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Impostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and U.S. officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington.

The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

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In Kerrville, community rushes in to help after flooding

In Kerr County, Texas, people say they're eager to help their neighbors who have lost everything due to flooding. The community has found a gathering place in a local church.

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United Cajun Navy helps Texans deal with flood aftermath

Neil Summer, with the Matagorda Volunteer Fire Department, leads a search group made up of volunteers on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Center Point, Texas on Monday. The group was performing a "hasty search," which is where they quickly clear an area and move on in hopes of more quickly finding survivors.

The search for missing people in central Texas continues. Volunteers from the United Cajun Navy have traveled from the state of Louisiana to help.

(Image credit: Katie Hayes Luke)

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Supreme Court allows Trump to resume mass federal layoffs for now

The Trump administration asked Justice Elena Kagan for an administrative stay of a lower court decision pausing President Trump

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed to the court by President Biden, dissented.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images and Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

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Graphics: Where the Texas floods happened and how high the waters rose

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One Guadalupe River flood gauge near Kerrville and Camp Mystic recorded a rise of more than 25 feet in two hours.

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Prime Day — er, Days — tests deal hunters' will to spend amid tariffs

An Amazon worker delivers packages in Los Angeles.

Electronics and back-to-school supplies are expected to top many shoppers' lists.

(Image credit: Damian Dovarganes)

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Haiti's iconic Hotel Oloffson, long a cultural beacon, destroyed by gang violence

Main entry to the Hotel Oloffson, built as a private residence by Simon Sam in about 1886. American Marines leased it and turned it into a military hospital from 1915–34. In 1936 Walter Oloffson converted it to a hotel. In the 50

The Hotel Oloffson in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, long a haven for artists and writers, poets and presidents, a symbol of Haiti's troubled politics and its storied past, has been destroyed by gangs.

(Image credit: Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times)

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Shoes off at the airport? TSA appears to be giving the pesky rule the boot

An air traveler puts his shoes in a bin before passing through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in 2014.

For nearly twenty years, most air travelers in the U.S. have been required to remove their shoes when going through security. That requirement seems to be ending.

(Image credit: Robyn Beck)

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Texas flood recovery efforts face tough conditions as local officials face hard questions

A baby shoe lays along the Guadalupe River after it was swept up in the flash flooding in Ingram, Texas.

Emergency responders kept hope alive as they combed through fallen trees and other debris that littered the hard-hit central Texas communities on the fifth day after devastating floods killed more than 100.

(Image credit: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

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With Indus Waters Treaty in the balance, Pakistan braces for more water woes

The Chenab, one of the three rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty, seen from the riverbank in early June in Punjab province, Pakistan.

In an unprecedented move, India held the water treaty in abeyance after blaming Pakistan for a deadly attack in April. Pakistan denies involvement in the attack and accuses India of "weaponizing water."

(Image credit: Betsy Joles for NPR)

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IRS says churches can now endorse political candidates

A local resident leaves a church after voting in an election in Cumming, Iowa.

Since 1954, an IRS rule had barred houses of worship from explicitly endorsing political candidates.

(Image credit: Charlie Neibergall)

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A Planet Money guide to 5 fascinating new econ papers

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The Planet Money newsletter rounds up some new economics studies.

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How to help Texas flood survivors. And, health organizations sue RFK Jr.

Search and rescue workers dig through debris looking for any survivors or remains of people swept up in the flash flooding on July 6, in Hunt, Texas.

Search efforts are still ongoing after the deadly Texas floods. Here's how you can help survivors. And RFK Jr.'s vaccine policy has sparked a lawsuit.

(Image credit: Jim Vondruska)

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Trump says U.S. will resume sending weapons to Ukraine after pausing last week

President Trump speaks in the Blue Room of the White House on Monday.

With Russian attacks escalating, Ukraine is dependent on air defense systems and munitions supplied by western allies to protect Ukrainian cities.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

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DOJ launches unusual lawsuit against entire federal district court in Maryland

Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee in June 2025.

The DOJ has sued the entire federal district court in Maryland over an order that puts a temporary hold on deportations, intensifying a confrontation between the Trump administration and the courts.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla)

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100 years after evolution went on trial, the Scopes case still reverberates

Anti-evolution books on sale in Dayton, Tenn., where teacher John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution in the famous 1925 "Monkey Trial."

One hundred years ago, the small town of Dayton, Tenn., became the unlikely stage for one of the most sensational trials in American history, over the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution.

