Live from NPR news in Washington, I'm Ryle and Bartner.
President Trump is downplaying concerns about the USS Abraham Lincoln's extended deployment in the Middle East.
“He refuted reports of mental health struggles, among sailors and supply issues, saying”
the more than 260 day deployment is "not nearly long enough," the Lincoln supports the U.S. war against Iran and Democratic lawmakers, repressing the Pentagon for accountability over conditions aboard the carrier, Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth earlier this week, said the conditions are completely misrepresented. The Pacific-based USS George Washington is expected to replace the Lincoln's soon.
The United Arab Emirates is blaming Iran for firing drones at two tankers operated by a state-owned oil company in the state of Hormuz, the attacks caused no casualties but highlighted
the dangers in this critical waterway.
Meanwhile, President Trump continues to say the U.S. has total control over the straight. "Pretty soon, I'll be declaring the Hormuz straight a territory of the United States." As talks mediated by the Middle East by Middle Eastern countries to end the war have stalled, the administration has been expanding its outreach to other nations. The Foreign Ministers of Austria and Greece both held calls with Iran's Foreign Minister
but the State's Department says the U.S. made no direct asks on Iran.
“The homicide rate, the U.S. dropped to the lowest it's been in 75 years, according to”
new crime statistics released by the FBI. Overall, violent crime also dropped at 9.3 percent last year. President Trump claimed credit for the decreases during a visit to the New York police academy today.
Criminal justice experts say they think the crime rate drops have marked a return to the norm
in the wake of higher rates during the COVID pandemic. In Nevada, a state judge has thrown out a long-running case against six so-called fake electors, stemming from the 2020 presidential election and PR's Hansi Lowong reports. The Nevada judge ruled the state attorney general's office did not present enough evidence that six Nevadans, including the chair of the state's Republican Party, intended to deceive
government officials when they offered them a certificate that claimed President Trump had one of that as electoral votes in 2020. The judge sided with the six Nevad of Republicans' argument that they were trying to preserve their rights to challenge official election results. The Office of Nevada's Democratic State Attorney General plans to appeal this latest failed
attempt to prosecute electors in swing states who tried to reverse Trump's loss to former
presidential Biden six years ago.
Similar cases in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia have also been dismissed. Last year, Trump parted in these Republican electors for federal crimes related to their 2020 scheme, but they are still liable for any state crimes on Zilowong and PR News. Reddit will join the S&P 500 next week, giving the online form a boost in prestige and investments. The move comes weeks after Reddit posted strong financial results, including its highest
ever quarterly revenue, the company has posted profits almost every quarter since it went public in 2024. Major US stock index is edged back from their all-time highs today following the latest economic report to come in surprisingly weak. This is NPR.
Forecasters say Tropical Storm Lala has formed the Pacific Ocean and a hurricane warning has been issued for the big island of Hawaii. The National Hurricane Center says the storm could become a hurricane and bring rain, high winds and dangerous surf to the Hawaiian Islands starting late today. A new generation of small nuclear reactors could come online in the next few years.
Companies successfully turned on four reactors this summer, but public opinion remains split Hannah Merzbach of the Mountain West News Bureau reports. A March Gallup poll shows 53% of Americans oppose having a local nuclear plant. Vicki O'Hara was not among them. She owns a bar in atomic city outside of Idaho National Lab, the center of US nuclear
research. I'm not going in the dark, you know, there's nothing to be ascared of. But nuclear safety experts are worried the Trump administration's fast tracking of permits could lead to mistakes. The administration sees nuclear power as one way to meet rising energy demand.
While many Americans don't want to plant in their backyard, polling also shows growing support for the US emphasizing nuclear power more broadly. For MPR News, I'm Hannah Merzbach and Jackson Wyoming. Ash from Sicily's volcanic Mount Etna has forced the closure of the island's largest airport for the fifth consecutive day.
Ash poses a significant risk to aircraft potentially stalling engines. Hundreds of vacationers are stranded there during the biggest travel week of the year. The closure has led to rerouted flights, increased taxi fares and higher car rental prices. I'm Rylan Barton and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. This week on Consider this, stories about the Trump administration.
Here how a former Olympian was targeted by the Justice Department over damage to the reflecting bull.
“Plus inside Trump's secret decoy flight out of Turkey that left press and cabinet officials”
on Air Force One without him. Listen for those stories and more of the week's biggest news.
