"Lie from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
The former leader of the Federal Emergency Management Agency says, "The Trump administration is no longer trying to dismantle the agency."
NPR's Rebecca Hirscher spoke with David Richardson in one of his first interviews since leaving
the agency late last year. Richardson took over at FEMA in May 2025. "I went there for three things to get FEMA through hurricane season. You shut it down or drastically
“reduce its size and essentially get it ready for rebranding. That's why I went."”
He was at the agency for about six months and says, "During that time, the Trump administration changed course and now the country's top disaster agency is here to stay." FEMA and the White House declined to answer questions from NPR about the administration's goals for the agency. Rebecca Hirscher and PR News.
Gloria Steinem, a name synonymous with the women's liberation movement in the second half of the 20th century, died yesterday, no cause of death was disclosed. She was 92. Through her work as a social justice activist, journalists, and co-founder of the fames magazine, Steinem helped lead the fight for more protections regarding abortion, sexual harassment, domestic violence, among other issues that have directly affected millions of historically
marginalized people. Every year, the Ignobel Prizes are awarded for research that's entertaining and thought
provoking, and PR's are idealists for the first time the ceremony took place outside
the US.
“Mark Abrams founded the Ignobel Prizes in 1991.”
Before last year, almost every winner would find a way to travel to the ceremony from around the world. Last year of the 10 winners, we ended up with only six of them at the ceremony. Four didn't want to come to the US, citing safety concerns related to unpredictable immigration and visa protocols.
So this year Abrams and his team decided to hold the ceremony abroad in Switzerland. As for the prizes, the Biomechanics Award went to a team that developed a more rigorous definition of kissing. And the Physics Award was for a group that built the theory around and then prototyped a splash-free urinal, already Daniel and PR news.
Today, a federal judge in Boston is considering whether to continue barring the US Postal Service from carrying out changes to male invoting ahead of the midterm elections in November. US's report judge in Dyrittal Wani said it a hearing today that the USPS has not explained how it planned to regulate male ballots as part of an executive order from President Trump.
“We should note the USPS is a financial supporter of NPR.”
Tomorrow, North Carolina will be the first state to start sending out ballots to voters. This is NPR News. Diesel prices jump sharply overnight, more from NPR Scott Horsley. The average price of diesel fuel jump nearly 10 cents a gallon overnight, triplaces the average cost is now $5.78 a gallon, that's up more than $2 a gallon since the US launched
its war against Iran, and just three cents shy of the all-time high. Setback in 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Rising diesel prices increase the cost of everything that moves by truck or train. It also raises the cost of operating farm equipment during the busy fall harvest season. Stocking the Campbell's company fell after the super snack maker reported drop in sales
and profits, Campbell's is also cutting its dividend, and the US trade deficit widened in July by 24% as imports rose and exports fell. That's Scott Horsley reporting. In New Hampshire, a public housing provider is facing a lawsuit from its own tenants after installing high-tech sensors in rental units.
Hampshire Public Radio's Todd Bookman with more concrete's federally funded housing provider installed about 300 sensors, saying it wanted to crack down on people smoking in their apartments or causing noise complaints. The devices don't record video or sound, but instead contract motion, decibel levels, mold smoke, and even the number of people in an apartment.
The ACLU's Nate Wesler says that essentially gives the government a warrantless search. You can tell when someone wakes up in the morning. You can infer if they used an alarm clock or they woke up slowly. How late they stay up? Are they at home or are they not at home?
It's motion data. It's how loud they and their guests are being.
It's an incredible imposition on people's privacy in their homes.
The lawsuit contends the housing authority didn't fully disclose what the sensors were capable of measuring. It's NPI. How do products end up on big box shelves? Well, we have planted money, pitch deep on it, money, board game.
I'm trying not to think how much of a big deal it is and how much work has gone into. It's really big. Is it helpful if I remind you how big it is? It's sort of the whole thing. We go inside the minds of the people who decide what goes on store shelves.
