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Immediately’s prime tales
The loss of life toll in Texas has risen to 109 folks after the devastating floods on July 4. Search and rescue efforts proceed, and 161 persons are recognized to be lacking. State officers have not but mentioned they’re shifting to restoration efforts, however they confirmed the final time first responders discovered somebody alive was Friday. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says first responders will proceed working till “each lacking individual is accounted for.”
A child shoe lays alongside the Guadalupe River after it was swept up within the flash flooding in Ingram, Texas.
Jim Vondruska/Getty Photos
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Jim Vondruska/Getty Photos
🎧 Abbott acknowledged that investigations into the preparation and response will more than likely begin later this week as state lawmakers put together for a particular session to deal with the catastrophe. The governor refused to assign accountability for what residents say was a scarcity of warning, Dominic Anthony Walsh, of NPR community station Houston Public Media, tells Up First. Kerr County, which noticed the worst flooding, does not have an outside warning system that sounds throughout flash flooding, however does have a text-based system. Walsh spoke with Kyle McCormick, who was cleansing out his father-in-law’s dwelling in Kerr County. McCormick mentioned they’ve rebuilt after floods earlier than, although they weren’t like this one, and they’ll rebuild once more.➡️ The vast majority of deaths from the flood occurred alongside the Guadalupe River. These graphics present the place the floods occurred and the way excessive the water rose.➡️ Thad Heartfield’s son and three of his son’s mates disappeared within the flood. Now, he’s main practically 100 volunteers looking for flood victims.
Overseas coverage has been a focus for President Trump this week, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu twice on the White Home in two days. On Monday, the 2 had dinner and Netanyahu mentioned he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Talks continued, which Trump mentioned would give attention to Gaza.
🎧 Throughout a Cupboard assembly yesterday, Center East envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism that an settlement between Israel and Hamas might be reached by the tip of the week. Witkoff believes that such an settlement might result in lasting peace in Gazathough it stays unsure whether or not Hamas and Israel will comply with the ultimate phrases. The president acknowledged that resolving the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine is proving to be extra advanced than anticipated. He additionally voiced rising frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the continuing assaults on Ukraine, NPR’s Tamara Keith says. William Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, prompt that Putin has been stringing Trump alongside in an effort to achieve extra time to proceed advancing on the battlefield.
The Trump administration is now in a position to proceed with plans to put off a whole bunch of 1000’s of federal employees after a Supreme Court docket choice yesterday. The Court docket lifted a decrease courtroom order that blocked Trump’s government order from February directing large-scale cuts at authorities companies. Because of this, layoffs can proceed whereas authorized challenges are addressed within the decrease courts.
🎧 This order is a giant deal that impacts shut to twenty companies, together with the Division of Well being and Human Providers and the Treasury Division, NPR’s Andrea Hsu says. Round 10,000 staff with HHS have already acquired layoff notices and the one cause they’ve stayed on payroll was as a result of decrease courtroom order. This is not going to impression your complete federal authorities. The Division of Veterans Affairs introduced this week it would not want to hold out the large-scale layoffs as a result of it’s already on tempo to cut back its employees by some 30,000 staff by way of different means. Hsu says it’s recognized that lots of people left the VA out of concern that they’d be fired
Immediately’s pay attention
A person drives a classic vehicle down a freeway June 27, 2007 in Colorado.
Spencer Platt/Getty Photos
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Spencer Platt/Getty Photos
A person drives a classic vehicle down a freeway June 27, 2007 in Colorado.
Spencer Platt/Getty Photos
It’s highway journey season! As you put together to your subsequent journey, ensure you have all of the necessities. A full tank of gasoline? Examine. Baggage? Examine. Snacks? Examine. And most significantly: the music that can set the tone for the experience. You may want a pick-me-up, a distraction, or one thing for once you want a break out of your favourite podcasts and audiobooks. Whether or not you may have a visit on the books or you might be nonetheless within the planning levels, Pop Tradition Pleased Hour has three songs which can be value blasting in your subsequent journey.
Image present
Timber develop towards the home windows at Biosphere 2 on June 20, 2025 in Oracle, Ariz., U.S.
Caitlin O’Hara/for NPR
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Caitlin O’Hara/for NPR
Biosphere 2 is a dwelling laboratory established within the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties to discover whether or not people might survive in a man-made, self-sustaining ecosystem. Inside, you will discover a humid, decades-old rainforest stuffed with a wealthy number of flowers. There may be additionally a miniature artifical ocean, in addition to a mangrove wetland and a fog desert panorama. The construction rises to 91 ft at its highest level, covers greater than three acres, and options 6,500 home windows. Immediately, the College of Arizona operates the mission with a unique mission. Scientists are conducting analysis aimed toward serving to us adapt to Biosphere 1 — our Earth — and the local weather change we’re inflicting. Check out among the experiments Biosphere 2’s scientists have dreamt up within the massive glass constructing.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
An air traveler places his sneakers in a bin earlier than passing by way of a Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) safety checkpoint at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport in 2014.
Robyn Beck/AFP through Getty Photos
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Robyn Beck/AFP through Getty Photos
The Transportation Safety Administration will now not require vacationers to take away their sneakers at airport safety checkpoints in the usPlaces of worship can now endorse political candidates with out shedding their tax-exempt standing, in response to the Inside Income Service.Amazon’s Prime Day will stretch between July 8 and 11. Throughout these 4 days, spending at U.S. retailers is predicted to succeed in data equal to 2 Black Fridays.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
