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Shea Stevens
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is calling a special session of the state legislature to address the state's d deadly flooding emergency. As Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies reports, the flooding has left at least 118 people dead and 160 others missing.
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David Martin Davies
The special session begins on Monday, July 21. In Abbott's announcement, he said in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill country that the state must ensure better preparation for such events in the future. This includes legislation to improve early warning flood systems in flood prone areas throughout Texas as as well as well as relief funding for the impacted Hill Country. Abbott is also directing the lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional map, which would increase the number of Republican seats. This could help preserve the GOP majority in the Texas House of Representatives after the midterm elections. I'm David Martin Davies in San Antonio.
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Shea Stevens
President Trump has announced a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports that the new threat is different from the others that Trump made this week.
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Danielle Kurtzleben
Trump announced the tariff rate by posting a letter to Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva on social media Wednesday, his 22nd letter this week. All of the other letters were similar, telling countries that the new tariffs were being imposed to rectify their trade imbalances with the U.S. but the letter to Brazil was about politics. Trump angrily referenced what he calls a witch hunt against former far right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for an alleged attempted coup against Lula. Trump has long praised the far right Bolsonaro, who lost in a 2022 reelection bid against Lula. Shortly thereafter, Bolsonaro's supporters stormed the Capitol, Brasilia. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
Scientists from institutions across the US Are gathering on Capitol Hill this week to protest cuts to Federal Research Grants. NPR's Scott Newman has the story.
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Scott Newman
One of the presenters at the event was Sumit Chanda, a microbiologist from Scripps Research who runs one of nine pandemic response centers that had their federal funds cut in. He and his team are working on antivirals that could be quickly deployed to hotspots in the event of an outbreak.
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Shea Stevens
We can prevent an epidemic from going to a pandemic and really pandemic booth.
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Scott Newman
The world Chanda says $600 million has already been spent on the project since the Biden administration. It could all be, quote, flushed down the toilet if funding isn't restored, he says. Scott Newman, NPR news, Washington.
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Shea Stevens
The U.S. supreme Court has upheld a lower court injunction against parts of Florida's immigration law, which carries mandatory PR terms for offenders. The case was brought by immigrant rights groups who claimed the Florida statute was in conflict with federal law. On Wall street, stocks closed higher. The Dow gained 217 points. This is NPR. Multiple fires are being reported in the Ukrainian capital following a Russian drone attack early Thursday. At least three injuries have been reported. Roughly 700 attack and decoy drones were fired overnight. The assault coming days after Russ. Largest drone attack on Kyiv since the war in Ukraine began three years ago. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has ended a week long pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter, algae blooms that release toxins into the ocean are becoming more common in the Arctic. NPR's Nate Rott reports that a new study points to warming water temperatures as the cause.
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Nate Rott
The real cool thing about this new study, published in the journal Nature, is how the the scientists linked warming waters to increased algae blooms. Whale poop. By partnering with indigenous communities who hunt bowhead whales for food, researchers with the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were able to collect fecal samples over 19 years. They found that when whales fed in warmer temperature waters, they'd have higher concentrations of toxins in their samples. The findings suggest that algae borne toxins are increasingly making their way into Arctic food webs, potentially impacting animals and the people that depend on them for food. Nate Rott, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will serve as interim administrator of NASA. President Trump announced the move on Truth Social. Trump had nominated Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, but changed his mind, citing Isaacman's past political donations and ties to Elon Musk. This is NPR News.
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