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National

- And the Oscar goes to — wait, why is it called an Oscar?: 2026 Mar 13

- TSA workers miss a full paycheck, while travelers keep paying airport security fees: 2026 Mar 13

- All 6 U.S. crew are dead after a plane goes down in Iraq, as Mideast war toll mounts: 2026 Mar 13

- It's Chalamet vs. ballet in this week's news quiz. Are your answers en pointe?: 2026 Mar 13

- Desperate for skilled workers, a furniture maker looks to apprenticeships for relief: 2026 Mar 13

- As partial shutdown drags on, Morning Edition checks out TSA lines at 3 airports: 2026 Mar 13

- War in Iran increases demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas producers: 2026 Mar 13

- Some New England families feeling pinched as fuel prices continue to rise: 2026 Mar 13

OSCARS 2026 | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 2:06 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

And the Oscar goes to — wait, why is it called an Oscar?

By Rachel Treisman

Sunday is the 98th Academy Awards, where many of Hollywood's top talents will walk the red carpet before settling in for a night of triumphs, heartbreaks and abruptly cut-off acceptance speeches.

Most of us just refer to the ceremony as "the Oscars," the longstanding nickname of the gold-plated statuettes that winners in each category take home.

Cedric Gibbons, the art director of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, is credited with designing the iconic statue ahead of the first annual awards banquet of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka "the Academy") in 1929.

He dreamed up the knight (possibly modeled on a Mexican actor of the era) standing on a reel of film, holding a crusader's sword to defend the industry from outside criticism. And Los Angeles-based sculptor George Stanley made the statuette a reality, one that stands 13 1/2 inches tall and weighs 8 1/2 pounds.

Its full legal name is the "Academy Award of Merit." The Academy officially adopted its nickname, Oscar, in 1939.

But where did it come from?

Bruce Davis got that question all the time — in letters and emails from the curious public — during his two-decade tenure as the Academy's executive director, which ended in 2011.

"And what astonished me was that when I would ask around the building, everybody would say, 'Well, we don't exactly know,'" he told NPR. "And so I didn't do anything about it myself until I was retiring."

Davis decided to use his newfound free time to compile a history of the institution, ultimately publishing The Academy and the Award in 2022. One of the questions it explores is the origin of the Oscar nickname.

"As it turned out, that was not an easy thing to find out," Davis said. "It took a lot of running around and doing some actual research, and I did finally come up with something that I'm reasonably confident is the right answer."

There are three enduring — and competing — myths about where the name came from. Davis debunked them all and proposed a fourth.

The debunked claims

"Oscar" made its first mainstream newspaper appearance as shorthand for an Academy Award in March 1934, when entertainment journalist Sidney Skolsky used it in his Hollywood gossip column.

Davis recounts the apocryphal legend this way: Skolsky was running up against deadline on his awards-night rough draft when he was stopped by the word "statuette."

"He thought it sounded awfully snobby and he didn't know how to spell it," he said. "And he asked a couple of people around in the hall, and I guess no one was helping him spell statuette."

Skolsky later said he thought back to a vaudeville routine where the master of ceremonies would tease an orchestra member by asking, "Oscar, will you have a cigar?" And he claimed he decided to poke fun at the ceremony's pretentiousness by referring to the statuettes as Oscars instead.

Davis sees a few holes in this story, namely that the term appeared in at least one industry publication months before Skolsky's column. But it's not a total loss for Skolsky, who is separately credited with coining or at least popularizing the term "beefcake."

The most famous version of events involves none other than legendary actress Bette Davis. She had long claimed, including in her 1962 biography, that she coined the Oscar's nickname while accepting her first Academy Award some three decades earlier.

"Her story was that she was holding [it] in her hands and just kind of waiting for the ceremonies to move along, and she started looking at the hindquarters of the statuette and she said … the hindquarters of the statuette were the very image of her husband," Davis explained.

But Davis' husband at the time, musician Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr., was primarily known by another nickname, "Ham." And mentions of "Oscar" appeared in print years before Davis won her first one, in 1936. Davis eventually retracted the claim in her 1974 book, telling her biographer: "A sillier controversy never existed."

"I don't feel my fame and fortune came from naming Oscar 'Oscar,'" she said, according to USA Today. "I relinquish once and for all any claim."

The more-likely suspects

Perhaps a more likely source is Margaret Herrick, the Academy's mid-20th century librarian-turned-executive director.

She apparently referred to the statue as such in the 1930s "because it looked like her uncle Oscar," said Monica Sandler, a film and media historian at Ball State University.

Sandler says Herrick is the most logical choice, given her proximity to the Academy.

Herrick joined her then-husband, executive director Donald Gledhill, at the Academy in the early 1930s as an unpaid volunteer, and became its official librarian in 1936. Herrick took over as interim executive director when he left for the Army in 1943.

She was formally appointed to the role two years later and led the Academy until her retirement in 1971.

"There are very few women with the type of power and control she had over an institution at that time in the industry," Sandler said.

Herrick is credited with building up the Academy's library into one of the world's primary film research centers, as well as negotiating the award show's first television contract — and a major step toward financial independence — in 1953.

Davis says she often took credit, in conversations and media interviews, for jokingly naming the Oscar after her uncle. But he's skeptical of Herrick's claim.

"We're not sure that she was really the first person to use that, because she had difficulties over the ensuing years in identifying this Uncle Oscar," he explained.

Davis does, however, think that the most likely originator was someone else on the early staff of the Academy: Eleanore Lilleberg, a secretary and office assistant who apparently oversaw the pre-ceremony handling of the statuettes.

He said her name surfaced every now and then, but he didn't have "much hard proof" until after his retirement, when he got wind of the Einar Lilleberg Museum. It's a small community center in California's Green Valley honoring Eleanore's brother, Einar Lilleberg, an artist and craftsman. He booked a visit and immediately happened upon a box of Einar's writings.

"And I thought: 'This is it. Now, this is going to tell the story about the Oscar,'" Davis says. "And he almost did."

He said Einar's correspondence was light on detail, but unmistakably credited the naming to his sister, describing it as: "Yes, she got in the habit of doing that, and the rest of the staff thought it was amusing not to call them the 'Academy Award of Merit,' but just 'Oscar' … and it really did catch on."

So which Oscar did Lilleberg have in mind? Her brother's explanation, which Davis endorses, is that she was thinking back to a Norwegian veteran they had known as children in Chicago, who "was kind of a character in town and famous for standing straight and tall."

Davis wasn't able to track down that particular Oscar. But he says no one has challenged his theory in the years since his book was published, "so I'm sticking with it."

The lingering mystery

While Davis takes some personal satisfaction in the outcome of his quest, he accepts that the mystery of the Oscar nickname may never be solved conclusively.

"If I had come up empty, I wouldn't be arguing that we need to change the name," he said. "But it's interesting that it became such a tradition. There were no film awards that had a personal name before Oscar gained his, and then … within the next couple of years … everybody started looking for a personal name."

Sandler, the media historian, says that because the Academy Awards were "really the first major pop culture award," many others used it as a template.

The prizes in other countries' most-prestigious award ceremonies have similarly personified names: France's César Awards, Mexico's Ariel Awards, Italy's David's. Plus, there are the Emmy and Tony awards, both products of the mid-20th century.

Davis says he's just satisfied that people are still interested in the Oscars, regardless of who they're named after.

"You feel closer to an award if you're on a first-name basis with it, I guess," he added.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745780

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NATIONAL | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 2:02 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

TSA workers miss a full paycheck, while travelers keep paying airport security fees

By Joel Rose

Heard on All Things Considered

Millions of spring break travelers are heading to the airport this month, and Johnny Jones was hoping to be one of them. But the ongoing shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security forced his family to cancel its vacation plans.

"I won't be traveling anywhere, but I'll be helping out getting people to where they're going," said Jones, a TSA security officer at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. He also serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 100, which represents about 45,000 TSA officers nationwide.

Those TSA officers have been working without pay since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 14th. They've already missed part of one paycheck, and many security officers received no money at all in their paychecks on Friday as the partial shutdown approached the one-month mark.

"They're panicking, they're scared, they're afraid. And they don't know what they're going to do," Jones said in an interview. The majority of TSA employees work paycheck to paycheck, Jones said, and don't have enough savings to cover their expenses. "They're just flat-out not paying their bills because they don't have any money," he said.

Passengers have encountered hours-long security lines at major airports in Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, and elsewhere, as many TSA officers have called out sick. Some officers have taken on second jobs in order to make ends meet, Jones said.

"The officers can't afford to come to work. The gas is expensive right now," said Suzette, a security officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport who's worked for TSA for more than two decades. She requested we only use her middle name because she is not authorized to speak to the media.

"People have childcare. You have a mortgage that you have to pay," Suzette told NPR's Morning Edition. "Where are you getting the money from to pay?"

DHS has blamed the long lines on Democrats in a series of social media statements over the weekend, though Democrats say Republicans are also to blame.

Democrats have refused to approve DHS's budget unless GOP lawmakers and the White House agree on changes to how immigration officers operate after the fatal shooting of two American citizens in Minneapolis. Senate Democrats introduced bills to fund TSA and other components of DHS instead, but Republicans blocked them.

More than 100,000 DHS workers will miss their first full paycheck Friday, according to the White House, including employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the TSA.

Meanwhile, airline passengers are still paying the security fees that help to fund the TSA's budget, even as the partial shutdown drags on. The passenger fee, also known as the aviation security fee or the September 11 security fee, was enacted when the TSA was created after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.

"That fee has underwritten part of the TSA budget for all those years," explains former TSA administrator John Pistole. Airlines collect $5.60 for each one-way segment on a domestic flight, Pistole says. And that money has continued to accrue, even though none of it is finding its way into the bank accounts of TSA workers.

Security officers also went more than 40 days without a paycheck last year during the partial government shutdown last year. The back-to-back shutdowns have only made it harder for the agency to attract and retain workers, Pistole said, as more than 1,000 security officers resigned from TSA during October and November of last year.

"The longer it went, the more officers who resigned," Pistole said. "Not knowing how long the shutdown will continue, [they] will basically look for other work, because surprise, they have bills to pay."

An additional 300 TSA officers have quit during the current shutdown, according to the White House.

Travel and aviation industry leaders say all of this is creating unnecessary stress and confusion for passengers.

"Travelers should be concerned that Congress has created unpredictability in the system. They've created a system where we don't know whether we should show up at the airport one hour ahead, four or 5 hours ahead," said Geoff Freeman, the CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.

Freeman had urged the Trump administration to restart Global Entry, a program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to get expedited processing when they enter the U.S. from abroad. DHS moved to reopen the program this week.

Now Freeman is hopeful that a change in leadership at DHS will help to break the stalemate over funding for the department. Last week, President Trump announced that he is removing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and wants Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R.-Okla., to take over.

"The politics of the shutdown are complicated," Freeman said in an interview. "Changes at the Department of Homeland Security create additional opportunities for compromise," he said, though he expects the shutdown to continue into next week at a minimum.

NPR's Milton Guevara contributed reporting.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745956

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MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT | UPDATED FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:04 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

All 6 U.S. crew are dead after a plane goes down in Iraq, as Mideast war toll mounts

By NPR Staff

The U.S. military said on Friday that all six crew members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in Iraq, raising the death toll after two weeks of war with Iran.

The news came as President Trump and his defense secretary touted success of what they call Operation Epic Fury but complained about negative media coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes have hit more than 15,000 targets and injured the new Iranian supreme leader.

President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said the U.S. is "totally destroying" Iran's regime, militarily and economically.

Late Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had weakened Iran's rulers, but it may not be enough to topple them — the Iranian people would have to finish the job.

Iranian and Lebanese health officials and Israeli authorities reported more than 1,300 people killed in Iran, 773 people in Lebanon and 12 civilians in Israel, as well as two Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon. Wednesday's aircraft crash over Iraq brings the U.S. military death toll to 13, seven of whom were killed by enemy fire. Eight U.S. service members are severely injured, according to the Pentagon.

The humanitarian toll also deepened as the total number of people displaced by the fighting in Iran and Lebanon reached into the millions.

Here are further updates about the conflict.

To jump to a specific coverage topic, click on the links below:

U.S. casualties | More war ahead | Professors killed in Lebanon | Israel drops leaflets | Strikes in Iran | Strikes in Israel | Russian oil | French soldier killed | Lebanon peace calls

U.S. casualties rise and additional Marines head to Mideast

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Friday all six crew members died when their refueling aircraft went down over Iraq.

CENTCOM, which oversees the military's Middle East operations, initially reported an unspecified incident involving two aircraft Thursday. It said the U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft was lost in western Iraq, while the other landed safely. It is investigating the circumstances but confirmed the "loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

That brings the U.S. military death toll to 13, seven of whom were killed by enemy fire, according to the Pentagon.

NPR has also confirmed that an additional 2,200 U.S. Marines are heading to the Middle East.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan, aboard the USS Tripoli, will join an armada of ships taking part in the Iran war, a source told NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The source did not specify what role the Marines will play.

The deployment was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

— NPR's National Security Desk

Officials brace for an end without a deal — and the risk of a "war routine"

A senior official in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations, told NPR they expected the war to last at least another week, and that Israeli leaders increasingly believe the U.S. and Israel will end the war unilaterally, without a negotiated agreement. In such a scenario, the official said, Iran and allied groups, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Houthi rebels in Yemen, could establish a new normal of intermittent fire at Israel, prompting repeated Israeli retaliation.

The official said that kind of tit-for-tat exchange would leave Israelis living with an intolerable "war routine" even if the intensity of the conflict fades.

The official also said Israel is not ruling out an expanded ground operation in southern Lebanon, but described Israel as holding back so far from striking broad civilian infrastructure, largely because the U.S. sees Lebanon as a partner.

— Daniel Estrin, Carrie Kahn

Israel kills 2 academics in a strike near Lebanon's university

Two Lebanese academics were targeted and killed by Israeli strikes on Thursday, according to Lebanon's Education Ministry.

An Israeli strike that hit near Lebanon's public university killed the director of the faculty of sciences Hussein Bazzi and a professor, Mortada Srour.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack as a "violation of international laws and norms that prohibit attacks on educational institutions and civilians."

The campus is on the outskirts of Beirut's southern suburbs, where Israel issued an evacuation warning last week.

The Israeli military alleged that Srour was a member of Hezbollah who operated as a weapons manufacturing expert for the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group. It said he was the brother of a commander in Hezbollah's aerial unit who was killed in a previous Israeli military attack.

Israel's military declined to comment on why it killed Bazzi.

— Hadeel Al-Shalchi

Israel drops spy leaflets in Beirut

The Lebanese army said an Israeli military aircraft dropped leaflets in Beirut that read "You must disarm Hezbollah, Iran's shield" and "Lebanon is your decision, not someone else's."

The leaflets include a QR code along with the caption: "Unit 504 is working to secure the future of Lebanon and its people." Unit 504 is an Israeli military intelligence unit.

The Lebanese army warned its citizens not to scan the QR code because of what it called security risks and the possibility of phone hacking.

The Israeli military did not immediately confirm responsibility for the leaflets.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it struck the Al-Zrariya Bridge over the Litani River, describing it as a key crossing used by Hezbollah fighters and an area from which launchers had been positioned.

Hezbollah began firing rockets at northern Israel last week after Israel launched the new military campaign with the U.S. in Iran.

Israel's assault in Lebanon has killed 773 people and displaced more than 830,000, according to the Lebanese government's disaster management office.

— Hadeel Al-Shalchi

Israel expands strikes in Iran

Israel's air force said Friday it struck more than 200 targets over the past day in western and central Iran, including ballistic missile launchers, air defense systems and weapons manufacturing sites.

The military said the strikes included simultaneous strikes in Tehran, Shiraz and Ahvaz. They targeted regime infrastructure, including an underground site used to produce and store ballistic missiles, as well as a central air-defense base.

One strike in Tehran caused an explosion near a state-organized demonstration in support of Palestinians, according to the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. The Associated Press said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the strike.

Israel's military says it sent out a warning to Iranians to avoid the area, where it said it was destroying military infrastructure. The warning went out on the Israeli military's Farsi social media accounts. It's unlikely many people in Iran saw the notice as the internet is difficult to access and often blocked by the Iranian government.

Captured on Iranian state TV, the blast occurred close to the huge pro-government rally as a reporter was interviewing a top Iranian official.

Immediately after the blast, the official raised his fist defiantly, vowing never to surrender.

Footage also captured crowds burning U.S. and Israeli flags.

U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran have killed more than 1,300 people, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. said on Tuesday. The United Nations refugee agency said as many as 3.2 million people have been displaced in Iran from the fighting.

— Rebecca Rosman, Carrie Kahn

Iran and Hezbollah attacks hit Israel overnight; dozens treated for minor injuries

An Iranian ballistic missile in the northern Israeli town of Zarzir left dozens lightly wounded, according to Israel's emergency services organization, Magen David Adom.

One person was reported to be in moderate condition and was being treated after being hit with shrapnel. Another 57 people were being treated for minor injuries, mostly from glass shards.

Hezbollah also continued firing into northern Israel overnight, and Israel's military said its air defense and strike operations were responding across both fronts.

— Rebecca Rosman

U.S. temporarily eases Russian oil sanctions for cargoes already at sea

The Trump administration issued a temporary authorization allowing countries to purchase Russian oil already stranded at sea. It argued the move is a narrowly tailored step, in effect until April 11, to stabilize energy markets.

In a post on X, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the measure applies only to oil "already in transit" and will not provide significant financial benefit to Russia.

In a statement published last week, a number of top Senate Democrats warned such a move would weaken sanctions and benefit Russia as energy prices rise.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has weathered four years of a large-scale Russian invasion, said temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil will empower the Kremlin.

"This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war," Zelenskyy said during a visit to Paris. "This certainly does not help peace."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called President Trump's move to lift sanctions on Russia "wrong."

Merz said, "we need a convincing plan on how this war can come to an end."

— Rebecca Rosman, Joanna Kakissis and Rob Schmitz

French soldier killed in attack in Iraq

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday a French soldier was killed in an attack in the Irbil region, part of northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, that left several other French soldiers wounded.

Macron called the attack "unacceptable" and said the war in Iran cannot justify strikes on forces deployed in Iraq as part of the fight against ISIS.

Since the start of the war with Iran, the French president has underlined his concerns about international law not being respected, but also deployed several naval vessels to the Eastern Mediterranean, near Cyprus, to protect French military bases and citizens in the region. French officials have insisted it is a defensive, rather than an offensive mission.

Iran and Iran-backed Iraqi militias have targeted Iraq's Kurdistan region, where U.S. and other foreign forces are based since the start of the war with Iran. The missile and drone attacks have focused mostly on U.S. bases and diplomatic missions in Iraq and Iraq's Kurdistan region.

Lebanon again calls for talks with Israel, so far to no avail

Lebanon's president reiterated his call for direct talks with Israel to end the war at a meeting with the United Nations secretary-general on Friday.

"I expressed my readiness to negotiate, but until now we have not received a response from the other side," President Joseph Aoun said Friday.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said his message to Lebanon's leaders is they must "take action" against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah before talks can happen.

"If the Hezbollah will be restrained, then we are open to dialogue. And we had a very good dialogue with the Lebanese government before," Danon said.

An official in the region, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR that Israel sees positive signs from the Lebanese government to crack down on the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, but that the war will continue.

President Aoun has asked the international community to bolster the Lebanese army to help it disarm the militant group.

After the meeting with the U.N. chief, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam criticized Hezbollah for launching rockets into Israel and said "Lebanon did not choose this war."

— Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Michele Kelemen

Daniel Estrin and Carrie Kahn contributed to this report from Tel Aviv, Israel, Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed from Beirut, Jane Arraf from Irbil, in Iraq's Kurdish region, Rebecca Rosman and Eleanor Beardsley from Paris, Joanna Kakissis from Kyiv, Ukraine, Rob Schmitz from Berlin and Michele Kelemen from Washington.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/g-s1-113563

THE NPR NEWS QUIZ | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:01 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

It's Chalamet vs. ballet in this week's news quiz. Are your answers en pointe?

By Holly J. Morris

It's Friday the 13th, yet again. But this time, the ominous novelty date is two days before the Ides of March, which means the bad luck will cancel itself out.

Meanwhile, if you've been paying attention to medicine, basketball and the British Parliament, you'll get at least three questions right this week. Good luck!

Full article: https://www.npr.org/g-s1-113315

BUSINESS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Desperate for skilled workers, a furniture maker looks to apprenticeships for relief

By Andrea Hsu

CONWAY, Ark. – Caleb Moss's workday starts early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, before the sun comes up. At 4:30 a.m., he reports to his post in tool and die at Virco Manufacturing. Under the guidance of a mentor, he turns steel into high-precision tools and molds used throughout the plant.

At 9:00 a.m., Moss leaves the plant and heads to Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, Ark., for a full day of instruction, beginning with math class and moving on to hands-on training on machines similar to those Moss uses on the job.

He finishes his day at 4:30 p.m. and will be paid for the hours spent in both locations.

Moss is one of two employees that Virco, a school-furniture maker known for its colorful plastic classroom chairs, plucked from other departments for three-year apprenticeships in tool and die. It's a strategy the manufacturer has embraced as it seeks to fill critical gaps in its workforce, and one the Trump administration has made the centerpiece of its promise to bring American workers into a golden age.

Having spent a decade in lower-skilled positions at Virco, including in shipping and receiving, Moss is excited to have this chance.

"I didn't get the opportunity to go to school because I had kids really early," he says. "This allows me to be able to go back to school to further my education, to do better things for this company. So it's been a really awesome thing."

A goal of 1 million apprenticeships

More than two decades after his show The Apprentice topped the ratings chart, President Trump is betting on apprenticeships for big economic wins. Through an executive order issued last April, Trump set a goal to increase the number of active apprenticeships to 1 million, up from the current level of about 700,000.

It's one of the few policies embraced by former President Joe Biden that Trump appears to wholeheartedly support. In his executive order, Trump writes of building on the success of apprenticeships "to seize new opportunities and unlock the limitless potential of the American worker."

In a video on Instagram, the Labor Department went as far as to proclaim: "The new era of American dominance will be forged not by woke universities, but by the grit of our skilled workers."

The basic idea behind apprenticeships is simple: By combining on-the-job training with classroom instruction, employers can nurture talent to fill skills gaps and give workers not just jobs but long-lasting careers. What the Trump administration and past administrations have promoted are registered apprenticeships, which meet strict government standards for training hours, formal mentorship structures, and progressive wage increases for the apprentices.

Other developed economies including Germany and Switzerland have used this "earn while you learn" model to fill workforce needs in a variety of industries. But in the U.S., the model hadn't really taken off outside the construction trades.

That's now changing. Federal funding has helped to grow the number of registered apprenticeships in the U.S. by close to 80% over the past decade, according to the Labor Department, with rapid expansion happening in sectors such as health care and IT.

The messaging out of the Trump administration last year gave longtime apprenticeship advocates and policy wonks hope for even brisker growth.

"If we want to build data centers, if we want to build semiconductor plants, if we're going to invest in these huge infrastructure projects, we need the skilled workforce to do it," says Zach Boren, who worked on apprenticeships at the Labor Department under the Obama and first Trump administrations.

But almost a year after Trump signed the executive order, there are questions, even doubts, about his level of commitment.

"We're seeing a lot of rhetoric and not a lot of action," says Boren, now a senior vice president with the nonprofit advocacy group Apprenticeships for America.

In fact, Boren says, some things have gone in the wrong direction. Last year, amid DOGE cuts, the Trump administration canceled millions of dollars' worth of contracts with organizations working to grow apprenticeships in clean energy and other sectors, and also canceled grants aimed at measuring the effectiveness of apprenticeship programs.

Moreover, Trump has not asked for more money from Congress to support his goal of 1 million active apprenticeships. Appropriations have remained at $285 million every year since 2023.

Boren says to be on par with Germany and Switzerland, the U.S. should be investing billions and aiming for a far loftier goal of 4 million apprenticeships, quadruple Trump's goal.

It would be worth it, Boren argues. A 2022 study commissioned by the Labor Department found apprenticeships yield a 144% return on investment, as employers enjoy increased productivity and lower turnover. And, he adds, the government wins too. Investments in apprenticeships have been shown to reduce workers' reliance on social assistance programs.

"That's really the goal of this administration and many administrations — to get people into good work and sustainable work," Boren says. "You just can't spend enough on giving someone purpose."

The Trump administration's push begins in Arkansas

In December, the Trump administration announced its first major investment in apprenticeships — $35.8 million for the American Manufacturing Apprenticeship Incentive Fund, with the bulk of that money going to employers. In a move that surprised many, the Labor Department, through a noncompetitive process, put the state of Arkansas in charge of administering the nationwide fund.

Asked about the choice, Labor Department spokesperson Courtney Parella told NPR: "Arkansas has demonstrated its experience, capacity, and strong track record needed to help administer the Department's manufacturing apprenticeship initiative."

In fact, Arkansas has seen a boom in registered apprenticeships since 2019, when the state created a blue-ribbon commission to address a talent gap in IT, cyber security and data analytics, combining federal and state dollars to speed the effort. More recently, Arkansas' Republican governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has supported expanding apprenticeships into other industries.

Now tasked with jumpstarting manufacturing apprenticeships nationwide, state officials have been busy fielding calls from all over the country.

"West Coast to East Coast, South, North, Midwest — all across the board," says Cody Waits, executive director of Arkansas' Division of Workforce Connections.

On offer to manufacturers anywhere in the U.S. is a $3,500 incentive for every new registered apprentice they bring on, paid to the company once the apprentice passes the 90-day mark.

"The question is, is this money enough?" says Nick Beadle, who tracked workforce dollars at the Labor Department for a decade and now works as a consultant. "The response I heard immediately from people as soon as the dollars hit the street in early February was, 'Yeah, this isn't going to cut it.'"

In a statement, the Labor Department stood by its approach, telling NPR: "We are confident that leveraging the recently announced pay-for-performance funding models will maximize the impact of appropriated funding and drive unprecedented growth in the number of active apprentices."

While $3,500 covers little of the actual cost of an apprenticeship, Waits believes even a modest sum of money may be just the thing a company needs to get on board.

"Every little bit of interest helps," says Waits. "And what we've recognized is when companies do adopt apprenticeship, they tend to keep it as part of their overall workforce strategy."

Helping companies cut through the bureaucracy

There's a big reason many companies have been reluctant to engage in apprenticeships, despite a decade of prodding from the federal government: For many employers, the phrase "registered apprenticeships" conjures up red tape. It involves a lot of paperwork, recordkeeping and possible audits by the Labor Department.

That's where people like Lonnie Emard come in. He works for the nonprofit Apprenticely, which has helped to create some 2,500 registered apprenticeships in Arkansas since 2019, handling all the bureaucratic pieces and drawing on state, federal and private grants to bear most of the costs.

Over the past six years, Emard has worked to convince employers from Walmart to Arkansas Children's Hospital to the wood pellet manufacturer Highland Pellets to take a chance on job candidates who don't check all the boxes, who might not have the right degree — or any degree.

"If they've got the kinds of essential skills, but they don't have some technical pieces, that's what an apprenticeship is so good at," he says.

Emard's goal is getting employers to see that they're not settling for less. In fact, they stand to gain more productive, more loyal employees.

"They're going to have a future, and they're going to stay," he says.

With new technology comes new workforce needs

Among those Emard has won over in recent months is Steve Presley, Virco's vice president and general manager. Following on the initial success of Moss' apprenticeship in tool and die, Presley now plans to create 20 more apprenticeships in other parts of the plant.

Inside the manufacturer's 1.2 million-square-foot production facility, Presley is excited about all the fancy new machines: A $1.5 million saw. Thirty robots that weld steel. An electrostatic powder coat booth.

The new technology is already making the plant more efficient. But with it comes a big concern.

"We've got to really make up a big learning curve on how to operate this equipment, maintain this equipment," says Presley. "That's where we're really behind the eight ball."

The problem is exacerbated by a wave of retirements at Virco – Presley says he's lost 250 years' worth of experience since the start of the year – and intense competition for skilled workers in Arkansas, including from the steel industry in the north of the state and defense contractors in the south.

"It's a really strong economy here. And with a strong economy, there's a lot of competition for labor," says Presley.

Working with Apprenticely, Presley has come up with a plan to train more employees to operate the high-tech machines, so that if one employee is out and a robot crashes, downtime can be minimized. Moss, the tool and die apprentice, will have a role there, too. Once he finishes his training, Presley says, he'll be able to disassemble the robot, diagnose the problem, remake the broken part, and get the robot running again.

"He was already a valuable employee," says Presley. "But … this is honestly more critical than what he was doing before."

The road to 1 million

The total number of active apprenticeships in the U.S. fluctuates as apprentices start and finish their training. According to Labor Department data, the pace of growth in fiscal year 2025 dipped slightly from the year before. Still, the White House projects growth under the Trump administration to accelerate as more investments are made.

Currently, the Labor Department is running a competitive process to award $145 million aimed at growing apprenticeships in key sectors such as IT, artificial intelligence, health care, shipbuilding and defense.

At best, Boren believes those funds might create somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 apprenticeships.

"That's not going to get us to a million," he says.

And much could depend on the economy. A disappointing February jobs report showed employers shed 92,000 jobs over the month, including in both manufacturing and construction.

"Historically, when layoffs begin, training and workforce development are often the first items cut from company budgets," Boren notes.

From his perch overseeing the manufacturing incentive fund, Waits is more optimistic. He points to Virco's plan to grow from two apprenticeships to 20.

"Think about how many Vircos there may be across the country, right?" he says. "You do that enough times, you get a million apprentices."

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

President Trump has promised a golden age for American workers, a renaissance for U.S. manufacturing. He says the road to get there is through apprenticeships. One Arkansas manufacturer is embracing the idea. NPR's Andrea Hsu paid them a visit.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: My trip starts with a ride on a golf cart.

STEVE PRESLEY: Is everybody on? All right.

HSU: I'm with Steve Presley, vice president and general manager of Virco Manufacturing. Their headquarters are in California, but we are cruising through the company's giant factory in Conway, Arkansas, half an hour outside Little Rock. This is where they make a lot of the furniture you see in American schools. It all starts with flat sheets of steel.

PRESLEY: We're going to bend it, manipulate it, spot weld it to make case goods - teachers desks, office administration desks, vertical, lateral file cabinets, all-metal bookcases, things like that.

HSU: Presley's been working at Virco for 37 years. He and his brother both started at 16 when their dad was the plant manager.

PRESLEY: My dad drug our butt in here, and we worked every Saturday and Sunday, and we worked in maintenance department.