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RFK Jr.'s vaccine policy sparks a lawsuit from the American Academy of Pediatrics

In late May, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed COVID vaccines from the recommendation list for healthy children and pregnant women. The suit alleges this move violated federal law.

AAP and other leading health organizations allege that the health secretary violated federal law when he took the COVID vaccine off the list of recommended shots for pregnant women and healthy children.

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Feds investigate hospitals over religious exemptions from gender-affirming care

Federal health officials are investigating the University of Michigan Health system after a former employee claimed she was fired for seeking a religious exemption from providing gender-affirming care.

A physician assistant claimed she was fired by a Michigan hospital for seeking a religious exemption regarding gender-affirming care. Now the federal government is also investigating.

(Image credit: SETH HERALD)

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Want to make yourself less appealing to mosquitoes? Our quiz has surprising ideas

Do your ankles feel like a buffet these days? Test your knowledge of tactics to prevent bites.

Level up your knowledge of mosquito bite prevention with our quiz. It's full of surprising, science-backed tactics that may save you from getting eaten alive this summer.

(Image credit: Beck Harlan/NPR)

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The U.S. has millions of old gas and oil wells. Here's what it takes to plug them up

A crew with the company CSR Services works on plugging an orphan well on a homeowner

There was a circle in Maria Burns' yard where grass wouldn't grow and trees died. She knew what it was: An old natural gas well, plugged when she was a little girl, starting to leak again.

(Image credit: Maddie McGarvey for NPR)

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Sea lions are released after toxic algae bloom in California

Patchouli is one of the last sea lions released from the Marine Mammal Care Center after a toxic algae bloom in Southern California.

Marine mammal researchers are investigating how sea lions were affected by the longest toxic algal bloom on record off the coast of Southern California. Some sea lions are now being released back into the wild.

(Image credit: Courtney Theophin)

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The health of U.S. kids has declined significantly since 2007, new study finds

The number of kids with chronic diseases has risen in the last two decades.

A new study in the journal JAMA finds the health of America's children has worsened across several key indicators over the last two decades. That includes the number of children with chronic diseases.

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Migrants deported from U.S. to Salvadoran prison remain under U.S. control

The exterior of the Terrorist Confinement Center as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrives, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025.

The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the men who were deported from the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

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NPR reports from Texas' Kerr County, which saw the worst flooding

Kerr County, Texas, experienced the worst of the flooding and has seen the highest death toll. NPR's Juana Summers describes the scene where she arrived Monday morning.

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DHS ends Temporary Protected Status for thousands from Nicaragua and Honduras

Demonstrators march in Washington, D.C. to demand Temporary Protected Status for Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador on May 1, 2023.

Some 76,000 people from Nicaragua and Honduras were covered by TPS, which provides protection from deportation and grants work permits to people from certain nations affected by war or natural disasters.

(Image credit: Tom Williams)

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BRICS nations push back as Trump warns of tariffs

World leaders pose for a group photo at the 17th annual BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, July 6, 2025.

Leaders of the BRICS group of emerging economies meeting for their annual summit had hoped to downplay any differences with the U.S. But even a toned down group proclamation drew the ire of President Trump.

(Image credit: Silvia Izquierdo)

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DOJ says no evidence Jeffrey Epstein had a 'client list' or blackmailed associates

Unidentified people carrying binders bearing the seal of the US Justice Department reading "The Epstein Files: Phase 1" walk out of the West Wing of the White House in February. The Trump administration had promised it would release documents on late tycoon and convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.

The two-page memo outlines the "exhaustive review" the department conducted of the Epstein files in its possession, and also reiterates that Epstein died by suicide, contrary to some conspiracy theories.

(Image credit: Saul Loeb)

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Floods are getting more dangerous around the country, not just in Texas

A person looks at damage to the main building at Camp Mystic, along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas. A flash flood swept through the area in the early hours of July 4, 2025. Climate change is making heavy rain more common, leading to more flood risk in much of the U.S.

The deadly floods in Central Texas were caused by extremely heavy rain. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.

(Image credit: Julio Cortez)

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Meet the woman who's reunited dozens of people with lost photos after the LA fires

We look at an Altadena resident who has made it her mission to help reunite keepsakes that survived the LA fires — photos, kids art, postcards — with their owners.

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The intended and unintended consequences of wolf reintroduction programs

Heath Druzin talks about what he learned about coexisting with wolves while making his podcast Howl, from Boise State Public Radio.

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