"Life from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
A divided Supreme Court is easing the way for President Trump to limit mail-in voting ahead
“of the mid-term elections, handing him a temporary win.”
In an emergency decision, the High Court says Trump can proceed with an executive order he signed, but didn't weigh in on the legality of that order, instead ruling on the ability of the mostly democratic-led states to challenge it when they did. A broader injunction remains in place, and Piers Hansi Lewang has more. Trump basically called forward the postal service to deliver mail-in ballots only to people
on lists of mail-in voters that states would have to turn over to U.S. P.S. and Trump has said he issued this order to stop illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens, which many studies and audits have found to be extremely rare, and, by the way, Trump himself has voted by NPR. In Piers Hansi Lewang, the U.S. P.S. is a financial supporter of NPR. President Trump's latest financial disclosure show he invested tens of thousands of dollars
in Elon Musk's SpaceX. As in Piers Bobby Allen reports, ethics experts say it's unusual for a president to be a shareholder of a company that's a major government contractor. President Trump invested up to $50,000 in Musk's SpaceX, according to financial disclosures recently made public. The stock purchase was made shortly after Musk's satellite and rocket company had its initial public offering in June, and it was one of more than a thousand
other stock trades the president made that month. Usually, U.S. Presidents placed their stock holdings in a blind trust that's independently managed or sell the stocks to eliminate conflicts of interest. A White House spokesman said Trump stocks are managed by a third-party financial institution. A new report from a committee of Democrats in Washington estimates Trump's oil and gas holdings may have gained more than $15 million amid the war in Iran.
Bobby Allen and P.R. News. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree giving the government power to take control
“of strategically important companies that failed to protect themselves from Ukrainian drone attacks.”
And Piers Charles Mains reports from Moscow the measure comes amid a spade of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy and logistics hubs.
The power is granted by Putin, allowing the state to seize infrastructure, deemed critical
to Russia's economy, but unable to defend itself from attack or make repairs fast enough. The decree comes amid a summer of sustained Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy and other infrastructure. In the latest Ukraine hidden oil refinery in the Southern Crestondar region, part of a wider campaign against Russian oil facilities that is caused gas shortages nationwide. Ukraine also appeared to expand its targeting of Russian logistical hubs after weeks that
saw repeated attacks on Russia's leading online retailer Wildberries. Ukrainian drones of struck several warehouses belonging to the company's main competitor Ozone in recent days. Charles Mains and Piano's Moscow. You're listening to NPR News.
“A federal mediator has determined the Washington Post didn't have grounds to fire a columnist,”
Karen Adia, over a social media post, she made shortly after the killing of Trump ally and conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In Piers' David Fokin flicker reports, the mediator also noted she had additional leeway as an opinion writer. What happened to Adia occurred against the backdrop of tensions within the post over personal
expression by journalists on social media? A backlash against almost anyone critical of Kirk
after his death and the makeover of the posts editorial section to be more Trump friendly. Top opinions editor Adam O'Neill drew a line after she wrote on social media, quote, "refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is not the same as violence." Adia says she's willing to return. The post says it respects the arbitration decision,
but hasn't committed itself to next steps. David Fokin flick and PR News. Australia's music industry is banning holy AI-generated tracks from official charts. This is growing generative technologies threatened artists livelihoods after a variation of Madonna's pop hit like a prayer spent 16 weeks on the charts so far. It was created using AI-generated vocals and drums. The Australian record industry
association announced the crackdown saying some AI-assisted music will remain eligible as long as humans wrote the song and performed the lead vocal and primary instruments among other requirements. I'm Jeanine Herbst and PR News in Washington. For the past 25 years, a rare Pacific ecosystem has been undisturbed. Now, the Trump administration is opening nearby waters to commercial fishing.
The Americans' fishermen have never had a better ally in the White House than Donald Trump.
This week on the Sunday Story, we discuss what's at stake for this wild ecosystem. Listen now to the Sunday Story from the up-first podcast on the MPR app.
