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Right this moment’s high tales
After weeks of delays, the Senate handed a $70 billion invoice early this morning to fund immigration enforcement for the following three years. It took lawmakers 18 hours to cross the invoice. Senators voted alongside celebration strains, with just one Republican opposing the funding package deal. The invoice was delayed over issues in regards to the Trump administration’s practically $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Regardless of outrage from Democrats and lots of Republicans, GOP lawmakers finally voted in a single day to dam many amendments that may displease the president.
Senate Majority Chief John Thune, R-S.D., heart, speaks to reporters on the U.S. Capitol Tuesday in regards to the SAVE America Act and different matters.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
🎧 Three Republicans voted with Democrats on a proposal from Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer to stop the fund’s creation altogether — leaving the modification simply shy of passing, NPR’s Barbara Sprunt tells Up First. One other proposal to redirect the fund’s cash to fraud enforcement had extra GOP assist, but additionally did not cross. Sprunt says the growing stress and battle between Congress and the White Home does not appear to be stopping anytime quickly.➡️ The SAVE America Act was one other modification that did not cross within the Senate in a single day. President Trump has emphasised that the election overhaul invoice ought to be a high precedence for his congressional allies.
John Bolton, who beforehand served as Trump’s nationwide safety adviser, has agreed to plead responsible to mishandling categorized data. Bolton was indicted in October on 18 prison counts for the retention and transmission of nationwide protection data. Prosecutors say that in his time as nationwide safety adviser below Trump’s first time period, Bolton often took handwritten notes about his every day actions, together with data he acquired throughout conferences with U.S. intelligence officers and discussions with overseas leaders. Prosecutors say he would then ship a few of this delicate data to 2 members of the family, both by means of a messaging app or through e-mail.
🎧 The plea deal is tentative and nonetheless requires approval from a federal decide, NPR’s Ryan Lucas says. Bolton has stated that he believes he’s being focused for political causes attributable to his outspoken criticism of Trump. Former senior intelligence officers say there are legitimate authorized grounds for the case in opposition to him. The investigation began below the Biden administration and continued into Trump’s presidency. The indictment can be 26 pages lengthy with detailed allegations. Lucas says the checklist of the president’s perceived enemies focused by the DOJ is lengthy, and consequently, the general public may understand a authentic investigation as being pushed by politics and revenge, threatening the DOJ’s legitimacy.
A brand new NPR/Ipsos ballot of Ok-12 academics reveals that almost three-quarters imagine synthetic intelligence has better implications for schooling than previous improvements, such because the web or computer systems. This nationally consultant ballot surveyed 545 respondents. Many educators say they’re utilizing AI to save lots of time and improve their instructing supplies. A majority are involved that AI could hinder college students’ skill to assume for themselves. The ballot exhibits that college students will not be but broadly utilizing AI within the classroom. In the meantime, 60% of the academics surveyed reported utilizing AI for work-related duties. Whereas most of those academics imagine AI helps them save time, 63% estimate they save two hours or fewer per week.
The nonprofit gun management advocacy group Brady is suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Division of Justice over their refusal to launch paperwork about who the most important sellers of crime weapons within the U.S. are. In a lawsuit filed yesterday within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, Brady is requesting that the court docket compel the ATF to launch data associated to what the company refers to as Demand Letter 2s. These letters are despatched by the ATF to gun sellers and different sellers who’ve been recognized as promoting no less than 25 firearms recovered at crime scenes in a calendar 12 months. The ATF stated it has withheld these letters as a result of releasing this data may inadvertently reveal private particulars, confidential commerce secrets and techniques and industrial or monetary data, probably resulting in an unwarranted invasion of non-public privateness. Brady says it has collected this data from the ATF earlier than and has compiled the info into monitoring databases and experiences that it posts on its web site.
Watch this

Former first woman Jill Biden sits down for an NPR Newsmakers interview.
Nickolai Hammar/NPR
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Nickolai Hammar/NPR
Go face-to-face with the particular person of the second. NPR’s Newsmakers video podcast brings the most important names in politics, enterprise, sports activities, arts, and tradition out of the headlines and into the interview chair to debate the mark they’re making on the world. Comply with the Newsmakers podcast or subscribe to NPR’s YouTube channel to get new episodes as quickly as they’re obtainable.
Former first woman Jill Biden says President Biden modified his thoughts on pardoning his son Hunter following the election of Trump. Hunter was convicted on federal gun and tax fees in 2024. After the conviction, the previous president stated publicly that he wouldn’t pardon his son. Then-White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly informed the press {that a} pardon or commutation was off the desk. However within the remaining weeks of his presidency, Biden signed a full and unconditional pardon for his son.
On NPR’s Newsmakers video podcast, Jill discusses with All Issues Thought of host Scott Detrow how then-candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric concerning Hunter’s circumstances finally influenced her husband to rethink the pardon. She additionally shares her experiences within the White Home, her response to her husband’s poor debate efficiency and the explanations behind his determination to run for a second time period.
Watch or take heed to the interview or learn the article about their dialogue.
Weekend picks

André De Shields as ‘Outdated Deuteronomy’ in CATS: The Jellicle Ball. The revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical primarily based on the T.S. Eliot poems is ready within the LGBTQ+ Black and Latino ballroom tradition.
Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman /MurphyMade
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Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman /MurphyMade
Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:
🍿 Films: In Energy Ballad, wedding ceremony singer Rick collaborates on a track he wrote just a few years in the past with Danny, a former boy band member. Rick later discovers that Danny is making an attempt to cross off the track as his personal.
📺 TV: In Spider-Noir, Nicolas Cage performs a down-on-his-luck non-public detective who was once New York’s solely superhero. He hung up his masks after a tragedy, however a case involving noir-inspired Spider-Man characters pulls him again into motion.
📚 Books: From Los Angeles to Eire, your dream summer season locations are in attain with these new releases.
🎵 Music: Many artists throughout the musical spectrum launched music immediately, together with Vince Staples, Loss of life Cab For Cutie, Evanescence and Lee Brice. Try the New Music Friday playlist to make amends for a few of the finest songs that got here out.
🎭 Theater: Actor André De Shields is nominated for a Tony for his function in CATS: The Jellicle Ball. Forward of the awards present on Sunday, the 80-year-old spoke with Morning Version in regards to the nomination and life within the theatre.
❓Quiz: This week, NPR takes a have a look at Trump’s victories and setbacks within the quiz’s very first query. Plus, information about Serena Williams, Peabo Bryson, Kalshi and United Airways make their approach into this check. Have you ever been paying consideration? Check out your reminiscence.
3 issues to know earlier than you go

The scoreboard exhibits the outcomes of the ladies’s singles remaining match between Iga Swiatek of Poland and Amanda Anisimova of the U.S. on the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Saturday, July 12, 2025.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
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Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Because the French Open rolls on, there is no higher time for the most recent installment of NPR’s Phrase of the Week, which discusses how “love” grew to become the time period for zero factors.The united statesGerald R. Ford has returned to Virginia after an 11-month deployment. The $13 billion plane service can now obtain much-needed repairs and an improve to its troubled sewage system.Marjane Satrapi, the creator of the graphic novel Persepolis and a distinguished advocate for girls’s rights in Iran, died yesterday. She was 56.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.


