Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
Oil giant Chevron says it's doubling production in Venezuela over the next five years,
“this nearly nine months after the U.S. seized and arrested President Nicholas Maduro and”
his wife. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was in Caracas today, to oversee an oil deal between Washington and the Venezuelan private company. And here's Julia Simon has more. Today, acting President Delcio Rodriguez and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.
They were up there, seated at these pink and gold chairs. There were U.S. and Venezuelan flags and Chevron CEO Mike work stood before them.
And he said that the company will be investing more than seven billion dollars doubling.
Their Venezuelan oil production over five years to 600,000 barrels of oil a day. Chevron has been in Venezuela for over a century. And they say they want to help build its future. And here is Julia Simon, then as well as sitting on some of the biggest oil reserves in the world, but it will take years to ramp up production.
The cost of health benefits keeps going up.
“As a new survey of employers find that 2027 is going to see the biggest increase in decades.”
And here's Sidney Lupkin, has more. Every year, the consulting firm, Marsh, conducts the national survey of employer sponsored health plans. In this year, it found that the cost of health benefits per employee is expected to go up by an average of 8% next year.
That's the biggest increase in 24 years. And it's well above inflation. To save money, employers will be looking to cut benefits and make changes like adding higher deductibles to employee plans. The situation will likely also result in higher premium costs for employees.
According to the survey, the rise in health benefit costs is partially driven by the fact that more people are taking GLP one drugs for weight loss. And while the cost of those drugs could decline some in the future, some employers are dropping coverage now. Sidney Lupkin and PR News.
“New Jersey has asked the Supreme Court to step in to resolve a case involving prediction”
market site, Kalshi. As impures Bobby Allen reports, comes as 20 states are involved in litigation with the popular betting service. New Jersey has asked the high court to decide who exactly should regulate the booming prediction market industry.
States like New Jersey that rely on gambling site tax revenue say they should oversee companies like Kalshi and its rival poly market. But the companies counter that the federal government should regulate them not as gambling operators but as a type of financial investment. On the line is an industry that sees billions of dollars traded every week on everything
from elections to wars to the outcome of criminal trials. The New Jersey case is focused on sports betting which makes up about 80% of Kalshi's total volume. Bobby Allen and PR news. Wall Street hire by the closing bell all three major indices up around a half percent.
You're listening to NPR news from Washington. The NBA is slapping the Los Angeles Clippers with major penalties for a scheme to circumvent the salary cap to pay forward quite Leonard. The Clippers will lose five years worth of first-round picks and pay tens of millions of dollars in fines.
And here's Becky Sullivan has more. Second 2021, the Clippers signed their start-coi Leonard to a four-year extension worth over $170 million. Then away from the public eye, the team also arranged four pretend endorsement deals that paid Leonard millions more without his having to do actual endorsement work.
That's according to a new investigation by a law firm just released by the NBA. The scheme was first reported on last year by the investigative journalist Pablo Tori who won a Pulitzer Prize for it.
As punishment, the Clippers must pay a $30 million fine and they'll have no first-round
draft picks for five years. Several team officials will be suspended from all the aglectivities for one year including owner Steve Palmer, Becky Sullivan and Pierre News. The Clippers deny any wrongdoing and plan to appeal the league's decision. In Texas authorities rescued dozens of people from stranded cars, homes surrounded by flood
waters, and and assisted living facility, as former tropical storm Edward lingered over rural parts of the state. In our tropical depression has done nearly two feet of rain in some places. The National Weather Service says that heavy rains are possible in the eastern part of the state through tomorrow morning, meanwhile a burst of tropical weather persisted
in the Pacific were two hurricanes, carina and loll and a strengthening tropical storm, Marie, our churning in open waters. Canada and tariffs, Venezuela and oil, the war in Iran, these are big, complicated stories, and they're changing fast to stay ahead, start your day with up first from NPR. New episodes are available each week day when you wake up, so when new shifts overnight,
you always have the latest info, up first on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
