NPR News: 07-12-2026 4AM EDT
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What are the initial headlines and breaking news at the top of the episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has died. His office says the 71-year-old Republican died Saturday evening after what it called a brief and sudden illness.
What details are reported about Senator Lindsey Graham’s death and his career?
No other details about his death have been made public. Graham was first elected to the Senate in 2002, and he's been planning to running for a fifth term. Graham was most known for his hawkish foreign policy positions. He was also once a vocal critic of President Trump. Trump this morning called Graham a true American patriot. Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is once again closed. That country's military fired on a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, saying it was using an unauthorized route. In response, the U.S.
What escalated actions are reported in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. response?
military struck targets along Iran's coast. The renewed fighting is jeopardizing the already tenuous ceasefire. Dominic Tierney is a professor at Swarthmore College. He says reaching a peace deal is always difficult.
Arguably, the single most difficult task that an American president can face is extricating the US from one of these failed wars. The US was negotiating for two years to get out of the Korean War. It took five years to negotiate a way out of the Vietnam War. We spent three months in Vietnam just negotiating the shape of the table around which we would negotiate. And similarly, it took years to get out of Afghanistan. So this is not going to be a quick process.
Houston activists are educating the community about their rights when dealing with immigration enforcement officers after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant, this week. From Ember Station, Houston Public Media, Keenan Vaughn reports on local groups responding by helping nearby businesses prepare for potential encounters with ICE agents.
Jasmine Karim Gonzalez, a local organizer, is surrounded by a group of people at a cafe near the Houston neighborhood where ICE agents killed Salgado Arajo.
How are Houston communities responding after the ICE-related killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo?
Gonzalez is handing out flyers containing information for business owners on what ICE agents can and cannot do when entering their establishments.
One of the most important things that business owners can know is that in order for ICE to go into a private spot in their business, so that would be, for example, an employees-only area, they need a signed judicial warrant.
Houston officials are continuing to call for an independent investigation into his death. For NPR News, I'm Kenan Vaughn in Houston.
Democrats in Maine are scrambling following the withdrawal of Senate candidate Graham Plattner. Plattner was challenging Republican Senator Susan Collins in the November election. But Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devin Murphy Anderson says Collins remains vulnerable because of the effect of her votes on Supreme Court nominees.
Susan Collins has remained more vulnerable than she's ever been before in her career. This is also the first election where she has to face us Maine voters since the overturning of Roe.
A committee meeting later this month will decide who will replace Plattner. And top of the hour, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has died. This is NPR News.
How are Maine Democrats reacting to Graham Plattner’s withdrawal from the Senate race?
Some researchers say they're devastated by the Trump administration's recent changes to enforcement of the Endangered Species Act. This comes after the administration finalized a rule Friday that eliminates a major protection for wildlife against logging, oil drilling, and other activities. KQED's Lakshmi Sarat reports from Berkeley.
The change to the Endangered Species Act allows for development on wildlife habitats as long as the animals aren't killed or injured. Christopher Martin is a professor in the Integrative Biology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. His lab studies the endangered devil's hole pupfish found in Death Valley National Park in California and Nevada.
What new Endangered Species Act rules and World Cup results are covered later in the show?
It would be the death of the Endangered Species Act, right? Because the species cannot survive without its habitat, without its home. So without having those habitat protections in place, it's all out the window.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What are the initial headlines and breaking news at the top of the episode?
0:01–0:12
2
What details are reported about Senator Lindsey Graham’s death and his career?
0:12–0:42
3
What escalated actions are reported in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. response?
0:42–1:54
4
How are Houston communities responding after the ICE-related killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo?
1:54–3:01
5
How are Maine Democrats reacting to Graham Plattner’s withdrawal from the Senate race?
3:01–3:42
6
What new Endangered Species Act rules and World Cup results are covered later in the show?
3:42–4:57