"Li from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst, stocks open lower this mo...
after retail giant Walmart reported a slowdown in sales growth.
“Empirescott Horsley reports the Dow fell about 360 points in early trading.”
Walmart reported stronger than expected profits for the most recent quarter, but investors were disappointed by slower growth of the discount retailers existing stores. Sales at those stores rose just 2.6%, which was the smallest increase in early 6 years. Walmart sales are closely watched as an indicator of how U.S. shoppers are behaving. Retail gasoline prices are climbing, triple A's as the average price of regular gas jump
two cents a gallon overnight to about $4.10. Investors who buy government bonds are demanding higher interest rates, which is raising the cost of both public and private borrowing. The federal debt reached a record high this week, topping $40 trillion. And PR has learned an unusual census bureau report that President Trump says shows
widespread illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens has ties to a Trump aligned think tank. Empires wants you. Hansi LaWong reports data and election experts say that reports conclusions are questionable.
“In a social media post-president Trump claimed the Census Bureau's initial analysis”
of more than 128 million voter records from 2020, "proves at over 24,000 non-citizens
voted illegally." Trump said the federal number will quote "explode after the bureau checks more records. Many past studies and audits, however, show illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens is incredibly rare." The Census Bureau's report lists no authors and gives little explanation about how it analyzed
records. Empires has learned that analysis was not done by career-civil servants, and the team behind it included individuals affiliated with America First Policy Institute. A think tank started by officials from Trump's First Administration, and it's going to a bureau employee who MPR agreed not to name because they fear retaliation at work.
Folks, people for the bureau and the think tank did not respond to requests for comment.
Hansi LaWong and PR News There have been more than 50 heatwave days recorded in France this year, and all-time record. Empires Eleanor Beardsley reports the five back-to-back heat waves that started in the spring lasted 52 days. The previous stand-out year 2022 saw three separate heat waves, but their combined duration
was 20 days shorter than this year's total. Additionally, the last heat wave that began July 23rd and just ended is the longest single one-on record, beating the previous record-holding scorcher from 1983. Two-thirds of Europeans were affected by extreme heat this summer. With heat records broken in France, Italy, Spain, and Great Britain, French health authorities
say the "sweltering" conditions this summer caused more than 7,300 excess deaths, Eleanor Beardsley and PR News Paris. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 335 points, you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Israel's military says it's conducting a criminal investigation into troop conduct in Gaza, focusing on the killing of five-year-old Henry Job and her family, and the Palestinian
paramedics team, the tried to rescue her. The child was trapped in a vehicle with her slain family, pleading on the phone for help before she was killed in 2024, but Israel says it won't probe three other attacks that killed aid workers from the World Central Kitchen and from doctors without borders. Jeff Jose Andres founder of the U.S.-based World Central Kitchen condemned that decision.
The judge who oversaw the conviction of a black teenager in the fatal stabbing of a white teenager has been removed from further proceedings in the case. Caroline Love from Member Station, K.E.R.A. reports it comes as attorneys for Carmelo Anthony, a field his conviction. Carmelo Anthony, now 19, was convicted for the 2025 stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Maccap
at a high school track meet near Dallas, Texas. The case received national attention over the race of the two teens. Judge John Rhodes Jr. oversaw the trial and did a media interview shortly after the verdict. Lee Marriott from Anthony's defense team says the interview violated judicial conduct roles.
“"The best thing for justice to get him out of the place and get a neutral judge in."”
A hearing on a separate motion for a new trial is scheduled for Thursday. For MPR News, I'm Caroline Love and McKinney." On Wall Street that I was down 379 points, the Nasdaq is down 190. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. This is Terry Gross.
I just interviewed Jason Seagull about playing a therapist on a serious shrinking, his own therapy, and his muppets movie. "I love how you call me the human star of the muppets. It gives me such joy." "Well, especially since you've said you sometimes feel like a muppet, so."
"First sure."
