NPR News: 07-07-2026 2PM EDT
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Maine's Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner is now losing the support of fellow progressive Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in light of a new sexual assault allegation. In an unrelated news conference today, New York City Mayor Zoram Omdani also urged Plattner to drop out of the race.
The focus of today should be to respond to the gravity of what so many of us have read.
What allegations are affecting Graham Plattner's Senate campaign?
And I think that the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.
Politico had published a bombshell report that a Maine woman, Jenny Rasico, said Plattner sexually assaulted her in 2021. Plattner says that's categorically false. NPR has not independently confirmed Rasico's allegation. As NPR's Elena Moore tells us, the report is the latest in a series of controversies to overshadow Plattner's campaign to defeat veteran Republican incumbent Susan Collins in November and... give the party a shot at taking back the U.S.
Senate. This is a race Democrats have seen as key to taking back the Senate in the fall. Trump lost Maine in 2024, and people think that Republican Senator Susan Collins is vulnerable. You know, if Plattner were to drop out, Maine election law says that a general election candidate has to drop out on or before Monday, the second Monday in July. So if he were to do that, Maine Democrats would have until the 27th to select a replacement.
NPR's Elena Moore reporting. The death toll from last month's powerful twin earthquakes in Venezuela is still rising. Here's John Otis in Caracas.
The quakes that struck on June 24th have left more than 3,500 people dead, according to the latest official figures. Around Caracas, posters taped to trees and lamp posts show photos of some of the thousands who are still missing. Legions of families who lost their homes are staying in temporary shelters in parks and plazas. Some of the displaced, like Wilfredo Delgado, sneak back into their condemned buildings to fetch supplies and take showers, despite government warnings. After returning safely from his eighth-floor apartment, Delgado says government inspectors overreacted by blocking it off. This building is still strong, he says. It's still intact. For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Caracas.
Walmart's cutting the price of some summertime staples. More from NPR's Scott Horsley.
Walmart says it's cutting prices on hamburger and soda pop this summer. The Trump administration touted the rollbacks in a social media post. Grocery prices in May were up 2.7 percent from a year ago. We'll get an update on June's grocery prices next week. Provincial leaders in Canada are proposing a pipeline to carry crude oil from western Canada to the Atlantic coast. Canada is exploring new markets for its exports in response to stiff tariffs in the United States. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
This is NPR. Explosions shook the Syrian capital today for the second time in a week. The Interior Ministry says at least 18 people were injured in the attack, for which no group had immediately claimed responsibility. It took place as the Syrian president was hosting the leader of France. Ukraine's security service says a suspect in last month's Monaco bombing that injured a Ukrainian business tycoon with links to Russia was has been found dead. Local authorities say Anastasia Beresovskaya, a Ukrainian national, was found with gunshot wounds to the head. In a statement, Ukraine's prosecutor general's office has a military intelligence officer, one of two people detained, confessed to killing the 39-year-old.
Prince Harry has lost a privacy lawsuit against a British tabloid newspaper. King Charles's younger son had sued the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper over claims of unlawful information gathering. Here's NPR's Fatima Al-Kassab.
The verdict came as Prince Harry, who is King Charles's younger son, began a week-long visit to his home country. Harry, along with other high profile claimants, including Elton John, had accused the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper of privacy invasions, including bugging phone lines.
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