HSU: Doing grunt work, cleaning up wet paint and sawdust. At one time, Presley says, Virco had 1,500 employees in Arkansas.

PRESLEY: We were so labor-intensive 'cause we could just throw labor at it.

HSU: Those were the days before the company had to compete with cheaper imports. Today, Virco has about 500 employees here. Technology has made the plant more efficient. They've got a new million-and-a-half-dollar saw, 30 robots that weld steel and a fancy new paint system.

PRESLEY: It's a little noisy, but this is an electrostatic powder coat booth.

HSU: Automated paint guns shoot gray powder onto table legs that come through on an overhead conveyor. Someone has to program this system to identify the different parts and move the paint guns accordingly.

PRESLEY: Whether it's up and down, in and out.

HSU: With all this advanced technology, Steve Presley's concern is building up a workforce that can operate and maintain it.

PRESLEY: That's where we're really behind the eight ball.

HSU: And trying to hire people with those skills is hard here in Arkansas. Not for the reasons you might be thinking.

PRESLEY: You know, everybody can make fun of Arkansas, say what they want to say, but this is a really strong economy here, and with a strong economy, there's a lot of competition for labor.

HSU: Especially skilled labor. Adding to the problem is the fact that here at Virco and across manufacturing, the workforce is aging. They've lost a lot of collective experience.

PRESLEY: We've probably had 250 years retire since the first of the year.

HSU: Presley knows, in order for Virco to survive and thrive, he needs a deeper bench. Already last year, the company reached out to Pulaski Tech, a community college, who, in turn, reached out to a nonprofit called Apprenticely. Together, they created two apprenticeships in tool and die. They're training up machinists to make highly customized tools that can handle measurements down to ten-thousandths of an inch.

PRESLEY: That requires skill sets that you can't buy.

HSU: So Virco plucked two promising workers from other parts of the plant and pledged to give them three years of training. Caleb Moss (ph) had worked in shipping and receiving and in the flat metal department. He was game to learn something new.

CALEB MOSS: I didn't get the opportunity to go to school because I had kids really early.

HSU: Straight out of high school, he went to work, first in construction, then in wastewater management, and later to the oil fields before landing at Virco a decade ago. Now, as an apprentice, he works here at the plant part of the week, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays he's at Pulaski Tech. It's where I find him the next day, planning out a project with his instructor.

MATT WALROND: What do you think? Quarter-20? We know we got a bunch of those.

MOSS: A lot of quarter-20.

HSU: In this safe space, Moss gets to try different approaches to tasks he may already be doing at work.

MOSS: So I'm always learning something new somehow.

HSU: His instructor, Matt Walrond says in manufacturing, you have to learn how to roll with the punches. That means improvising, if necessary.

WALROND: You can make anything with anything. And that's the goal by the time they get through the Machining 3 course.

HSU: That's next semester. Out of this apprenticeship, Moss will get a sizable pay bump, and Steve Presley says Virco gets an even more valuable employee.

PRESLEY: This is honestly more critical than what he was doing before.

HSU: Presley is so pleased with how Moss' journey has gone so far, he is now committed to creating more apprenticeships at Virco.

PRESLEY: I would love to get a minimum of, like, 20 more.

HSU: It's not the easiest thing. They have to find the right people and give them substantial time off the job for training. But as part of President Trump's push for apprenticeships, there are now federal incentives for companies like Virco to help a little bit with the cost. And the bigger thing Presley believes Virco is gaining is a plan for the future. He says one thing's for certain.

PRESLEY: We're going to be American-made.

HSU: He knows that can't happen if he doesn't have the right workers in place. Andrea Hsu, NPR News, Conway, Arkansas.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5727509

NATIONAL | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:45 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

As partial shutdown drags on, Morning Edition checks out TSA lines at 3 airports

By Milton Guevara

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Transportation Security Administration officers have been working without pay. Congress let funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security because Democrats and Republicans did not agree about immigration enforcement. Since then, there have been hourlong wait times at some airport security checkpoints. Although I have to admit when I've traveled in recent weeks, the TSA wasn't the problem. Thanks, guys. But we wanted to see for ourselves if things are bad at some airports. So MORNING EDITION producer Milton Guevara packed his bags and hopped on some flights.

MILTON GUEVARA, BYLINE: I have never traveled with the goal of getting in lines. My quest to find airport limbo started Wednesday afternoon at Dulles International, just outside Washington, D.C. I got in the regular security line, where there was only about 10 people in front of me.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER #1: Hello.

GUEVARA: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER #1: Do you have your boarding pass?

GUEVARA: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER #1: Scan.

(SOUNDBITE OF SCANNER BEEPING)

GUEVARA: I walked right through in about 5 minutes. Shoes on.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER #1: Thank you. Next, please.

GUEVARA: So, Dulles, pretty chill. Far from the long lines reported at other major airports.

UNIDENTIFIED WORKER #2: And, ladies, gentlemen, again, welcome to the boarding area. Flight 471, service to Atlanta. This flight is going to be completely full today.

GUEVARA: My next stop, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. When I arrived, the line to enter security was a little longer than Dulles. But it still took only about 25 minutes to get through. Some travelers I spoke with said they had the same experience while others felt the lines drag.

GREG MORITZ: It was going very slow. Like, we did the CLEAR and PreCheck line. And it wasn't that long, but it was moving at, like, a crawl.

GUEVARA: That's Greg Moritz (ph) flying to Pittsburgh with his girlfriend, Sabrina Gonzalez (ph).

SABRINA GONZALEZ: There are absolutely less staff members. Like, you can definitely tell that.

MORITZ: Yeah. I mean, it has to be, right?

GONZALEZ: I wouldn't show up for work either if I wasn't getting paid.

MORITZ: Yeah.

GUEVARA: A nearby TSA officer told me, I just missed the rush.

SUZETTE: It was - what? - two-hour wait, in the end.

GUEVARA: Two-hour wait?

SUZETTE: Two-hour wait, Atlanta.

GUEVARA: When, like, today?

SUZETTE: Yes. About maybe a hour and a half ago, yeah.

GUEVARA: So I just missed the two-hour wait?

Suzette (ph) has worked for TSA for over two decades. She requested we only use her middle name because she is not authorized to speak to the media. She predicts, next week, lines will be even longer, since officers are missing another paycheck.

SUZETTE: The officers can't afford to come to work. Their gas is expensive right now, as you see. People have child care. You have mortgage that you have to pay. How can you afford to come to work? Where are you getting the money from to pay?

GUEVARA: Long security lines have been reported at other major airports like Denver and Houston. When I checked the MyTSA app, waits at Houston were 30 to 45 minutes long. Denver was about 15. It seems airports have gotten in front of the situation by telling travelers they need to arrive early in case of long lines. This message seems to have reached the Big Easy, where I was greeted at Louis Armstrong International Airport with live music...

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) Music is and knows it always will be one of those things that life just won't quit.

GUEVARA: ...Which I enjoyed standing in line for security for 7 minutes.

JIM SUNYE: I flew right through, so I have no complaints.

GUEVARA: Jim Sunye (ph) is going home. He arrived at the airport 4 hours early because when he got here on Sunday, he saw massive lines for security.

SUNYE: And that's what put the fear of God in me. And I thought, all right, I'm going to get there early.

GUEVARA: Now he's killing time by zigzagging around the airport, which got me thinking, were the big lines reported a few days ago all about TSA being short-staffed? Or were travelers arriving last minute also a little to blame? I never got an answer. I reached out to TSA for comment about the fluctuating security lines and wait times I saw but didn't hear back. So I guess, at least on my trip, the longest lines I experienced were the ones I imagined.

UNIDENTIFIED FLIGHT ATTENDANT: We would like to be the first to welcome you to our nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

GUEVARA: Milton Guevara, NPR News, New Orleans, Atlanta and now back in Washington.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5744648

NATIONAL | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:44 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

War in Iran increases demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas producers

By Drew Hawkins

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

The global market for energy is in disarray because of the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, which has blocked the path many oil tankers take. The Gulf States Newsroom's Drew Hawkins reports that U.S. companies see an opportunity to export more liquefied natural gas.

(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES LAPPING)

DREW HAWKINS, BYLINE: Phillip Dyson has fished the coastal waters of Cameron, Louisiana, for more than 50 years. Shrimpers like him are catching less than half of what they used to five years ago, according to the state's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

PHILLIP DYSON: Probably the last five years been declined since they built this LNG. I can't imagine another five years.

HAWKINS: The Gulf Coast is ground zero for America's liquefied natural gas, or LNG, exports. When LNG supplies surged, fueled by the fracking boom in the late 2000s, companies needed new buyers, and they looked overseas, building these massive terminals to ship LNG. During construction on one of them, there was a dredge spill last summer that killed oyster beds in the area. Now, it's not clear whether the spill or warmer water temperatures or other environmental factors affect the shrimp catches. But Dyson thinks the ships and construction from those terminals may be contributing to fewer shrimp.

DYSON: They won't come in. I'm assuming that's the reason.

HAWKINS: And the LNG expansion isn't just up ending communities like Cameron. It's now at the center of a global energy crisis. Tyson Slocum is an energy analyst with Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. He says Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent shock waves through natural gas markets in Europe and Asia. Qatar, one of the largest LNG producers on earth, shut down all of its exports.

TYSON SLOCUM: And so what this means is a massive financial windfall for U.S. LNG exporters.

HAWKINS: While natural gas prices have increased sharply in Europe and Asia, they haven't done so in the U.S. Many oil and gas industry experts say this country will be largely protected from natural gas price spikes this year because companies are already exporting about as much natural gas as they can, more than 14 billion cubic feet a day. The U.S. would need additional LNG terminals. The war in Iran, Slocum says, could push the U.S. industry to try to export more.

SLOCUM: Because the more they're able to produce, the higher their windfall profit is going to be.

(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES LAPPING)

HAWKINS: For shrimpers like Phillip Dyson in Cameron, Louisiana, the ledger is already in the red, and he says he knows he'll eventually have to give it up.

DYSON: It's getting worse and worse by the day here.

HAWKINS: Across the country, more than a dozen new LNG export terminals are already under construction or approved. Six of them are in southwest Louisiana.

For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in Cameron, Louisiana.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5743547

NATIONAL | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:44 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Some New England families feeling pinched as fuel prices continue to rise

By Miriam Wasser

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

The war in Iran has caused more than just gasoline prices to rise. The cost of heating oil has spiked, too. More than 30% of homes in New England use that. From member station WBUR in Boston, here's Miriam Wasser.

MIRIAM WASSER, BYLINE: To fill or not to fill the oil tank? That was the question plaguing James Mercier earlier this week. He's a social worker who lives with his wife and their young son in a two-bedroom apartment in Gloucester, an oceanside city about 45 minutes north of Boston. Mercier says the last few months have been tough on the family budget.

JAMES MERCIER: We use heating oil, so it's expensive, always, but especially this winter. January and February were so cold.

WASSER: They topped off the tank in January at a cost of $680. But with all the cold weather, Mercier had a feeling they were blowing through it.

MERCIER: I went down to our basement to check. I was like, oh, we're at three-eighths, so that means we need to fill it up.

WASSER: He wasn't sure how the war in Iran might affect the cost of heating oil, so he did some research. What he found shocked him. While the average cost of heating oil in Massachusetts has been about $3.80 a gallon this winter, many companies were now charging $5 a gallon or more. At that rate, he and his wife weren't sure they could afford a refill. Plus, what if the cost went down next week?

MERCIER: We were going back and forth. Should we do it now, or should we wait? Someone said this. Someone said we should wait. Well, maybe we should wait. Well, I don't know about that. It's just stressful to even be talking about.

WASSER: Mercier says he found himself looking at weather forecasts and trying to teach himself how oil markets fluctuate. He also learned that letting the oil level in the tank get too low can damage the system, and he certainly couldn't afford to fix that. In the end, they decided to fill their tank one-third of the way, the minimum allowed by their oil company. The cost of that? $500. Was it the right decision? Even industry insiders aren't sure. They say a lot depends on how long the war lasts and how it affects oil shipping routes.

Michael Ferrante is president of the Massachusetts Energy Marketers Association, an industry group for heating oil and propane suppliers.

MICHAEL FERRANTE: No one knows when the price of crude oil will start to go down. That's the uncertainty that we live with when you're dealing with commodities like petroleum and heating oil.

WASSER: That's tough for families like the ones Dianne Schiavone sees every day. She oversees the fuel assistance program at the nonprofit Community Action Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. This federally funded program, often called LIHEAP, helps lower-income households cover the cost of their heating bills.

DIANNE SCHIAVONE: What is happening right now - as time goes on, more and more of our clients have exhausted their fuel benefits. So it's putting people in a very difficult position.

WASSER: Schiavone says she's fielding a lot of calls from people who need help. According to state officials, nearly three-quarters of households in the program have $100 or less in benefits left to get them through the heating season. Schiavone recounts a recent call from a 90-year-old woman who had nothing left in her account.

SCHIAVONE: She has no family. She has no one to assist her. She doesn't have the ability to go out and work an extra shift. She has her Social Security, and that's all she has. And we have to say no? It just breaks your heart.

WASSER: On Tuesday, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced her administration is releasing $15 million to help people in the heating assistance program. With this money, many households will get a few hundred extra dollars to help pay for heat.

For NPR News, I'm Miriam Wasser in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SIX PARTS SEVEN'S "THIS ONE OR THAT ONE? ")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745112

World

- FBI investigates attacks in Michigan and Virginia. And, Senate passes housing bill: 2026 Mar 13

- Israel launches airstrikes in Beirut, displacing thousands of people: 2026 Mar 13

- CNN correspondent shares his takeaways from his recent visit to Iran: 2026 Mar 13

- Exiled Iranians watch the war from afar, wondering what awaits when it ends: 2026 Mar 13

- A record number of political parties register for Haiti's first election in a decade: 2026 Mar 13

- China slams Trump's trade investigation, as it approves a 5-year economic plan: 2026 Mar 13

- Despite Trump's frustration, Spain's Pedro Sánchez doubles down on opposing the war: 2026 Mar 12

- Khameni's killing raises old questions about U.S. assassinating foreign leaders: 2026 Mar 12

UP FIRST NEWSLETTER | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 7:45 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

FBI investigates attacks in Michigan and Virginia. And, Senate passes housing bill

By Brittney Melton

Good morning. You're reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.

Today's top stories

Israel launched attacks on central Beirut last night, intensifying its offensive in Lebanon after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. The exchange marks some of the fiercest fighting between the two sides since the beginning of the war in Iran. Today, U.S. Central Command confirmed that at least four crew members were killed when a refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq. Yesterday, Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first message, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed.

- 🎧 Israel issued its first-ever evacuation order since the war in Iran began for a 300-yard radius of a building in the Bachura neighborhood of Beirut, NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi tells Up First. The Israeli military claims it is killing and targeting Hezbollah operatives, but the specifics of what was targeted in that building last night are unclear. An official not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that the strike was symbolic and was meant to send the message that Israel would not tolerate Hezbollah's fire much longer. The Lebanese president has recently called for direct talks with Israel to end the war and asked the international community to help bolster its army to try to disarm Hezbollah. Israel hasn't commented publicly, but the official told NPR that Israel sees positive signs from Lebanon to crack down on Hezbollah. Al-Shalchi says it wouldn't be surprising if talks happen soon.

The FBI is investigating two separate attacks that happened yesterday. In Michigan, an armed man rammed a car into Temple Israel synagogue. In Virginia, another man opened fire in a Reserve Officers' Training Corps classroom at Old Dominion University, killing one and wounding two others.

- 🎧 Security officers exchanged gunfire with the alleged suspect in Michigan, who was found dead. Authorities identified him as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. He was a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon. NPR has confirmed that an Israeli strike in Lebanon killed two of Ghazli's brothers and two of his brother's children earlier this month. His parents were wounded and are in the hospital. Authorities have not yet shared a motive for the attack and say that their investigation will take time, according to Alex McLenon of NPR network station WDET.

- 🎧 Authorities identified the Old Dominion University shooter as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, from Sterling, Va. Members of the ROTC class wrestled him to the ground, and he was ultimately killed. Jalloh was honorably discharged from the Virginia Army National Guard in 2015. Steve Walsh of NPR network station WHRO says he seems to have been radicalized in the following years. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and five years supervised release in 2017 after he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq. He was released in 2024. The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism, citing his previous arrest and witness reports of him yelling "Allahu Akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is Greatest."

The Senate yesterday passed the largest housing bill in decades with an 89 to 10 vote. The bipartisan legislation aims to improve housing affordability and availability by deregulating, expanding existing programs and banning large corporations from buying single-family homes, with few exceptions.

- 🎧 The bill, which has over 40 provisions, aims to drive down housing costs by encouraging more homebuilding, NPR's Stephan Bisaha says. The nation is millions of homes short of meeting the demand, but Bisaha explains that the federal government doesn't have a "big lever" it can pull to mandate more construction. So the legislation is an amalgam of different programs and incentives that co-sponsor Sen. Elizabeth Warren describes as a "giant meatball." It includes a popular provision banning institutional investors from buying single-family homes. While people blame these investors for driving up prices by outbidding families, research on this is mixed. Bisaha notes that large investors own few homes across the U.S. and, in some cases, they help lower costs.

Living better

Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.

Tech companies are rolling out platforms specifically tailored for health care consultation, and AI is quickly becoming a key player in shaping people's medical decisions. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, reports that more than 40 million people consult the platform daily for health information. But new research shows that AI can mislead users in certain medical scenarios. And the quality of the health information it imparts depends on how effectively a person prompts the tools.

- 🗨️ A study found that even when AI correctly identifies a condition, it often does not present the next steps with enough urgency. Researchers found that bots "under-triaged" in 52% of emergency cases, treating the ailment as less serious than it was.

- 🗨️ Health care can be difficult to afford and access, which is why consulting AI can often be better than the alternatives, says Robert Wachter, a doctor at UC San Francisco.

- 🗨️ Adam Rodman, a hospitalist who researches AI programs, says a good time to use AI is before or after seeing a doctor to become more informed about your condition. This helps you use time with your medical provider efficiently.

Weekend picks

Check out what Hoppers, a young woman uses mind-hopping technology to inhabit an animatronic beaver with the hope of saving a beloved glade from serious risk of destruction by way of the town's slimy mayor.

📺 TV: MGM+'s American Classic is a hidden gem, says NPR TV critic David Bianculli. In the series, a Shakespearean actor returns to his small hometown after a crisis and works to save the local theater.

📚 Books: In her new book Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment, Rhae Lynn Barnes traces the origin of minstrel shows, which are performances where an actor portrays a racist depiction of a Black, often formerly enslaved, person.

🎵 Music: Kacey Musgraves' new song "Dry Spell" discusses the longest period she spent on her own as an adult. The song appears on her sixth album, Middle of Nowhere, releasing May 1. She sat down with NPR Music for an exclusive first interview about her new music.

🌮 Food: The Oscars are this weekend. If you invite people over to watch, NPR has some punny menu ideas to reflect this year's idiosyncratic slate of best picture nominees.

❓ Quiz: I have scored a nine out of 10 for two weeks in a row. I will reach that perfect score soon. In the meantime, it is your turn to aim for a flawless result.

3 things to know before you go

1. NASA yesterday announced it is targeting a launch date as early as April 1 for Artemis II, a 10-day mission that will send four astronauts around the moon and back.

2. Smiljan Radić Clarke has won the Pritzker Prize, an award often called the Nobel of architecture.

3. Fisher F003, a large weasel outfitted with a GPS collar by researchers, traveled roughly 80 miles, the longest documented dispersal journey for the species. (via NHPR)

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Israeli forces struck central Beirut. They ordered people to evacuate parts of Lebanon's capital and conducted airstrikes on areas that weren't hit before.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Israel's military chief says the operation in Lebanon will, quote, "not be short."

INSKEEP: I'm Steve Inskeep with A Martínez, and this is UP FIRST from NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: Two acts of violence commanded attention on Thursday. A man drove a car packed with explosives into a synagogue in Michigan, and a shooting at a Virginia University left one victim dead and two injured. How are investigators thinking about those attacks?

MARTÍNEZ: And the Senate passed the largest housing bill in decades with both Republicans and Democrats, for the most part, on the same page. It would ban large corporations from buying up single-family homes. Will it get the president's support? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTÍNEZ: Israel hit central Beirut last night as part of its renewed offensive in Lebanon after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel.

INSKEEP: This has been a couple of nights of some of the fiercest fighting yet between the two sides since the beginning of the war in Iran. Israel says it will not stop until Hezbollah is completely defeated.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi is in Beirut. Hadeel, what happened last night?

HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: So this was the third Israeli strike in central Beirut since the war in Iran began. But last night, it came with the first-ever evacuation order for a part of central Beirut. The Israeli military told people within a 300-yard radius of a building in the Bashura neighborhood to leave the area. Now, that neighborhood is a busy residential and commercial area about a kilometer from where I am. It's very close to the prime minister's office, the U.N. building and some foreign embassies. And, you know, ever since I arrived two weeks ago, there's been this constant loud buzz of Israeli drones overhead, but it stopped around 5:30 local time last night. We heard the fighter jets overhead, then a whoosh of a warning strike telling people that the real attacks were coming. Then we heard two big booms, explosions, one after another. Black plumes of smoke rose over the Beirut skyline, and the building targeted was damaged but not destroyed.

MARTÍNEZ: Has Israel said anything about why they carried out this attack?

AL-SHALCHI: So while we know that the Israeli military says it is targeting and killing Hezbollah operatives, we don't know what was being targeted in the building last night. But an official in the region, not authorized to speak publicly and speaking on condition of anonymity, told NPR the Israeli strike in central Beirut was symbolic to send a message that Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah's fire much longer. You know, Hezbollah unleashed its heaviest barrage of rockets on Israel on Wednesday night. The Israeli military estimates that it included 200 rockets and Iran fired ballistic missiles at the same time. But the Israeli messaging is, look, we're not attacking Lebanese civilian infrastructure like the electricity grid or the airport like we've done in previous wars. So we are keeping boundaries with these warning strikes.

Now, Lebanon and Israel, of course, have been at war for decades - don't have formal diplomatic relations. But the Lebanese president has recently called for direct talks with Israel to see an end to this war and has asked the international community repeatedly to help bolster its army to try to disarm Hezbollah, which outguns this state. Israel has not commented publicly yet, but the official told us Israel sees positive signs from the Lebanese government to crack down on Hezbollah. So it wouldn't be too surprising if we do see talks at some point.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, we're seeing how this war is really displacing huge numbers of people, both in Lebanon and Iran.

AL-SHALCHI: So in Lebanon, almost a million people are displaced from south Lebanon and the suburbs in south Beirut, which are both considered to be Hezbollah strongholds, but also densely populated with civilians. So Beirut has become even more densely populated as a result, and some of those displaced from the south are being struck again in central Beirut. The war has also killed over 700 people, according to Lebanese officials. And in Iran, the United Nations says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced since the war started, most of them fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas towards the north of the country to look for safety.

MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Beirut. Thanks for hanging in there and giving us this report.

AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTÍNEZ: The FBI is investigating two attacks that both happened Thursday.

INSKEEP: In Michigan, a man drove a car packed with explosives into a synagogue. In Virginia, a man opened fire in a university classroom, killing one person and wounding two more. The FBI calls the Michigan attack a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community and calls the Virginia attack an act of terrorism.

MARTÍNEZ: We begin with Alex McLenon of member station WDET in Detroit, with details on the person accused of the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

ALEX MCLENON, BYLINE: Yeah. So last night, the Department of Homeland Security identified the alleged attacker who was killed during the incident. They say his name was Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized citizen born in Lebanon. Authorities say their investigation will take time, and they have not yet shared a motive.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. So take us through what happened. So the shooting occurred a little after noon yesterday. The Oakland County Sheriff said a vehicle crashed into Temple Israel, striking a security guard and knocking him over. There was an exchange of gunfire, which left Ghazali dead. Jennifer Runyan is special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JENNIFER RUNYAN: And I can confirm that we are leading the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

MCLENON: After the vehicle crashed into Temple Israel, the synagogue filled with smoke. Thirty first responders were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. The security guard was also taken to the hospital.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And I saw that Temple Israel runs an early childhood center during the day. Was that affected at all?

MCLENON: No. All 140 students, as well as their staff and teachers, made it out of the building. Just six weeks ago, the FBI's Detroit office carried out an active shooter drill at Temple Israel. They say the lessons learned during that exercise came in handy yesterday. But this attack reminds locals of one carried out on a Mormon congregation in Grand Blanc - about an hour away from West Bloomfield - six months ago. That attack also began with a vehicle crashing into a house of worship.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now we go to Steve Walsh in Norfolk, Virginia, with information on what happened at Old Dominion University.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: So from what we know, the shooter, 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh of Sterling, Virginia, came into an ROTC classroom before 11 a.m. After shots were fired, members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps class wrestled him to the ground and he was ultimately killed. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger says Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Shah, the chairman of the military science department, died in the shooting. Another victim was in serious condition, and a third victim was also wounded.

MARTÍNEZ: What's known about the suspected gunman?

WALSH: Well, he was a former member of the Virginia Army National Guard. He was given an honorable discharge in 2015. Over the next couple of years, he seems to have been radicalized. He traveled to Nigeria and met with members of ISIL, the Islamic State group. They introduced him to someone in the United States who turned out to be a government informant. Among other things, Jalloh told the informant that he contemplated doing something like the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, where 13 people died. At one point, he bought an assault rifle while being watched by federal agents. Back then, he was never actually talking to ISIL. He was arrested and pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq. In 2017, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and five years' supervised release. He was released in 2024.

The FBI hasn't released a motive in the case. Asked why the FBI was investigating this as terrorism at a press conference, the special agent in charge pointed to his previous conviction and that witnesses say he yelled Allahu akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is greatest.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. Steve Walsh with WHRO, Alex McLenon with WDET, thanks to you both.

WALSH: Thanks.

MCLENON: Anytime.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTÍNEZ: United States Senate passed the largest housing bill in decades on Thursday, and they did it with both Republicans and Democrats.

INSKEEP: The goal is to make American homes more affordable, including by banning large corporations from buying up single-family houses.

MARTÍNEZ: Here to explain what's in the bill is NPR's personal finance reporter Stephan Bisaha. So there are more than 40 provisions in this legislation, Stephan. Break down the main idea.

STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Well, the big goal of the bill is to drive down housing costs by encouraging more homebuilding. We are millions of homes short of meeting the demand in this country, and that drives up prices. The problem is the federal government doesn't have, like, one big lever it could pull to mandate more construction. This is really the wheelhouse of private builders working with local and state governments. Instead, this bill is an amalgamation of a bunch of different programs and incentives. Here's how the bill's co-sponsor, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, put it.

ELIZABETH WARREN: Think of this bill like a giant meatball. It's got a lot of different ingredients in it. But it's the fact that it's all there together is what makes it so delicious.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. So what's an ingredient that makes it so delish?

BISAHA: Well, one that will probably be really popular is a ban on institutional investors from buying up single-family homes. These are groups that own 350 or more houses and rent them out. The idea is to stop them from competing with families who want to buy these houses.

MARTÍNEZ: Now, some people blame those investors for driving up prices because they can outbid families. Is that backed up by any research?

BISAHA: Well, the research on this is mixed. Large investors don't actually own that many homes across the country. In some cases, investors can actually help lower costs. They're not just buying up homes. They're building new ones to rent and rehabbing old ones that otherwise would just fall out of the market. Now, the bill has some exceptions to allow companies to do just that - build and rehab homes. But they would have to sell these homes after seven years. And again, there's a lot more in this housing bill meatball, like making it easier for banks to invest more in affordable housing, streamlining the process of getting construction approved, and grants to encourage building.

MARTÍNEZ: Now, this bill passed the Senate with wide bipartisan support - 89-10 was the vote. It still has to go to the House and eventually the president. Anything at all that could possibly stop this giant delicious meatball, as Senator Warren describes it?

BISAHA: (Laughter) Yeah, from rolling down the hill.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah (laughter).

BISAHA: Yeah. Well, you know, there is some pushback on it. Not everybody likes how expansive it is. Like, I spoke with an economist at the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute, and he argues that lawmakers are just turning to the same ingredients and solutions they have in the past, like those grants. And, you know, we still have a housing crisis. Now, the House passed a similar bill last month, but it did not have that ban on large investors. That could be an issue. Industry groups warn that forcing investors to sell will discourage them from building in the first place. But the biggest X factor could be President Trump. He's supported getting something done on housing but hasn't said where he lands on this specific legislation.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's personal finance reporter Stephan Bisaha. I got to get me some spaghetti now, Stephan, because of all the meatball talk.

BISAHA: (Laughter) Make yourself a plate.

MARTÍNEZ: Thanks, Stephan.

BISAHA: Have a good one.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. Before we end the show, I want to shout out a review from a listener who admitted that for a long time, they thought the UP FIRST hosts were Canadian because they kept saying A at the end of sentences until they actually realized everyone was just saying my name, A Martínez.

INSKEEP: That's true, A (laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: Steve, I had so much trouble when I walked through Toronto back in the day.

INSKEEP: A (laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: I kept spinning my head, thinking everyone was calling out my name.

INSKEEP: There you go.

MARTÍNEZ: Now, whether you've been with UP FIRST since the very beginning or are new around here, please leave us a review. Your feedback helps us grow. So let us know what you think, A. Oh, wait. That's my name. Either way, we appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTÍNEZ: And that's UP FIRST for Friday, March 13. I'm A Martínez.

INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep. Today's UP FIRST was edited by Hannah Bloch, Cheryl Corley, Julia Redpath, Kara Platoni, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shaylor. Join us tomorrow.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/g-s1-113573

WORLD | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 6:56 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Israel launches airstrikes in Beirut, displacing thousands of people

By Hadeel Al-Shalchi, A Martínez

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

The U.S. military says all six airmen aboard a refueling plane have been found dead after crashing in Iraq. A total of 13 American troops have now died since the Iran war began. And Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth says today will bring the highest number of U.S. strikes on Iran yet. In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut last night as part of a renewed offensive after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In total, this has been a couple of nights of some of the fiercest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since the beginning of the war. Israel says it's not going to stop until Hezbollah is completely defeated.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi is in Beirut. Hadeel, what happened last night?

HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: So this was the third Israeli strike in central Beirut since the war in Iran began, but last night, it came with the first-ever evacuation order for a part of central Beirut. The Israeli military told people within a 300-yard radius of a building in the Bachura (ph) neighborhood to leave the area. Now, that neighborhood is a busy residential and commercial area about a kilometer from where I am. It's very close to the prime minister's office, the U.N. building and some foreign embassies.

