NPR News Headlines

The NFL has banned the use of smelling salts during games, citing an FDA warning concerning the safety of the substance. Here's what experts say about the effects and the risks.

(Image credit: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money.

(Image credit: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

The White House said that starting just after midnight that goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union would face tariff rates of 10% or higher.

(Image credit: Noah Berger)

Jen Pawol will make history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game. Here's a look at other female officials who were the first on the floor, court or the field in prominent men's leagues.

(Image credit: Jeff Roberson)

The bandleader and pianist was one of the leading Latin musicians of his generation. He won multiple Grammys and was recognized as an NEA Jazz Master.

(Image credit: Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

Hundreds of United Airlines flights were disrupted on Wednesday evening as the carrier grappled with a major computer system outage. The airline requested ground stops at its major hubs in the U.S.

(Image credit: Ronaldo Schemidt)

Trump told reporters on Wednesday evening that he is considering taking over the D.C. police force and sending in the National Guard after a former DOGE staffer was hurt in an attempted carjacking.

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan)

The Aalborg Zoo in Denmark said it would take certain surplus pets such as chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs to be "gently euthanized" and fed to its captive predators.

(Image credit: Henning Bagger)

In Africa’s most populous country more than a third of residents have no access to electricity. Even those connected to the nation’s crumbling power grid cannot rely on it. And the situation isn’t improving. We go to Nigeria to see how people cope with the lack of access to power.

(Image credit: Emmanuel Akinwotu)

In 2006, Ari Shapiro reported on how Hurricane Katrina made an already broken public defender system in New Orleans worse. The court system collapsed in the aftermath of the storm.

Katrina caused horrific destruction in New Orleans. It threw incarcerated people into a sort of purgatory - some were lost in prisons for more than a year.

But the storm also cleared the way for changes that the city's public defender system had needed for decades.

Two decades later, Shapiro returns to New Orleans and finds a system vastly improved.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: Claire Harbage)

Texas Republican Tom Oliverson about what's next in the redistricting fight that is going down in the Lone Star state.

(Image credit: Rodolfo Gonzalez)

The Trump administration cancelled about $500 million for research into mRNA vaccines. The move slows progress in using the technology to prevent a future pandemic or treat disease, experts say.

(Image credit: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg)

The Army says that law enforcement was dispatched to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area at 10:56 a.m. local time and that the "shooter was apprehended at 11:35 a.m." No fatalities were reported.

(Image credit: Staff Sgt. Daniel Guerrero)

Fourteen million people in Sudan have been displaced by war and famine. The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum writes about the scale of destruction in her article, "The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth."

There's a fresh push to edit the genes of human embryos to prevent diseases and enhance characteristics that parents value. Bioethicists say just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be done.

(Image credit: VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS)

The chain's bankruptcy filing is the second in seven years. Its troubles include unwieldy debt, shoppers' changing habits and new tariff costs.

(Image credit: Seth Wenig)

White House envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in a last-ditch effort to convince him to make peace in Ukraine or face punishing new economic penalties by Friday.

(Image credit: Gavriil Grigorov)

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international correspondents share snapshots of moments from their lives and work around the world.

With the number of survivors rapidly declining and their average age now exceeding 86, this year's anniversary is considered the last milestone event for many of them.

(Image credit: Louise Delmotte)

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Russia to discuss the war in Ukraine ahead of a deadline for peace. And, today marks the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which is facing new threats.

(Image credit: Gavril Grigorov/Pool)