RFK Jr. testifies at Senate; Harvard funding freeze : NPR

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At the moment's high tales Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is predicted to testify within the Senate this morning. The listening to comes per week after he pressured Susan Monarez to resign from her place because the director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. When she refused, the White Home fired her. Three high CDC officers then resigned in protest. Listed here are three issues to know earlier than the listening to.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1024x576+0+54/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F50%2Fed%2F31f90a894fb6a61209bfd0a4461b%2Fgettyimages-2227195069.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1024x576+0+54/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F50%2Fed%2F31f90a894fb6a61209bfd0a4461b%2Fgettyimages-2227195069.jpg" class="img" alt="Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying before the Senate finance committee." loading="lazy"/> Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying earlier than the Senate finance committee. Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Pictures conceal caption

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Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Pictures 🎧 The listening to is technically in regards to the president's 2026 well being care agenda. Nevertheless, NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin tells Up First that is not all she expects to return out of the assembly. If a Democratic senator is asking the questions, she says they might hammer Kennedy about what occurred final week on the CDC and about vaccine coverage. Kennedy has changed a key vaccine advisory panel with people who find themselves set to vary suggestions on various vaccines later this month. If Republicans have the mic, they may give attention to the Make America Wholesome Once more agenda. Simmons-Duffin says Kennedy is probably going to focus on his MAHA efforts and what he describes because the persistent illness epidemic.

A Senate committee will maintain a affirmation listening to this morning on President Trump's nominee to fill a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve's governing board. The president additionally hopes to fill a second seat on the board by eradicating Fed governor Lisa Prepare dinner. She has filed a lawsuit to problem the president's actions.

🎧 Trump's want to shake up the Fed goes past a long-requested reduce to rates of interest. It is also about who will get to manage the decision-making processes, says NPR's Scott Horsley. If Trump is profitable in filling two extra seats, 4 out of the seven Fed governors could be his appointees. The president has nominated White Home financial adviser Stephen Miran to fill one emptiness. Miran co-authored a paper final 12 months arguing that the president ought to have larger management over the Fed's board of governors. A federal decide in Boston yesterday dominated that the Trump administration unlawfully froze over $2 billion in analysis funds for Harvard College. The administration claimed the freeze was in response to antisemitism on the varsity's campus. Harvard then filed a lawsuit. Decide Allison D. Burroughs' ruling stated the administration applied the freeze with out bearing in mind any of the steps the college had already taken to handle the problem.

🎧 The decide supplied a number of arguments for a way the funding freeze goes in opposition to the legislation, says NPR's Cory Turner. She stated the analysis that the freeze defunded, which included research for Alzheimer's, coronary heart illness and autism, had no clear connection to antisemitism on campus. She additionally stated the freeze violated the college's First Modification rights as a result of whereas the administration stated it was doing this to struggle antisemitism, Trump was criticizing the varsity for being a "liberal mess." The decide was additionally laborious on Harvard, saying it ought to have completed a greater job of addressing antisemitism. Turner says that the ruling strengthens Harvard's bargaining place, however it's nonetheless unknown how this case will play out. Deep dive <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4217x2372+0+220/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb3%2F0c%2Fe846111e46eab63287ac95e453cb%2Fgettyimages-2198663703.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4217x2372+0+220/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb3%2F0c%2Fe846111e46eab63287ac95e453cb%2Fgettyimages-2198663703.jpg" class="img" alt="A man walks past a Google logo at the Google Campus in Warsaw on Feb. 13, 2025." loading="lazy"/> A person walks previous a Google brand on the Google Campus in Warsaw on Feb. 13, 2025. Sergi Gapon/AFP by way of Getty Pictures conceal caption

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Sergi Gapon/AFP by way of Getty Pictures In a significant antitrust case, a decide this week dominated in opposition to breaking apart Google however barred it from making unique offers to make its search engine the default on telephones and different units. The Division of Justice filed the go well with in opposition to Google in 2020, and 4 years later, U.S. District Decide Amit Mehta dominated within the DOJ's favor. The "treatments" part of the trial started in April 2025, with each side going through off over what worth Google ought to pay for its monopoly. The DOJ urged the spinoff of Chrome and the sharing of Google's search knowledge, saying it could assist forestall unfair benefits in different markets, together with synthetic intelligence. Here is how AI suits into this case:

🖥️ Requiring Google to license its search index database might assist smaller rivals construct their very own engines like google. AI builders might use the knowledge to assist practice language fashions like chatbots.🖥️ The DOJ argued that Google's AI merchandise might assist strengthen its monopoly in on-line search, however Google disagreed with the idea, saying competitors within the AI race is wholesome.🖥️ In Mehta's ruling, he says that corporations within the AI house are already in a greater place to compete with Google, each financially and technologically, than any conventional search firm has been in many years.