And, you know, ever since I arrived two weeks ago, there's been this constant loud buzz of Israeli drones overhead, but it stopped around 5:30 local time last night. We heard the fighter jets overhead, then a whoosh of a warning strike telling people that the real attacks were coming. Then we heard two big booms, explosions, one after another. Black plumes of smoke rose over the Beirut skyline, and the building targeted was damaged but not destroyed.

MARTÍNEZ: Has Israel said anything about why they carried out this attack?

AL-SHALCHI: So while we know that the Israeli military says it is targeting and killing Hezbollah operatives, we don't know what was being targeted in the building last night. But an official in the region not authorized to speak publicly and speaking on condition of anonymity told NPR the Israeli strike in central Beirut was symbolic, to send a message that Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah's fire much longer.

You know, Hezbollah unleashed its heaviest barrage of rockets on Israel on Wednesday night. The Israeli military estimates that it included 200 rockets. And Iran fired ballistic missiles at the same time. But the Israeli messaging is, look, we're not attacking Lebanese civilian infrastructure, like the electricity grid or the airport, like we've done in previous wars. So we are keeping boundaries with these warning strikes.

Now, Lebanon and Israel, of course, have been at war for decades, don't have formal diplomatic relations, but the Lebanese president has recently called for direct talks with Israel to see an end to this war and has asked the international community repeatedly to help bolster its army to try to disarm Hezbollah, which outguns this state. Israel has not commented publicly yet, but the official told us Israel sees positive signs from the Lebanese government to crack down on Hezbollah. So it wouldn't be too surprising if we do see talks at some point.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now, we're seeing how this war is really displacing huge numbers of people, both in Lebanon and Iran.

AL-SHALCHI: So in Lebanon, almost a million people are displaced from south Lebanon and the suburbs in south Beirut, which are both considered to be Hezbollah strongholds but also densely populated with civilians. So Beirut has become even more densely populated as a result, and some of those displaced from the south are being struck again in central Beirut. The war has also killed over 700 people, according to Lebanese officials. And in Iran, the United Nations says up to 3.2 million people have been displaced since the war started, most of them fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas towards the north of the country to look for safety.

MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi in Beirut. Thanks for hanging in there and giving us this report.

AL-SHALCHI: You're welcome.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745934

WORLD | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 6:56 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

CNN correspondent shares his takeaways from his recent visit to Iran

By Steve Inskeep

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One of the few international journalists who report from inside Iran during the war is CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen. He's just left Iran and joins us now from Berlin, where the communications are a little better. Good morning.

FRED PLEITGEN: Good morning.

INSKEEP: Just...

PLEITGEN: Thanks for having me.

INSKEEP: Yeah. Glad you're with us. Just tell me the story. How'd you get in?

PLEITGEN: Yeah. So we were - we had visas approved by the Iranian government, and then because obviously nothing is flying into Iran right now, at least no civilian aircraft, we took the overland route. This was me and my camerawoman and producer, Claudia Otto, who did an absolutely amazing job, you know, caring about logistics, getting us there. And I'm obviously filming everything, and I'm very much indebted to her forever...

INSKEEP: Yeah.

PLEITGEN: ...For going through that with me. But we took the overland route. We flew into Yerevan in Armenia and had to drive about nine hours to the border with Iran. When we got to the border, the border guards actually told us the border was closed. We weren't going to get in. So we had to negotiate our way in. They finally let us through. And then I'd say we had another about 12-hour drive to Tehran from the border, where we already saw some of the damage from airstrikes. We actually saw some airstrikes, the immediate aftermath of it as well. So you could really feel that you were on the ground in a country where a war was going on.

INSKEEP: Yeah. Really dramatic images. I saw quite a few of them as your reporting unfolded. I just want to mention, here's my experience in Iran in the past. You have to move carefully. You're clearly monitored in various ways, but you can move around. You can talk to people, and people are surprisingly frank about their opinions. That was the experience in the past. What about this time?

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Well, first of all, people are not as frank with their opinions, especially if they're against the government. There were, you know, very few people that openly said any of that. However, people were very frank if they were for the government. And we were able to speak to a large number of people, but it was more restrictive than it had been in the past. Basically, what we did was when we wanted to go somewhere and film something, we talked to the culture ministry and said, look, we'd like to go there and there. And then, is that OK with you guys? And then we went there. It was us who had the initiative. They suggested things every once in a while, but it was really us - up to us whether or not we would go there. So we actually managed to do all of the things that we wanted to do. But, of course, right now, with the security situation being as it is, if you go to somewhere where there was just an airstrike and the security forces are cordoning that area off, it can be an issue. So we definitely had to coordinate things more than we have in the past.

INSKEEP: OK. In the end, though, you were able to report what you found. You didn't have restrictions on that, did you?

PLEITGEN: No. We reported absolutely what we found. We went to the places that we wanted to go to. For instance, there was an oil storage facility that was hit, and we had...

INSKEEP: Yeah.

PLEITGEN: ...To negotiate with them whether or not we'd be able to go there, because that's obviously critical infrastructure. Security forces around there as well. But in the end, they also relented in that and let us go there and film that.

INSKEEP: One thing about a war zone, of course, is that the story comes to you. And I'm remembering the day that you were in Tehran and the Israelis did hit that oil storage facility, and the skies were black over Tehran, and it seemed to be raining oil. What was it like to be in a city where it was raining oil?

PLEITGEN: I'll tell you, that was really probably one of the craziest experiences that I had there because we - in the night, we already saw that there were huge airstrikes going on. And one of the things about the situation right now in Tehran is that you never really feel safe anywhere because you constantly hear airstrikes and the ammunition that's being dropped there is so heavy that you know that if a building that you're in, even if it's a residential building, will probably get completely flattened. So it is - it's a constant thing. And then we saw those plumes of smoke over those oil installations in the south of Tehran, in the west of Tehran, especially.

And in the morning after that, I woke up and I saw that the whole sky was black and it was raining. And so I went outside on the roof terrace that we had, and I saw that there was soot or what seemed to be oil mixed into the rainwater that was coming down. And one thing that I did feel is that my lungs felt really heavy after having been out there that day. So I don't know if that was, you know, whatever was in the air there. I got a headache, so it did feel like, you know, the air was pretty contaminated after that.

INSKEEP: I imagine your laundry must have been something, and the laundry of millions...

PLEITGEN: Yes.

INSKEEP: ...Must have been something after that. You mentioned not feeling safe anywhere, and I wonder about a particular aspect of that. You did go at least once and speak with a senior Iranian official. You're going to government offices, and you know very well that government offices are being targeted by the Israelis in the United States. What was that like?

PLEITGEN: Yes. That - it's interesting that you mentioned that because that was definitely one of the moments where I felt that, you know, you want to get the interview over with as fast as possible. You want to be there. Obviously, you have to be there. The official that I spoke to is the foreign policy adviser to the supreme leader. So definitely a very important person who's shaping right now the way that the Iranians are reacting to the bombings of the U.S. and Israel. So a really important guy to talk to. But, yeah, I mean, it did feel a bit uneasy being in that building for an extended period of time, especially after having seen that so many other government buildings had already been taken out.

INSKEEP: And this is one of the most important reasons to go to a country that's on the other side in a war. You want to know how it is that Iranian decision makers are thinking about the situation. American officials need to know that. So what did you learn about the way that Iranian officials are viewing this war?

PLEITGEN: So I think, from my perspective, from what I've seen, that what you've had in Iran right now is really consolidation of power around the more hard-line stream of things. There was a bit of an attempt at maybe de-escalating things by Iran's president when he apologized to neighboring countries about having fired towards their territory. But obviously, President Trump rejected that almost immediately. And it was since then that you could really see the hard-liners consolidating. I think with the new supreme leader that you have in place right now, he's very much in line with the security apparatus, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

And if you see the people who more - most publicly are messaging right now, it's also hard-liners. It's the head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, the head of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Those are real hard-liners who are saying that the Iranians are going to continue this war. So it seems to me that for now, the decision has been made in Tehran that they've consolidated their power base. The military feels as though right now they're on more solid footing than maybe at the beginning when those initial attacks happened.

INSKEEP: Wow.

PLEITGEN: They feel that they can still put pressure on the region. They feel that they can still fire missiles, and they're going to continue this right now. They say negotiations are not possible. And obviously, one thing that they think is their main tool in their toolbox is the Strait of Hormuz and keeping that closed to shipping traffic unless the Iranians allow that to go through. That's something where they feel that they can put pressure on the international community to try and end the war. But again, the Iranians are saying right now they're willing to continue it.

INSKEEP: Just got a few seconds left, but President Trump at one time talked of encouraging the Iranians to rise up. Vali Nasr, an analyst who's been on this program, said, in fact, people are more wedded to their government now because of the attacks. In a few seconds, did you have any sense of an uprising?

PLEITGEN: I didn't see any of that. It's obviously very difficult for us to really penetrate the society, but it certainly seemed to me, also from seeing the amount of security forces that are on the ground, that the government is definitely trying to project that they're very much in control.

INSKEEP: Fred Pleitgen is a senior international correspondent for CNN and he has just left Iran. Thanks very much for your reporting.

PLEITGEN: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745892

WORLD | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:44 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Exiled Iranians watch the war from afar, wondering what awaits when it ends

By Leila Fadel

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm A Martínez in Culver City, California.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

I'm Steve Inskeep in Washington, D.C.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

And I'm Leila Fadel in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. I'm not far from the border with Iran, a border that Iranians can normally pass through. But these days, as the U.S. and Israel pound Iran with airstrikes, that border crossing is closed. Most of the Iranians on this side made their way in the months and years before these attacks. Many are now watching the war and wondering, is this the end of the Islamic republic? Will those who fled soon be able to return home?

(SOUNDBITE OF KITCHENWARE CLANGING)

FADEL: These are questions 32-year-old Yassir Fattahi (ph) has been pondering.

(SOUNDBITE OF TEA POURING)

FADEL: Over tea and cookies at his friend's apartment, he explains why he fled Iran, speaking through interpreter Binar Fiaqarin (ph).

YASSIR FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) Because of the pressure that has been on me by the Islamic regime, on my family and on my life.

FADEL: In 2022, the country erupted in protest after a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, died in police custody. The case prompted the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. It was an uprising Iran's security forces brutally crushed. Fattahi, a nurse, treated injured protesters in secret.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) There were injuries from shrapnels. There were injuries from some sort of bullets that I have never seen in my life.

FADEL: And they don't go to the hospital, like, the hospital that you worked at?

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) They were not going to the hospitals because if they go to the hospital, they have been arrested for crimes against the government or more severe punishment by the government.

FADEL: At around this time, a teen-aged family friend was shot and killed. When friends and family gathered to mourn, security forces opened fire on the procession, and they killed Fattahi's father.

I'm so sorry.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) This is something that we have to pay for freedom.

FADEL: His family has continued paying ever since with interrogations, harassment. When intelligence officials insisted Fattahi say it wasn't the regime that killed his father, he refused to lie. He felt his arrest was imminent and fled Iran a few months ago. In January, he watched protests sweep across the country again. Security forces killed thousands of people for protesting Iran's collapsing economy. So when the U.S. and Israeli attacks started, when they assassinated the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, he was euphoric.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) It was unbelievable. I was not knowing what to do in happiness. But at the same time, I was hoping that he was not getting killed so that we could bring him into justice and answer for all the crimes that he has done because by killing a dictator, you don't end a dictatorship.

FADEL: He says, though, he's under no illusion that Trump's goal is human rights and democracy for Iranians.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) Trump doesn't care about me living or not living. But we hope that this war weaken the Iranian regime so that the people can finish the job.

BINAR FIAQARIN: Wherever you feel.

FAYEGH RASOULI: (Non-English language spoken).

FADEL: In Irbil, a three-hour drive away, we meet Fayegh Rasouli (ph).

RASOULI: (Non-English language spoken).

FIAQARIN: Sit there. Sorry. We don't have couches.

FADEL: No, this is great.

We sit on the floor. He holds a folder in his hands.

What is this folder?

RASOULI: (Non-English language spoken).

FADEL: So you can't see this right now, but he's pointing to a folder, and it's basically a chart with pictures of children who he says the Iranian government has killed.

Dozens of children's lives cut short in 2022, the same protest Fattahi's friend and father were killed in. Rasouli is one of many activists documenting these killings.

RASOULI: (Through interpreter) Zakaria Khayal was a 16-years-old kid who have been shot and killed. He was 50 meters away from me during the protest.

(SOUNDBITE OF PAGE TURNING)

RASOULI: (Through interpreter, crying) Kids who were 9 years old, 8 years old, 7 years old. Only 7 years old. What does a 7-years-old kid does?

(SOUNDBITE OF PAGE TURNING)

GISSOU NIA: That's the kind of grassroots documentation gathering that goes to inform the work of NGOs in this space.

FADEL: Gissou Nia is a U.S.-based human rights lawyer. She says witness accounts of alleged crimes by the Iranian regime are essential for the day prosecution might be possible.

NIA: The nurse's firsthand testimony is something that would be admissible in a courtroom. The individual who has, you know, the file of all the children that have been killed, they're really the backbone of the kinds of information sourcing that we get from the country.

FADEL: Her work as a human rights lawyer is complicated right now.

NIA: There were people that expressed to me that they wished that Ali Khamenei had also been in a dock, in a courtroom dock, and needed to face criminal charges. But what I will say is that most people were grateful that now at least he met some kind of fate. And that is because I think many realized the impossibility of bringing him into a courtroom. This is a man who hadn't traveled outside of Iran since 1989, or at least since he had taken up his tenure as supreme leader. And so the idea of him traveling somewhere where he could be arrested or extradited was slim to none. He could have potentially been tried in a future free Iran, but in order to get to a future free Iran, there's a real question about if he had remained in power, would that happen?

So I think many of them just came to an acceptance that this is, you know, the best outcome that they could hope for, given the very real circumstances. And we saw many celebrations inside the country. If I can be really candid, it's been a difficult reality to grapple with, but I have to be guided by a victim-centered approach to this. And when the victims feel that sense of deep relief and celebration, it's something that is part of this reality. It's complicated.

FADEL: The Islamic republic is in a fight for its life. Whether it survives or not will determine the fate of those in power and those they've ruled over for decades. For now, people like Fayegh Rasouli and Yassir Fattahi wait, and the wait is difficult. Here again is Fattahi.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) Life is - here is fine, but at the same time, I don't have work. The situation is quite hard here.

FADEL: His family is still in Iran. His older brother is dying...

FATTAHI: ALS.

FADEL: ...Of ALS. When we ask how he's doing, he breaks for the first time.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter, crying) Only his eyes work.

FADEL: With an ongoing internet blackout, he can't reach his family.

FATTAHI: (Through interpreter) I sent texts and messages for my family, but I don't receive any response.

FADEL: Until something changes, it's too much of a risk for Yassir Fattahi to go home.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOSEPH TAWADROS' "THE BLUEBIRD")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746064

THE AMERICAS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 1:28 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

A record number of political parties register for Haiti's first election in a decade

By The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A record 280 political parties and counting had registered by Thursday's deadline to participate in Haiti's first general election in a decade, although not all will make the cut.

Nonetheless, the newcomers rejoiced, hopeful for a chance to help ease their country's multiple crises that are largely rooted in gang violence and corruption.

Members of CAHDOA, or Collective of Haitian Actors for Development and Alternative Organization, a political party founded one year ago, approached the headquarters of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council with a marching band.

Vuvuzelas blared as the group clapped and chanted, "We are on board!"

Party member Abel Decollines said he hopes the general population can participate in the election.

"Today the country needs a new leader to allow the population to breathe," he said.

Also registering on Thursday was the EDE party, Committed to Development, founded by Claude Joseph, who was prime minister when President Jovenel Moïse was fatally shot at his private residence in July 2021.

Joseph and his supporters were clad in green and white and marched somberly to the election council's headquarters.

Joseph wrote on X that his party advocates for an end to political hegemony in Haiti "characterized by the failure of eternal political transitions."

Currently, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is Haiti's lone ruler, having been appointed by a transitional presidential council that stepped down in early February as ordered by law.

Haitian government officials originally said they expect to hold elections in late August and a runoff in early December, although the prime minister has since said that the first round would be held by year's end.

Many doubt that will happen given persistent gang violence.

"The people in charge need to provide security so campaigning can take place and people can choose who will govern them," Decollines said.

More than 5,900 people were reported killed last year across Haiti and more than 2,700 injured, according to U.N. statistics.

Gang violence also has displaced a record 1.4 million people in the country of nearly 12 million, with armed men controlling an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital.

"It's a fact that the county is insecure, no one can deny that, but no matter what, there must be an election," said Dalouce Désir, a member of EDE, which was founded four years ago. "We believe in the election, and we believe in democracy."

Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council said it will post a final list of political parties authorized to participate in the election by March 26, although it has not clarified the criteria.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/g-s1-113547

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U.S. VS. CHINA: INSIDE A GREAT POWER RIVALRY | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 10:38 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

China slams Trump's trade investigation, as it approves a 5-year economic plan

By Jennifer Pak

BEIJING — China's Foreign Ministry criticized a U.S. investigation opened this week into the trade practices of dozens of countries, calling it a "pretext for political manipulation."

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the investigation Wednesday into what the administration considers "excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors" in countries and blocs including China, Mexico and the European Union. The move came after the Supreme Court last month struck down tariffs the president had imposed on imports from countries around the world. This could enable the administration to levy tariffs on goods from countries if it determines they discriminate against U.S. companies.

"We oppose any form of unilateral tariff measures," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters on Thursday. "The so-called issue of 'China's overcapacity' does not really exist and should not be used as a pretext for political manipulation."

This comes just weeks before President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are slated to meet in a high-stakes summit.

It also happened as lawmakers in Beijing approved a roadmap for economic growth that continues the types of practices that have irked some of its partners.

China's new five-year economic roadmap

The Chinese legislature on Thursday approved what it calls a Five-Year Plan, a social and economic blueprint, which includes policies around technological self-reliance and industrial manufacturing.

While the plan does not mention the U.S., it is focused on "managing what Beijing calls its 'great-power competition' with Washington," according to Yu Jie, a senior research fellow on China at London-based think tank, Chatham House.

Here are key takeaways of China's plan.

1. Scientific and technological self-reliance

The plan calls for "substantial improvements" to China's self-reliance and strengthening of its science and technology sectors.

China has long been uncomfortable with relying on foreign suppliers of high-end technology, such as aircraft engines and high-end semiconductors, Yu writes.

The resolve for self-reliance hardened after the U.S. restricted sales of high-end semiconductors and advanced tech to Chinese firms.

China is set to increase spending on research and development by over 7% annually.

2. Global leader in tech innovation

China doesn't want to just catch up with the U.S. and Europe in semiconductors and aerospace, but it also wants to lead in those areas along with future industries such as intelligent robotics, biomedicine, quantum technology and what's known as the "low-altitude" economy, ranging from drones to flying taxis.

Similar ambitions in the past have raised concerns among American and European business groups in China that there will be little opportunity for them.

The Chinese official news agency, Xinhua, tried to allay those fears: "Tech sovereignty is not about isolation," it said in an editorial.

3. Doubling down on industrial manufacturing

China wants to innovate like the U.S., and manufacture what it innovates.

The plan calls on manufacturers to capitalize on the breakthroughs China made in robotics and artificial intelligence to build a "modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone."

The blueprint, however, does not address the problem of "involution," where fierce competition among manufacturers led to price wars and oversupply, affecting profits and increasing trade friction abroad.

Many Chinese manufacturers have been accused of dumping their excess inventory abroad, undercutting the key industries of their trade partners.

The plan also calls for strengthening China's competitive advantages in rare earths and other strategic minerals. Chinese officials used China's advantage as a leverage to pressure President Trump to back down on triple-digit tariffs on Chinese exports last year.

4. Boosting consumption

The plan also calls for "vigorously boosting consumption."

Most of China's household wealth is invested in real estate. A yearslong property slump has made Chinese consumers spend more cautiously.

Consecutive U.S. administrations and European leaders have called on China to resolve its overcapacity issue by reviving its domestic consumption.

"They want China to actually export less and import more, encourage local consumption, increase local wages so they can sell more to China," said Wang Dan, China director of Eurasia Group.

The plan lists consumption as a key task, but it doesn't provide details on how China may address this gap.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746061

Related

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WORLD | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:03 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Despite Trump's frustration, Spain's Pedro Sánchez doubles down on opposing the war

By Miguel Macias

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

World leaders have scrambled and sometimes struggled to take a clear position regarding the war in Iran. But one European leader has been keen to take the role of standing up to President Trump. NPR's Miguel Macias reports from Seville, Spain.

MIGUEL MACIAS, BYLINE: When President Trump decided to vent about the Spanish government from the Oval Office last week, he did not hold back.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don't have great leadership.

MACIAS: There was already bad blood between Trump and the Spanish government. Last year, Spain refused to raise military spending to 5% of its GDP, as Trump had insisted all NATO countries do. But then this happened. The weekend the U.S. and Israel launched the attack on Iran, flight records showed at least 15 in-flight refueling planes leaving two jointly operated military bases in the south of Spain after not being allowed to provide support for the military action in Iran. That seemed to be the last straw for President Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: So we're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain.

MACIAS: The next morning, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez didn't sound at all intimidated.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SANCHEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: "We say no to breaking the international law that protects us all, especially the civilian population," Sanchez said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SANCHEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: "No to accepting that the world can only solve its problems through conflicts and bombs. And in short, four words."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SANCHEZ: No a la guerra.

MACIAS: "No to the war." For Spaniards of a certain age, the historical connection was difficult to miss. That motto, no a la guerra, was printed on T-shirts, chanted at protests against the war - the Iraq war, that is - back in 2003.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOSE MARIA AZNAR: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: Then-Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar sided with President George W. Bush, assuring citizens that Iraq's then-President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And back then, millions of protesters in Spain poured into the streets to oppose that war.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: No a la guerra. No a la guerra.

MACIAS: Aznar's conservative Popular Party paid the price at the ballot box and lost the election the following year, 2004, to Sanchez's party, the socialists. Back then, Sanchez was not even an elected official. Fast forward to today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SANCHEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: "In 2003 and in 2026, Spain will always say no to the war," he said over the weekend on the campaign trail for an upcoming regional election.

MARIA RAMIREZ: For Pedro Sanchez, it's quite convenient to criticize Trump in a country where around 77% of citizens, according to a YouGov poll, have an unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump.

MACIAS: That's Maria Ramirez. She's deputy managing editor of the online news site eldiario.es. She says that polls also show that most Spaniards are against the Iran war.

RAMIREZ: So Sanchez is gaining popular support, perhaps. And he's not risking as much, let's say, as other bigger countries in Europe.

MACIAS: Countries like France and the U.K., with more powerful militaries and nuclear weapons.

RAMIREZ: So you could say that Sanchez is the moral conscience of Europe, but you could also say he's a backseat driver.

MACIAS: That's partly because Sanchez is struggling to control his government coalition and he's facing a tough election in 2027. Sanchez is known for adapting, even embracing opposing ideas over time to remain in power, and now he seems to be betting it all on opposing Trump and the war in Iran, while conservative politicians are making the opposite bet and going all out.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ISABEL DIAZ AYUSO: (Speaking Spanish).

MACIAS: That's the president of the region of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, a rising conservative star, telling adversaries, quote, "I encourage you to take a walk around Tehran while drunk and alone, or wear a miniskirt in Kabul. Go ahead. Travel there and take your gay friends with you to watch how they're hanged from cranes, because that's the way they treat women and homosexuals in those countries," unquote. But with a sizable portion of even conservative voters in Spain opposing the war, according to polls, Sanchez's bet might just be the winning one. Miguel Macias, NPR News, Seville, Spain.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5743426

WORLD | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 4:37 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Khameni's killing raises old questions about U.S. assassinating foreign leaders

By Ryan Lucas

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

In the opening strike of their war on Iran, the U.S. and Israel killed the Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is an exceedingly rare instance of a democracy killing a foreign head of state. And not for the first time in U.S. history, it raises the question, should the United States be in the business of assassinating foreign leaders? NPR's Ryan Lucas reports.

RYAN LUCAS, BYLINE: In the first few decades of the Cold War, the United States wanted to keep all options on the table, including assassinations, in its global struggle against the Soviet Union. Luca Trenta is a professor at Swansea University in the U.K. and the author of a book on assassinations in U.S. foreign policy.

LUCA TRENTA: There was certainly a sense that assassination was just another contingency, something that the United States could not entirely exclude in the confrontation with the Soviet Union that was seen as this sort of all-powerful and terrible enemy.

LUCAS: Trenta says in the early Cold War, the U.S. often set the stage for the removal or killing of a foreign leader, but local allies pulled the trigger. That was the case, he says, in the 1961 assassination of the Dominican leader Rafael Trujillo.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: As dictator Rafael Trujillo is shot down by seven assassins.

LUCAS: The CIA in this era also, of course, plotted to assassinate Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. This was all done in the shadows and it came tumbling out in public in the mid-1970s when revelations of CIA abuses led to congressional investigations, including one known as the Church Committee. That panel issued an interim report that declared assassinations, quote, "incompatible with American principles, international order and morality," end quote, and said they should be rejected as a tool of foreign policy. Again, Trenta.

TRENTA: I think the investigations of the Church Committee really provide a brief moment of self-reflection for U.S. politicians, for the U.S. public, in which there is a sense that maybe if we are a democracy and if we are to be different from the enemies that we are supposedly fighting, we should not be doing these things.

LUCAS: In 1976, President Gerald Ford did exactly that. He issued an executive order banning the U.S. government from engaging in political assassinations. Timothy Naftali is a historian at Columbia University.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI: Gerald Ford felt that this was not a tool that he wanted to use. And what's really interesting is that his successors expanded the ban. So Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter both felt that the United States should not be in the assassination business.

LUCAS: And for the next 20-plus years, the U.S. was not, although with an asterisk or two. In 1986, the U.S. bombed several sites in Libya, including leader Muammar Gaddafi's family compound. And twice in the 1990s, the U.S. struck Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's palaces.

Brent Scowcroft was President George H. W. Bush's national security advisor. Here is Scowcroft talking to ABC News' Peter Jennings about the U.S. targeting of Saddam in 1991.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PETER JENNINGS: Do you want him killed?

BRENT SCOWCROFT: Well, we don't do assassinations, but yes, we targeted. We targeted all the places where Saddam might have been.

JENNINGS: So you deliberately set out to kill him if you possibly could.

SCOWCROFT: I guess. Yeah. That's fair enough.

LUCAS: Naftali says these operations weren't cloak-and-dagger conspiracies to kill a foreign leader but instead military operations against command and control facilities. But of course, the U.S. wouldn't have wept any tears, he says, if Saddam or Gaddafi had been killed.

NAFTALI: I think that's how Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton got around the assassination ban.

LUCAS: That reflects, at least in part, he says, that presidents themselves found assassinations distasteful and knew the American public felt the same way. That changed on September 11, 2001, with the al-Qaida terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 people. Congress responded by authorizing all necessary means to go after the perpetrators of 9/11, Naftali says.

NAFTALI: Well, all necessary means includes assassination. And I think that the taboo - if you want to call it an elite and public taboo - against using assassination disappears.

LUCAS: In the post-9/11 world, the U.S. adopted a new technology, the armed drone, to kill al-Qaida leaders around the globe. But these strikes targeted alleged terrorists, not foreign government officials. President Trump blurred that line when he announced a deadly drone strike in 2020 against Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years.

LUCAS: While the U.S. considered Soleimani a terrorist, he was a high-ranking Iranian government official. Iran responded with plots of its own to assassinate Trump as well as senior administration officials. Now, six years later, a joint U.S.-Israeli operation has killed Iran's political and religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The U.S. provided intelligence while Israel conducted the lethal strike. President Trump has crowed about the operation, saying on social media that Khamenei, quote, "was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems," end quote.

Those sophisticated intelligence and military capabilities make it increasingly easy to kill foreign leaders, experts say, and that carries with it a whole host of strategic, philosophical and moral implications. And Swansea University Professor Luca Trenta says just because a country can assassinate a foreign leader doesn't mean that it should.

TRENTA: I think the Khamenei assassination is a major deal because democracies have killed a foreign heads of state, because other countries might follow the same example, and there will be nothing that democracies will be able to say when that happens.

LUCAS: The moral high ground is lost, he says, and perhaps along with it, the taboo against such assassinations. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5734362

Law

- Epstein's longtime accountant testifies he was 'not aware' of sex offender's crimes: 2026 Mar 11

LAW | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2026 • 7:51 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Epstein's longtime accountant testifies he was 'not aware' of sex offender's crimes

By Ava Berger

Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein's former accountant, testified before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition Wednesday, telling lawmakers that he was "not aware" of Epstein's crimes and regrets that he may have "unknowingly assisted Epstein in any way."

"While Epstein was alive, I never observed any sexual abuse or trafficking of women and never received a complaint—either by one of Epstein's victims or anyone else—of such abuse or trafficking," Kahn said, according to a copy of his prepared opening statement obtained by NPR.

The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Kahn, who started working as Epstein's accountant in 2005 and remained a close confidant until his death in 2019.

Two days before his death, Epstein made Kahn a co-executor of his estate, along with Darren Indyke, Epstein's former attorney. Both are named as beneficiaries of Epstein's estate.

California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement after the deposition that along with managing Epstein's operations, Kahn admitted to facilitating a fake marriage between two women, impersonating Epstein in communications with banks, and "confirmed Epstein spoke about Donald Trump 'a lot.'"

"Jeffrey Epstein's massive sex trafficking ring would not have been possible without the consistent payments and services of his long-time accountant Richard Kahn," Garcia said. "It's not credible that he had no knowledge of Epstein's activities, and his testimony today only raises more questions. Oversight Democrats won't stop fighting until we get justice for the survivors and end this White House cover-up."

Committee Chair, Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, told reporters that Kahn had answered every question after two hours of deposition.

Comer said that Kahn "confirmed there were five clients who paid money to Epstein." Those clients were former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner, former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black, former Microsoft Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky, hedge fund investor Glenn Dubin, and the Rothschild family.

Comer added that Kahn testified that "he had never seen any type of transaction to [President Donald] Trump or anyone in his family," Comer said. "That makes the fifth witness now that's testified under oath that they've never seen any involvement by Donald Trump or [his] family."

"The investigation is about getting the truth to the American people," Comer said. "Trying to figure out how the government failed, answering questions we all have – Was he an agent? Was our government involved in any type of coverup?"

Kahn is mentioned more than 50,000 times in the Department of Justice files released on Epstein. Over more than a decade, Kahn managed Epstein's finances through his company HBRK Associates Inc., advising on numerous transactions, including medical reimbursements for the "girls" and vouching for Epstein on flagged tuition payments.

