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Chapter 1: What recent military actions have impacted the Strait of Hormuz?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper says the U.S. Navy sank six Iranian small boats and opened a passage through the Strait of Hormuz. He told reporters in a call that two ships passed through today and more are en route. Cooper also described Iran's military assets as seriously degraded. Since the U.S.
and Israel waged war against Iran in late February, shipments, including that of oil, has been disrupted in the waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, leading to a historic energy crisis. NPR's Kamila Dominovsky says the oil cartel OPEC met over the weekend and decided to boost production starting next month.
OPEC and its allies have lost some of their leverage over markets now that United Arab Emirates has left the group. But the bigger problem is that key members rely on the Strait of Hormuz to export crude. So whatever OPEC announces, the biggest question remains, how many ships are getting through that key waterway? And the answer to that is not many between Iranian tolls and the U.S. blockade.
In the U.S., gasoline prices had been easing since the ceasefire announcement, but between the global oil supply crisis and U.S. refinery outages, prices are rising aggressively again. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.
Drivers across the U.S. are pulling into gas stations and finding prices have climbed yet again. The Auto Club AAA reports people are now paying on average $4.46 for a gallon of regular. That is an increase of about $0.35 in one week. The energy crisis had something to do with Spirit Airlines folding Saturday. NPR's Joel Rose explains.
CEO Dave Davis talked to the Wall Street Journal after the company ceased operations. Davis said Spirit was trying to emerge from bankruptcy, and he says the company's plan could have worked, but the rising cost of jet fuel forced Spirit to burn through cash faster than expected, and it just ran out of money.
NPR's Joel Rose. A new analysis out today finds a striking feature of these upcoming midterms. In roughly half of all U.S. states, candidates who have denied election results in the past are running for positions that will have a direct role in the certification of future elections. Here's NPR's Miles Parks.
A few years ago, most people didn't know and, frankly, probably didn't care who their state secretary of state was. But 2020 changed that. Republican Brad Raffensperger in Georgia declined President Trump's request to find votes. In Michigan, Democrat Jocelyn Benson had armed protesters visit her home.
Those two states are now among the dozens this year that are electing new secretaries of state and governors. In a new analysis from the nonprofit States United Action, finds that many of those races will feature candidates who have denied election results in the past.
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Chapter 2: How is OPEC responding to the current energy crisis?
In 23 states, including five presidential swing states, candidates who have denied election results are running for offices that will have a direct role in certifying future elections. Miles Parks, NPR News, Washington.
This is NPR. California police can now ticket self-driving vehicles for traffic violations. As Aditi Bandlamudi of member station KQED tells us, the Department of Motor Vehicles says the regulations on autonomous vehicles are the most comprehensive in the U.S., while critics warn regulators are moving too fast.
California's new rules also allow autonomous vehicle makers to deploy heavy duty self-driving cars and trucks onto streets across the state. Matt Broad, a legislative advocate for Teamsters California, says there are instances across the country where self-driving cars have driven through crime scenes and shut down during inclement weather.
The response from regulators has been sort of full steam ahead. and not, hey, maybe we ought to really think about how this is working, one, in deployment, and also the sort of larger socioeconomic concerns.
In July, new rules will go into effect requiring those cars to move out of the way and work with first responders during emergencies. For NPR News, I'm Aditi Bandlamudi in San Francisco.
The Met Gala is tonight. Celebrities will ascend the stairs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, showcasing their interpretations of this year's theme, Fashion is Art. It's a mega fundraiser for the Costume Institute. Last year's event brought in more than $31 million, a record.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, are honorary chairs and lead sponsors of the gala, which has provoked an activist group to call for a boycott of the event. This is NPR News.
Each story you hear on Planet Money starts with a question. What happens if we refund tariffs? Why are groceries so expensive? At NPR, we stand for your right to be curious because the forces shaping our world can be hard to see. Follow NPR's Planet Money wherever you get your podcasts and start seeing how the economy really works.
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