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Shea Stevens
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. A surge continues for more than 170 people still missing from the flash flooding in Central Texas. The the death toll from the disaster has risen to at least 120. Some officials are calling for more warning sirens in wake of the tragedy, hoping that they'll protect people from future flash floods. But as NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports, sirens are not meant to replace other types of warning systems.
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Rebecca Hersher
Flood warning sirens broadcast a loud alarm and sometimes a spoken message. The technology is widely used in parts of the country with high tornado and tsunami risk, but not so much for floods. Jeanette Sutton is a disaster expert at the at Albany. She says sirens could save lives in places like the Texas Hill country where many people go to camp and fish.
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Jeanette Sutton
Sirens are best for alerting people who are outside of a building. So it's really going to get people who are camping along a river, which is a really good thing.
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Rebecca Hersher
Earlier this week, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told reporters that the state intends to install flood warning sirens in hard hit Kerr County, Texas. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
Grain's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says foreign invest is needed to support his nation's air defenses. Zelenskyy was speaking in Rome, where European allies held their fourth annual meeting on stabilizing Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place. Chancellor Friedrich Mertz says Germany will buy additional U.S. patriot missiles on Ukraine's behalf and had this message for President Trump.
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Jeanette Sutton
Stay with us and stay with the Europeans. We are on the same page and we are looking at for a stable political order in this world.
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Shea Stevens
US Envoy Keith Kellogg led a US Delegation that met on the sidelines of the conference as Russia carried out its heaviest drone and missile attacks of the three year old war. Meanwhile, Russia's defense ministry says it destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reducing his department's workforce now that the Supreme Court has paved the way for mass federal layoffs. NPR's Michelle Kellerman has more.
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Marco Rubio
Speaking to reporters on a trip to Malaysia, Secretary Rubio said he was proud of the way his department has planned a 15% reduction of workers.
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Michelle Kellerman
We went very specifically through and reorganized the State Department. And when you reorganized the State Department, there were certain bureaus we wanted to empower the regional bureaus and there were certain bureaus, these functional bureaus that were closed.
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Marco Rubio
He's closed 132 offices and rewrote the rules to be able to fire people who worked in them. Former diplomats of the American Academy of Diplomacy call it an act of vandalism and bad management of what they describe as an important resource America's national security professionals. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
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Shea Stevens
U.S. futures are lower in after hours trading. This is NPR. A federal judge is temporarily blocking an executive order to end birthright citizenship, but paused the ruling for seven days to give the Trump administration time to appeal. The administration insists that U.S. citizenship is not a birthright. A Department of Government Efficiency staffer recently obtained high level access to a system at the Department of Agriculture. NPR's Jenna McLaughlin reports that it would allow him to view or modify data on billions of dollars in government subsidies and loans to farmers and ranchers.
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Jenna McLaughlin
Jordan Wick arrived at the U.S. department of Agriculture a few months ago. He quickly got access to highly sensitive personal and financial information on U.S. agricultural producers. The former software engineer at self driving car company Waymo has been publicly linked to the Department of Government Efficiency, or doge. Access to the information would allow WIC to modify or cancel loans or payments with little oversight. That's according to a source at USDA who asked to be anonymous out of fear of retribution. While USDA and Doge did not respond to requests for comment, experts told NPR they feared Doge's high level access could be abused at an already difficult and uncertain time for farmers and ranchers. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News.
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Shea Stevens
President Trump announced a 35% tariff on imports from Canada, effective August 1st. In a letter posted on Truth Social, Trump said he would consider an adjustment if Canada stops the flow of fentanyl. He also warns of consequences if attempts are made to circumvent the new import levies, which come days after tariff letters were sent to more than a dozen other nations. This is NPR News.
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