Kahn said in his opening statement that any gifts made by Epstein to women or men were a "very small fraction of Epstein's spending" and he "did not see them as red flags for abuse or trafficking."

Since Epstein's death, Kahn and Indyke, Epstein's former attorney, have managed settlements from Epstein's estate to his victims. The Epstein Victims' Compensation Fund awarded over $121 million to more than 135 survivors, according to the Associated Press. The fund is now closed, an administrator for the fund said in 2021.

Both Kahn and Indyke have faced intense scrutiny about their alleged involvement in Epstein's sexual trafficking network.

In his opening statement released during the deposition, Kahn said he wanted to "set the record straight."

"In the years that I provided outside accounting and bookkeeping services for Jeffrey Epstein, I was not aware of the terrible and unforgivable things that he did to women and girls," Kahn said. "My relationship with Epstein was strictly on a professional level."

As for Epstein's 2006 arrest, which happened soon after Kahn began working for him, Kahn said Epstein called it a "mistake, that he did not know the woman was underage, and that nothing like that would happen again."

"I believed him at the time and never saw what appeared to be a minor in his presence," Kahn said. "Had I learned of any of his horrific behavior, I would have quit work immediately."

CORRECTION

Mar. 12th, 2026

An earlier caption on the photograph of Richard Kahn incorrectly identified him as Jeffrey Epstein's former attorney. He is Epstein's former accountant.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745082

Politics

- Bucking stigma, more places turn to factory-built for affordable housing: 2026 Mar 13

- Democrats set a turnout record in Texas, so is this the year it turns blue?: 2026 Mar 13

- Cuba will release 51 people from prison in an unexpected move: 2026 Mar 13

- NYC's Mamdani condemns Sen. Tuberville's anti-Muslim posts as 'bigotry': 2026 Mar 13

- Trump blames Iran for the war — critics question the diplomacy: 2026 Mar 12

- Swing voters are not happy with Trump's war in Iran: 2026 Mar 12

- Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says Trump's plans for the war in Iran are 'incoherent': 2026 Mar 12

NEWS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Bucking stigma, more places turn to factory-built for affordable housing

By Jennifer Ludden, Anusha Mathur

Heard on Morning Edition

PETERSBURG, Va. — At first glance, the house parked on a muddy lot along a residential street not far from City Hall looks like it has been ripped apart right down the middle.

But the opposite is happening. A construction team is pushing together two halves of a brand-new factory-built house in the middle of this neighborhood of small single-family homes.

Once it's set, with its pitched roof and front porch, it won't look like anyone's stereotype of a mobile home. Across the street, two big trucks roll in from Pennsylvania to deposit another house, this one with blue siding and beige window shutters.

For decades, manufactured homes have faced stigma and been confined to trailer parks. But that's changing with updated designs and higher-quality construction — and as cities and states struggle with a housing shortage that has pushed prices out of reach for many.

The new houses here are part of a larger push to allow factory-built homes in more places — to rent and also to buy, along with the land underneath.

Developer Tom Heinemann with MH Advisors is putting up dozens of such homes on vacant lots in Petersburg, targeting low- and moderate-income families.

"Room to raise their kids, walk to school and all of those amenities that people generally like about single-family homes," he said. "But bring it to people who ordinarily would be in a three-story walk-up or a town house or apartment."

"Like I designed it myself"

Kennisha Missouri had not seen other manufactured homes nearby when she moved into one last December, and she admits she was skeptical. The photos online seemed fine. But she still expected it to look like older models in trailer parks.

Still, the rent for a four-bedroom home included utilities and was lower than what she was paying for a smaller two-bedroom apartment. Missouri works in recovery care and has two children, one not yet a year old. She signed up sight unseen.

When she finally saw the spacious rooms, walk-in closet and kitchen island with amber-colored hanging lights, it was "like I designed it myself," she said. "I love it."

Her new home is one of nearly four dozen manufactured rental houses built with a federal tax credit and restricted to people with lower incomes. After 15 years, Missouri will have the option to buy it. Another 10 new homes are being sold right away.

With the cheaper rent, she doesn't have to work as many hours at her side gig doing hair and is still able to save up.

"The money that I was using to pay the utilities, I actually pocketed it," she said. "It makes my life a little easier."

Filling the gap in starter homes

Creating manufactured housing is faster than building on-site and is nearly half the cost per square foot. Federal construction standards have improved quality and also mean developers don't need local approval for every project. All that makes the homes hard to beat in a housing market where costs have escalated sharply.

"Starter homes that were built in the '50s and '60s just aren't made today," said Rachel Siegel of the Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and policy organization. "Manufactured housing really can fill that gap very well, without subsidy, which is unique for this type of housing."

So far, nine states have relaxed zoning restrictions on manufactured homes, and lawmakers in Virginia have passed similar legislation. But it can still be harder and more expensive for buyers to finance such homes, because they're considered personal property, not real estate.

"Modernizing these state policies to make it easier and faster to get a mortgage just like any other mortgage is really crucial to affordability," Siegel said.

Another big change may be coming. Sweeping housing legislation making its way through Congress would end the requirement that factory-built homes have a permanent chassis. The steel frame allows the housing to be transported, but many manufactured homes — like those in Petersburg — are placed on permanent foundations and never moved again.

Getting rid of a chassis would cut construction costs and allow more flexible design, making it easier to add a second story or basement, for example, industry experts say. It could also make it easier to expand manufactured housing into suburbs and cities.

At a HUD housing showcase on the National Mall last fall, Colt Davis with Clayton Homes showed off a 990-square-foot two-bedroom with an attached garage and front porch. Such a home would be perfect for a smaller lot in a dense environment, he said, "where land cost has become one of the major drivers … putting pressure on housing affordability."

From start to finish, it took about six days to construct. That may not cut costs enough for the priciest cities, like New York or Los Angeles, but Davis said, "In most areas, we expect to be able to bring this home to market at $250,000 or less."

"This neighborhood has transformed"

In Petersburg, the factory-built homes are popping up in the Delectable Heights neighborhood, known for the many affluent freed slaves who lived there before the Civil War. More recently, the area has struggled, since tobacco and other manufacturers moved out of the city decades ago.

"This was all dilapidated, this block right here," said Howard Myers, a former mayor and current city councilman for the area. As he walked down a street, he pointed out lots where he had pushed for old homes to be torn down. "They were run-down. They were vacant. Some were drug ridden."

Now, he said, "This neighborhood has transformed."

The manufactured homes are making it safer, while helping more people build wealth, Myers said. And that applies not only to the newest renters or homeowners but also to longtime residents.

"When you have a dilapidated home, two and three and four to a block, and you're the only homeowner on the block, it drastically affects your ability to maintain your financial wealth," he said.

When developer Heinemann approached Petersburg about placing manufactured homes here, they were technically not allowed because they were considered mobile. But officials granted approval after he explained that the houses would be on a permanent foundation.

It wasn't so easy in Harrisonburg, Va., where Heinemann faced "a very painful process" getting the OK for 800 housing units. Public hearings went into the wee hours, he said, as residents voiced opposition, "relying on the old tropes that [manufactured homes] depreciate. … They don't look good. They're not built to high-quality standards."

After explaining none of that is true anymore, he finally got the go-ahead. The stigma persists, but he believes people can be sold when they actually see the homes.

Back in Petersburg, a chance encounter proved that.

Kenston Fields was in a good mood as he came out of a cottage-style, three-bed, two-bath home with deep blue siding. After a grueling nine-month search, he'd just decided to buy the place for him and his 84-year-old dad.

"I was sold the moment I walked in. It's beautiful," he said, adding it was a great deal for the price.

Did he know when he walked in that it was factory built?

"I'm pretty sure if I would've had a bingo card I wouldn't have guessed that," he said with a laugh. "Could have fooled me."

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now, another provision in that Senate housing bill - one of the meatballs - would remove some regulations about manufactured homes, factory-built houses. Not everybody likes them. Some people associate them with mobile home parks. But they have changed a lot. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports more cities and suburbs are turning to them for affordable housing.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY CHUGGING)

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: On a muddy lot in Petersburg, Virginia, one half of a four-bedroom home is getting pushed together with the other half.

TOM HEINEMANN: They're going to move it over, above, like, where the foundation footers are.

LUDDEN: Developer Tom Heinemann with MH Advisors points out the chassis frame underneath, what's used to transport the home.

HEINEMANN: And then they're going to take off the wheels - you can see them under there - and then low it onto block piers.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY WHIRRING)

LUDDEN: There's a pitched roof and front porch. And when it's all set, it won't look like anyone's image of a mobile home. Heinemann is putting these factory-built houses on dozens of vacant lots here. In fact, across the street, two big trucks have just arrived from Pennsylvania to drop off another one.

(SOUNDBITE OF AIR BRAKE HISSING)

LUDDEN: For decades, manufactured homes have been zoned out of cities and suburbs. But this project is part of a larger push to allow them in more places, not just to rent, but also to buy, along with the land underneath. Heinemann says they're affordable for people otherwise priced out of the housing market.

HEINEMANN: You know, room to raise their kids, walk to school and all of those amenities that people generally like about single-family homes. But bring it to people who ordinarily would be in a three-story walk-up.

KENNISHA MISSOURI: This is the baby room. But I haven't decorated his room yet (laughter).

LUDDEN: Kennisha Missouri moved in down the street a few months ago. She works in recovery care. And at first, she was skeptical about a factory-built home. But the rent was less than she was paying for a smaller apartment. When she finally saw it, with a kitchen island and stylish hanging lights...

MISSOURI: Like I designed it myself. I love it.

LUDDEN: After 15 years, Missouri will have the option to buy. And with the cheaper rent, she doesn't have to work as many hours at her side gig doing hair.

MISSOURI: Saving, definitely saving. It makes my life a little easier.

RACHEL SIEGEL: Starter homes that were built in the '50s and '60s just aren't made today.

LUDDEN: Rachel Siegel is with Pew Charitable Trusts, a research and policy organization. And she says factory-built homes can fill that gap. They're faster than building on site and nearly half the cost per square foot. Also, one federal construction standard means you don't need local approval for every project. So far, nine states have relaxed zoning restrictions on manufactured homes. But it can still be harder and more expensive for buyers to finance them because they're considered personal property, not real estate.

SIEGEL: Modernizing these state policies to make it easier and faster to get a mortgage, just like any other mortgage, is really crucial to affordability.

LUDDEN: Another big change? Congress may soon let owners remove the metal-frame chassis, making it easier to add a second story or basement. On a residential street in Petersburg, city Councilman Howard Myers says this area was hit hard after tobacco and other manufacturers moved out decades ago. It left a lot of houses dilapidated.

HOWARD MYERS: They were rundown. They were vacant, drug-ridden.

LUDDEN: He says the new manufactured homes are making it safer and helping more people build wealth.

MYERS: This neighborhood has transformed.

LUDDEN: Two blocks away, Kenston Fields is coming out of a three-bed, two-bath he's just decided to buy. It's for him and his 84-year-old dad.

KENSTON FIELDS: When I see the Samsung refrigerator, that's when I know it's game time. And I was sold the moment I walked in.

LUDDEN: So did he know it was factory-built?

FIELDS: I'm pretty sure if I would've had a bingo card, I wouldn't have guessed that. Could've fooled me.

LUDDEN: It's beautiful, he says, and a great deal for the price. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Petersburg, Virginia.

(SOUNDBITE OF RICHARD HOUGHTEN'S "NEW MEXICO")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5713908

ELECTIONS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Democrats set a turnout record in Texas, so is this the year it turns blue?

By Domenico Montanaro

In another positive sign for Democrats in this midterm election year, close-to-final turnout numbers in Texas show the Democratic Senate primary had the highest number of people voting in it than for any other primary for statewide office in Texas' history.

More than 2.3 million votes were cast in the primary in which state Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Nearly 2.2 million Republicans voted in this year's Senate primary, which is headed for a runoff between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

That eclipsed the 2.2 million who voted in the 2024 Republican Senate primary.

But 2024 was a presidential year, and the ballot included a nominally competitive primary between President Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The only other Texas primary elections that topped this year's Democratic primary were presidential primaries — not for statewide office: about 2.9 million voted in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, and about 2.8 million voted in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

Both of those elections featured hotly contested races — in 2008 between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a drawn-out primary campaign, and in 2016 with a dozen well-known Republican candidates, including Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and home-state Sen. Ted Cruz, who won it.

Democrats see heavy shifts in their favor in Latino-heavy counties

The turnout record is another indicator of Democratic enthusiasm in these midterm elections, as polling shows the party with an advantage on who's more interested in voting in this election and on who voters are saying they'd prefer to be in charge of Congress.

Also giving Democrats hope in Texas is the large shifts in their favor in counties with sizable Latino populations. In 2024, Trump won a record number of Latinos for a Republican candidate, and his success included many heavily Latino counties in South Texas.

But compared to 2024's Senate primary, Democrats this year saw significant gains with the group, according to an NPR analysis of data from The Associated Press and the Texas Secretary of State's Office. In the 10 most populous counties in the state that are also at least 50% Latino, votes in the Democratic primary increased by an average of 128%. The Republican primary in those same counties saw an average drop in votes of 4.8%.

Trying to answer the biennial question about Democrats and Texas

Primary success doesn't always equate to general-election victories, and Democrats have gotten their hopes up about Texas many times in recent elections — only to be repeatedly disappointed.

Democrats are looking to put Texas on the map in a longshot attempt at winning control of the Senate this year. And there is reason for the hope. Texas' demographic changes in recent decades, particularly the increase in Latinos and Asian Americans, have made it a state where whites are in the minority. It's one of only seven states considered "majority minority."

That's led to the question of when or if Texas would turn blue.

But demography is certainly not destiny, because the state has been something of a white whale for Democrats. Despite those trends, no Democrat has been elected statewide in Texas since 1994.

The only race that was even close in the last 30 years was the 2018 Senate race when incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz beat upstart Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke by less than 3 points. O'Rourke ran again for governor two years later — and lost handily, by 11 points.

Notably, Democratic turnout in this year's primary was more than double both of the 2018 and 2022 primaries, but the winning vote total in the general elections in those years averaged 4.3 million — 2 million more than the Talarico-Crockett primary.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745932

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POLITICS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 2:34 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Cuba will release 51 people from prison in an unexpected move

By The Associated Press

HAVANA — Cuba's government said Thursday night that it would release 51 people from the island's prisons in an unexpected move.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the release in the upcoming days stems from a spirit of goodwill and close relations with the Vatican.

The government did not identify who it would release, except to say that "all have served a significant part of their sentence and have maintained good conduct in prison."

The announcement was made just hours before Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is scheduled to speak early Friday in another rare meeting with the press "to address national and international issues."

The government said it has granted pardons to 9,905 inmates since 2010. It added that in the past three years, another 10,000 people sentenced to imprisonment were released.

In January 2025, Cuba released prominent dissident José Daniel Ferrer as part of a government decision to gradually free more than 500 prisoners following talks with the Vatican.

Ferrer left Cuba last October and is now in the United States.

He was one of several prisoners released in early 2025 as part of talks with the Vatican. The releases began a day after President Joe Biden's administration announced his intent to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

It wasn't immediately known if any of the people the government plans to release are political prisoners.

The nonprofit Prisoners Defenders has said there were 1,214 political prisoners in Cuba as of February 2026.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746533

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POLITICS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 12:35 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

NYC's Mamdani condemns Sen. Tuberville's anti-Muslim posts as 'bigotry'

By Brian Mann

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is condemning a series of anti-Muslim social media posts by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama as "bigotry."

On X, Tuberville reposted an image of Mamdani next to a photo of the deadly 9/11 terror attacks in New York City, along with the words "the enemy is inside the gates."

Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, has been the subject of repeated verbal attacks during the Ramadan season now underway.

Speaking at an iftar dinner Thursday evening, a special meal held to break the daily Ramadan fast, Mamdani said many American Muslims face prejudice.

"When I hear such hatred and disdain unchecked in its rancor, I feel a loneliness and isolation that I know many of you have felt as well," Mamdani said. "Who here has been told, you do not belong in New York City? Who here has been told, go back where you came from?"

On Thursday, Tuberville also claimed falsely that "Americans are being gunned down in the streets almost daily by Radical Islamists."

Experts say attacks in the U.S. by Muslim extremists are rare and are "not resurgent," according to a 2025 study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Republican leaders have been largely silent about Tuberville's anti-Muslim posts. A growing number of Democrats, meanwhile, have condemned his statements. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, described Tuberville's posts as "mindless hate."

"Muslim Americans are cops, doctors, nurses, teachers, bankers, bricklayers, mothers, fathers, neighbors, mayors, and more," Schumer said. "Islamophobic hate like this is fundamentally un-American."

Vermont's independent Sen. Bernie Sanders called Tuberville's attack on Mamdani "nothing less than blatant Islamophobic racism."

NPR reached out to Tuberville's office for comment and got no response.

Earlier this month, prominent far-right New York City radio host Sid Rosenberg issued a partial apology after calling Mamdani an "America-hating, Jew-hating, Radical Islam cockroach." Rosenberg later said his comments were "a bit over the top."

During Thursday's iftar dinner, Mamdani called on Muslim Americans to continue celebrating their faith and culture openly and with joy, but he also described a deepening climate of distrust.

"What I so often hear is the pressure to fit oneself into an ever-narrowing box, to suppress parts of oneself in the hope of finding acceptance," Mamdani said.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746192

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POLITICS | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:24 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Trump blames Iran for the war — critics question the diplomacy

By Michele Kelemen

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

President Trump has argued that he had to launch strikes on Iran because Iran was trying to rebuild a nuclear program that Trump himself said was obliterated last year, and he blames Iran for not negotiating in good faith. But critics say it was Trump who was using diplomacy as cover for the U.S. and Israeli military buildup. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: President Trump says a lot of different things about his envoy, Steve Witkoff's, dealings with Iran.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They told Mr. Witkoff, who is standing right over here - they said - they actually said we want to keep building essentially - in a real nutshell - we want to continue to build nuclear weapons.

KELEMEN: Witkoff hasn't gone that far. Though, in several television interviews and briefings, he said that Iran was not serious about negotiations and insisted on the right to enrich uranium. Here's how Trump put it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: And they even turned down an offer for unlimited free nuclear fuel forever for civilian purposes.

KELEMEN: That should have come as no surprise, says Kelsey Davenport of the Arms Control Association. She says Iran sees enrichment as a right under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and it doesn't trust Trump.

KELSEY DAVENPORT: What assurance could the U.S. offer that it would continue to follow through on that commitment, when the Trump administration has not negotiated with Iran in good faith and withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal without cause?

KELEMEN: Davenport says Witkoff seemed to be fixated on the Tehran Research Reactor built for civilian nuclear use. One official described Witkoff as having a, quote, "Perry Mason moment" when he became convinced that the reactor was just a ruse. Davenport says international inspectors had regular access to the site, which was built by the U.S. in 1967.

DAVENPORT: Witkoff's comments demonstrate a shocking lack of knowledge regarding Iran's nuclear program and historic negotiations with Iran.

KELEMEN: A former U.S. ambassador to Israel, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, Daniel Kurtzer, says it's worth trying something new in diplomacy, but he says you still need some outside advice.

DANIEL KURTZER: They also apparently didn't have experts in their delegation who could tell them what things meant and why Iran said certain things and what it meant by certain things.

KELEMEN: Kurtzer, who teaches at Princeton University, says Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have too much on their plate leading talks with Iran while also trying to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Kurtzer recently coauthored an article in Foreign Policy, giving the Witkoff-Kushner team an F in diplomacy.

KURTZER: If you ask my Princeton students, I'm a very easy grader. So when I give them an F, you know, it's serious.

KELEMEN: Even as Trump was launching the war on Iran, Oman's foreign minister was giving television interviews, trying to explain what Iran had put on the table in negotiations.

KURTZER: Or the Friday of the war, the Omani foreign minister is in Washington saying things are looking a little bit better, and you know, these guys are telling the president something entirely different. Who's right?

KELEMEN: All this raises another question for Kelsey Davenport, the arms control expert.

DAVENPORT: Diplomatically, I think there was an opportunity, but it's not clear if, you know, President Trump had made the political decision to test it or if he was just, you know, buying for time while you know, the U.S. military assets, you know, got into place.

KELEMEN: President Trump has said he had to act because he sensed that Iran would strike first. His spokesperson called it a feeling based on fact.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5743449

POLITICS | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 4:13 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Swing voters are not happy with Trump's war in Iran

By Mara Liasson

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The war in Iran is not popular with the American public. That is, according to various public opinion polls. But what are voters saying about why they feel that way? For that, we turn to NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Hey, Mara.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there, Scott.

DETROW: So you observed two focus groups this week. Tell us about them and why they matter.

LIASSON: Well, as you said, polling gets at the what. Focus groups get at the why. These results are not statistically significant, but focus groups let us hear from voters in their own words. And this focus group is part of NPR's monthly swing voter project. It's conducted by the research firms Engagious and Sago. All these voters voted for Joe Biden in 2020, and then they all voted for Donald Trump in 2024. We do a different battleground state each month. This month, it was 12 swing voters from Michigan.

DETROW: All right, so let's have the big reveal, then. I'm curious what these 12 voters had to say about Trump's decision to go to war.

LIASSON: They do not approve. I've been thinking about this group as the Marjorie Taylor Greene focus group because they all believed him, and these voters sound very America First when they criticize the war and the president. They sound a lot like Trump himself when he was running for president. So let's hear from some of them. The first one is Linzi, who's a self-described independent. I should note, these voters agreed to be in the group on the condition they be identified by first names only. But here's why Linzi doesn't approve of Trump's war in Iran.

LINZI: The enormous cost of war in terms of what it does to our economy, what it does to the world economy, when we have enormous need within our own societies, in Michigan. We need to help our own citizens first before we go to Iran, Iraq - I don't know, anywhere else - to fight their wars for them.

LIASSON: So Linzi illustrates one of my biggest takeaways - the war in Iran just melds together in her mind with the war in Iraq. Some of these voters could have been in a Trump ad. This is what he ran on - no foreign wars. Stop spending money overseas. Put American citizens first, asLinzi said. Stop fighting other countries' wars for them. Some of our voters thought Trump was putting Israel's interests first, not the U.S. And there's no separating military action abroad with domestic problems at home for these voters. They believe the war is causing prices to go up at home. Here's Brandon, another independent.

BRANDON: The cost of gas has gone up 20 cents in my neighborhood. So I feel like we always have money for bombs, but no money for infrastructure.

DETROW: Mara, given how much gas prices have gone up so quickly, I imagine he was not the only one who talked about that.

LIASSON: No, he wasn't. And what's interesting is this is the third of these focus groups we've done. We've done them in Georgia and Arizona before this. Gas prices in the earlier focus groups had been a positive for President Trump. They were coming down. That and the closure of the southern border were his two most popular achievements. So Trump has tried to say this is just a short-term blip in oil prices, and if the war doesn't drag on, gas prices could come down and voters may feel better. But right now, the voters, in our focus group, at least, are skeptical and they're cynical and they're - especially after years of conflicts overseas and politicians who promised them they wouldn't get involved in conflicts overseas.

DETROW: And a reminder, these are all people who voted for Trump in 2024. Did they have a message that they would send the president?

LIASSON: Yes. They were asked to give the president advice. I want to play some of that. Here's Brandon, Jasmin and then Mark.

BRANDON: He should consult Congress first.

JASMIN: It seems like he makes decisions, like, very quickly without thinking a lot about it. So maybe just take time to think about it first.

MARK: I would just say, lay out a strategic vision. Like, what are we doing? It just seems very random.

LIASSON: So slow down, be more coherent. These voters had trouble understanding why the U.S. is at war because there have been shifting rationales. It makes them feel uneasy, creates a sense of chaos. And chaos and high prices combined are bad things for incumbents in a midterm election.

DETROW: NPR's Mara Liasson, thank you so much.

LIASSON: You're welcome.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5743788

POLITICS | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 6:48 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., says Trump's plans for the war in Iran are 'incoherent'

By Steve Inskeep

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Earlier this week, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy sat in a closed-door briefing with administration officials, and he emerged contending that U.S. war plans are, quote, "incoherent and incomplete." So we've called him up. Senator, welcome back.

CHRIS MURPHY: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What's incoherent?

MURPHY: Well, Donald Trump has said repeatedly as your - as you noted, that one of our war aims is to end their nuclear program. He has also said repeatedly that he wants unconditional surrender and wants to pick the next leader of Iran. In that briefing, our military leadership made it clear that they are not targeting nuclear sites and that they are not seeking regime change. And so at the end of this conflict, if we are going to end up with hard-line Iranian leadership that is more anti-American, more provocative to our interests than the original ayatollah was, and we have not destroyed their nuclear program and we also have seen a historic disruption in oil flows, that sounds like a pretty bad deal for the globe, for the region and for the American taxpayer.

INSKEEP: OK. A lot to follow up on there. And here's one thing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a public statement - not in a closed-door briefing - a couple of days ago, in which he said the war goals were eliminating Iran's missile capacity and eliminating their navy. And he didn't mention the nuclear program. Are you telling me that Rubio's public statement is closer to what you hear from the people who are actually running the day-to-day conduct of the war?

MURPHY: You know, obviously, you're just hearing conflicting statements from the president, from his leadership, from the military. It's hard to know what's true. Obviously, the president is ultimately in charge. Rubio also has said at times that the United States actually didn't want this war to begin with and that the only reason that we attacked was simply to defend our interests in the region from blowback from a planned Israeli strike. So that's why I used the word incoherent. It seems like every day they are coming up with a new reason why we started this war and different goals for the conflict.

INSKEEP: You just also issued a warning there, the idea being that if the United States fails to change the regime, that you end up with a country that is more anti-American even than it was before and still has some kind of remnant of a nuclear program, and that might put you on the same page with John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser. He was on the program yesterday and he said it would be a mistake for the United States to stop short of regime change. Let's listen to a little bit of that.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

JOHN BOLTON: The whole point of this exercise, if it means anything, is not to mow the lawn and reduce the threat. Israel has done that repeatedly over the years in many ways - cyberattacks, assassination inside Iran.

INSKEEP: Sure.

BOLTON: The point here is get rid of what is the real ultimate threat, which is the regime itself.

INSKEEP: So this is a hard question for you, Senator Murphy. You clearly think this war was a bad idea, but the United States started it, and you're worried about a regime that would be even more dangerous in the aftermath. Does the United States then have to follow through and finish this?

MURPHY: Absolutely not. The only thing that would be worse than this current bungled, incoherent war is a war that puts millions of American troops on the ground to try to pursue regime change, which would probably end up with the same result as Iraq - building an insurgency inside that country that would last for decades and put multiple interests in the region at risk. No, we need to end this war right now. This is a bit like breaking an egg in front of you and asking how you're going to put it back together. This is a mess. It's going to remain a mess for a long time, but it's only going to get worse for the region and for our security interests if we continue it. So the only option now is to end it.

INSKEEP: Do you assume that there is no way to change the regime without putting a big army in there?

MURPHY: Yes. And here's what's unforgivable, is that Trump knew that. All of our intelligence estimates told the administration that it was very unlikely that an air campaign was going to lead to regime change, and every president has always known that Iran would shut down the Strait of Hormuz if they took a military action like this, and we've always known that we have really no way to reopen it. So all of this was foreseeable, and yet Trump did it anyway, and has put the American people in a really tough position because they have to bear the cost of it.

INSKEEP: Here's another hard question. You say you want the war to end. The president seems to think that that's still within his power. He said to Axios yesterday - this is a quote - "anytime I want it to end, it will end." Effectively saying, I can quit anytime I want. Do you believe that he can?

MURPHY: Well, I don't believe the president had the power to start the war. So I just contest the entire idea that the president has unlimited power in war-making. Obviously, at some point, he's going to run out of money, and he's going to have to come back to Congress. I think it's unforgivable that we haven't had a debate on a declaration of war. That's Republicans' fault - they run the Senate. But I don't think that anybody who opposes this war should vote for a dime of additional money. That may be the quickest way that we can bring this war to an end is to deny them the money for it.

INSKEEP: I guess what I want to know is, do you think that if the United States just stops shooting, stops bombing, that the war would go away? Because the Iranians have a vote here. The Israelis have a vote here.

MURPHY: Oh, I think that's very true. And, of course, the global oil disruption is going to last for months. But the quickest way to lower prices, which is what matters to most Americans who don't see any other national security interest to pursue this war, is for the United States to get out of it as quickly as possible.

INSKEEP: I'm keeping you here an extra minute, Senator. I hope that's OK because there is another thing that I want to follow up on and hear your thoughts about. A Pentagon investigation has found that the United States did, in fact, strike a girls' school with a tomahawk missile, killing far more than 100 people, despite the president's statements that maybe somebody else fired this U.S.-made missile. But that's what the Pentagon investigation has found, the preliminary findings, according to NPR's reporting and other people's reporting. What is the cost to the United States when it kills so many civilians?

MURPHY: Well, first of all, let's just not gloss over the fact that the president knew that we struck this site - it was obvious from the first minute - and has been lying about it. In fact, at some point, said that maybe it was Iran that somehow got their hands on a tomahawk missile and fired it on their own school. It's just - it's not a small thing that the president lies to us on a regular basis. But this is why air campaigns don't work because you end up killing a lot of civilians, you harden the population, they end up electing or choosing hard-line leadership and ultimately, that leadership is worse for the people of that country in the long run and for U.S. national security interests. It's a lesson we learned - should have learned - in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we're refusing to learn it again.

INSKEEP: Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. Pleasure talking with you, sir. Thank you so much.

MURPHY: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF AERIAL M'S "SKRAG THEME")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5744836

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LIVING BETTER | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 4:56 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

A cholesterol test you've never heard of is now recommended to prevent heart disease

By Allison Aubrey

New guidelines for managing cholesterol call for more aggressive prevention and earlier treatment, including a recommendation that all adults be tested once for lipoprotein(a), a genetic risk marker for heart disease.

The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology released the updated guidelines Friday, which aim to expand the tools doctors use to assess cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

"We know 80% or more of cardiovascular disease is preventable and elevated LDL cholesterol, sometimes referred to as 'bad' cholesterol, is a major part of that risk," wrote Dr. Roger Blumenthal, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore who chaired the guideline writing committee, in a statement.

But knowing your LDL levels alone may not be enough, Blumenthal said. Measuring additional biomarkers, he wrote, "can give a more complete picture of someone's cardiovascular risk and help inform decisions about whether lipid-lowering therapy is needed sooner rather than later."

Among the new recommendations is a one-time lipoprotein(a) test for all adults. This is a simple blood test that's widely available, and increasingly many primary care physicians offer it as part of preventive care.

