Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey.
The sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham will finish his term in the U.S. Senate. Darlene Graham was appointed this afternoon by South Carolina's governor. She will fill the seat until January. Lindsey Graham died at the age of 71 late Saturday following a brief and sudden illness according to a statement released by his office.
In accepting the interim post, Darlene Graham called it a privilege to finish some of her brother's work.
“I think this is what Lindsey would have wanted, and I plan to honor him in this way.”
Now to Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words, but I'm going to do this. I got it. President Trump and South Carolina's other Senator Republican Tim Scott had thrown their support behind Darlene Graham.
The seat is up for election this year. Lindsey Graham had been campaigning for a fifth term that will now be a special primary election in August to replace him on the ballot. Darlene Graham did not say if she intends to run for a full Senate term. A federal judge has slammed President Trump's lawsuit over his leaked tax records, saying
it was filed in bad faith for an improper purpose. The judge also recommended sanctions for attorneys involved in the matter, and Pierre's Ryan Lucas reports.
“In her 56-page order, U.S. district judge Kathleen Williams blasts President Trump's”
lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.
The suit ended with a settlement, which included the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion
anti-weaponization fund, which has since been scrapped. Judge Williams says Trump's lawsuit was brought to manipulate the judicial process and to try to use the court to provide some legitimacy to the eventual settlement and the earmarking of billions of taxpayer dollars to address grievances not defined in the law. The judge referred one of Trump's lawyers for potential disciplinary action, Ryan Lucas and
Pierre News, Washington. New research finds more people in the U.S. are using credit or dipping into their savings to pay for groceries, and Pierre's Jennifer Ludden reports, food prices have jumped 30% over the past five years. More than a quarter of working-age adults who used a credit card for food did not repay
the full amount, not according to new research by the Urban Institute thinktake, which finds an uptick in such financial stress since 2023. Nearly 20% said they'd tapped long-term savings not meant for daily expenses to pay for groceries, a third who used by now pay later missed a payment in the last year. The survey was done in December before the Iran war sent gas prices up and further strained
many people's budgets. Over the past year, expanded work requirements for federal food aid have also taken hold,
and enrollment in that program has dropped by several million people, Jennifer Ludden and
Pierre News, Washington. Newer listening to NPR News live in Washington. Frances third heat wave of the year is intense and lingering, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports museums, the Eiffel Tower, and other tourist sites in Paris closed early over the weekend.
France's state-owned energy group has temporarily shut down three nuclear reactors. The measure is an environmental protection requirement to avoid discharging excessively hot water and delivers already warming because of the heat wave. Forest fires are raging in the south of the country, and a rare blaze has broken out in the forest of Fontenblow around the famed Chateau of the same name just south of Paris.
As smoke billows above the 15th century castle, the blaze forced the shutdown of a major highway. The famous Canada fire fighting planes that usually scoop water from the Mediterranean but out southern fires are now scooping thousands of gallons from the San River, Eleanor Beardsley and Pierre News Paris. The European Union moved closer today to restricting children from accessing social media,
a special EU panel recommended barring access for kids under 13, unless they are supervised by a parent or teacher. It also recommended that teens age 13 to 18 should only be able to access social media platforms that have safety features like time limits on scrolling. The report called for putting the burden of proof on the tech companies to show that their
platforms are safe. The president of the European Commission could now take steps to make the recommendations law. She says children across Europe now spend four to six hours a day on social media. Stocks fell today after a new escalation in U.S. Iran tensions and arrives in oil prices is fueling inflation concerns. It's NPR.
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This week the final matchups of the 2026 World Cup, the latest developments between the U.S. and Iran,
“and a busy week in Congress with key confirmation hearings after the sudden death of Senator”
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