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Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump has started his state visit to China and he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to issue a joint statement later this hour. NPR's Emily Fang reports. High stakes issues ranging from trade to technology are on the table.
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Trump and China's Xi Jinping will meet in Beijing's Great hall of the People in the city's central Tiananmen Square. And there Trump says he'll talk about the war with Iran and high energy prices. He's asked for China for help before to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. The two men will also also discussed Taiwan, the Democratic island China wants to take control of, but which the US has historically sold weapons to to defend against China. China's officials have been signaling their desire for a diplomatic detente with the US on trade tariffs as well as willingness to help pressure Iran towards a ceasefire. Earlier on Wednesday, Beijing welcomed Trump to China with a grand red carpet welcome. Emily Fang, NPR News.
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Back stateside, Democrats have a nominee for Nebraska's 2nd congressional district, the so called blue dot that could help decide control of According to an Associated Press race call, political organizer Denise Powell is advancing to the November midterm elections and will face Republican Brinker Harding one year after President Trump's executive order to shelter 6,000 homeless veterans. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports that Democrats and Republicans say they've seen little progress.
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The president's order aimed to create what he called a center for warrior independence on the sprawling VA campus in West Los Angeles. But at a hearing, Republican Congressman Mike Boss said the administration has blocked oversight with non disclosure agreements.
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If agreements, planning decisions or delay are hiding behind NDAs, the American taxpayers and our veterans deserve to know how the land is being used and why progress has been so slow.
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Ongoing construction at the campus has taken decades. The secrecy also worries LA veterans advocate Rob Reynolds.
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I want to see President Trump's executive order be successful, but again, we need to get rid of these non disclosure agreements.
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The administration's budget request funds minimal new housing on the campus. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
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Medicare has announced a moratorium on new hospice and home health providers. NPR's Lena Simmons Duffin reports. The agency says a six month pause on new providers will combat fraud.
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The pause is on hospice and home health organizations that want to be paid by Medicare. It's not a pause for individual Medicare patients who need that care and it's not a pause for existing hospice and home health groups. This is the second such moratorium announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In February, the agency announced a six month pause for new suppliers of certain durable medical equipment. The Trump administration has tried a variety of ways to reduce fraud and abuse in federal health programs. The decision for this moratorium earned praise from Leading age, a coalition of thousands of nonprofits serving older adults. Selena Simmons Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
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This is NPR News. Prosecutors say they plan to retry Alex Murdaugh in the deaths of his wife and son. The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Murdoch's murder convictions Wednesday, but Murdoch won't be leaving prison anytime soon. He is serving a 40 year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing around $12 million from his clients. The Utah mother who wrote a children's book about grief following her husband's death will serve life in prison without parole for his murder. A judge in Park City hand down the sentence Wednesday, saying Richards is simply too dangerous to ever be free. Corey Richards maintains her innocence and plans to appeal the conviction. A team of scientists believes they found evidence of what may have amounted to an ancient root canal in Neanderthals.
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Ari Daniel reports researchers unearthed a nearly 60,000 year old Neanderthal tooth, a molar, in a Siberian cave. It had a deep hole on the biting surface. When the team looked more closely, they noticed microscopic radial groo that they think may have been artificially created by drilling into the tooth to deal with a cavity, perhaps. Rachel Kalisher is a bioarchaeologist at UC San Diego who wasn't involved in the research. She's open to the idea that Neanderthals were capable of treating cavities.
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It's certainly believable, but I'm not sure that the evidence that they provide is necessarily the smoking gun.
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Kalisher agrees the hole was likely produced by a stone tool, but she can't be sure it was done intentionally. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel.
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And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.