Because lipoprotein(a) is genetically determined and relatively stable over a lifetime, the test typically needs to be done only once, ideally early in adulthood. Elevated levels signal an inherited risk for heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular conditions.

The guidelines also call for wider use of coronary calcium scoring, which is a noninvasive scan that measures calcified plaque in the arteries. They also encourage health care providers to use a risk assessment tool called PREVENT, which can project a patient's 10-year and 30-year risk of heart disease to help guide decisions about starting medication.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs, known as statins, remain the first-line treatment for high cholesterol. Under the new framework, medications could be considered even for patients with relatively low risk, if their overall lifetime risk profile supports it.

"That's a sea change," said Dr. Steven Nissen, a preventive cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic. "A person's lifetime risk is what counts."

"These new guidelines will result in more people being treated earlier," Nissen adds. Since generic versions are available for all the major statin types, the drugs are relatively inexpensive. Nissen says he pays about $3 per month for his statin prescription.

It's estimated that 25% of adults in the U.S. have high levels of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, or LDL, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Nissen says the guidelines will affect millions of people and lead to many more being treated with statins and other medicines that can lower LDL cholesterol. He stresses that an earlier and more intensive preventive approach, could lead to a significant reduction in heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease, overall.

The guidelines also emphasize the benefits of modifying everyday behaviors and habits, including regular physical activity, avoiding tobacco products, and healthy sleep habits. "The cornerstone of good cardiac prevention is diet and exercise," says Leslie Cho, a preventive cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic.

The guidelines are published in the journal Circulation, and in JACC, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5747111

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GLOBAL HEALTH | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 3:45 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Vaccinating bats could be good for people. But how do you vaccinate a bat?

By Ari Daniel

Here's a question you might never have asked yourself: How do you vaccinate a bat?

You can't simply ask your local vet. Nor will the bats line up outside of a clinic on their own.

But a group of Chinese researchers thinks they may have an answer, one that could prove to become a new way to stop the spillover of diseases that cross from animals — like bats — into people.

"Bats carry a lot of very deadly pathogens like Ebola virus, Nipah, Hendra, coronavirus, and also rabies virus," says Aihua Zheng, a virologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "People are finding more and more bat-borne viruses."

When such viruses are transmitted to humans, the results are often fatal — so there's a lot of interest in trying to prevent spillover in the first place.

In some parts of the world, this has led to the organized culling of bats. "But when people kill the bats, basically they have more contact with the bat," says Zheng. "There are more chance[s] to get infected."

And wiping out bats can have other ramifications. These flying mammals play critical roles in the environment by pollinating plants and controlling insect pests. And they're already threatened by habitat loss and their own diseases.

Now, in a paper published in the journal Science Advances, Zheng and his colleagues offer evidence for a different solution to the problem of spillover — vaccinating the bats themselves against these dangerous viruses. "We not only protect the human but also protect the animals," says Zheng.

They used a couple of techniques to immunize the bats, including using vaccine-carrying mosquitoes!

"The advantage is if we immunize the population, the transmission of the virus will be decreased or eventually eliminated," he adds.

The approach is still in early stages, but comes as an exciting development for people battling these diseases.

The skeeter strategy

Zheng explains that the challenge with the approach was how to vaccinate the bats.

In a study a few years back, for instance, researchers applied a topical vaccine to the fur of bats so they could lick it off one another. Zheng says it worked in the lab, but "it's not easy to scale up in the real world. You have to catch a lot of bats and then release them."

So instead, Zheng and his colleagues opted to enlist a squadron of tiny syringes on wings — mosquitoes. "We want to turn the mosquito into a vaccination tool," Zheng says. In particular, they feed mosquitoes blood laced with genetically engineered vaccines against one of two deadly viruses — Nipah and rabies. Those vaccines then showed up in the mosquito bodies and their salivary glands.

To see if a mammal would pick up the vaccine from the mosquito, his team conducted some of their experiments on mice and other rodents. But the big tests came with actual bats. One of the first steps involved catching insect-eating bats from the suburbs of Beijing. "I like to do some exploration in the cave," says Zheng.

In the lab, the researchers exposed the animals to the special insects in one of two ways: Either the mosquitoes bit the bats or the bats ate the mosquitoes.

A few weeks later, when the researchers drew blood from the bats, they found antibodies. Zheng says that means the animals had mounted an immune response to the virus matching the vaccine they'd been exposed to.

The researchers then infected the bats that had developed antibodies against rabies with the actual rabies virus. Such an infection would have normally been a death sentence. But for these bats, "most of them survived," says Zheng.

One day, he imagines releasing these altered mosquitoes into caves where they might vaccinate wild bats. He considers using a steady current of air at the entrance to trap the insects inside while allowing the bats to come and go freely. He hopes that after a period of time, most of the bats would become vaccinated.

Drink up

Zheng acknowledges that the mosquito approach wouldn't work everywhere. "The real world is complicated," he explains, making it hard to release the modified insects in all environments. So the researchers came up with a Plan B: saline solution that contained an oral rabies vaccine, which the bats in their lab readily slurped up. "So when the bat drink[s] the water, they will get vaccinated," says Zheng.

This too protected the animals from subsequent infection with rabies. "Yeah, it really worked!," he says. "I'm pretty excited with these result[s]."

"This is an amazing study," says Ausraful Islam, a veterinarian and infectious disease specialist at icddr,b, a health research institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He wasn't involved in the experiments.

Islam acknowledges that if the approach is successful in the wild, it could be a real boon for countries like Bangladesh that wrestle with bat-borne viruses. "They have [a] promising way of developing vaccines [for] different animals," he adds, "but I think there's still work to be done before large-scale applications" — like exploring how long immunity lasts in the bats and how feasible it would be for different countries to set up an ongoing bat vaccination campaign.

As for Zheng, he and his team are already planning future studies and looking for international collaborators to help make this batty idea a reality.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/g-s1-113183

HEALTH REPORTING IN THE STATES | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 12:54 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

After firings, funding cuts, and a shooting, can a demoralized CDC workforce recover?

By Jess Mador

On the coffee table at her home in Atlanta, Sarah Boim has a pile of documents from her old job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia. They are printouts of her own employment records.

Boim lost her job in the first big wave of CDC firings — when about 1,000 people were suddenly let go last February.

"This is the termination letter. I also printed off my performance review from 2024," she said. "I knew I wouldn't have access to it, and everything was so chaotic that I needed proof of what was happening."

Boim worked in the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, handling communications about radon, P-FAS contamination, lead poisoning and other health threats.

Reading her termination letter once again, she still can't believe what it says.

"The agency finds you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge, and skills do not fit the agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the agency."

"And that floored me," Boim said, "Because my performance was rated outstanding, and I even got a raise. It was just deeply insulting. So, I was more upset than I think I was prepared to be."

The Trump administration later brought back some of the workers who were fired in the first round, but it has also continued to cut more staff and funding.

The CDC has been without a permanent director for more than six months. Recently the Trump administration said that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will become the CDC's interim director for now — while also running the National Institutes of Health.

The uncertainty is just the latest in a year of disruption and dismissals at the Atlanta-based institution, where more than 3,000 public health workers are now gone. That includes staffers the Trump administration terminated, but also workers who accepted early retirements.

The Atlanta region continues to feel the ripple effects of the turmoil.

By the end of 2025 the CDC had lost roughly a quarter of its workforce, a KFF Health News analysis found.

Boim now works as a contractor in the health field, while also working a non-health-related freelance job.

Boim is still in mourning for the cuts at CDC, and how the loss of expertise and resources will trickle down to communities. A significant portion of CDC funding goes directly to states and local public health departments.

"In terms of health, it will cause generational harm, which always makes me tear up," Boim said. "The harm that's going to come to people that don't even know what CDC was protecting them from."

"But for Atlanta, there's a lot of us, there are thousands of CDC employees that live here," she added. "We are your friends, your neighbors, your family, and with the lost income, it has an impact on local businesses also."

At Sri Thai restaurant, across the street from the main CDC campus in Atlanta's DeKalb County, more than a third of the customers are CDC employees, said Manager Nathan Chanthavong.

The restaurant saw a "small dip" in business in 2025 after the mass firings, and also during the government shutdown in the fall, he said.

"Typically, we would get a catering order for the CDC. We saw it less, less and less. It's not a really big impact, but catering is a big order, it is a lot of money," he said, "so it does affect us."

CDC falls under the purview of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Asked about the cuts and attrition, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon sent an email to NPR and KFF:

"HHS under the Biden administration became a bloated bureaucracy, growing its budget by 38% and its workforce by 17%.  The Department continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda," he said.

Since the mass firings began, former CDC workers and their supporters have protested every Tuesday during the afternoon rush hour outside the CDC's main entrance.

On a recent Tuesday, a bigger crowd than usual — about 75 people — lined up along the sidewalk. A significant milestone had just occurred; it had been a year since the first massive cuts, which occurred in mid-February. CDC workers dubbed that the "Valentine's Day massacre."

Protestors waved handmade signs with slogans, such as 'We love CDC workers,' and 'Save Public Health.' Passing cars honked in solidarity.

Among the protesters was Ben McKenzie, who is still employed as a CDC researcher.

"It's been heartbreaking to see so many talented, able colleagues be forced out or leave," he said.

Current employees also need support, he said, especially after last summer, when a man opened fire Aug. 8 on CDC buildings. He killed DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose — before killing himself.

"I think we've all felt the emotional impact of being targets," McKenzie said. "Right now to work at CDC is in a lot of ways to be a target."

Multiple CDC employees have told KFF and NPR the federal government has yet to fully fix the damage to the windows and the buildings hit in last year's shooting.

McKenzie helps to run a mutual aid group, one of several that have sprung up in Atlanta. The group has distributed more than $200,000 to help former CDC workers with rent and other needs.

This story comes from NPR's health reporting partnership with WABE and KFF Health News.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5742530

HEALTH | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Medicaid can share data with ICE. Here's how that 180-degree change spreads fear

By Alex Olgin

Heard on Morning Edition

For decades, people applying for Medicaid were told their personal information — including their names, addresses and immigration status — would not be used for immigration enforcement.

But a December court ruling changed that. And that change has sent ripples of fear through families and communities.

"My daughter's life depends on Medicaid," says P., who asked that NPR identify her by her first initial only.

P. and her family have legal immigration status, but she fears that the health insurance keeping her medically fragile daughter alive could also put her family at risk of being detained or deported by immigration authorities.

For decades Medicaid promised eligible immigrants they wouldn't share information with immigration authorities. It was even explicitly written on government websites. Those commitments are no longer on the Medicaid website.

The promise was meant to assure eligible immigrants "to feel comfortable that they can access their care without fear of putting their immigration status into jeopardy," says Cindy Mann, who oversaw Medicaid during the Obama administration and now works at the legal and consulting firm Manatt Health.

Mann calls the change, which the Trump administration began quietly last year, a "180-degree reversal of longstanding policy."

"Anxiety every day"

P.'s 11-year-old daughter has Rett Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that makes it hard for her to eat, breathe, walk and talk.

"She receives in-home support," P. says, along with frequent visits to cardiologists, pulmonologists and other specialists. "She also receives [physical therapy], [occupational therapy], speech, aquatic therapy on a weekly basis."

All this care would cost tens of thousands of dollars without Medicaid — the joint state and federal health insurance program for more than 70 million people with low-incomes or disabilities.

P. says she and her husband are allowed to work in the U.S. legally and have private health insurance through their jobs. They have two children who qualify for Medicaid coverage because of disabilities.

"It brings us an amount of anxiety every day," P. says. She's had friends detained by immigration authorities and she worries about her family's safety. This is the case even though everyone in P.'s family has legal status, including two of their children who are citizens.

Unusual requests

Twenty-two states have sued to stop federal health agencies from sharing Medicaid data with the Department of Homeland Security, including Arizona, Michigan and New Jersey. At the moment, following the December ruling in federal court in San Francisco, Medicaid can share names, addresses and other identifying information for people who are in the country unlawfully with immigration officials. In the remaining 28 states including Texas, Kentucky and Utah, there are no limits on what Medicaid data can be shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other entities.

Some other recent federal actions are raising new alarms.

One former state Medicaid director told NPR they received what they described as a highly unusual request from the federal government in summer 2025 — a list of mostly Latino-looking last names, with instructions to check only immigration status.

The director, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss federal communications, said that's not how these reviews typically work. Usually, states are asked to review all criteria — income, disability and immigration status — to determine eligibility for the program, not single out one factor.

The director says they were floored. After reviewing the cases, they found everyone on the list remained eligible to continue with Medicaid.

Last August, the federal agency that oversees Medicaid, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), started a new initiative to review immigration status of Medicaid enrollees. The agency said in a press release it would start sending monthly enrollment reports with names of people it needed states to verify.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NPR's questions about whether the data has been used for immigration enforcement. In the Federal Register and in a memo issued in October 2025, ICE says that it is rescinding a 2013 policy that said CMS and HHS data would not be used for immigration enforcement. The Associated Press first reported on the Trump administration's change in July 2025.

Choosing between care and fear

At Venice Family Clinic in Los Angeles, staff say patients are increasingly asking whether it's safe to remain on Medicaid.

Pattie Lopez manages the clinic's health insurance department. She says one patient became so worried about the policy change that she dropped her coverage — only to return after struggling without it.

"She found it incredibly hard to go without health coverage," Lopez says. "Now she's here taking a risk because she needs her medication."

Venice Family Clinic is qualified to receive special federal funding to take care of vulnerable communities, and 80% of its 45,000 patients rely on Medicaid. If people drop coverage but still need care, the clinic could face financial strain. It has already frozen hiring and is looking for other ways to cut costs.

Andrew Cohen, an attorney with Health Law Advocates in Massachusetts, said that for people already enrolled in Medicaid or other programs, the federal government likely has their information already.

"So remaining on coverage may be no additional risk," he said. "But there are instances where it may not be safe for everybody."

Some immigrants may be weighing whether to sign up or continue coverage. For P., though, walking away from Medicaid isn't possible.

"We don't have any other option," she says about dropping coverage for her severely disabled daughter. "We will have to risk that."

Without the coverage, she says, it's her daughter's life that would be at risk.

Transcript

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Medicaid has promised that recipients' names, addresses and immigration status would stay private for decades. A December court ruling changed that. Now, some data can be shared with immigration authorities. As Alex Olgin reports, some families face a painful choice about whether to get care.

ALEX OLGIN, BYLINE: The U.S. has some of the best medical care for people with rare conditions. That's why P and her family moved from Brazil to the northeast in 2016.

P: My daughter's life depend on Medicaid.

OLGIN: P's 11-year-old daughter has Rett syndrome, a rare condition that makes it hard for her to eat, breathe, walk and talk. P asked that we use her first initial only because even though she and her family have legal immigration status, she fears being detained.

P: She receives in-home support, and she also receives PT, OT, speech, aquatic therapy on a weekly basis.

OLGIN: That care, plus lots of doctors' visits, would cost tens of thousands of dollars without Medicaid, the joint state and federal health insurance program for more than 70 million people with low incomes or disabilities. When P heard the Trump administration planned to share names and addresses with immigration authorities, she panicked. P says her and her husband have private health insurance through work. They have Medicaid for their daughter and another son, who has a disability.

P: It bring us an amount of anxiety every day. Your friends are around you that are just being arrested, and you don't know if that can happen with you, too.

OLGIN: Even though data in some states, including California, Illinois and Washington, has already been shared with immigration authorities, it's unclear whether it's been used to identify individuals for enforcement. DHS didn't answer NPR's questions about that. But the fact it's being shared at all upends decades of promises by Medicaid.

CINDY MANN: It's really a 180-degree reversal of long-standing policy.

OLGIN: Cindy Mann oversaw Medicaid during the Obama administration and is now a partner at the legal and consulting firm Manatt Health.

MANN: The promise is really to assure people who are eligible for Medicaid to feel comfortable that they can access that care without fear of putting their immigration status into jeopardy.

OLGIN: That commitment is no longer on government websites. Mann says historically, the only reason Medicaid should share personal data with the federal government is for oversight - things like confirming eligibility. The Department of Health and Human Services told NPR that's what it's doing with these requests. But patients are calling Pattie Lopez to ask if it's safe to stay on Medicaid. She manages the health insurance department at Venice Family Clinic in the Los Angeles area. One woman was so scared, she dropped it.

PATTIE LOPEZ: She found it incredibly hard to go without health coverage, and so she came back. And, you know, she's like, now I'm here taking a risk because, you know, I need my medication.

OLGIN: Eighty percent of the community health center's patients rely on Medicaid. If people drop it but keep coming in for care, the clinic could face serious financial strain. It's already frozen hiring and is looking for other ways to cut costs. Andrew Cohen is an attorney with Health Law Advocates in Massachusetts. He says for those already enrolled in Medicaid or other programs, the federal government may already have their information.

ANDREW COHEN: So remaining on coverage actually may be no additional risk. There are instances where it may not be safe for everybody.

OLGIN: In December, a judge temporarily limited Medicaid data-sharing in 22 states that sued, including Arizona, Michigan and New Jersey, restricting it to people who are in the country unlawfully. In the other 28 states, like Texas, Kentucky and Utah, there are no limits.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Olgin.

(SOUNDBITE OF WHALE FALL'S "TRUE PLACES")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5737468

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HEALTH | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:15 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Exercise rates are still a non-moving target

By Jonathan Lambert

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

There is no shortage of science that says exercise is good for you. Studies show that it cuts the risks of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and that it can alleviate depression or even boost immunity, so many countries have tried to coax people into being more active. And yet...

DEBORAH SALVO: Despite really good science, great interventions, good ideas for policy, the levels of physical inactivity globally haven't really improved.

CHANG: Deborah Salvo is a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. She and her colleagues have been trying to understand why that is. NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports.

JONATHAN LAMBERT, BYLINE: Over the past two decades, health agencies around the world have tried to get people to exercise, but a new report says roughly 1 in 3 adults and 8 out of 10 adolescents don't get enough. Salvo and her colleagues have a hunch as to why that number hasn't really budged.

SALVO: It's possible that the messages that we're hearing in terms of every move counts, every single type of physical activity is good for you - they may not be resonating very well for a global public.

LAMBERT: She says that's especially true for the 84% of the globe that lives in low- and middle-income countries. Researchers found that in those countries, most of the physical activity comes from walking or biking for transport or from physical labor. Relatively few people are exercising in their free time, and that's especially true for women.

SALVO: If you're a woman and you're poor and you live in a poor country, and you compare that to a man and he's rich and he lives in a rich country, the gap is huge. It's humongous, and it's more than the sum of the parts.

LAMBERT: The research was published in Nature Medicine. R.M. Anjana is a physician and epidemiologist in Chennai, India. She wasn't surprised by the results.

R M ANJANA: In an economically advanced nation, people have discretionary time for this kind of activity, and they can choose to be healthy. In a country like India, most people are walking because they don't have cars. They don't have any other way.

LAMBERT: Technically, that counts as physical activity, but...

ANJANA: Is it good for health? Is it helping them? Not really. There's traffic. There's pollution. There's - you know, there's so many things.

LAMBERT: There are other barriers to exercise in places like India, too, she says, especially for women. For example, the gym.

ANJANA: Gyms are not even acknowledged as a place of physical activity for a woman. It's very man-centric. Or, in fact, there are things that say, oh, are you a girl who goes to a gym? That means, you know, you're someone who interacts in not a good way with men.

LAMBERT: So she says, be creative.

ANJANA: We can't just tell women, go for a walk, go to the gym. It's not culturally allowed to go to the gym, and you can't just tell people walk. It doesn't work that way. So what is it that we can do to encourage these women to get healthier?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TERI BAATON MEIN AISA ULJHA JIYA")

ASEES KAUR, RAGHAV AND TANISHK BAGCHI: (Singing in non-English language).

LAMBERT: For women and girls in her community, she designed a high-intensity dance class, choreographed to the latest Bollywood hits.

ANJANA: The minute people start hearing it, they start vibing to it.

LAMBERT: A 12-week trial of over a hundred girls in Chennai found that the program made a difference.

ANJANA: They start improving skeletal muscle mass. Their body fat goes down. Their eating pattern changes.

LAMBERT: Of course, a dance class may not be for everyone, and it's not going to solve the bigger issues that keep people from being active in healthy ways like unwalkable cities.

ANJANA: It's never going to be one-size-fits-all here, right? So different things could work in different regions.

LAMBERT: Scaling up those interventions would require countries to make physical activity a priority. Right now, it sits at the intersection, researchers say, of transportation, urban planning, sport, education. But because it's everyone's job, they say it's no one's responsibility. To get more people moving, the researchers say that may need to change. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TERI BAATON MEIN AISA ULJHA JIYA")

KAUR, RAGHAV AND BAGCHI: (Singing in non-English language).

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5739707

HEALTH | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 4:38 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

After firings, funding cuts and a shooting, can a demoralized CDC workforce recover?

By Jess Mador

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been without a permanent director for more than six months. Recently, the Trump administration said that Dr. Jay Bhattacharya will become the CDC's interim director while also running the NIH. This is just the latest in a series of disruptions and dismissals. Jess Mador at WABE checks in on the Atlanta-based institution.

JESS MADOR, BYLINE: On her coffee table at home in Atlanta, Sarah Boim has a pile of documents from her old CDC job. They're her own employment records. Boim lost her job in the first big wave of CDC firings last February. About 1,000 people were suddenly let go.

SARAH BOIM: I knew I wouldn't have access to it, and everything was so chaotic that I needed proof of what was happening.

MADOR: Boim had worked in the Center for Environmental Health. She handled communications about things like radon, PFAS contamination and lead poisoning. Even now, she still can't believe what her termination letter says.

(SOUNDBITE OF PAPER RUSTLING)

BOIM: (Reading) The agency finds that you were not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the agency. And that floored me because my performance was rated outstanding, and I even got a raise.

MADOR: The Trump administration later brought back some of the fired workers, but it's also continued to cut more staff and funding. By the end of 2025, the administration had cut about 3,000 people from the CDC - about a quarter of its workforce. Boim says she's still in mourning.

BOIM: The harm that's going come to people that don't even know what CDC was protecting them from. But for Atlanta, there's a lot of us. There's thousands of CDC employees that live here. We're, you know, your friends, your neighbors, your family. And with the lost income, it has an impact on local businesses, also.

(CROSSTALK)

MADOR: Across the street from the sprawling CDC campus is Sri Thai restaurant. Manager Nathan Chanthavong says 40% of their customers are CDC employees. He says business dropped a bit after the firings and also during the government shutdown.

NATHAN CHANTHAVONG: Typically, we would get a catering order for the CDC. We saw it less, less and less. It's not a really big impact, but, you know, catering is a big order. It's a lot of money. It does affect us.

MADOR: Asked about the cuts, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, Andrew Nixon, sent NPR an email describing the CDC as broken and bloated under President Biden.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)

MADOR: For over a year now, former CDC workers have protested every single Tuesday afternoon at rush hour outside the CDC's main entrance. They carry handmade signs saying things like, save public health.

(CHEERING)

MADOR: Ben McKenzie was at a recent protest marking a year since the firings began. He's still employed as a CDC researcher.

BEN MCKENZIE: It's been heartbreaking to see so many talented, able colleagues be forced out or leave.

MADOR: McKenzie says current employees also need support, especially after last summer when a man opened fire on CDC buildings. He killed DeKalb County police officer David Rose before killing himself. Multiple CDC employees have told NPR the federal government has yet to fully fix the damage to the windows and the buildings hit in last year's shooting.

MCKENZIE: I think we've all felt the emotional impact of being targets. Right now, to work at CDC is, in a lot of ways, to be a target.

MADOR: McKenzie helps run a mutual aid group, one of several that have sprung up in Atlanta. His group has distributed more than $200,000 to help former CDC workers with rent and other needs. For NPR News, I'm Jess Mador in Atlanta.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5725483

HEALTH | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 12:44 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Medicare Advantage 'dark money' group tries to win higher payments for insurers

By Fred Schulte, Maia Rosenfeld, David Hilzenrath

Judging by more than 16,300 comments recently posted on a federal government website, you'd think there was a groundswell of older Americans demanding that federal officials hike payments to their Medicare Advantage health insurance plans.

Yet about 83% of the comments are identical to a letter that appeared on the website of a secretive advocacy group called Medicare Advantage Majority, a data analysis by KFF Health News has found.

The "dark money" group does not reveal its funders or much else — other than to say it is "dedicated to protecting and strengthening Medicare Advantage" and is "powered by hundreds of thousands of local advocates nationwide."

"Our campaign provides information and offers tools for concerned Americans to use to reach decision makers," spokesperson Darren Grubb said in an email. The group has spent more than $3.1 million on hundreds of Facebook ads since September 2024, according to Facebook's Ad Library, a database of the social media company's online ads.

There's no doubt health insurers are unhappy with a January proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS to keep Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates essentially flat in 2027 — far less than they expected from the Trump administration.

Medicare Advantage plans differ from traditional Medicare because private insurance companies administer them. The insurance plans enroll about 35 million members, more than half the people eligible for Medicare. The plans offer things like vision and drug coverage, but Medicare Advantage insurers restrict the hospitals and doctors that patients can use and require prior approval for various procedures.

CMS, is set to announce a final decision by early next month on the rate proposal. The agency solicited public comments on the proposal from Jan. 26 through Feb. 25 to give interested parties and the public a chance to air their views.

Medicare Advantage Majority, which says the rate proposal amounts to a "cut" in services and warns of dire consequences for seniors should it go through, accounted for at least 13,519 of the 16,324 comments published as of March 11.

The proposed rate plan "puts my access to care at risk," the group's template letter to policy makers reads in part. "If the investment made by Washington in the Medicare Advantage program is nearly flat year-over-year, I could lose benefits I rely on every day, including affordable prescriptions, capped out of pocket costs, and access to trusted doctors and specialists."

"Medicare Advantage is not optional for me. The cost protections alone have saved me thousands of dollars and made my health care manageable. Without this program, I would face higher costs, fewer providers, and fewer benefits at a time when I can least afford it," the letter states.

Critics warn that these sorts of campaigns may create a misleading impression of grassroots support, especially when it's not clear who is financing them.

"It puts a different spin on a massive groundswell of comments to know all are being driven by one specific organization," said Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform for Issue One, a group that seeks to limit the influence of money on government policy and legislation.

"There's no way for the public to know what wealthy donors or special interests are funding dark money groups like this," he said. "That means there's no scrutiny of who's really calling the shots."

Some health care policy experts, who have long argued that the government overpays Medicare Advantage plans by tens of billions of dollars every year, believe industry groups or their surrogates routinely overstate possible negative impacts of rate decisions they don't like.

"The plans always say that the sky is falling," said Matthew Fiedler, a health care policy expert with the Brookings Institution. "The industry has a lot of money at stake here. They try to exert pressure on policymakers any way they can."

At the same time, even critics concede that some of the millions of people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans could face service cuts if insurance companies are not satisfied with government payments.

"It is legitimate for people to be worried," said Julie Carter, counsel for federal policy at the Medicare Rights Center, a group that advocates for older adults and people with disabilities.

Her group argues that Medicare Advantage plans have never attained expected cost savings and instead have been overpaid for years at least partly due to "actions to maximize profits." She said the health plans "are supposed to be saving money, not taking extra."

People struggling to pay health care bills may have little use for the policy debate in Washington.

"If it wasn't for being able to have this program, I really wouldn't be able to afford any kind of medical services, to be honest," said EsterAlicia Rose, 75, who works at the front desk of a hotel in Pagosa Springs, Colo. She said she signed the Medicare Advantage Majority form letter to reach policymakers.

Kathy Lovely-Marshall, 66, a retired nurse who lives in Brookville, Ohio, did too. She said she receives "a lot of perks" from her plan, such as dental care, eyeglasses, and prescriptions.

"All those things are a big plus as far as I am concerned," she said. "I'm very happy with the plan I have."

But Corenia Branham, 90, a widow and cancer survivor who lives in Alum Creek, W.Va., said she wants nothing to do with Medicare Advantage plans run by private health insurance companies. She said she didn't turn in any of the four form letters under her name, which were posted online by CMS on Feb. 23 and signed, "Miss Corenia Branham Branham." It's not clear why her name is signed twice.

Branham said she's not on Medicare Advantage and doubts she could count on it for needed care.

"I wouldn't recommend it to nobody," she said. "I sure don't want anything to do with it."

Grubb, the Medicare Advantage Majority spokesperson, disputed that account. He said Branham responded to an ad on Facebook. On Feb. 6, she "completed the form with her information and chose to send her comment to CMS as well as to her representatives in Congress and the White House," he said.

Other Medicare Advantage advocacy groups have stepped up ad campaigns as the rate decision looms.

The Better Medicare Alliance, whose "allies" include a range of health insurers, health care providers, and consumers, is urging seniors to "Tell Washington to Stand Up for Medicare Advantage."

"We've mobilized beneficiaries to write letters and make phone calls, and we've run digital ads on streaming platforms," spokesperson Susan Reilly said.

Reilly said that this year roughly 3 million seniors "were forced to find new coverage" because plans either shuttered operations or left some areas.

She also said Medicare Advantage plans have "scaled back" benefits such as offering transportation to medical appointments, nutrition support, and dental and vision coverage, while over the past two years beneficiaries have faced an average $900 increase in out-of-pocket maximums.

"We do view this as especially serious," Reilly said. "This isn't a single bad year; it's the cumulative effect of years of underfunding and policy disruption from the previous administration that has left the program increasingly vulnerable."

As of March 11, CMS said it had received 46,884 comments but had posted only 16,324 online.

CMS spokesperson Catherine Howden said the agency would make more comments public "as soon as practicable."

"The agency focuses on reviewing the substance of timely submissions and does not speculate on volume, sentiment, or potential impact of comments while the comment period is open/under review," she said in a statement.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745891

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HEALTH | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 4:43 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Tick-borne meat allergy can affect livestock producers' health and livelihood

By Rebecca A Smith

Heard on Morning Edition

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One of the most dangerous animals on a farm is one of the tiniest - the lone star tick. A small bite can lead to alpha-gal syndrome, which can be especially hard on farmers in close contact with livestock every day. Harvest Public Media contributor Rebecca Smith explains why.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS CRUNCHING)

REBECCA SMITH, BYLINE: It's a bright, crisp morning on the Love Lake Iris Farm in northern Missouri. Owner Sharon Pennington is standing in the barn where she's raised countless orphan calves and nurse cows over the years. But now, for the first time, the barn sits empty.

SHARON PENNINGTON: One cow calved and she had too much milk, so I was milking her and around all that fluid and just wondering, why in the world am I going to (laughter) pass out or die?