Image present <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x4608+0+395/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F57%2Fe8%2F6e1f7b9444338855fa712902c392%2Fgaza-girl-8.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x4608+0+395/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F57%2Fe8%2F6e1f7b9444338855fa712902c392%2Fgaza-girl-8.jpg" class="img" alt="Beirut, Lebanon. August 11, 2025. Six-year-old Kenzi Madhoun from Gaza poses for a portrait outside the American University of Beirut Medical Center. She arrived in Beirut with her father, Adam Madhoun, to begin treatment after being injured in Gaza on Oct. 21, 2023. She is among nearly 35 children the Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund brings with their caretakers from Palestine to Lebanon for medical and psychological support before they return home. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR" loading="lazy"/> Beirut, Lebanon. August 11, 2025. Six-year-old Kenzi Madhoun from Gaza poses for a portrait exterior the American College of Beirut Medical Heart. She arrived in Beirut together with her father, Adam Madhoun, to start therapy after being injured in Gaza on Oct. 21, 2023. She is amongst practically 35 youngsters the Ghassan Abu Sittah Youngsters's Fund brings with their caretakers from Palestine to Lebanon for medical and psychological assist earlier than they return house. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR Diego Ibarra Sanchez for NPR conceal caption

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Diego Ibarra Sanchez for NPR Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah is on a mission to heal youngsters's wounds from the warfare in Gaza. Over time, Abu-Sittah, a reconstructive and plastic surgeon, has handled the wounded in a number of nations and conflicts. But it surely's Gaza the place he felt a selected calling to assist. Abu-Sittah entered the territory two days after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants led a shock assault on communities in southern Israel, leading to Israeli retaliatory strikes. In November, the hospital the place he labored ran out of anesthesia, main him to go away after realizing he might assist extra successfully from exterior the enclave. He went to Lebanon, the place he says the experience within the administration of warfare wounds is unparalleled. He started to convey wounded youngsters there for complicated reconstructive surgical procedure. Since starting his quest, social activist Darine Dandachly and her workforce shaped a partnership with him via a youngsters's fund in his identify to additional assist war-injured youngsters. Goats and Soda talked with Abu-Sittah about his objectives. Learn extra in regards to the work Abu-Sittah is doing, see images of the impression he's making and take heed to what he needed to say.

3 issues to know earlier than you go <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x3375+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F3b%2F86d2d8eb483eac56c69611b530f8%2Fgettyimages-2208316996.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x3375+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F3b%2F86d2d8eb483eac56c69611b530f8%2Fgettyimages-2208316996.jpg" class="img" alt="Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, prepares to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on April 03, 2025. On Wednesday, Newsmax sued larger rival Fox, claiming it was using its power to illegally control the market in right-wing news channels." loading="lazy"/> Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, prepares to ring the opening bell on the New York Inventory Trade throughout morning buying and selling on April 03, 2025. On Wednesday, Newsmax sued Fox, claiming it was illegally utilizing its energy to squash rival conservative networks. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America conceal caption

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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America Newsmax filed a lawsuit yesterday in opposition to Fox Information and its guardian firm, claiming that the conservative media large engaged in antitrust practices to hinder the smaller competitor's progress in cable information.Jasveen Sangha, a North Hollywood drug supplier generally known as "Ketamine Queen," now faces as much as 65 years in federal jail after pleading responsible to supplying the medication that precipitated the loss of life of Pals actor Matthew Perry. (by way of LAist)The following spherical of COVID-19 vaccines has been authorized for the autumn, however the FDA has modified who can obtain them. To reply a few of your burning questions in regards to the pictures, Contemplate This from NPR tapped in an skilled on the topic.