"Live from MPR News," I'm Jail Snyder.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt
“of Congress and referred him to the Justice Department for a potential prosecution.”
The vote along party lines came after Fauci refused to answer questions during a hearing last week on the COVID-19 pandemic. Kentucky Republican Senator Ram Paul chairs the committee during Thursday's meeting, Paul said Fauci was wrong to rely on the Fifth Amendment because he received a full pardon from former President Joe Biden.
"All he had to do is tell the truth. More than 100 times, though, he refused. The chair ruled that Dr. Fauci's assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege was unsupported in light of the pardon, and the testimony he offered in his opening statement." Democrats accused Republicans of laying a trap for Fauci who has said that Senator Paul
has an unhinged obsession with him and wants to see him behind bars. Prosecutors have filed five counts of arson against a man's suspected of starting wild fires in Spokane, Washington, from Member Station KUOW, Page Browning reports.
“Aaron Ferranacci is accused of starting this week's Old Trails Fire in Spokane, which”
has destroyed hundreds of structures including homes. The four additional arson charges stem from recorded interviews Ferranacci had with detectives, in which he revealed he started more fires or explosions in both July and August of 2025 and this year. Prosecutors argued his actions were manifestly dangerous to human life, including to firefighters
and involves major economic loss.
As Spokane County judge has now increased his bail to $2 million based on the suspect's
significant risk to community safety and potential for violence. The judge also ordered Ferranacci to undergo a competency evaluation, which delays the timeline for him to enter a plea. For NPR News, I'm Page Browning in Spokane. President Trump's plan for the U.S. Navy to build new nuclear-powered battleships will
take longer and cost a lot more that initially thought that's a finding of a new report
“for the non-partisan congressional budget office in Piora's Cat and Lawn Store has more.”
Trump announced the plan for the Navy to build its largest battleships since World War two back in December, saying they would be "the fastest, the biggest, and by far, 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built. They've been dubbed Trump-class battleships."
The first was initially said to cost around $15 billion, but the estimate by the CBO found
it will likely cost more than $23 billion. 14 additional ships are also estimated at substantially more than originally thought, with a total price tag of $275 billion for the whole fleet. U.S. shipyards also may not have the capacity to build such ships the report found, saying the first might take eight years or longer to build.
Trump had originally said at least two would be finished by the end of his term. Cat Lawn Store, and Piora News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Tennessee voters have ousted a Republican congressman backed by President Trump and he ogles lost his primary Thursday to former state agriculture commissioner Charlie
Hatcher. But there's also chose to Memphis area lawmakers to face off in a new congressional district redrawn by a Republican state lawmakers. The office of longtime Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell says McConnell was released Thursday from a rehab facility, and will continue his recovery from a fall and pneumonia
at home. And the statement says he will continue to engage with his Senate staff and colleagues on important business. Health officials decided it's worth figuring it out. They say clinical trials, testing how well Irvie Boe might work in the current outbreak
will begin in a few weeks. Jonathan Lambert and Piora News. There are two major spikes in food, boron illnesses in the United States, cases of the intestinal infection, cyclosporiasis, have climbed to record levels, but health officials and Michigan are now advising residents that they can resume eating lettuce and salagreens,
saying new infections in the state that is born the brunt of the outbreak or slowing down. There's also a salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeno peppers, officials say the outbreak has been traced to a grower of Mexico and that the peppers are being recalled. Financial markets in Asia mixed as investors wait to wait for the latest jobs data from the US Labor Department and released July employment numbers on Friday.
This is MPR News. This week on Consider This Virginia thought her criminal record would follow her forever until a few minutes with an AI app that told her she could clear her felonies.
You'll never find a harder worker than someone who has something to prove to themselves
how AI could help millions of Americans with criminal records find work.