SMITH: Pennington was repeatedly experiencing anaphylaxis, a severe, full-body allergic reaction. And after months of fear and confusion, she was diagnosed in the summer of 2025 with alpha-gal, a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction to a sugar found in mammalian products, such as red meat and dairy, that comes from the bite of a lone star tick. But for her, these anaphylactic reactions weren't just from eating mammalian-based foods. They also occurred after handling her cattle and their bodily fluids.

PENNINGTON: I was thinking, I need to make sure my will's lined out. I don't know what's wrong with me.

SMITH: Doctors aren't sure if these severe reactions are due to alpha-gal syndrome or if the allergy is kicking the immune system into overdrive more generally.

SCOTT COMMINS: There's not great data.

SMITH: That's Dr. Scott Commins. He's an allergist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and one of the leading alpha-gal researchers in the country.

COMMINS: Patients are saying one thing and giving us reports of symptoms and reactions.

SMITH: Those symptoms can include full-body hives, trouble breathing, irritated eyes and even heart issues. He says there are some options for treatment, including medication, but it can cost thousands of dollars a month.

At the University of Nebraska, researcher Shaun Cross just completed a first-of-its-kind survey of farmers and ranchers with alpha-gal. He says more than 200 farmers from 28 states responded - the majority from Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, where the lone star tick is common.

SHAUN CROSS: Sixty-nine percent of the respondents said that they had to modify work tasks associated to farming and ranching due to the diagnosis.

SMITH: And he says the preliminary results show that 78% reported that their diagnosis was causing them to feel distressed and worry about the productivity of their farm or ranch.

CROSS: The idea of, like, a person shuttering down a farm that's been in their family for generations because of this new diagnosis, I can only imagine what that really does feel like.

SMITH: Rancher Kelly Decker raises beef cattle and sheep in north-central Oklahoma with her husband and says she really struggled when first diagnosed in 2019. She considers herself lucky because her reactions are manageable as long as she doesn't eat red meat and is careful around their livestock. But she knows of producers with alpha-gal who've had to leave farming.

KELLY DECKER: My heart breaks for the people who have had to deal with that and have had to go through losing part of their identity from this allergy.

SMITH: Decker says when that happens, the already small community of livestock producers gets even smaller, so she wants to see livestock and farming groups bring more attention to alpha-gal so that producers can navigate this growing issue.

For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Smith in Missouri.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5712784

Science

- NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch: 2026 Mar 12

- Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them: 2026 Mar 12

SPACE | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:33 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

NASA targets Artemis II crewed moon mission for April 1 launch

By Brendan Byrne

ORLANDO — After a critical pre-flight review, NASA is targeting a launch of Artemis II as early as April 1 to send four astronauts on a 10-day mission around the moon and back.

The decision Thursday came after an in-depth flight readiness review, where managers met to discuss the mission. "All the teams polled 'go' to launch and fly Artemis II around the moon," said Lori Glaze, of NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate.

The crew — NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — were at the flight readiness review.

NASA had planned to launch the mission earlier this month, but following a successful fueling test in February, engineers discovered an issue with the rocket's helium system, which regulates the pressures in the vehicle's fuel tanks. Mission managers decided to roll the rocket back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center for repairs.

Technicians were able to repair the helium issue by replacing a seal. With the issue now fixed, ground teams plan to move the rocket back to its launch pad on Thursday. "Keep in mind we still have work to go. There are still things that need to be done within the VAB and out at the pad," said Glaze. "And as always, we'll always be guided by what the hardware is telling us and we will launch when we are ready."

Planning for an April 1 launch, the crew will enter quarantine at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on March 18, and make the trip to Florida on March 27.

Artemis II has six days at the start of the month to launch: April 1-6. Once the mission does launch, it will mark the first human mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746128

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CLIMATE | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:30 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them

By Jeff Brady

Easy-to-install solar panels that plug into a regular outlet are getting attention just as Americans are worried about rising energy costs. That's because these plug-in or balcony solar panels start shaving off part of a homeowner's or renter's utility bill right away.

"A year ago, nobody was talking about this," says Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a California nonprofit group that advocates for plug-in solar. The panels are already popular in Germany, where more than 1.2 million of the small plug-in systems are registered with the German government.

For the panels to become more widely available in the U.S., state lawmakers are proposing bills that eliminate complicated utility connection agreements, which are required for larger rooftop solar installations and, most utilities say, should apply to plug-in solar too. Those agreements, along with permitting and other installation costs, can double the price of solar panels.

Utah enacted the first law, last May, supporting plug-in solar, and now some 30 pieces of similar legislation have been introduced around the United States. But the drive toward plug-in solar is facing pushback from electric utilities. They are raising safety concerns and prompting legislators to delay votes on the bills. So far, utilities have won over lawmakers in five states and convinced them to delay votes on plug-in solar bills.

"The safety of our linemen and others that work on that system is a reason that we oppose House Bill 1304," said Emily Pateuk, a lobbyist with Georgia Electric Membership Corp., which represents cooperative utilities. After her comments at a legislative hearing in Georgia last month, the committee chairman declined to hold a vote on the bill until safety questions could be addressed.

Similar bills have been delayed in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming.

Plug-in solar safety

Plug-in solar advocates say that safety concerns about the new technology have been addressed and that utilities are really just worried about losing business, because every kilowatt-hour generated by a plug-in solar panel is one less the utility sells to a customer.

"They don't want anyone messing with their business model," Stryker says. "Kicking up dust regarding safety concerns is definitely a strategy that is being used by people who don't want this for their own self-interested reasons."

NPR asked utilities mentioned in this story, as well as their trade groups, to comment on Stryker's "kicking up dust" allegation, but they did not respond beyond saying that safety and reliability are their primary concerns with plug-in solar.

Stryker also cites climate change as a reason for her solar advocacy. Most electricity in the U.S. is still generated by climate-warming fossil fuels, but solar panels generate power without emitting greenhouse gases.

While the new portable solar panels don't usually deliver enough electricity to power an entire house, they do offer a new source of competition to utilities.

There are safety risks with any electrical appliance, and it's true that plug-in solar panels present some unique problems. But safety experts also say those issues can be managed.

Traditional solar panel systems, which can cost more than $20,000, are bolted to a homeowner's roof. As a result, they're usually not a safety concern for the public because they're not easily accessible. Plug-in panels cost much less and generate enough electricity to power a refrigerator or microwave.

They can sit on a balcony, hang out a window or be set up in a backyard. They collect energy from the sun and then feed electricity into a home through a regular outlet, displacing electricity that otherwise would come in from the grid. That makes them easier to install but also more easily accessible to people who aren't used to being around appliances that generate electricity, where the plug can present more of a shock hazard.

"When you think about an appliance — your toaster, for example — when you unplug it, the appliance is entirely disconnected from the electrical supply," says Ken Boyce, vice president of engineering at UL Solutions (formerly Underwriters Laboratories), which tests products according to safety standards. Plug-in solar generates electricity rather than consumes it. So Boyce says the blades on the end of the plug could shock someone.

That's among the safety issues that UL Solutions considered when it launched a testing and certification program for plug-in solar systems in January. Manufacturers have to come up with designs that resolve the issues before UL Solutions certifies a product that gets the familiar "UL" label.

Lineworker safety during outages

Another issue — the primary concern that utilities have raised with lawmakers — is that during an outage, a panel could continue generating electricity and send the power through a home's wiring and back out to the grid, where it could endanger a lineworker.

"There are ways, from a technological standpoint, to mitigate those potential hazards for utility workers," Boyce says. That's also one of the issues UL Solutions will consider as it tests plug-in solar products for its certification. The Utah law and the other proposals based on it require such certification. But as utilities talk with lawmakers around the country, they continue to highlight concern for lineworkers as a reason to delay new legislation.

"This bill does present a lot of safety concerns to the utilities," Nathan Nicholas, an attorney representing utility company Rocky Mountain Power, told Wyoming lawmakers at a February hearing. Most utilities argue plug-in solar should be subject to the same connection agreements that are required for bigger rooftop solar projects. Nicholas said without that, Rocky Mountain Power wouldn't know where these devices are located or whether they've received UL Solutions certification.

"It takes the safety out of the hands of the utility and puts it on the consumer," Nicholas said. At the Wyoming hearing, plug-in solar supporters explained that the systems stop generating power when the grid is down. Still, lawmakers let the legislation die without taking a vote on it.

German utilities expressed many of the same concerns nearly a decade ago when plug-in solar started to become popular in Germany. But with more than a million systems installed, no safety incidents have been reported for customers who used the panels as instructed, according to a research paper funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Competing kilowatts

In Germany, smaller plug-in panels cost just a few hundred dollars, and customers can recover that in saved energy bills within seven years. The panels should continue to produce power for up to 30 years.

Stryker says plug-in solar took off in Germany once renters were allowed to install the systems, and she sees the potential for a similar trajectory in the United States. But first, she says, Utah-style legislation is needed in more states; such legislation would exempt plug-in solar from the complicated connection agreements with utilities that are required for rooftop solar.

Virginia likely will become the second state to pass a law encouraging plug-in solar. Both chambers in Virginia's legislature passed a bill, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger is expected to sign it.

"We think that as soon as we have legislative change in a handful of states — five or more — we are going to see mass adoption of balcony solar," Stryker says, "because people need a way to reduce their electricity consumption — to lower their bills."

And since the bills require UL Solutions certification, manufacturers will have to get their products through that process. Some already have started to do that.

"We are working with manufacturers. Obviously, in the interests of confidentiality, we can't really talk about which companies those are," Boyce says. But he says certifications are likely to come in months, not years.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5737287

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Climate

- Class-action lawsuit filed after the Potomac sewage spill: 2026 Mar 13

- Countries are negotiating rules to mine the deep sea. The U.S. is pushing ahead alone: 2026 Mar 13

- El Niño is set to take hold this summer, driving up global temperatures: 2026 Mar 12

CLIMATE | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 6:25 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Class-action lawsuit filed after the Potomac sewage spill

By Jeff Brady

A class action lawsuit has been filed after a sewer line collapsed and spilled contaminated water into the Potomac River, near Washington, D.C. In January, the collapsed section of the 72-inch Potomac Interceptor dumped about 243 million gallons of raw sewage into the river.

The suit was filed against DC Water, the utility that manages the line. Dr. Nicholas Lailas, a Virginia physician who is also a recreational boat owner, sued the utility for negligence. He is seeking compensation for people "whose property interests in and use and enjoyment of the Potomac River" were impaired. The case claims the utility should have taken more actions, because it had acknowledged that the sewer line showed signs of corrosion before it collapsed.

"DC Water had 10 years to act to prevent this," Steve W. Berman, managing partner of the firm that filed the case, wrote in a statement. "We seek losses for infrastructure failure, physical contamination and other economic damages for a failure of immense proportions."

In an emailed statement to NPR, a DC Water spokesperson said that it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on ongoing litigation.

The Potomac River incident is among the largest sewage spills in U.S. history, underscoring the risks communities face from aging infrastructure. The Interceptor sewer line system was built in the early 1960s.

After the initial spill, DC Water set up a system of pumps and a steel bulkhead to divert wastewater around the broken section of pipe so crews could repair it. The area's drinking water hasn't been contaminated and an advisory to avoid recreational contact with the water was lifted in the District and most of the rest of the region earlier this month.

After rain and snow delayed repairs to the sewer line on Thursday, crews in Maryland resumed work late in the day. Repairs had to be stopped because precipitation can increase the risk of spreading contamination, according to DC Water.

The utility says on its website that after the rain ended, crews worked overnight to apply a sealant called "geopolymer," which cannot be applied in wet weather. DC Water says this is the final step before returning the wastewater flow to the Potomac Interceptor. There are still longer-term repairs that the utility estimates will take 9 to 10 months to complete.

The Potomac sewage spill highlights a chronic problem facing communities around the United States, Gussie Maguire, Maryland staff scientist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, told NPR in February. Sewer systems, especially those that handle a combination of wastewater and stormwater, often overflow during heavy rains.

The problem is exacerbated by population growth that's straining aging infrastructure. Climate change is also a factor, Maguire said, because as temperatures rise, storms dump more rain in shorter periods of time, overwhelming sewer and stormwater systems.

"The intensity is a really important part of it," Maguire said, adding: "It is absolutely a climate problem that will continue to get worse."

President Trump approved emergency federal assistance last month, after criticizing how local leaders handled the spill. Now scientists and environmental advocates are watching for longer-term damage from the spill, in a watershed that stretches to the Chesapeake Bay.

"243 million gallons of sewage just doesn't go away," says Dean Naujoks, with the nonprofit Potomac Riverkeeper Network. Bacteria don't thrive in cold water, but the weather is starting to warm. "We're concerned about potential algae blooms and fish kills this summer," Naujoks says.

Michael Copley contributed reporting to this story

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5746783

CLIMATE | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 6:50 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Countries are negotiating rules to mine the deep sea. The U.S. is pushing ahead alone

By Lauren Sommer

More than 10,000 feet deep in the ocean, the seafloor is covered with what look like dark, lumpy potatoes.

These polymetallic nodules, as they're known, take millions of years to form, slowly accumulating metals like nickel, cobalt and manganese. That's made them a target for mining companies, looking to feed the world's growing hunger for materials that go into advanced batteries and other technologies.

On the seafloor, the nodules are vital habitat, part of a fragile ecosystem of marine species that are adapted to the dark, cold environment. With the majority of life in the deep sea still undiscovered by humans, many scientists say too little is known about damage that mining could cause.

Interest in mining the deep sea is gaining momentum. This week, dozens of countries are meeting in Jamaica to develop rules that would govern the growing rush. The International Seabed Authority, created under a United Nations treaty, is overseeing the development of those rules for international waters, which are shared by all countries.

The U.S. has opted out of the process and is moving ahead on its own in international waters. Last year, President Trump signed an executive order to develop the seabed mining industry "to counter China's growing influence over seabed mineral resources." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently sped up the environmental review process, a move that alarmed conservation groups.

"This is a brand new industry globally and yet, we're cutting down all these procedures for really thinking it through and deciding whether it's a good idea or not," says Rebecca Loomis, staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Vacuuming deep sea nodules

All types of mining have an environmental impact. Deep-sea mining companies are trying to make the case that their methods do the least damage.

"There's always going to be risk – where is that minimized?" says Michael Clarke, environmental manager for The Metals Company. "My opinion is: that's in the deep ocean."

The Metals Company is pushing to be the first to commercially harvest deep sea minerals at large-scale. While many countries have explored potential mining sites, the company has filed applications with U.S. regulators to bring up from 3 million to 20 million tons of polymetallic nodules per year over a 20-year lease. Its sights are on the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a large stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico.

"What we're proposing is that we basically build a large vacuum cleaner that crawls along the seabed and picks these nodules up," Clarke says. "It sucks these nodules up and sends them up a pipe vertically to a vessel that's on the surface."

Securing a mining permit requires understanding the environmental impact, something that's challenging for deep-sea mining companies given how little the depths of the ocean have been explored. The Metals Company asked scientists from research organizations like the University of Hawaii, the U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre and its Natural History Museum to study their sites both before and after test mining was conducted. The scientists analyzed and published their findings independently of the company.

Removing nodules from the ocean floor disturbs the silty seabed that's home to many organisms, like worms and small crustaceans, the scientists found. Researchers at the UK's Natural History Museum and other institutions found that two months after mining, the abundance of species was reduced by 37 percent. The biodiversity also decreased by 32 percent. The company has not been able to study how those species recovered longer-term.

Clarke says those numbers aren't as severe as the impact from mining projects currently damaging ecosystems on land, like where he's previously worked in the Indonesian rainforest.

"Go and look at that and then compare that to what we're proposing," Clarke says. "There are still going to be impacts, but they're nowhere near as significant as what's happening at the moment."

Life in the deep sea

Other scientists say the impact of deep-sea mining is far from understood.

"It's a bit of a fallacy that there's not much down there, it's not very important and our impact is going to be restricted to a small area," says Steve Haddock, senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Deep sea expeditions regularly come across creatures that haven't been described by science. One study found that around 90 percent of species in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone are unknown. Haddock says those animals have found a way to survive in one of the most extreme environments on the planet. In the darkness, many make their own light with bioluminescence.

"The creatures down there are not ugly and scary and grotesque," Haddock says. "I just think they're incredibly beautiful. So it's kind of a shame to think about destroying things that we don't even know about."

Life in the deep ocean also holds potential for benefitting human health. Researchers are currently developing cancer drugs derived from deep sea animals and microbes.

"We don't know what the value of all of those lifeforms and their genetic resources are for future generations of humans," says Antje Boetius, marine scientist and president of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. "We cannot predict if one of the microorganisms we might lose, will that be the cancer cure? Will that be an amazing source of bioinspiration for antibiotics?"

Some organisms also need polymetallic nodules to survive, which on the muddy, silty bottom, provide some rare real estate. The hard surfaces allow organisms to attach themselves. One example is Casper, a translucent octopus discovered 10 years ago that has yet to receive a scientific name. Researchers found it lays its eggs on the stalk of a sea sponge growing on a nodule.

The Metals Company has yet to study the impact on the approximately 20 to 30 percent of deep-sea life that depends on nodules. It says its operations don't harvest all the nodules in its mining areas, leaving about 5 percent behind. Some areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone are also being set aside by the International Seabed Authority for protection.

After the nodules are gathered, deep-sea mining has another potential impact: extra sediment. After the material is pumped up to the ship, the Metals Company releases it back into the ocean, creating large, muddy underwater plumes. A study from the University of Hawaii found that could impact the larger food web, because it interferes with marine life that survives by filtering tiny plankton from the water to eat. That food chain eventually feeds larger marine life like tuna.

"There's all these connections that we're just scratching the surface of," Haddock says. "It goes all the way up to things the people care about like whales and turtles and fish that might be on their dinner places."

The Metals Company says as a result of those findings, it plans to release the sediment plume deeper in the ocean at around 6,000 feet, where it expects it not to have as large of an impact.

Mining in international waters

With growing interest globally in deep-sea mining, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is developing rules for how countries lease and commercially mine international waters. That process has been ongoing for more than a decade. Several countries, including China, already have permits to explore and test seabed mining sites under the ISA.

The U.S. is opting not to follow that framework. The country hasn't ratified the international treaty that established the ISA, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, though it has followed ISA standards in the past.

Instead, the Trump administration is reviewing permits to mine in international waters. In January, NOAA announced that it would expedite those permits. Previously, mining companies applied to explore mining sites and then applied to commercially mine them based on their findings, completing an environmental review at each step. Now, companies can apply to both explore and mine in one step, as the Metals Company did in January.

Conservation groups say that substantially cuts down on the environmental review process.

"Because it's a brand new industry, it makes it exponentially more risky to cut off opportunities for analysis and public input," Loomis says.

NOAA declined to be interviewed, but replied in a statement that "the process allows mining companies to more efficiently obtain permits and licenses, facilitating the establishment of an economically vital supply of rare earths for the United States."

The Trump administration is also considering opening up mining around American Samoa and Guam, a move that alarmed local leaders who say they're not being consulted.

Going outside the international framework could pose a risk to the U.S., which relies on international cooperation from other countries around rules for shipping and fishing.

"We rely on these customary ocean laws so other countries don't violate norms around things like fishing," Loomis says. "So the US is really undermining its own interests by being the first mover in deep-sea mining and going against this international consensus."

NOAA is now reviewing permits from The Metals Company, which is currently drafting environmental impact reports for that process. The company hopes to start commercially mining the deep sea next year.

Clarification

Mar. 13th, 2026

A previous version of this story stated that the Metals Company plans to mine more than a million tons of nodules. The number has been clarified as ranging from 3 million to 20 million tons per year.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5736150

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CLIMATE | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 9:01 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

El Niño is set to take hold this summer, driving up global temperatures

By Lauren Sommer, Rebecca Hersher

Heard on All Things Considered

A potentially strong El Niño weather pattern will likely emerge this summer and persist through the rest of the year, according to the latest official forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Forecasters estimate there is a 62% chance that El Niño will emerge between June and August. El Niño occurs when trade winds weaken, allowing vast volumes of warm ocean water to move from the Eastern Pacific toward the Americas.

"Even though the evidence is still early, this could be a very significant event in 2026 and lingering into 2027," says Daniel Swain, climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

A strong El Niño would drive up average global temperatures. The hottest years on record generally occur in years when El Niño is active, because El Niño occurs when the Eastern Pacific is hotter than usual.

"Its function in the global earth system is to release heat from the deeper oceans that has been temporarily stored there," Swain says. "El Niño allows that subducted heat to be unearthed."

That dynamic played out in a big way in 2023 and 2024, when a long, strong El Niño pattern helped shatter global temperature records. 2023 smashed the record for the hottest year ever recorded on Earth, only to be surpassed by temperatures in 2024.

"If a strong El Niño does develop, it'll boost temperatures in 2026 a bit, but it will have a particularly large effect on temperatures in 2027 and put that year on track to probably be the warmest year on record after 2024," says Zeke Hausfather, research scientist at Berkeley Earth and climate research lead at technology company Stripe.

El Niño, which is a natural cyclic fluctuation, is just one driver of such record-breaking heat. Human-caused global warming from burning fossil fuels is the main reason that the planet is warming. Even without El Niño, last year was in the top three hottest years on record.

El Niño also affects regional weather patterns around the world. The Southern United States often sees more rain and cooler temperatures, which can help control droughts and tamp down wildfire activity.

However, the Southwest is in the grip of such a severe drought that one year of wetter weather will not be enough to fully replenish reservoirs, according to a new analysis by the National Integrated Drought Information System. And the extra global heat from El Niño can drive more severe droughts in other parts of the world.

On the other side of the U.S., El Niño makes it harder for hurricanes to form in the Atlantic Ocean, so they often coincide with less severe hurricane seasons. However, El Niño offers limited protection, since it only takes one major storm making landfall to cause catastrophic damage, and climate change has caused temperatures in the Atlantic to soar, providing more fuel for storms that do form. And El Niño does nothing to temper storms that form in the Pacific.

Swain says El Niño's regional patterns are its most dangerous effects. "It does mean more heat waves and tangibly warmer temperatures, but maybe the more important thing is what it means for everything else: more energy for storms, heavier downpours, more intensive droughts, more extreme wildfires."

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Federal forecasters say that an El Niño is likely to develop later this year. It's a weather pattern that raises temperatures globally. Combine that with climate change and new records could be set. Lauren Sommer reports from NPR's climate desk.

LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: Along the equator, the Pacific Ocean is abnormally warm right now. That could soon shift the planet into an El Niño, a cycle that has global impacts.

DANIEL SWAIN: There are some growing signs that a quite substantial, if not very strong, El Niño event could potentially be brewing.

SOMMER: Daniel Swain is a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. He says El Niño is a natural cycle the planet goes through - a way that the ocean is connected to the atmosphere.

SWAIN: Its function in the global Earth system is to release heat from the deeper ocean.

SOMMER: So years with an El Niño are generally hotter than normal. And these days, temperatures are already hotter because of climate change. Emissions from burning fossil fuels have made the planet about 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer on average since the industrial revolution. 2024, the hottest year on record, was an El Niño year.

SWAIN: Global warming is giving more energy to the whole system to be unearthed by these El Niño events when they occur.

SOMMER: And Swain says that doesn't just mean more heat waves.

SWAIN: Maybe the more important thing is what it means for everything else in terms of more energy potentially for storms, heavier downpours, more intensive droughts, more extreme wildfires.

SOMMER: Federal forecasters say the El Niño is likely to develop this summer, but it wouldn't peak until later on. Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, says that could lead to some new records.

ZEKE HAUSFATHER: If a strong El Niño does develop, it'll boost temperatures in 2026 a bit, but it'll have a particularly large effect on temperatures in 2027. And it is likely that 2027 will be the warmest year on record.

SOMMER: Hausfather says there are also signs that climate change is accelerating. The Earth is heating up faster now than it was a few decades ago, and that's like adding a permanent super El Niño to the planet every decade. Lauren Sommer, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745008

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Education

- This tale of a Chicago school book ban was inspired by true events: 2026 Mar 12

BOOK REVIEWS | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 1:36 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

This tale of a Chicago school book ban was inspired by true events

By Tahneer Oksman

There's a famous scene in Betty Smith's bestselling coming-of-age novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in which Smith describes the relationship her protagonist, 11-year-old Francie Nolan, has with her local public library: "Francie thought that all the books in the world were in that library and she had a plan about reading all the books in the world."

I couldn't help but think of little Francie Nolan – who, like Smith, grew up in the tenements of Brooklyn in the early 20th century and aimed, as a young girl, to read every book she could find – as I tore through librarian Jarrett Dapier's debut young adult graphic novel, Wake Now in the Fire. The book, illustrated by AJ Dungo, is a fictionalized account of real-life events. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) suddenly restricted access to Marjane Satrapi's memoir, Persepolis, without explanation of its decision-making process, in some of the school system's classrooms. This now world-famous autobiographical work, told in comics, tells the story of a young girl and her family as they endure and witness the struggle and violence of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and all that comes after.

Fictional high schooler Aditi, one of the central characters in Dapier's book, identifies with little Marji, Persepolis' precocious, head-strong narrator and protagonist. Like many other students at her high school, Aditi is powerfully affected by the book ban. She describes her experience of moving from Mumbai to Chicago, where the bulk of Wake Now takes place, in terms of her interactions with public libraries. As a young girl in Mumbai, she is allowed to take out only a single book a day. She gets around this strict rule by checking one book out first thing in the morning, reading as quickly and diligently as possible, then returning to take out a new book once the librarians have changed shifts at noon. When Aditi moves to Chicago, a relocation her parents make in part to protect their family's freedoms, she is astounded to learn that she can check out up to 30 books at a time.

Like Satrapi's young alter-ego, Aditi, too, has strong-willed parents who encourage their daughter to "think for myself. To learn, and to be free." But the focus in Dapier's work, as in Satrapi's, is not so much on the actions of adults as it is on the effects of those actions on young people and their reactions. In preparation for the book – which stemmed in part from a graduate thesis paper Dapier wrote – the author interviewed students at Lane Technical College Preparatory High School in Chicago. This is the school that acted as the basis for the fictionalized high school in the book. The students at Lane Tech were at the frontlines of reporting on and resisting the Persepolis ban. Indeed two seniors, who were at the center of many related activities at the time, appeared in a March 2013 episode of Chicago Tonight to eloquently summarize what this experience had meant to them and why they had chosen, essentially for the first time in their lives, to organize a protest in response to events. "It's time for us to have our voices heard," senior Katie McDermott told the press.

The plot of Wake Now in the Fire moves seamlessly between different characters, students affected in all sorts of ways by the pulling of the book. The student journalists investigate CPS' actions, focusing, too, on gathering impact statements from as many students and teachers as they can find, and disseminating that information to the wider public. Meanwhile, members of the banned book club at school, among others, plan actions, like a walk out, to demonstrate their objection to the CPS order. Others, like Aditi, find themselves newly invested in taking on leadership roles in their communities. But these are high schoolers, too, who are dealing with all the issues and conflicts that unfold in day-to-day life. They worry about their grades and getting into college; they struggle with family matters; they bicker with one another even as they are learning together how to turn frustration and anger into peaceful, and meaningful, action. Ultimately, in the novel as in life, Persepolis was allowed to remain in CPS libraries, and teachers, with required additional training, can teach the book in 8-10 grade classrooms. The book remains forbidden in CPS classrooms below eighth grade, due to concerns about depictions of violence.

Dapier, in an author's note, notes how the pulling of the book in 2013 "foreshadows our current moment," when, according to the American Library Association, targeted attempts to censor books continue to grow. "Censoring literature," one character in the book, a teacher, explains, "is often where oppression starts." At the same time, young people, in Iran as well as in the U.S., have energetically, and often at great risk to themselves, taken to the streets in order to stand up for their rights. Through these actions, there's a sense of melding into something bigger than oneself – "beautiful disappearances," as one character in the book describes it.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn's Francie Nolan found solace, joy, and possibility in the books she freely took out of the library, then read at her leisure in the shade of an ailanthus tree. Countless readers over the years have identified with the power of that scene. And today, countless young people bravely continue the fight for their rights to have access to such powerful scenes and stories.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5744667

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CULTURE | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 6:17 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Kennedy Center president departs – months before the art complex's scheduled closing

By Anastasia Tsioulcas

President Trump announced Friday afternoon on his Truth Social platform that Richard Grenell, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany, is leaving his position at the head of the Kennedy Center before it closes for scheduled renovations in July.

Trump,, who has been chairman of the Kennedy Center since Feb. 2025, said that he is promoting Matt Floca, the center's current vice president of operations, to chief operating officer and executive director. Grenell's departure comes about three months before the Kennedy Center is set to close for renovations, which President Trump has said would take two years.

As NPR reported last month, the renovations as detailed in an internal memo include some facility repairs and cosmetic changes, including to public spaces that were just renovated two years ago. In his Truth Social posting Friday, the president repeated his claim that the renovations will be a "complete reconstruction" of the complex.

Grenell, who served as the center's president, has a reputation as a Trump loyalist and has frequently deplored what he has called "leftist activists" in the arts. During Grenell's tenure, which began as interim executive director in Feb. 2025, the Kennedy Center has experienced intense tumult. Numerous prominent artists have canceled their performances and presentations. One of the center's core tenants, the Washington National Opera, severed its relationship with the Kennedy Center last month. Many longtime staff members have departed. Ticket sales have plummeted.

Grenell, who had no prior arts administration experience prior to his Kennedy Center appointment, told PBS NewsHour in January, "We cannot have arts institutions that lose money." He insisted that productions at the Kennedy Center needed to be revenue generators or at least revenue-neutral – a non-starter in the performing arts, in which large legacy institutions generally depend on a balance of earned revenue, philanthropic giving and some amount of government grants.

Last November, Senate Democrats opened an investigation against Grenell, accusing him and the current Kennedy Center leadership of cronyism and corruption, citing "millions in lost revenue, luxury spending and preferential treatment for Trump allies." Grenell denied the allegations in an open letter posted to social media on the official Kennedy Center accounts, which has since been removed.

In his Truth Social post, President Trump praised Grenell, writing: "Ric Grenell has done an excellent job in helping to coordinate various elements of the Center during the transition period, and I want to thank him for the outstanding work he has done."

News of his departure was first reported Friday by Axios.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5747149

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TV REVIEWS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 12:07 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

'Scarpetta' is a captivating murder mystery — and a high-wire balancing act

By David Bianculli

Heard on Fresh Air

In Scarpetta, the new mystery series now streaming on Prime Video, Nicole Kidman plays medical examiner Kay Scarpetta — but she isn't the only one portraying the character.

