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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. The Cottonwood Fire in Utah is continuing to gain strength at this hour. Officials say the blaze is now burning untracked across 112 square miles.
Chapter 2: What is the latest update on the Cottonwood Fire in Utah?
State officials are now restricting the use of fireworks because of the dry conditions. Red flag warnings are also in effect for parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Idaho. The federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht ended in mistrial Friday. He's been accused of starting the deadly Palisades fire in California last year.
The jury was split with 10 members wanting to acquit Rinderknecht. One juror named Serena would not offer her last name. She said she was frustrated with the results.
It makes me sad as an American, like, that, you know, we couldn't come to a conclusion. And, I mean, honestly wish I could come back and do it, you know, because I wish we could have came to a conclusion.
Rooney Connect faced three arson charges that could have sent him to prison for 45 years. The fire killed 12 people. The Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission is calling for greater ties between church and state. NPR's Jason DeRose reports.
President Trump created the commission through an executive order in May of 2025. The report says religion is often treated as, quote, among the commission's recommendations, the creation of a hotline for students and teachers to report what they perceive as violations of their religious liberty.
and legal protections for health care workers who refuse to participate in procedures such as abortions that they say violate their religious beliefs. Critics of the Religious Liberty Commission say most of its members are conservative Christians who don't represent the diversity of religious thought in the U.S. Jason DeRose, NPR News.
Several Democratic governors have sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., ahead of America 250 celebrations in that city.
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Chapter 3: What were the outcomes of the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht?
It's the first time Democrats have sent troops to D.C. as part of President Trump's deployment there, as NPR's Kat Lansdorff explains.
North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, and Minnesota all have troops in D.C. now. They join more than a dozen Republican-led states that have had troops in the city for months. NPR reached out to each Democratic governor's office and spokespeople made it clear that their guard members were sent to help with the influx of crowds expected for America 250 celebrations.
and not as part of the larger law enforcement efforts in Trump's federal task force. But legal experts say drawing a distinction between the America 250 celebration and the task force operations will prove difficult in a city already full of troops. There are more than 4,800 now in D.C., at an estimated cost of more than $2.8 million per day. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington.
The U.S. Central Command says military strikes were launched at Iran on Friday in response to an Iran drone attack on a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. In a statement, the military says the strikes hit coastal radar locations along with missile and drone launch sites. You're listening to NPR News.
The search is continuing in Venezuela for more than 51,000 people missing since this week's earthquakes. Officials say the death toll has risen to at least 920 and is expected to go much higher. Citizens in many of the affected areas are digging through rubble trying to find anyone still alive.
They say they've seen little government help following the two massive earthquakes that hit late Wednesday. A group of ex-NOAA employees and volunteers have launched a new climate data website to replace one that was taken offline last year by the Trump administration. NPR's Scott Newman has more.
Until a year ago, Climate.gov was a go-to resource for scientists, educators, farmers, and the general public to access climate data and analysis. But at the height of the Doge cutbacks last year, it was shut down and the NOAA personnel who maintained it fired. The administration said the information was moved to other parts of the agency's website.
But now three of those fired employees have created Climate.us, a clone of the site to ensure that access to the information is maintained. Rebecca Lindsay heads the effort.
I think this information is too important and it should remain in a protected place.
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