Loading summary
Transcript13 lines
- [00:01]
A
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jeanine Herbst. Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez Darimer has resigned, becoming the third member of President Trump's Cabinet to leave this term. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports. The secretary was under investigation over allegations of misconduct while in office.
- [00:21]
B
White House Communications Director Stephen Chung announced the departure on X. He wrote that Chavez D. Rimmer was leaving for a job in the private sector and added that she'd done, quote, a phenomenal job in her role. But Chavez Darimer's short tenure was marked by controversy. The Labor Department's inspector general was looking into complaints that the secretary was having an affair with a subordinate, drinking alcohol on the job and using taxpayer funded travel to visit with friends and family members. That's according to the New York Post and other media outlets. NPR has not independently verified the contents of the investigation. Her deputy, Keith Sonderling, has been named acting labor secretary. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.
- [01:03]
A
Louisiana's Governor Jeff Landry visited Shreveport today where a gunman shot and killed eight children there yesterday. Brooke Thorington of member station WRKF has more.
- [01:14]
C
The north Louisiana city remains in shock after 31 year old Shemar Elkins allegedly opened fire at two homes Sunday morning and killed eight children. Seven of them were his own. The governor announced the children's funerals would be paid for by Louisiana first lady Sharon Landry's nonprofit organization.
- [01:33]
D
We know that God has placed upon us eight new angels that are now looking over the city of Shreveport.
- [01:39]
C
Police said Elkins also shot his wife and girlfriend, both mothers to his children. Louisiana State Police are investigating whether Elkins died by suicide or was killed by police. For NPR News, I'm Brooke Thorington in Baton Rouge.
- [01:54]
A
President Trump's interior secretary was on Capitol Hill defending the administration's proposal to cut a billion dollars from the National Park Service. And as NPR's Kirk Sigler reports, the agency has lost a quarter of its staff since last year.
- [02:09]
E
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum downplayed Trump's latest proposed cuts to the Park Service during a hearing with the House subcommittee, saying like last summer, his plan is to put more staffers in national parks instead of regional offices.
- [02:23]
D
We had parks last year that had including some of our biggest like Yellowstone, where we had more people in the parks last summer than we'd had for years because we were focusing on filling the roles that were citizen facing roles.
- [02:36]
E
Trump's latest budget would cut more than $700 million from Park Service operations. Burgum says some of that reflects money the administration plans to move to its new Wildland Fire Service Committee. Democrats blasted him for, as they put it, making decisions in secret while circumventing Congress. Kirk zigler, NPR News.
- [02:55]
A
U.S. futures contracts are trading higher at this hour. You're listening to NPR News. FBI Director Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic and one of its reporters for a recent article alleging he has bouts of excessive drinking, emotional outbursts and frequent absences. He denies the claims and says the Atlantic's goal was to destroy his reputation and drive him out of the FBI. The Atlantic calls the suit meritless and says it stands behind the story and the reporter. Schools and other public institutions had until this week to meet new guidelines to make their websites fully accessible to people with disabilities. Now, as NPR's Janaki Mehta reports, the federal government has delayed that deadline by at least a year.
- [03:44]
F
The Americans With Disabilities act has always required the Web to be accessible. It just never had specific standards explaining what that had to look or sound like. Then, in 2024, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department announced public specific guidelines. Colleges, schools, cities and other public entities had until this week to get up to snuff. That included all Web and mobile learning materials for students. But at the last minute, the DOJ has postponed the deadline. Now larger institutions have until April of next year and smaller ones until 2028. This has left disability rights organizations frustrated, while some school administrators are relieved they have extra time to be compliant. Janaki Mehta, NPR News.
- [04:27]
A
Wall street was lower by the closing bell, the Dow down four points, the NASDAQ down 64s and P500 down 16. I'm Janine Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.