The narrative in Scarpetta unfolds as two different mysteries from two different timelines, and shifts between them like cards being shuffled in a deck. One timeline, in the present, has Kidman as Kay, returning to her old job after a long time off, and instantly faced with a baffling set of murders. The other timeline, from 1998, shows a younger Kay taking the job as chief medical examiner for the first time — and being hit with a serial murder case then, too.

In scenes from the past, Kay is played by a different actress, Rosy McEwen, who matches Kidman's mannerisms and demeanor perfectly. It's a high-wire balancing act, also required of almost all the other young actors, who manage to mirror their more mature counterparts convincingly and entertainingly.

That's not an easy task, because the actors in the current timeline are major players, delivering excellent, wide-ranging performances. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Kay's flamboyant sister, Dorothy, author of a popular series of children's books. Bobby Cannavale plays plain-speaking, quick-tempered homicide detective Pete Marino, and Simon Baker plays cerebral FBI profiler Benton Wesley.

All of these movie stars have done exceptionally well on television: Baker on The Mentalist, Cannavale on Boardwalk Empire, Curtis on The Bear and Kidman in a string of small-screen triumphs, including Nine Perfect Strangers, The Perfect Couple and Big Little Lies.

When Kidman and Curtis share the screen, which is often, it's incendiary. As youngsters, Kay witnessed their father's death during a robbery — one of many differences between the two sisters.

Scarpetta is based on a series of novels by best-selling author Patricia Cornwell, who's written 29 stories to date built around Kay Scarpetta. The modern parts of this first-season story — a follow-up second season already has been ordered — are inspired by Autopsy, the 25th book in her series. The murder mystery set in the past is from Cornwell's very first Scarpetta novel, Postmortem, from 1990.

Liz Sarnoff, the writer-producer who developed this for television, combines them both, in a format that demands close attention — but rewards it, too. And she has experience writing for some extremely smart TV series, including ABC's Lost and HBO's Deadwood and Barry.

Sarnoff, working with a pool of directors and other writers, delivers solid mysteries in both storylines, as well as an intriguing subplot involving emotional dependence on an AI-generated personality. But it's the characters, not the clues, that make Scarpetta so captivating. The veteran actors are rock-solid — Cannavale, especially, is terrific — and so are their younger counterparts. In one bit of very effective casting, the younger version of Cannavale's detective is played by the actor's own son, Jake.

I realize this whole series structure sounds complicated. And it is. But it's rewarding, too. I've seen all eight episodes, and the plots and the characters really hold up. And I haven't even mentioned Ariana DeBose, another major name in this production, who plays Dorothy's daughter. Or Amanda Righetti, who plays Dorothy in the flashback scenes. There's a lot to applaud here, and a lot to absorb. And with Prime Video streaming the entire series at once, you can gobble it up as fast as you can, to help keep things straight, just like a good novel. Or two good novels.

Transcript

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm TV critic David Bianculli. Nicole Kidman is an executive producer of, as well as the main star of "Scarpetta," the new eight-part mystery series now streaming in its entirety on Prime Video. She plays Virginia medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. But in this ambitiously-structured drama, Kidman isn't the only one playing her. This narrative unfolds as two different mysteries from two different timelines - and shifts between them like cards being shuffled in a deck. One timeline - in the present - has Kidman as Kay returning to her old job after a long time off and instantly faced with a baffling set of murders. The other timeline - from decades earlier in 1998 - shows a younger Kay taking the job as chief medical examiner for the first time - and being hit with a serial murder case then, too.

In these scenes from the past, Kay is played by a different actress, Rosy McEwen, who matches Kidman's mannerisms and demeanor perfectly. It's a high-wire balancing act, also required of almost all the other young actors who manage to mirror their more mature counterparts convincingly and entertainingly. And that's not an easy task, because the actors in the current timeline are major players, delivering excellent, wide-ranging performances. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Kay's flamboyant sister Dorothy, author of a popular series of children's books.

Bobby Cannavale plays plain-speaking, quick-tempered homicide detective Pete Marino, and Simon Baker plays cerebral FBI profiler Benton Wesley. All of these movie stars have done exceptionally well on television. Baker on "The Mentalist," Cannavale on "Boardwalk Empire," Jamie Lee Curtis on "The Bear," and Nicole Kidman in a string of small screen triumphs, including "Nine Perfect Strangers," "The Perfect Couple," and "Big Little Lies.

When Nicole and Jamie Lee share the screen - which is often - it's incendiary. As youngsters, Kay witnessed their father's death during a robbery, one of many differences between the two sisters.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SCARPETTA")

NICOLE KIDMAN: (As Kay) We will literally fight about anything. Anything. A song ...

JAMIE LEE CURTIS: (As Dorothy) Right.

KIDMAN: (As Kay) ...From our childhood.

CURTIS: (As Dorothy) Because...

KIDMAN: (As Kay) I mean, you...

CURTIS: (As Dorothy) ...Fighting is the idioma, the language of siblings.

KIDMAN: (As Kay) We could try and not be so threatened by each other.

CURTIS: (As Dorothy) I am not threatened by you. (Laughter) I am not threatened...

KIDMAN: (As Kay) Forget it.

CURTIS: (As Dorothy) ...By you. No, listen, I couldn't do your day. Not one day. Not one day. No, no, no, you win. Just the thought of being in proximity of a dead body, it just - it would destroy my brain space with dread. No, no, no.

KIDMAN: (As Kay) Maybe if I hadn't seen death at such a young age, I would have had some broader career choices. Just maybe.

BIANCULLI: "Scarpetta" is based on a series of novels by bestselling author Patricia Cornwell, who's written 29 stories to date, built around Kay Scarpetta. The modern parts of this first season story - a follow-up second season already has been ordered - are inspired by "Autopsy," the 25th book in her series. The murder mystery set in the past is from Cornwell's very first Scarpetta novel, "Postmortem" from 1990. Liz Sarnoff, the writer producer who developed this for television, combines them both in a format that demands close attention - but rewards it, too.

And she not only has experience writing for such medical mystery shows as "Bones," but also for some extremely smart TV series over the years, including ABC's "Lost" and HBO's "Deadwood" and "Barry." Sarnoff, working with a pool of directors and other writers, delivers solid mysteries in both storylines, as well as an intriguing subplot involving emotional dependence on an AI-generated personality. But it's the characters, not the clues, that make "Scarpetta" so captivating. The veteran actors are rock solid. Bobby Cannavale, especially, is terrific, and so are their younger counterparts.

In one bit of very effective casting, the younger version of Cannavale's detective Pete Marino is played by the actor's own son, Jake. Here he is in a scene where the younger Kay, played by Rosy McEwen, interrupts homicide detective Pete and the younger FBI profiler Benton, played by Hunter Parrish. They're discussing the profile of their suspected killer, and Pete is a lot less enamored of all the hypotheticals than his colleagues.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SCARPETTA")

ROSY MCEWEN: (As young Kay) You guys always fight like this?

SIMON BAKER: (As young Benton) No.

JACOB LUMET CANNAVALE: (As young Pete) Yes.

BAKER: (As young Benton) VICAP yokes a bureau profiler with a homicide detective.

CANNAVALE: (As young Pete) Yeah, so we can learn about serial killers and psycho twaddle, and it can get tougher, funnier, and handsomer.

MCEWEN: (As young Kay) How does Lori Petersen affect your profile?

BAKER: (As young Benton) This guy, someone you might not look at twice. Well-functioning. Probably has some type of menial job, a construction worker.

CANNAVALE: (As young Pete) Like an all-average, all-American Joe?

BAKER: (As young Benton) Labor-related occupation, I suppose, but above average in intelligence.

CANNAVALE: (As young Pete) That's shocking.

BAKER: (As young Benton) No, the best part for him is the antecedent phase. The fantasy plan right after he becomes aware of her, when he's fueled by obsession.

MCEWEN: (As young Kay) Yeah, my sense is he's a sadist.

BIANCULLI: I realize this whole series structure sounds complicated, and it is. But it's rewarding, too. I've seen all eight episodes, and the plots and the characters really hold up. And I haven't even mentioned Ariana DeBose - another major name in this production - who plays the daughter of Jamie Lee Curtis's Dorothy. Or Amanda Righetti, who plays Dorothy in the flashback scenes. There's a lot to applaud here and a lot to absorb. And the way Prime Video is streaming it, you can gobble it up as fast as you can to help keep things straight, just like a good novel - or two good novels.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING")

NANCY SINATRA: (Singing) You keep saying you got something for me. Something you call love, but confess. You been a messing where you shouldn't have been messing. And now someone else is getting all your best. These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you. Yeah. You keep lying when you ought to be truthing. And you keep losing when you ought to not bet. You keep saming when you ought to be changing. Now, what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet. These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

BIANCULLI: Coming up, critic-at-large John Powers reviews the Netflix series, "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast" by the creator of the "Derry Girls." This is FRESH AIR.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745941

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TV REVIEWS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 11:44 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

'Derry Girls' creator returns with a gleeful riff on the murder mystery

By John Powers

Heard on Fresh Air

When I first discovered stories as a kid, I was in love with plot. I was thrilled by the way that everything could slide so neatly into place. But as I watched and read more, the thrill began to vanish. Plots began to feel like freeways: great for moving you along efficiently, but all pretty much the same. And, in truth, you can't see much of life from them. You're better off on the streets, back roads and alleyways.

Someone who grasps this is Lisa McGee, the Northern Irish screenwriter who had an international hit with Derry Girls, a beloved teen comedy series set during the violent Troubles of the late 1990s. This time out, McGee has turned her unruly sensibility to a crime show. The result — Netflix's How to Get to Heaven from Belfast — is a madcap riff on the murder mystery. Vastly entertaining and flagrantly Irish, the show serves up so many different tones that it's like watching one of those performers who can juggle a chainsaw, a puppy and a bowl of jello while playing a banjo with their teeth.

The story centers on three late-30s Belfast women who've been friends since going to Catholic school together. There's Saoirse (Roísín Gallagher), a tireless fantasist who created a hit cop show that even she thinks is stupid. Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) is a bossy, foul-mouthed bourgeois mother of three — imagine an Irish Reese Witherspoon. And there's Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), a lovelorn lesbian who's stuck as her mother's caregiver. She might seem like a drip, except that Dunne gives her the quiet drollery of a Buster Keaton or Stan Laurel.

The three hear about the death of their estranged school friend Greta with whom they have long shared a dark, potentially ruinous secret. And so they head down to scenic County Donegal to pay their respects. But they quickly realize there's something suspicious about Greta's death.

At Saoirse's urging — she writes crime shows, after all — they begin to dig. Naturally, trouble follows. Soon they're dealing with everyone from an enigmatically murderous outlaw named Booker to Liam, a member of the Irish Garda, or police, who they fear will learn their secret.

Now, I worry this description may make the show sound like a cosily routine murder mystery. It is anything but. As the show leaps between past and present, our heroines rocket from one loony scene to the next. They see ghosts. They have car crashes (yes, more than one). They find themselves in funerals, five-star Portuguese resorts, abandoned lighthouses, yachts, golf carts, jails, religious processions and country and western nights at a pub where women dress as Dolly Parton — not to mention a St. Patrick Day's parade bursting with the screwball exuberance of a Preston Sturges movie.

The opening episodes of How to Get to Heaven from Belfast are so gleefully freewheeling that it's a tad disappointing when later on it serves up some obligatory crime show stuff — you know, explaining the crime, drawing a moral, etc. The show is at its best when it's most anarchic.

Luckily, McGee is less interested in the creaky mechanisms of mystery plotting than in conjuring up a giddily surreal world, one that weds some of David Lynch's sense of teenage darkness to an antic comic style akin to the Marx Brothers. The show is teeming with garrulous Irish folk whose dialogue just sings. None more so than Robyn, niftily played by Keenan, a buzzing beehive of a woman who fires off obscene and blasphemous lines like a rapper.

The glue that holds all the lunacy together is the decades-old friendship of its heroines. Here are women who know how to annoy, wound and manipulate each other. They bicker hilariously. Although they've grown up and gone their separate ways, they're still living out feelings and experiences they shared back when they were teens in their school uniforms, a period to which the show keeps flashing back.

We see the adult Saoirse, Robyn and Dara in their younger selves, each living out a destiny that feels almost pre-ordained, both in its trajectory and its frustrations. With devoutly unsentimental Irish good cheer, McGee reminds us that they carry the past with them always.

Transcript

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. The Netflix series "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast" is a comic mystery about three longtime friends investigating the death of another mutual old friend. The show was created by Lisa McGee, who brought us the cult hit "Derry Girls." Our critic-at-large, John Powers, says he was a bit slow getting to the series, which dropped last month, but he found it such rollicking fun that he simply had to praise it.

JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: When I first discovered stories as a kid, I was in love with plot. I was thrilled by the way that everything could slide so neatly into place. But as I watched and read more, the thrill began to vanish. Plots began to feel like freeways - great for moving you along efficiently, but all pretty much the same. And in truth, you can't see much of life from there. You're better off on the streets, back roads and alleyways.

Someone who grasps this is Lisa McGee, the Northern Irish screenwriter who had an international hit with "Derry Girls," a beloved teen comedy series set during the violent Troubles of the late-'90s. This time out, McGee has turned her unruly sensibility to a crime show. The result, Netflix's "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast," is a madcap riff on the murder mystery. Vastly entertaining and flagrantly Irish, the show serves up so many different tones that it's like watching one of those performers who can juggle a chainsaw, a puppy and a bowl of Jell-O while playing a banjo with their teeth.

The story centers on three late 30s Belfast women who've been friends since going to Catholic school together. There's Saoirse, played by Roisin Gallagher, a tireless fantasist who created a hit cop show that even she thinks is stupid. There's Robyn - that's Sinead Keenan - a bossy, foul-mouthed, bourgeois mother of three. Imagine an Irish Reese Witherspoon. And there's Dara, played by Caoilfhionn Dunne, a lovelorn lesbian who might seem like a drip - she's stuck caring for her mom - except that Dunne gives her the quiet drollery of a Buster Keaton or Stan Laurel.

The three hear about the death of their estranged school friend, Greta, with whom they have long shared a dark, potentially ruinous secret. And so they head down to scenic County Donegal to pay their respects. But they quickly realize there's something suspicious about Greta's death. At Saoirse's urging - she writes crime shows, after all - they begin to dig. Naturally, trouble follows. Soon they're dealing with everyone from Booker - she's an enigmatically murderous outlaw - to Liam, a member of the Irish Garda, or police, who they fear will learn their secret.

Now, I worry this description may make the show sound like a cozily routine murder mystery. It's anything but. As the show leaps between past and present, our heroines rocket from one loony scene to the next. They see ghosts. They have car crashes - yes, more than one. They find themselves in funerals, five-star Portuguese resorts, abandoned lighthouses, yachts, golf carts, jails, religious processions, country and western nights at a pub where women dress as Dolly Parton. Not to mention, a St. Patrick's Day parade bursting with the screwball exuberance of a Preston Sturges movie.

Here, fleeing the menacing Booker, they hide in a line of people queuing up to see the Irish equivalent of "The Tonight Show." Saoirse doesn't want to go in, but Robyn explains why they have to, then bluffs the woman who's taking the tickets.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST")

SINEAD KEENAN: (As Robyn) She can't kill us on live TV.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) OK, can you guys move aside, please?

KEENAN: (As Robyn) We don't have tickets because these are the competition winners.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) What are you talking about?

KEENAN: (As Robyn) Should be on your list. Jesus, I emailed about this yesterday. What list are you working from? Who put you on the door?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Kara.

KEENAN: (As Robyn) Oh, typical. Aye. Well, tell me that you at least held some house seats back?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Yeah, of course. Always.

KEENAN: (As Robyn) Good. So shall we?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Tickets?

KEENAN: (As Robyn) Seen a lot of "30 Rock."

POWERS: The opening episodes of "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast" are so gleefully freewheeling that it's a tad disappointing when later on, it serves up some obligatory crime show stuff. You know, explaining the murder, drawing a moral, et cetera. The show is at its best when it's most anarchic. Luckily, McGee is less interested in the creaky mechanisms of mystery plotting than in conjuring up a giddily surreal world, one that weds some of David Lynch's sense of teenage darkness to an anti-comic style akin to the Marx Brothers.

The show is teeming with garrulous Irish folk whose crazy dialogue just sings. None more so than Robyn, niftily played by Keenan, a buzzing beehive of a woman who fires off obscene and blasphemous lines like a rapper. The glue that holds all the lunacy together is the decades-old friendship of its heroines. Here are women who know how to annoy, wound and manipulate each other. They bicker hilariously.

Although they've grown up and gone their separate ways, they're still living out feelings and experiences they shared back when they were teens in their school uniforms, a period to which the show keeps flashing back. We see the adult Saoirse, Robyn and Dara in their younger selves, each living out a destiny that feels almost preordained both in its trajectory and its frustrations. With devoutly unsentimental, Irish good cheer, McGee reminds us that they carry the past with them always.

BIANCULLI: John Powers reviewed the Netflix series "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast." On Monday's show, a new book about Stephen Sondheim draws on archives and letters that offer new insights into his music, his relationship with his collaborators and his often toxic relationship with his mother, including the letter she wrote to him that's known to Sondheim fans as the letter. We'll talk with the author, Daniel Okrent. Join us.

(SOUNDBITE OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S "LAST MIDNIGHT (INSTRUMENTAL)")

BIANCULLI: To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @nprfreshair. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@thisisfreshair. We're rolling out new videos with in-studio guests, behind-the-scenes shorts and iconic interviews from the archive.

FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. Our senior producer today is Roberta Shorrock. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support by Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld and Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm David Bianculli.

(SOUNDBITE OF STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S "LAST MIDNIGHT (INSTRUMENTAL)")

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745900

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CULTURE | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 9:50 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Giant robots battle it out in Detroit's Robowar

By Neda Ulaby

Heard on All Things Considered

In the back of a church in an anonymous stretch of 7 Mile in Detroit dotted with industrial lots and fast food stores, performers dressed as giant robots battle it out in front of a live audience behind bullet-proof glass.

"We have these nine foot tall metal gladiators that shoot exploding projectiles at 20 rounds a second," says Art Cartwright, the impresario who founded both the church, Global Empowerment Ministries, and the organization behind the robot show, The Interactive Combat League.

The show, running every few months, is called Robowar. Cartwright's two enterprises have little to do with each other, he says, save for sharing space and introducing members of his community to potential employment in robotics.

"Metropolitian Detroit right now leads the nation in robotics," Cartwright says. "We have more robots than any other place in America."

But the gleaming, glowing-eyed stars of the Interactive Combat League are nothing like industrial robots that help assemble automobiles. They are played by humans wearing what might be considered mech suits. Robots fighting each other as entertainment is a cultural fantasy that goes back at least to 1956, when Richard Matheson's short story "Steel" was published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. It was adapted into a 1963 episode on the TV show The Twilight Zone, and helped inspire the 2011 movie, Real Steel.

"I'm a Marvel fan," Cartwright says. "So I'm like, okay, let's make some robots that look like superheroes."

Robowar has been selling out shows in its 572 seat auditorium since it launched last summer, and has attracted admiring national coverage. Tickets start at around $50. Cartwright says he eventually plans to stage online interactive robot fights where remote viewers control the action by buying virtual tokens. He says he's created AI personas for robots representing 30 different cities, from Boston to Los Angeles.

"They talk cash money trash," he chuckles.

Robowar also features real robots — robot dogs and child-sized humanoids that dance and pose for pictures. Cartwright bought the smaller robots from a Chinese company, Unitree, known for making accessible robots, with some models available at places like Walmart and costing fewer than $20,000. At one point during the show, there's a robot competing in a dance-off against a human audience member, executing impressive spins and flips. But the audience, including a 10 year old Kaden Denard, mostly seems to root against the machine.

"They are clankers!" Denard exclaims, using an emerging slur against robots and AI. "I want to be mean to the robots! They are clankers!"

"You better be nice to them before they finish you," his mother, Nawal Denard, jokes. Though the two depart into a cold Michigan night, along with hundreds of other spectators, the room they left was full of human warmth.

Edited for radio and web by Meghan Sullivan

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5680260

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OSCARS 2026 | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 7:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Why 'Sinners' should win best picture (but probably won't) — and more Oscar predictions

By Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon

The 2026 Oscars have something for everyone: vampires, car chases, show tunes, ping pong and Shakespeare. The frontrunners have emerged and we've locked in.

Here's what we think will win — and should — at the Academy Awards on Sunday night.

A best picture face-off: Sinners or One Battle After Another?

Sinners should win best picture … but One Battle After Another will take the prize.

Glen Weldon: I think One Battle is going to win because it is the traditional pick of the two frontrunners. It's filled with actors the Academy loves. You have to remember that best picture is chosen by ranked choice voting: a film needs to get over 50% of voters to win, and if that criteria is not met, they eliminate the lowest ranked film and redistribute those votes to the next choices until they hit that 50% mark.

In that environment, it's not enough for there to be a small base of very vocal supporters. You need everyone to kind of like your movie. And I suspect that there are voters — let's call them old school, very traditional Academy voters — who will not vibe with the horror elements of Sinners.

And there's a more meta reason here: At its heart, One Battle is satirizing right wing extremism. It's poking much gentler fun at left wing idealism and extremism. That is the kind of thing that a certain kind of Academy voter will vote for, and feel very good about themselves for doing it. I'm not equating One Battle with the Crashes and the Green Books of the world, but I'm just saying there is a kind of Oscar voter, a traditional film snob who dismisses genre stuff, who will think that voting for One Battle is a political act. I mean, if they think that, they should vote for Sinners, but they're going to vote for One Battle.

Aisha Harris: Yes to everything Glen said. But I think the shorter version is: it's time for Paul Thomas Anderson. Do I think it's time? No. But I do think a lot of Hollywood thinks it's time, because he has yet to win a best picture. He has yet to win best director. Paul Thomas Anderson has so much goodwill: he's a director's director, he is the Letterboxd king, all these things.

Sinners, as Glen said, is political in a different way. But there's a difference between the way Paul Thomas Anderson satirizes right wing extremism and the fact that Sinners ends in part with a Black character gunning down KKK members. And I think that that's a step too far for certain people.

I love Sinners so much, so that's what I think should win. It is such a stunning feat of artistry and clearly the work of someone — Ryan Coogler — who needed to get everything out there, because perhaps he thought maybe he might not ever be able to do something like this again, even though he is one of our most consistent filmmakers and he's done so many great blockbusters. But he just throws it all out there and leaves it on the floor.

Linda Holmes: This is sort of one of those years where I have a movie that I wish would win (Sinners) and I have a movie that I suspect is going to win (One Battle). I think the most interesting win that built momentum for Sinners was the best cast award at the Actor Awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards. That's a big body of voters, right? It does make sense that that is considered to be a precursor award to the Oscar best picture.

However, you know, the Producers Guild didn't choose Sinners, and the producers are also a big group. And the more sort of "old school" — heavy use of quotation marks – people who you envision, when you think about why the Oscars tend to be kind of a little bit stuck? It's more producers.

Sinners should win best picture, and it will.

Stephen Thompson: I'm erring on the side of optimism. At some point in this process, as I was watching or rewatching these films, I found myself breaking all ties in favor of Sinners. It has an extraordinary amount of momentum right now for a movie that came out very early in the year. And I see a lot of parallels between its Oscar campaign and the Oscar campaign of the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once several years ago: Both films came out in the first half of the year, which is unusual for Oscar movies. Both films made an enormous amount of money when they weren't necessarily expected to. Both of those films maintained awards buzz for the better part of a year. Both of those films contain largely non-white casts. Both of those films are outside of conventional Oscar historical drama / biopic genres. The last one that I'm going to mention is that they both received a greater-than-expected number of nominations, which suggests a pretty extreme breadth of support within the Academy.

I sat down with Sinners a few days ago and just reveled in how gorgeous it looks, how beautifully it's acted, how fun it is, how exciting it is. The musical centerpiece of this film is one of my favorite scenes in a movie in years. And if I have any strong rooting interest besides a general love of the movie, it's for cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, whose work in this film is jaw dropping. Not only should Sinners win, I think it will win.

In a stacked best actor category, Timmy will probably win

Timothée Chalamet will win best actor … even if Michael B. Jordan deserves it.

Aisha: I'm going to put my money on Timmy for Marty Supreme, who I think is actually very well cast — as we've seen from his very, very chaotic campaign throughout this entire award season. I do think that he's probably rubbed some people a little bit the wrong way.

Of course, there's no scientific way to game this out. But I would love to see Michael B. Jordan win, because I do think that this is his best performance. This is based on 20-plus years of watching this guy grow up and grow into the man he is. And Ryan Coogler is quite literally the only film director who has known what to do with him as a performer. Just the fact that Jordan's playing not just twins, but one of those twins turns into a vampire. There's lots of layers. It's not quite three characters, but it's like two-and-a-half.

Glen: I mean, I could sit here and make the case for Wagner Moura, who holds the center of The Secret Agent, a film that could easily fly away in a hundred separate chunks. But what Jordan does in Sinners is expose the vulnerability in two characters who are each, in different ways, performing an utter lack of vulnerability. It's Jordan all the way.

Still, I think Timothée is going to win. I mean, to say he's giving a showier performance than a guy who's playing twins is saying something. But it is — it's a bigger performance, it's more in your face. It's the most acting. To Aisha's point, he's campaigning hard. There is this notion that Oscar doesn't like try-hards, and that is provably false. Try-hards win Oscars all the time. I think he's going to take it.

Linda: I think Timothée's juice has waned a bit. I think the persona that he took on in promoting this film has worn thin with people. His comments about how no one cares about ballet or opera — I think that is rude to say, and can make people feel like you're a pill. Do I think that's going to tip it? No, I don't.

I don't want to make it sound like boo hoo, Chalamet is going to win. I think he's really good in Marty Supreme. Coming out of the movie, I said that I wouldn't have a huge problem with it if he wins. But boy, Michael B. Jordan — I would love to see him win.

Michael B. Jordan should win best actor … and he will.

Stephen: First of all, this is such a strong field. But I think it is as much Michael B. Jordan's time as it is Timothée Chalamet's time. The Michael B. Jordan performance is plenty showy. He's playing twins and he's great at it and he gives them distinct personalities where you can tell them apart. I think people are exhausted by Timothée's performance, by this movie, and by not only this Oscar campaign, but last year's Timothée Chalamet Oscar campaign for A Complete Unknown. I think people are less fond of Marty Supreme than they are of Sinners, and I do think that's a factor. I'm going with Michael B. Jordan for not only will win, but should win.

Consensus: Jessie Buckley will probably win best actress

Jessie Buckley should win best actress … and she will.

Stephen: Now, I don't want to dismiss the rest of this field. I think there are other extremely strong performances here. As much as I never want to see If I Had legs, I'd Kick You ever again in my life, I think Rose Byrne is terrific in it. I think Kate Hudson is way better in Song Sung Blue than I could have expected. For one thing, she's just about the only person in that film who pulls off the accent. And I'm from Wisconsin. I always love Renate Reinsve and everything she does, and she's terrific in Sentimental Value. And, you know, and of course, Emma Stone — you never want to discount Emma Stone. But to me, Jessie Buckley runs away with this.

I think Jessie Buckley is one of those actors who is extremely committed in everything she does. She's willing to take things over the top, but does it extremely well. Agnes in Hamnet is a best acting performance. It is a most acting performance. She's given an extraordinary amount to work with here: you get deep emotion, deep pathos, but also kind of quiet "face and eyes" acting. She is the giant concrete beam holding up this film.

Rose Byrne should win … but Jessie Buckley will.

Linda: I think it's going to be Jessie Buckley, too. She's very well-liked; she's been in a lot of other things. Women Talking for one, and The Lost Daughter. Sometimes when people, including me, talk about very "Oscars-y" performances, which this is, it's easy to discount the fact that it is hard to do them really well. She's been on a great run of precursor awards and I think she will probably win.

As far as should win? My pick would be Rose Byrne. Rose Byrne is doing such interesting work in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You and really is the whole movie. I mean there are little bits of other people, including, by the way, Conan O'Brien, who's quite good and strange in this film, doing something very different from what I'm used to from him. But for the most part, she is the movie.

Glen: Same. I pick Rose Byrne. She's in every scene of that film. It's often a tight shot of her face. We watch her reacting for most of the film, and that's an example of the script and the performance lining up to make you feel empathy, if not sympathy, right? So you're experiencing what's going on in your gut and it's raw, it's visceral, and it's completely unforgettable, which is good because as other people have mentioned, I'm never going to see that damn movie again. But I don't need to because it's in there.

Still, Jessie Buckley has been putting in the work. She makes weird choices and she doesn't make Agnes's grief traditionally Oscar-baity, she makes it something spiky and difficult and real. And if this film works on you — it didn't for me, but if it works on you — it's because of those last 10 minutes or so. And for the people it worked for, it worked very very well.

Renate Reinsve should win … but Jessie Buckley will.

Aisha: I'm going with Renate Reinsve. I really appreciate the fact that her character both has to deal with her father, played by Stellan Skarsgård, coming back into her life, but also her struggle as a performer. There are some really great scenes of her having to act out being an actor. I find myself drawn to that sort of characterization and excavation of emotion and creative processes. I would love to see her win.

But also, if Jessie Buckley wins? She's really good. Her body of work is so impressive, and I am always looking forward to whatever she is in. I just keep going back to seeing Hamnet in the theater, in a packed house and literally everyone around me is bawling and sniffling, except for myself. That is where that power lies in getting people to vote for her … if you have a heart, and apparently I don't.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5737373

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MOVIE INTERVIEWS | FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2026 • 5:00 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Benicio del Toro reflects on the acting class that changed his life

By Tonya Mosley

Heard on Fresh Air

One of del Toro's early acting teachers taught him to understand his character before learning lines. He's up for an Oscar for his role in One Battle After Another. Originally broadcast June 12, 2025.

Transcript

DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli. Benicio del Toro, an actor who has made a career out of playing complex, morally ambiguous characters, is nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in the Paul Thomas Anderson film "One Battle After Another." Del Toro plays Sergio St. Carlos, a karate instructor and leader of an immigrant rescue operation. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a member of a far-left revolutionary group, the French 75. He's burned out and has been living off the grid for 16 years, raising his daughter, Willa. Her mother, who also was a revolutionary, fled to Mexico when Willa was a baby. Let's listen to a clip from the film. In this scene, Benicio del Toro as Sergio is in his karate studio when he gets a call warning him that the authorities are coming after the migrants hiding in the building where he lives. While on the phone, he gets a knock at the door. It's Bob. He's trying to contact his daughter, who's in danger.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER")

BENICIO DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Hang on a second. Yeah, can I help you?

