Up First from NPR

For people working to address climate change in the U.S., the last year has been a hard one. The Trump administration has been rolling back rules and regulations aimed at reducing planet-warming pollution. But some cities and states are moving forward on climate action. On today’s episode of The Sunday Story, NPR’s Julia Simon brings us local solutions to this global problem.  To hear and read mor...

Washington ratcheted up the pressure on Havana this week. A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Electricity costs are rising as the U.S. enters warmer weather, likely meaning higher utility bills for consumers. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship pref...

Republicans left for recess without passing President Trump’s top immigration enforcement package after he pushed for funding for his White House ballroom and a controversial anti-weaponization fund, raising new questions about growing GOP pushback against the president. The Democratic National Committee has released its long-delayed 2024 election autopsy report, a nearly 200-page document filled...

Republicans in Congress are racing to pass a $72 billion immigration enforcement package using budget reconciliation, but President Trump is furious that funding for his White House ballroom was blocked, escalating tensions with GOP lawmakers still recovering from his primary challenges. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a tense call Tuesday over the direction of t...

President Trump ousted Republican Congressman Thomas Massie in last night's primary in Kentucky, the latest GOP lawmaker to lose his seat for crossing the president, and Democratic voters turned out in force across six states that held primaries on Tuesday. President Trump said he was "an hour away" from launching new military strikes on Iran this week before calling them off and he's now giving T...

San Diego authorities are investigating a shooting at the city’s largest mosque as a hate crime. Three victims were killed and two teenage suspects whom police believe carried out the attack were found dead. Primaries in six states today are testing President Trump’s influence over the Republican Party, including a high-stakes congressional race in Kentucky where Trump is trying to defeat a sittin...

In this special episode of Up First, we’re sharing the latest episode of NPR’s Newsmakers, featuring UFC president Dana White. When Donald Trump celebrated his imminent return to the White House on election night in November 2024, a parade of high-profile supporters joined him on stage. They included White, the president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the multibillion-dollar mixed...

Senator Bill Cassidy became the latest Republican casualty in President Trump’s campaign against disloyal members of his party, losing his primary in Louisiana after voting to convict Trump following the January 6th insurrection. The World Health Organization has declared an international public health emergency over a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has already kill...

For many of the poorest residents in Lagos, Nigeria, the land their families have lived on for generations is now being violently seized by the government to build luxury condos. The communities are fighting back, but even court injunctions haven’t stopped the bulldozers. This week on The Sunday Story, NPR’s Emmanuel Akinwotu goes to these sites of destruction and talks to those who have lost ever...

Cuba experienced blackouts and protests this week, and the CIA director made a visit to Havana. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., faces primary voters today. Trump administration travel restrictions are complicating travel plans for World Cup soccer fans. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NP...

President Trump is heading home from Beijing claiming he made fantastic trade deals with China, including a commitment for 200 Boeing jets and soybean purchases. The Supreme Court kept the abortion pill mifepristone available over telemedicine, putting a hold on an appeals court order that would have required patients to visit a clinic in person to get the medication.  British Prime Minister Keir...

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met for more than two hours at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with the CEOs of Apple, Tesla and NVIDIA in the room as both sides look to stabilize a trade relationship that has been on shaky ground for years. The rest of Asia is watching Trump's Beijing visit closely, as allies and rivals in the region try to read what a closer U.S.-China...

President Trump is in Beijing today meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, with American manufacturers hoping for tariff relief even as the war in Iran looms over the high-stakes summit. The Pentagon told Congress they estimate the war in Iran has cost $29 billion dollars so far. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked for $1.5 trillion dollars for next year’s Pentagon budget. FDA Commissioner Dr. Mar...

President Trump leaves for Beijing today for a state visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the ongoing war in Iran casts a long shadow over the high-stakes summit. A new inflation report out this morning shows prices rising again, driven heavily by higher gasoline costs from the war in Iran, with ripple effects on airline tickets and other consumer prices. Public health officials say the hant...

President Trump has rejected Iran’s latest response to a U.S. peace proposal as “totally unacceptable,” even as Tehran vows it will never bow to what it calls excessive demands by the United States. President Trump leaves for Beijing tomorrow to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping as the war in Iran continues to complicate the high-stakes meeting. Congress is back with a major push to lock in three...

So you want to be a mother, but you don’t have a partner. More women are shedding the stigma of single motherhood and choosing to have children on their own. This week on The Sunday Story, NPR’s Pallavi Gogoi brings us stories from her conversations with more than 60 women who have embraced this new vision of what motherhood can be. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use...

President Trump's continued criticism of NATO allies is bringing relations within the alliance to historic lows. The controversial immigration center in the Florida Everglades may be closing. New reporting on the second Trump administration's posture toward corruption by public officials reveals alarming attitudes. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data f...

President Trump insists the ceasefire is holding even after the U.S. and Iran traded fire in the Strait of Hormuz for the second time this week. Tennessee is the first state to redraw its congressional map after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, joining other Southern Republican-led states in redrawing districts ahead of the midterms. The U.S. military is facing growing scrutiny ov...

President Trump is once again claiming the U.S. is on the cusp of a deal with Iran and that the Iranians are desperate to negotiate, even as Tehran has shown no sign of agreeing and U.S. gas prices remain above four dollars and fifty cents a gallon. Big oil companies are benefiting from high prices caused by the war in Iran, but many are wary of producing more oil. Secretary of State Marco Rubio i...

President Trump claims “great progress” toward an agreement with Iran as he ended the short-lived U.S. effort to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, while keeping the naval blockade in place and Secretary of State Marco Rubio declaring combat operations over. In Indiana, several Republican state senators who defied President Trump on redistricting lost their primaries last night, while Ohio...

President Trump launched “Project Freedom” to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but Iran immediately attacked the first vessels with missiles, drones and small boats on day one of the operation. In Indiana, President Trump is pouring millions into state senate primaries to punish Republican lawmakers who blocked his push for new congressional maps, testing his hold over the par...

President Trump announced the U.S. military will begin escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz in an operation he calls Project Freedom, even as he reviews a new offer from Iran and keeps the option of renewed strikes on the table. Louisiana’s governor suspended U.S. House races so lawmakers can draw new congressional maps after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, par...

Evangelicals in America are divided over immigration enforcement. So who gets to claim the side of God? This week on The Sunday Story, NPR’s Brittany Luse sits down with two people who think a lot about the separation of church and state: NPR’s religion correspondent, Jason DeRose, and the Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, president and founder of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. DeRose and Sal...

Spirit Airlines ceased operation overnight, as jet fuel prices are pinching airlines. A panel of federal judges in Louisiana has ended telemedicine access to the abortion pill mifepristone for the entire country. And the federal debt has outgrown the entire U.S. economy.  See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sp...

President Trump is facing growing political pressure over the war in Iran as gas prices hit new highs and European allies accuse him of being humiliated by Tehran in the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is over. The House passed a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security after weeks of bitter partisan fighting over immigration enforcement....