Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has fired the country's top military commander, following days of protests against the general.
As NPR's Greg Myrrier reports, this is the second major shake-up to the military leadership
in the past week. In a late-night social media post, President Zelensky dismissed the head of the Armed Forces. General Alexander Serzky.
“The general, aged 60, was credited with winning several key battles in recent years.”
He's also a Soviet trained officer who favored rigid battlefield tactics. He clashed with the popular defense minister, 35-year-old Mikhailo Fedorov, a leading advocate of innovative drone warfare. Zelensky fired Fedorov last week. That ignited the protests in support of Fedorov and against the general.
These moves create uncertainty at a moment when Ukraine has regained momentum in the war. Zelensky has named a new general to lead the military, but still has an acting defense minister for now.
Greg Myrrier, NPR News, key.
President Trump's pick for director of national intelligence is moving to the next stage of his confirmation process of vote before the full Senate. Jay Clayton was recommended by the Senate Intelligence Committee in a nine to eight narrow party-lined vote that reflects the partisan divide over the sensitive post and PR's Eric McDaniel has more.
“The Committee chair Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas says in a statement, quote, "J Clayton”
is a highly qualified nominee with deep experience combating a wide range of national security threats." During his confirmation hearing last week, Democrats repeatedly pressed Clayton to acknowledge that President Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, Clayton refused to engage. Trump's acting intel chief Bill Pulti has no intelligence background and has been
assailed by Democrats who say he used his role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to weaponize records against the President's opponents. Clayton can be confirmed in the full Senate without Democratic support, Eric McDaniel, and Pianu's Washington.
"The Trump administration is pausing $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to Minnesota
in California over alleged fraud concerns. Federal officials say they'll withhold payments until the states verify that certain Medicaid claims meet federal requirements. America's Zurich from Member Station, Minnesota Public Radio reports," Minnesota officials
“say the $200 million federal officials are withholding makes this the third-time payments”
have been delayed over alleged fraud in health programs. In a written statement, Minnesota Department of Human Services, temporary Commissioner John Connelly, says federal officials haven't provided an explanation on how the deferral amount was calculated. The state says it has cooperated with the federal government to prevent the misuse of
"health funds." California's governor Gavin Newsom posted on ex that the state is being targeted for political reasons and not because of fraud. For NPR News, I'm Eric Azurich in St. Paul." And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. The director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is pushing back
against a White House report labeling the institution's leadership as radical activists and Thaea M. Hartig told a House or Oversight Subcommittee today that the report does not fairly represent the museum's work. The report was released on July 4 and criticized the museum as not telling history and an inspiring and unifying way.
As the school day goes on, kids have a harder time controlling their physical movements. As NPR's at Genaki Mehta reports, a new study suggests this may tell us about students long-term success in school. As each hour of the school day ticks by, kids tend to get squirmier. Ask any teacher, and that might not be surprised to them, but a new study in the journal
developmental psychology tracked children from around the country for decades, from birth until age 26. As the school day war on, students started getting more mentally exhausted and tended to move around as a result. The kids that got the squirmiest throughout the day tended to have lower academic scores
later down the line, while those who were able to self-regulate and sit still throughout the day tended to do better over the course of their academic career. In fact, kids with more self-control were 20% more likely to finish a four-year degree, but the study also notes not all physical movement is a sign of distraction. Sometimes, the Wiggles help kids process and learn Genaki Mehta and PR News.
A Goat Name Goldie has been a company in cruise finding a small wildfire in Colorado. The Colorado Springs Fire Department says Goldie led firefighters to the fire area and helped with fuel mitigation along the way by chomping on leaves. This is NPR. The last time Antonio May's senior heard from his son, it was in a note, the 16-year-old
left and the family's garage. He told me he would not make me cry. Antonio Junior left home to join a protest in Seattle, a week later, he was shot and killed there. Listen to we keep us safe on the embedded podcast from NPR.