LEONARDO DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Bob.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Bob. Ferguson, yeah. You OK?

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) I need your help. I need your help, Sensei. I need your help, man.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) You still there? What time do you get off work?

SANDRA ITURBE: (As Reina, non-English language spoken).

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) I'm coming. Call Marisela and tell her I'm on my way.

ITURBE: (As Reina, non-English language spoken).

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) I'm basically in the car.

ITURBE: (As Reina, non-English language spoken).

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Yes. I'm going to call Esperanza and I'll call you back, OK? OK. Bye.

ITURBE: (As Reina, non-English language spoken). Bye.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Bob, we got to go.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) I need a weapon, man. All you got is [expletive] damn nunchucks here. You know where I can get a gun? [Expletive]. [Expletive]. [Expletive] damn it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN)

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Bob, what's going on?

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) It's MKU. MKU, man. They're everywhere right now.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) MKU? MKU what?

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) They busted open my door. They're coming after me and Willa right now. Right now.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) That's heavy metal, bro.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Yeah.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Hey, where is she?

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) I don't know. I got to charge my phone to find out.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Here, use my phone.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) I can't. I can't. They'll trace that phone. I got to use my phone.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Let's do that at my place. We got to go.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Your place?

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Yeah.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) You got a gun at your place?

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) I'll get you a gun.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) You have a gun, right?

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) OK? Yes.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) OK.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Right now, it's a [expletive] damn roundup. I got to deal with this [expletive].

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) OK. Yeah.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Just take that to go.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Let's go to your place.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Come on.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Let's go to your place. I'll charge my phone.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Yeah.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) You got a gun there?

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) What? What?

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Get off the tatami, OK? Listen. Breathe.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) All right.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) OK? Cool out. Ocean waves. Ocean waves.

DICAPRIO: (As Bob Ferguson) Ocean waves.

DEL TORO: (As Sergio St. Carlos) Let's go. Let's go. I'll follow you. Come on.

BIANCULLI: In the year 2000, Benicio del Toro received the offer for best supporting actor for his role in "Traffic." In that movie, he portrayed a Mexican police officer forced to decide whether to uphold justice or compromise his ethics in a corrupt system. In this iconic scene, he meets up with United States DEA agents. They want information about his new boss, a corrupt drugpin. Del Toro's character is nervous when he meets up with the agent in a car in a parking garage, so he suggests they change locations and have the meeting in a public place - a hotel's swimming pool.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TRAFFIC")

DEL TORO: (As Javier Rodriguez) I believe it's important that we work together, Mexico and the United States, one hand washing the other.

EDDIE VELEZ: (As Agent Johnson) We agree.

DEL TORO: (As Javier Rodriguez) So maybe you can tell me about your informants in our operations.

VELEZ: (As Agent Johnson) We thought that maybe you'd have that kind of information for us.

DEL TORO: (As Javier Rodriguez) This is a very different proposition, my friend.

VELEZ: (As Agent Johnson) We pay for that kind of information.

JACK CONLEY: (As Agent Hughes) Is that what you're talking about, Javier, getting paid?

DEL TORO: (As Javier Rodriguez) You like baseball?

VELEZ: (As Agent Johnson) Well, I do.

DEL TORO: (As Javier Rodriguez) We need lights for the parks so kids can play at night. So it's safe. So they can play baseball. So they don't become (non-English language spoken). Everybody likes baseball. Everybody likes parks. Listen, I believe it's important that the United States take an interest in Tijuana now. That's what I'm talking about, my friends.

BIANCULLI: Del Toro's breakout role in 1995 was as a small-time crook in "The Usual Suspects." He went on to play the drug-fueled lawyer Dr. Gonzo, starring alongside Johnny Depp in "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas," and he won best actor at Cannes for his role as Che Guevara in "Che." His other films include "Basquiat" and "21 Grams," and he starred in the Showtime series "Escape From Dannemora" (ph). Last year, del Toro starred in the Wes Anderson film "The Phoenician Scheme." He played Zsa-zsa Korda, a charismatic but morally compromised tycoon of the 1950s who, after surviving an assassination attempt, tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter, a novice nun played by Mia Threapleton. This is the second Wes Anderson film for del Toro. In 2021, he starred as a volatile imprisoned artist in "The French Dispatch." We're going to listen to Tonya Mosley's interview with Benicio del Toro from last year. She asked him about "The Phoenician Scheme."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

TONYA MOSLEY: You know, I read that Wes Anderson wrote this character with you in mind. You are essentially in every shot. And I want to give the audience a taste of your character. As I mentioned, his name is Zsa-zsa Korda, and he's this powerful industrialist from the 1950s whose conscience is kind of awakened by his relationship with his estranged daughter. And in this scene I'm about to play, the two of them are on Korda's private plane alongside Michael Cera, the family tutor. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME")

DEL TORO: (As Zsa-zsa Korda) We're starting our descent. Prepare your documents before we deplane so you never delay my schedule. Passports.

MIA THREAPLETON: (As Liesl) Where's yours?

DEL TORO: (As Zsa-zsa Korda) I don't have a passport. Normal people want the basic human rights that accompany citizenship in any sovereign nation. I don't. My legal residence is a shack in Portugal. My official domicile is a hut on the Black Sea. My certificated abode is a lodge perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sub-Saharan rainforest, accessible only by a goat path. I don't live anywhere. I'm not a citizen at all. I don't need my human rights.

MOSLEY: That was my guest today, Benicio del Toro, in the new Wes Anderson film "The Phoenician Scheme." And, Benicio, that line - I'm a man who does not need his human rights - what a line.

DEL TORO: Yeah. It is a great line.

MOSLEY: How would you describe this man, this character, that you inhabited?

DEL TORO: Ruthless businessman. A tycoon. A rascal who is looking for redemption, whether he knows it or not. He's a character under reconstruction, in a way. So that's the beginning of the character, and the character has an arc. And wherever he starts in the movie, he will end up in a completely different place. And, you know, he's faced with mortality. He starts to look at his life in a different way and - because of the help of his daughter. Like you said earlier, his daughter helps him - put him on track and perhaps awaken his consciousness.

MOSLEY: You and Wes Anderson actually collaborated on this. And I was thinking about what it actually means to have a director write a role tailor-made for you. Like, is there something about the moral dilemmas your character is dealing with that Wes Anderson felt only you could draw out?

DEL TORO: You know, Wes is a great director, and we know him as a director and we know his films. But really, he is maybe a better writer. And what I meant by that is, like, I think actors look for characters that are layered, and by that I mean may contradict themselves. They break the stereotype - let's put it that way - if they contradict themselves. And then, you know, when you get a character that has an arc, like Zsa-zsa in "The Phoenician Scheme" has a hell of an arc, then as an actor, you're doing interpretations, right? So now you're almost in the cockpit of the character and of the story. You're part of this - of what's happening. And you're looking at the arc, and you're making sure that it's believable, where the character is going to end up. So it's a real rich character to tackle.

MOSLEY: So much is said about Wes Anderson's aesthetic. I think the description you gave was, it's like being in a pop-up book.

DEL TORO: Yeah. I mean, he works with an incredible art director, Adam Stockhausen. He's worked with Wes, I think, most of his films. And they collaborate amazingly, and these things come to life. And it's like you're in fantasyland, but you're in real fantasyland.

MOSLEY: What was it like for you as an actor being in sort of, like, a real pop-up book? Because when you're performing, of course, there are all different types of sets. But, I mean, this is very, very different, almost maybe the complete opposite of maybe a big franchise film with CGI and visual effects. You're actually in it. Everything around you is real.

DEL TORO: Yeah. Yeah, Wes doesn't use CGI that much. I don't think so. I think very little, really. But the first thing you're trained to - if you do film - or you train yourself - is to erase the camera. It's not there. And when you find yourself in the moment and you're acting, the set will not get in the way. You know, the camera is not going to get in the way. What does happen in a Wes Anderson film is when you walk in, the set will embrace you to really feel that you are in this room, in this dining room, in this airplane. And the details are - makes it really exciting. But when it comes to when they say action, you just got to be in the moment. And usually, being in the moment means you take everything around you for granted, you know? So it's a combination, you know? But the fact is that when you walk on the set - and there were many sets in this film - it was one wow after another.

MOSLEY: You mentioned Mia Threapleton, who plays your daughter. And really, your relationship is the core of this entire film, and watching, as you mentioned, the evolution of you and kind of your redemption arc. You tell this story about her auditioning for the role - that there was something in her eyes. It was something about her eyes that made you feel that your character needed those eyes, that look. Can you elaborate on that?

DEL TORO: Well, you know, yes. I think Wes had her in mind already 'cause we only auditioned her. I was in London, and we did a reading. And then we - you know, we started playing a little bit. And there was a moment there in between scenes. We were doing a scene, and then just when we finished, I kept my eyes on her eyes, and she kept her eyes on my eyes. And we kind of looked at each other, and no one blinked. And it was pretty amazing to see such a young actress, you know, just hold her instrument, you know, just everything just there. And just kind of - like, she was just looking at me and didn't blink. And I remember telling Wes, like, you know, I think that's what Zsa-zsa needs. He needs a strong support if he's going to become a better person.

BIANCULLI: Benicio del Toro speaking to Tonya Mosley last year. More after a break. This is FRESH AIR.

This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to Tonya's interview from last year with actor Benicio del Toro. He's up for a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in "One Battle After Another." When Tonya Mosley spoke to him last year, she asked him about his early breakout role in the 1995 film "The Usual Suspects."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

MOSLEY: You had this relatively small role, but - and it was at the beginning of the film. You played Fred Fenster. He was this small-time crook and conman, rounded up, like, with a bunch of other guys. And you made this choice - it wasn't called for in the script - to give this character a mumbling accent. And I want us to take a listen of this because in this scene, you've just gone through this lineup with several other guys, and you're now in a holding cell. And your character is complaining. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE USUAL SUSPECTS")

DEL TORO: (As Fred Fenster) So I did a little time. Does that mean I get railed every time a truck finds its way off the planet (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Fenster, will you relax? These guys don't have any probable cause.

DEL TORO: (As Fred Fenster) That's (ph) right. No PC. No God [expletive] right. You do some time. Never let you go. You know, treat me like a criminal, I'll end up a criminal.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) You are a criminal.

DEL TORO: (As Fred Fenster) Why you got to go and do that? Trying to make a point.

MOSLEY: That was my guest today, Benicio del Toro, in the 1995 film "The Usual Suspects." Benicio, you chose this accent to make him memorable because he was actually one of the first to die, I think. It's - what a bold choice for a young actor.

DEL TORO: You know, it was a decision made between the director and myself because it's correct. I died on Page 37 out of, like, 98 pages. So I did propose to Bryan Singer and the writer, Chris McQuarrie, if I could just create something out of it. And they trusted me. That was the win there when they trusted me 'cause now I just have to deliver, you know? I just...

MOSLEY: Where did you get the accent from?

DEL TORO: I got it from many different influences. Joe Frazier, the boxer.

MOSLEY: Yeah. Yep. Yeah.

DEL TORO: Thelonious Monk.

MOSLEY: Yeah, yeah.

DEL TORO: And I would play with it, you know? The fact is that the movie became a huge success, and you're only as good as your movie, in a way, you know? I think that the fact is that that movie helped my career quite a bit - and the part. But the fact is that there was a great ensemble on that film, and the movie was a huge success. At the box office, it was very independent. We shot it in 21 days or 20 days. And it was - and, you know, it was just like - it's a sign of, like, you're only as good as your movie. I mean, I think if that movie would had not been a success the way it was, we might not be talking about that - my character in it.

MOSLEY: I want to go back, way back to some of those early days when you were an aspiring actor moving into some of your early roles. So I know earlier in your career, you studied with Stella Adler, who - she is famously known for teaching Marlon Brando and James Dean what became known as method acting. And I know there's so much there, Benicio, but what do you remember the most about that experience of being in her class and learning from her?

DEL TORO: It changed my life studying with her at her studio. I studied under several teachers, one whose name was Arthur Mendoza in Los Angeles. And she would come on the - for summer and winter and teach. And I remember, you know, taking those classes, and it was legendary. But I think one of the things that she was really particular was the fact that the actor needs to understand what the writer is trying to say. So you need to improve your reading comprehension. Also, the other thing that was exciting about the class was the fact that it was a serious job. An actor is as important as a doctor. And I've...

MOSLEY: Had you gone into the class believing that?

DEL TORO: Well, I never really thought about it really, to be honest with you. I don't come from a family of theater. You know, I did watch movies when I was younger, like anybody else, but I never thought about what was behind it. And acting was looked at as, you know, not really a profession, not something that you would consider a real profession. In my world, as I was growing up, you know, a profession would be being an architect, being a lawyer, being a doctor, being a dentist.

MOSLEY: Right. Because your family were professional people - right? - in Puerto Rico...

DEL TORO: Yes.

MOSLEY: ...Where you were born and raised. Yeah.

DEL TORO: Yes. Yes. Many of my family members were lawyers. And my godmother, who - after I lost my mom when I was 9, she was the one who stepped in and, you know, kind of, like, helped a lot, you know? So -and she was a lawyer as well, so yeah. But acting was like a hobby. You know, you don't turn that into a profession. So going into Stella, for me, was like, it is as important as any other profession that we consider important. There was a respect for the craft. It made it exciting for me. It made me feel proud.

MOSLEY: She also told you something like, go to the lines last, so don't go to the lines before you understand who the character is. I just thought that was interesting, too.

DEL TORO: Yeah. She told every actor, don't go to the lines right away because it's crucial that you need to understand what that character, that person, wants. You need to understand where that character, you know, is coming from, where it's going. And so the first way to understand it is just put yourself in that person's shoe. And then from then on, you can then build and create a character that maybe eventually doesn't resemble you. But there might be actors who go to the words first, and it might work. But her logic was that if you go to the words first, then you're concentrating just on the words, and you're not going into the psychological aspect of who that person is.

BIANCULLI: Benicio del Toro speaking to Tonya Mosley last year. After a break, we'll continue their conversation, and we have two TV reviews. I'll review the new Nicole Kidman series "Scarpetta," based on the novels by Patricia Cornwell, and critic-at-large John Powers reviews the Netflix series "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast." I'm David Bianculli, and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

BIANCULLI: This is FRESH AIR. I'm David Bianculli. Let's return to Tonya Mosley's interview from last year with actor Benicio del Toro. He's up for an Oscar for his supporting role in "One Battle After Another."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

MOSLEY: You mentioned your mom passing when you were 9. And I actually think I've heard you say that, really, from a very young age, you were thinking about mortality because at that young age, you guys knew that she was dying. It's a powerful lesson for a young child to be faced with and to know and have to learn and understand.

DEL TORO: I don't know if you ever really understand it, really, you know? I mean, it just marks you forever. It's just part of who you are.

MOSLEY: Yeah.

DEL TORO: I don't know if you really get over it. I had an interesting meeting with a Japanese filmmaker - name is Kaneto Shindo. And he was - I met him, he was about 97 years old. And in our conversation, he lost his mom when he was 9, just like me - and that when he was 72, he made a movie about his mother. And I asked him that after making that movie, did anything change regarding that loss? And he said, nothing (laughter). And, you know, basically what I'm saying is, like, you never get over it, you know?

MOSLEY: Yeah.

DEL TORO: It's just what it is. It's just what it is.

MOSLEY: Was it your brother who kind of planted that seed in you that maybe you could be an actor?

DEL TORO: He did mention something like that, and, you know, I don't know why. He saw the ham in me - I don't know - I guess, you know?

MOSLEY: (Laughter).

DEL TORO: Yeah, he did mention it at some point. Like, it - but it was really strange because it was like, where did that come from? And, you know, I never did any acting. How I fell into acting was like this. I went to San Diego - University of California San Diego, my freshman year. And you could make your own schedule. And I decided, wow, I can make it really easy for me, you know? I could just hang around and ride a bike around and just...

MOSLEY: (Laughter) Yeah.

DEL TORO: ...Hang about, you know?

MOSLEY: Right.

DEL TORO: And I - there was an acting class. I think it was called Acting 101, just like that. And I said, how can I fail that? And if there's homework, it's going to be watching movies, which I already do. So it looked pretty easy to me. So I went in, and the teacher said that everyone here is 18 years old or 19, and that's the right age to study acting because you have a little bit of an understanding already about life. And so this is the right age to study it, and that clicked. That was kind of like, oh. I still remember it. And it - the feeling was like, there is a logic to this. There's a science to this. And also the fact, like, am I on time? I thought if you were an actor, you had to be born into acting, and just like a musician, you need to start playing when you're, like, 8 or 9...

MOSLEY: A child. Right.

DEL TORO: You know?

MOSLEY: Yeah. Right.

DEL TORO: You need to start - you need to come from a family of musicians, you know, or you need to come from a family of theater people and actors. And it was kind of strange that it was like, hey, this is the right time to start. And I took the class, and then I started realizing that there was a logic to it. You can study it, and you can get better.

MOSLEY: You mentioned your godmother, Sarah Torres Peralta. She was also your mom's really good friend. She's the big reason that you came from Puerto Rico here to the States, to go to private boarding school in Pennsylvania.

DEL TORO: Yes.

MOSLEY: How different was Pennsylvania from your life in Puerto Rico?

DEL TORO: I went into a controlled environment to an extent. I went to a private school, a boarding school. And what I do remember is suddenly I was alone, but the person to my left or to my right were alone, too. So there was, like, this beginning that was very healthy for new thoughts. There were no cliques. I made friends with the basketball players because I played basketball. But for the most part, everybody was on equal footing. And also, you would find yourself alone, which is also healthy.

I think in Puerto Rico, I had my posse, my friends, and I was never alone, you know? And here in Pennsylvania, for the first time, it was like (imitating thud sound). And you start looking in, and you start having different thoughts and new ideas might come in, and it was healthy that way. And I quickly made friends, and, you know, I made a lot of friends and played basketball and made a lot of friends there. I had - you know, I spoke English before I went to the school but had a thick accent. But playing basketball created a language right there and, I think, music also.

MOSLEY: You have the ability to kind of transform and be ambiguous ethnically, and it seems to work in your favor, but has it always worked in your favor?

DEL TORO: You know, it's interesting because the first time I ever acted in Spanish was in "Traffic." I mean, I did say lines in Spanish in "Basquiat," and I might have said something in Spanish in a "James Bond" movie I did called "License To Kill" when I was 20. But for the most part, you know, the whole ethnic thing was not out until I did "Traffic." And suddenly, the ethnic thing - the Hispanic - helped me create a character and helped my career and changed my career, really. And it was "Traffic." So it's funny 'cause, you know, when I was going out for movies early on, I would be asked to change my name 'cause I would be limited. It was an issue that you would be limited to play Latino roles, right?

MOSLEY: Yes.

DEL TORO: And so you went against it because you'd be limited to stereotypes. And at some point, I said, bring it on because I do believe everyone is different. And I will play every Latino different if I have to play Latino for the rest of my life.

MOSLEY: In a way, like - I just had a breakthrough in what you were saying here about this because one of the things Hollywood has been kind of known for is flattening identities or culture.

DEL TORO: I mean, my approach was - it's always been like, hey, you know, you play the character. I think now it's changed a little bit, you know, your heritage is embraced more so now. I think there's more opportunity. We're not out of the bag, let's say, for Latino actors and actresses to get roles that it means something, that are, you know, three dimensional and not stereotypes. But there's more opportunity now than when I started, that's for sure. And I think that, you know, it's a good thing. Still, there should be more. And it's a complicated thing because it's not up to the actors. It's really - it's got to start with the writing. The writing and then the idea that it will attract eyeballs and ears to come and watch these stories. And so it's interesting. And it is - it's better now than ever, and there's a lot of, you know, Latino actors working out there, and, you know, probably more than there were when I...

MOSLEY: When you started.

DEL TORO: ...First started, you know?

MOSLEY: Yeah.

DEL TORO: Tons more, yeah.

MOSLEY: Benicio del Toro, thank you so much for this conversation.

DEL TORO: Thank you for having me.

BIANCULLI: Benicio del Toro speaking to Tonya Mosley last year. He's nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in "One Battle After Another." The Academy Awards are scheduled to be held Sunday and televised by ABC. Coming up, I review Nicole Kidman's newest TV project, "Scarpetta," the Prime Video series based on the series of novels by Patricia Cornwell. This is FRESH AIR.

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5745889

CULTURE | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 5:15 PM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Comedian Chris Fleming loves Terry Gross

Heard on All Things Considered

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Each week, a guest draws a card from NPR's Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Comedian Chris Fleming is kind of obsessed with Fresh Air host Terry Gross. He talks about her in his new HBO special "Live At The Palace."

(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL)

CHRIS FLEMING: The completely unmanageable tension of every episode with Fresh Air with Terry Gross...

(LAUGHTER)

FLEMING: ...Is so refreshing. It feels like every episode was recorded in the space between the living and the dead.

(LAUGHTER)

FLEMING: It feels like the guest is sitting on one end of a long medieval table, and Terry's on the other end just cleaning a gun.

(LAUGHTER)

DETROW: On Wild Card, Rachel Martin asked him about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

RACHEL MARTIN: This is the point in the conversation where I, as the host of an NPR podcast...

FLEMING: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Need to ask more about your perceived reverence for Terry Gross.

FLEMING: My muse?

MARTIN: What is your muse?

FLEMING: You talking about T.G. right now?

MARTIN: What is (laughter)...

FLEMING: So...

MARTIN: I'm talking about the Terr (ph).

FLEMING: I didn't...

MARTIN: I've never met the Terr, so I don't...

FLEMING: 'Course you don't.

MARTIN: I mean, it's...

FLEMING: No, I don't even think the Obamas have access to Terry.

MARTIN: She's a mystery.

FLEMING: I mean, Terry records, from what I've heard, in, like, a chamber in Philadelphia, facing, like, a window, and, like, in, like, a...

MARTIN: She doesn't want to see the people.

FLEMING: She's in, like, a sensory deprivation tank, right? She's, like, on the sea floor.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FLEMING: Like, and no one has access to - she's like the chupacabra if it - with, like - if it went to Wesleyan or wherever she went, you know? Like...

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FLEMING: There's the mystery of Terry.

MARTIN: It - but it's also wonderful because we do - as the host of a show where people are supposed to spill their guts, Terry's like, no, thank you.

FLEMING: (Laughter).

MARTIN: Yeah, people don't need to know me. Like, I'm - I will be asking the questions here.

FLEMING: That's - and I think it...

MARTIN: You know?

FLEMING: That's the power that I'm tapping into when I try to talk about her. And also, I relate to that. I also...

MARTIN: Yeah.

FLEMING: I think that sometimes. I think people bleed too much about themselves, and then as soon as when they do - I mean, like, comedians. I think sometimes it's, like, OK, we get it. Like, I think sometimes we know too much about people.

MARTIN: Right.

FLEMING: And I think there are very few mystical beings left in this world. Sufjan Stevens. Terry Gross.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FLEMING: Who else?

MARTIN: That's it. It's a short list.

FLEMING: All of Sweden.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FLEMING: Or Iceland. Sweden or Iceland. But there is such a - I - yeah, I love someone who activates my magical realism. Like, who really...

MARTIN: Yes.

FLEMING: ...Who just - who ignites it.

MARTIN: Yes.

FLEMING: 'Cause I think that's my - I think that's kind of what I do is a lot of the time, I'm drawn to magical realism, and Terry - I've been - I have been obsessed with Terry Gross for years, and...

MARTIN: Really?

FLEMING: Yeah. I...

MARTIN: We need to make this happen. I mean...

FLEMING: I don't know. You know, it's like a point on the...

MARTIN: Do we need to meet her?

FLEMING: No. No, I couldn't meet her.

MARTIN: Oh.

FLEMING: And we could do - I think I might. I think my heart might just stop. I think I might just evaporate after I met Terry Gross...

MARTIN: Right. Yeah.

FLEMING: ...'Cause my hero's journey is complete. And then...

MARTIN: (Laughter).

FLEMING: ...Then I can fade back into the Atlantic (laughter).

MARTIN: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5742581

ARCHITECTURE | THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2026 • 9:44 AM EDT | VIEW ON NPR

Chilean Smiljan Radić Clarke wins architecture's highest honor

By Neda Ulaby

Heard on All Things Considered

Smiljan Radić Clarke was named the newest Pritzker Prize-winner — an award often called the Nobel of architecture — Thursday morning.

Was he surprised by his win?

"Yes, completely," the Chilean architect told NPR in an email. "[It's] a huge honor. And possibly, in the very near future, a bit of a headache, since it will probably mean being far more exposed than I would like."

The designer, known professionally as Smiljan Radić, is not exactly underexposed. But he is not as well known internationally as earlier Pritzker winners, such as Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei. Radić, who is 60 and the second Chilean architect to win the award, has designed dozens of buildings that have earned him a formidable reputation in artistic and intellectual circles. The New York Times described him as "a rock star among architects" in 2014, after his contribution to London's prestigious Serpentine Pavilion.

For that annual installation that showcases cutting-edge architects, Radić designed a glowing rotund pod, almost alien in appearance, perched upon weathered quarry stones. Architecture critics were captivated.

"Seeming to belong at once to a world of science fiction and to a primordial past, the pavilion could well serve as the film set for a post-apocalyptic drama," wrote Ellis Woodman in his review for The Telegraph. "And yet… it also invites association with the use of ruins and grottoes in the eighteenth century English landscape garden…. What is most captivating about Radić's heroically peculiar pavilion is the way that it seems to stand out of time."

Radić grew up in an immigrant family in Santiago. His father's parents came from Croatia, and his mother's from the United Kingdom. Although he colloquially uses his father's surname, he told Pritzker officials upon winning the prize that he wanted to honor his mother by including her last name in the official announcement.

As a student, Radić nearly failed out of the architecture program at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Later, he described the humiliating experience as formative, enabling him to travel and study history. While in college, he met sculptor Marcela Correa, who became his wife and close collaborator. Among the numerous works they've created together is the celebrated House for the Poem of the Right Angle, a secluded house in the woods of Vilches, Chile, completed in 2013.

A dramatic mishmash of stark angles and sinuous bulges, the black concrete structure was inspired by an abstract painting by Le Corbusier. The interior is open and airy, encased in cedar and stone.

"House for the Poem of the Right Angle signifies contemplative retreat," the Pritzker committee wrote. "with thoughtfully placed openings, oriented upward to capture light and time, encouraging stillness and introspection."

Radić's other notable works include several performing arts spaces in Chile, including the NAVE arts hall in Santiago and Teatro Regional del Bío Bío in Concepción, which earned him accolades and awards. The Pritzker jury called the theater "a carefully engineered semi-translucent envelope [that] modulates light and supports acoustic performance through restraint. Construction becomes a kind of storytelling, where texture and mass carry as much meaning as form."

From certain angles, his VIK winery in Millahue, Chile looks like a giant piece of agricultural equipment. It was, Radić said, intended to reflect the realities of winemaking, rather than a romance with the fermented grape. During an onstage lecture for the Architecture Foundation in 2023, Radić credited industrial process and chemistry as inspiration. "It's not really about some concept I don't like, the idea of terroir," he said. "It's a lot of myth."

In recent years, Radić has also collaborated closely with the high fashion brand Alexander McQueen, designing stores in Miami, Las Vegas, London and Dubai. Yet the Pritzker jury noted that his buildings "invite interpretation, rather than consumption."

Youtube Video

This year's jury was chaired by Alejandro Aravena, who became the first Chilean to win the Pritzker in 2016. His admiration for his countryman was evident in a Pritzker statement.

"In every work, he is able to answer with radical originality, making the unobvious obvious," he wrote of Radić. "He reverts back to the most irreducible basic foundations of architecture, exploring at the same time, limits that have not yet been touched. Developed in a context of unforgiving circumstances, from the edge of the world, with a practice of just a few collaborators, he is capable of bringing us to the innermost core of the built environment and the human condition."

In February, the Pritzker Prize itself came under scrutiny when it became public that Tom Pritzker, the director of the foundation that awards the prize, had been in frequent communication with Jeffrey Epstein. Tom Pritzker is the son of Jay A. Pritzker, who established the prize with his wife Cindy in 1979. (The elder Pritzker died in 1999.)

The family had made a fortune in the hotel industry. Tom Pritzker stepped down as executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, though he remains the chairman of The Hyatt Foundation. A spokesperson for the Pritzker Prize told the New York Times that the Hyatt Foundation protected the prize from outside influence and its financial support enabled the jury "to remain assured in the strength of its process and focus entirely on the celebration of architectural excellence."

The prize bestows $100,000 on the winner, as well as a bronze medallion.

"This sad moment in history is not the best circumstance in which to receive an award," Radić told NPR in an email. He was responding to a question about the importance of architecture during a moment when so many important buildings are being destroyed around the world in conflicts and wars.

"The Chilean poet Nicanor Parra once wrote in the 1940s that 'the sky is falling apart,' and today we might add that the earth itself seems to be cracking," he wrote. "Still, I believe that architecture is a positive act — it helps create concrete realities where people can value their surroundings in a different way."

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The most prestigious award in architecture was announced this morning. Over the years, the Pritzker Prize has gone to Frank Gehry, I.M. Pei, and now, as NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, to an architect from Chile.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: Most people outside the rarefied world of high-end architecture have not heard of Smiljan Radic Clarke, but architecture critics fell over themselves when he created a structure in 2014 that looked like an egg.

ANJULIE RAO: It's this ovular-shaped building.

ULABY: Architecture journalist Anjulie Rao says the building appeared in a temporary showcase for architecture stars held every year by the Serpentine Galleries. The pod seemed to hover in a pavilion in the park. Radic made it look both prehistoric and futuristic.

RAO: It's a material - it's like a glass-reinforced plastic. It's semi-transparent, almost iridescent, and it sits on top of these boulders.

ULABY: Radic was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1965. He nearly flunked out of architecture school and says the extra time he spent studying history and poetry has helped define his practice. Radic's parents come from immigrant families, from Croatia and the United Kingdom. He's built award-winning theaters, houses and restaurants in Chile, and he says their unpredictable angles and bulges are often inspired by objects found in nature - stones or sticks in the forest.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMILJAN RADIC CLARKE: It's about something physical and not intellectual.

ULABY: That's Radic in a social media video made by the high fashion brand Alexander McQueen. Radic has designed stores for the company all over the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RADIC: It's not an idea. It's just pieces of stone, pieces of wood.

RAO: His work does sort of expand what architecture can mean.

ULABY: Architecture journalist Anjulie Rao says she wholeheartedly agrees with the Pritzker jury that, in its statement, says Smiljan Radic provides optimistic and quietly joyful shelter, embracing vulnerability as a condition of lived experience. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Full article: https://www.npr.org/nx-s1-5743590

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