NPR News: 07-13-2026 2PM EDT
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What breaking news opens the NPR 2PM edition on July 13, 2026?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is recommending that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's younger sister serve out the rest of her siblings' term. Trump's weighing in as South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is expected to announce a decision on who should fill the Senate seat left vacant after Graham's unexpected death over the weekend. Here's NPR's Frank Ordonez.
What did President Trump recommend for Senator Lindsey Graham's vacant Senate seat?
President Trump, who was very close to Graham, has been giving interviews praising the longtime South Carolina senator. The president made his request on social media, calling it a, quote, fabulous tribute to Lindsay. Trump said Graham loved his sister, Darlene Graham Nordone, dearly. Graham, who never married, was very close with his younger sister. He adopted her after their parents died so she could receive his military benefits. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster will make the appointment to fill the seat until January. Graham, who was 71 years old, died suddenly on Saturday night while campaigning for a fifth term. Several prominent South Carolina Republicans have already expressed interest in running for the seat.
Franco, Ordonez, NPR News.
Federal agents are on the scene of a federal immigration enforcement fatal shooting in Maine. Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, says he was informed by Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen that a man in his 20s who was ordered to leave the U.S. had weaponized his vehicle when the shooting happened. The encounter ignited protests within hours. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's beginning a campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court, the world's only standing war crimes tribunal. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports Rubio calls the ICC a threat to U.S. sovereignty.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and in an online video, Secretary Rubio accuses the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, of waging a war against the U.S. Not with bullets or missiles. but with statutes and compacts and the force of so-called international law. Rubio says U.S. service members or Border Patrol agents could be at risk for prosecution, but the court was set up more than two decades ago to prosecute war crimes and genocide in countries that don't or won't hold their personnel to account. The Trump administration imposed sanctions to stop an ICC investigation into Afghanistan, and now Rubio says he will work to dismantle what he calls the court's threat to U.S. sovereignty.
Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
Jurassic Park star Sam Neill has died. A statement posted to the New Zealand actor's social media page says he died Monday in Sydney at the age of 78. Neal's award-winning career spanned several decades and memorable roles, including in Peaky Blinders, The Piano, and perhaps most famously, Steven Spielberg's classic Jurassic Park. Neal disclosed a few years ago he was diagnosed with a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This is NPR News. Tanker traffic's down to a crawl in the Strait of Hormuz. And Pierre Scott Horsley reports on how that's affecting energy prices.
Continued fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz has pushed oil prices higher. Triple Ace says the average price of regular gas in the U.S. is now $3.87 a gallon. That's up about 8 cents from a week ago, but 21 cents lower than this time last month. Gasoline consumption in the U.S. has inched up despite the high price, but global demand for petroleum products is expected to fall this year for the first time since the pandemic downturn six years ago. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
The American Red Cross declared a national blood emergency today because of a concerning decline in blood donations. And PRS Rob Stein has more.
Donations have been falling since the end of May, causing the national blood supply to drop by about 25 percent by the end of June. Blood donations often decline this time of year because regular routines get disrupted by summer travel, and blood drives at places like schools and colleges go on hiatus.
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