hospital. McConnell didn't say when he would return, his condition has been the subject of much concern after there was no statement from his office since he was hospitalized last month.
Included a photo of him and his wife Elaine Cho in the statement, Kentucky's governor Andy Bashir has called on McConnell to update constituents on his condition. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died last night from an aortic dissection, according to the Washington D.C. medical examiner, he was 71 years old.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says his country lost a staunch advocate.
And if you're as Joanna Kekis's reports, Graham had just visited Ukraine, writing on social media Zelensky said he was deeply saddened by Graham's death and called him a true defender of freedom.
“Graham visited Ukraine ten times since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.”
His last visit was just last week. He met with Zelensky and toured a drone production facility. On Friday, Graham told reporters in Kiev that the White House was ready to support a new sanctions bill on Russia. "We have a magic moment in time here, and the coming months, if we do this right, we can
end this war." He said the plan includes strengthening Ukraine's military, Joanna Kekis's and PR news Kiev. The U.S. is launching more strikes against Iran this evening. This after Iran fired warning shots at a tanker attempting to transit through a different
route on the straight-of-war museum yesterday, which Tehran says is a violation of the memorandum of understanding. And Iran says the straight is now closed. He was ambassador to the UN Mike Walsh says Iran is trying to hold the world hostage to come to a deal.
“"I think Iran is still very much of the mindset that it can use the global economy as some”
type of leverage." Speaking there in ABCs this week, federal health authorities say an outbreak of a food-borne illness is now been detected in 31 states and here is Joe Hernandez reports. Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal disease caused by the Parasite Cyclospora, which can contaminate food and water.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's still trying to figure out what caused the spike in infections and that the total number of cases could rise. Previous outbreaks in the U.S. have been linked to Raspberry's basal cilantro, snow peas, and lettuce. Cyclosporiasis is not typically fatal and no deaths have been reported, but federal health officials say there have been 86 hospitalizations, Joe Hernandez and PR news.
You're listening to NPR News from Washington. More universities students are sticking with it. A new report finds a higher number of students are remaining enrolled in college after their first semester. Trump here's Alyssa Nadverney has more.
The National Student Clearing House Research Center tracks persistence and retention to see if students who had to college actually stay there on the path to a degree.
More than 2.6 million students started college in the fall of 2024, and the report found
more than 77% of them returned to school for a second year. That's up slightly from the prior years data. There were also increases in the outcomes for black and Hispanic students. They saw decade high rates at which they returned to college for the next fall. Racial gaps still persist with white and Asian students returning to college at higher
rates. Alyssa Nadverney and PR News. A proposed legal settlement with the federal government would require the Keystone Pipeline Systems Operator to pay a civil penalty of nearly $27 million this over a major oil spill in Kansas in December of 2022.
To prevent future accidents under terms of the agreement that were filed in court last week, it would resolve allegations that South Bo violated US and Kansas clean water laws in operating the pipeline. The 2002 rupture dumped nearly 13,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into a creek in Washington County, but 150 miles northwest of Kansas City.
The company denies the allegations. I'm Janine Herbst and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. On our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, the focus isn't the horse race but the stakes. You're part of the conversation Mondays on the WEDA podcast from WAMU and NPR.
