NPR News: 07-26-2026 4PM EDT
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What is the latest on U.S.-Iran tensions and halted strikes?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. The U.S. did not attack Iran last night for a second night. Tehran says it's halted strikes. It's not clear when negotiations may resume. Republican Mike Turner is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He says there's a growing concern in Congress on how the war is going.
There's bipartisan frustration on Capitol Hill. You're seeing it. Republicans, Democrats that are showing their frustration with how this war is being, this conflict is being prosecuted.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, says the war is using resources that may be needed elsewhere.
We have depleted our interceptors, which are the weapons we use to intercept incoming Iranian attacks, which are obviously necessary to protect American troops. And so we are depleting these every day, despite the fact that we could face other potential conflicts around the world.
How are members of Congress reacting to concerns about the conflict and depleted interceptors?
Both men were interviewed on ABC's This Week. It is now 100 days until the midterm elections. Democrats in Maine yesterday made their choice to try to take the seat of Republican Senator Susan Collins. They selected Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from rural northern Maine who has served as the president of the state Senate. He's expected to campaign on affordability, among other issues. Steve Missler from member station Maine Public has more.
The Democrats are really trying to draw this contrast between the Trump administration's coziness with wealthy interests and the conditions of ordinary Americans. And it's a direct play into the affordability case Democrats want to make during the midterms amid rising gas prices, inflation, you name it. And Jackson can credibly talk about those struggles because he comes from a poor rural family. that struggle to get by.
Steve Missler reporting. New wildfires in Oregon and Washington are blanketing parts of the Northwest in dense smoke. The fires are prompting a renewed round of air quality and health advisories. NPR's Kirk Sigler reports.
It's been smoky for weeks in eastern Oregon, where massive range fires have blackened tens of thousands of acres. Jenny Mo owns a popular bakery and has been doing what she can to keep replacing air filters in her swamp coolers to keep the smoke out.
You've got a lot of our elder community that cannot go out. You know, I've got a family friend that he's on oxygen and he hasn't been able to leave his house now for two weeks.
In the southwest, some recent rains have helped clear the air. Ben Wagner is with the incident command team on the Aspen Acres fire, which has destroyed hundreds of homes near Pueblo, Colorado.
The rain has given us a reprieve and we'll take it. It's a win.
But that reprieve may be short-lived. Most of the west is forecast to bake in heat for at least the next week. Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Boise.
This is NPR News in Washington. More than 200,000 people have been forced from their homes in France by growing wildfires. A huge blaze is now nearing the historic French city of Bordeaux, at the heart of the wine region. It's been burning out of control for days. Wildfires in neighboring Spain have also prompted evacuations, affecting at least 75,000 people. Dozens of federal advisory committees have been frozen or dismissed under President Trump during the past year. These are groups of experts who volunteer their time to help advise the federal government on complex issues. NPR's Katya Riddle reports.
It's impossible to quantify science that did not happen. But research and advocacy groups say that terminating these advisory groups will have consequences for decades. Michael Abrams is a health researcher at the advocacy group Public Citizen.
Federal advisory committees as being really a way for us to harness the best and brightest volunteers at the highest level for some of the most important issues. questions.
Committees that are no longer meeting include, among others, those on Alzheimer's research, rural health, and NASA priorities.
Katie Riddle, NPR News. Happy birthday, Punch. The monkey was born in a zoo in Japan one year ago today.
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