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- [00:00]
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Lakshmi Singh
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is pardoning Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar. NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports. Cuellar was a critic of of former President Joe Biden's border policies.
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Deirdre Walsh
Cuellar, who has represented his South Texas district since 2004, was indicted in 2024 for bribery and money laundering. The government charged him and his wife with accepting $600,000 from two foreign entities. The president announced in a post on social media he was pardoning both of them, saying, quote, you can sleep well tonight. Your nightmare is finally over. He said the Biden administration went after Cuellar because he broke with his party on immigration. Cuellar thanked Trump, saying the pardon gives him a clean slate. House Republicans have repeatedly tried to defeat Cuellar. Several GOP candidates are running against him in 2026. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News.
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Lakshmi Singh
Four former federal employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging their firings. The group says they were unlawfully targeted because of their actual or per involvement with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. We have more from NPR's Andrea Hsu.
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Andrea Hsu
The plaintiffs worked in the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the Office of Personnel Management and the National Institutes of Health. They say the Trump administration's goal was to punish perceived political enemies, including federal employees it associated with ideologies embraced by former President Biden. President Trump issued two executive orders condemning what he called widespread and illegal use of race and sex based preferences and accusing Biden of forcing DEI into government. The lawsuit argues that DEI related firings disproportionately affected federal workers who are black, women, non binary and people of color, as well as those seen as advocating for legally protected racial and gender groups. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.
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Lakshmi Singh
Later this hour, President Trump's expected to announce changes in vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry. Critics have been concerned about any efforts to weaken the rules designed to support climate action. The GOP has protected its narrow majority in the House of Representatives with the election of Matt Van EPPS in Tennessee's 7th District. President Trump endorsed the former army helicopter pilot in the special election, while Trump's 2024 presidential rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigned for Democrat Afton Bain in his victory speech. Van Epps says running with Trump is why he won.
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Matt Van Epps
Our victory was powered by supporters of President Trump turning out to vote. The president built the largest, most diverse coalition to ever elect a Republican, and we leaned in on that.
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Lakshmi Singh
The race was viewed as a test of whether Democrats could make a comeback in next year's midterm elections. They had outperformed Republicans in other key contests nearly a month ago. From Washington, this is NPR News.
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NATO foreign ministers were back in Brussels for one day focused on the US Peace plan for Ukraine and Russia. The Estonia's Margus Sokhna warns Russian President Vladimir Putin has no intention of stopping the attacks on his neighbor.
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Margus Sokhna
What we see is that Putin has not changed any goals. He's pushing more aggressively on the battlefield. It's pretty obvious that he doesn't want to have any kind of peace.
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Lakshmi Singh
The European Union has introduced a plan to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine during the next two years. Belgium, which is holding most of those frozen assets, says the EU plan is financially and legally too risky. A new study finds that a state rule in California protecting outdoor workers from heat has been effective. NPR's Alejandra Barunda reports the rule has likely prevented the heat deaths of dozens of workers in California every year.
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Alejandra Barunda
Only a handful of states in the country have any rules protecting workers from heat, but California has had one for outdoor workers since 2005. The state upped enforcement and closed loopholes for the rule in 2010 and 2015. And according to a new study in the journal Health Policy, it appears to be working. Lead author Adam Dean is at George Washington University.
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Adam Dean
That means that California's heat standard likely prevents approximately 34 worker deaths per year compared to what we see in neighboring states without standards.
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Alejandra Barunda
Dean says that's important information for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration to know. OSHA proposed a national heat rule in 2024 and is considering it now. Alejandra Barunda, NPR News.
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Lakshmi Singh
The dow is up 443 points. It's NPR.
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Matt Van Epps
Listen to this podcast sponsor, free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now +@plus.NPR.org that's plus.NPR.org.