July 4th occasions threatened by warmth wave. And, Russia strikes on Ukraine’s capital

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As we speak’s prime tales

Tomorrow marks the 250th birthday of america, with Independence Day celebrations deliberate throughout the nation. However many occasions are being affected by the extreme warmth wave stretching from Texas to the East Coast. Some communities have already chosen to cancel or scale back their festivities, together with Philadelphia, which shortened its annual Fourth of July parade route.

• 🎧 It is nonetheless unclear what is going to occur in Washington, D.C., the place President Trump has made the anniversary a serious focus. NPR’s Anastasia Tsioulcas tells Up First. Capitol Police stated they will resolve this morning whether or not the general public can attend the Capitol Fourth live performance and fireworks. Forecasts name for temperatures close to 102 levels, with a warmth index as excessive as 113. A few days in the past, Trump talked about at a public occasion that he plans to ship a “really long” speech on the evening of the Fourth, when it’s anticipated to be practically as scorching as it is going to be through the day.
• ➡️ The warmth is not simply the forecast. Democrats on the Home Pure Assets Committee launched a 55-page report yesterday accusing Freedom 250 of serving to Trump remodel America’s milestone right into a “hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment” by ways that doubtlessly represent felony fraud.

Rescue employees in Kyiv recovered extra our bodies from an house constructing in a single day after it was crushed by a Russian missile yesterday. Officers say that 30 folks have been killed within the missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s capital, which Russia launched in response to Ukrainian drone strikes focusing on Russian oil refineries.

• 🎧 Residents are deeply shaken, in line with NPR’s Joanna Kakissis, who’s in Kyiv. An enormous crater now sits beside a kindergarten the place a missile struck. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the assault uncovered Ukraine’s scarcity of missile interceptors and renewed his name for Europe to strengthen its personal defenses.

Congress is on its July 4th recess, however lawmakers will quickly flip their focus to this fall’s midterm elections. Democrats are looking for methods to energise their base, and a number of other primaries have revealed rising frustration with the social gathering institution. In Denver and New York Metropolis, democratic socialists have efficiently unseated incumbent Democrats who they imagine aren’t left-leaning sufficient.

• 🎧 Some candidates have been in a position to unseat Democrats through the primaries by specializing in a core set of points, NPR’s Elena Moore says. Largely, they’re calling on the Democratic Get together to undertake extra formidable financial insurance policies to sort out the affordability disaster. They’re additionally vocal concerning the affect of cash in politics and criticize elected Democrats for accepting donations from company PACs and pro-Israel teams. Though Democrats broadly agree on key financial points, there may be concern that the positions held by extra leftist candidates may muddy their general message. As Democrats attempt to regain management of the Home, interesting to average voters would require a balancing act, Moore says.
• 🎧 Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York discusses the Democratic Get together’s midterm future with Morning Version‘s Michel Martin.

Dwelling higher

Folks spend time at Washington Sq. Park throughout scorching climate in New York Metropolis on June 29, 2026.

Selçuk Acar/Anadolu/Getty Photos

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Selçuk Acar/Anadolu/Getty Photos

Dwelling Higher is a particular sequence about what it takes to remain wholesome in America.

It’s a scorcher of a vacation weekend, with giant swaths of the Midwest and the Jap U.S. underneath warmth advisories. Warmth could be harmful: a whole bunch of individuals within the U.S. die from heat-related sicknesses every year. Listed below are a few ideas from NPR’s reporting to assist you keep secure.

• 🥵 Test your drugs: Some prescriptions, together with sure blood stress medicine, can enhance your threat of heat-related sickness by making dehydration worse.
• 🥵 Know the indicators of warmth sickness: Warmth exhaustion may cause fatigue, intense thirst and fast respiratory. Warmth stroke is a medical emergency and will embody vomiting, seizures and slurred speech.
• 🥵 Restrict time open air and keep hydrated: If potential, go outdoors within the morning or night when it’s cooler, keep within the shade, and convey loads of water. Water is the only option, although electrolytes will help should you’ve develop into overheated or are doing strenuous exercise.

Weekend picks

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert maintain their trophies after Evert beat Navratilova to win the Girls’s Singles title on the French Open in 1986.

Trevor Jones/Getty Photos Europe

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Trevor Jones/Getty Photos Europe

Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Motion pictures: Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have been the defining girls’s tennis champions of their technology. Now, they’re reflecting on their friendship, battles with most cancers and retirement within the Netflix documentary Chris & Martina: The Remaining Set.

📺 TV: Craig Ferguson, the Scotland-born comic who hosted The Late Late Present from 2005 to 2014, has returned to TV with a five-part documentary sequence on CNN known as American On Goal. The sequence showcases his quirky humor and his urge for food for the unpredictable.

📚 Books: In Paul Tremblay’s Lifeless however Dreaming of Electrical Sheep, a girl should use a video game-like controller to get a person, who’s caught in a vegetative state, throughout the nation.

🎵 Music: To have fun the midpoint of the yr, a dozen members of NPR Music’s staff have every chosen one tune and one album they can not cease listening to.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Geofferey Powell, 28-year-old multimedia artist and pc scientist, stated he was drawn to VRChat for its imaginative potential.

Through Geoffery Powell/Picture courtesy of Geoffery Powell

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Through Geoffery Powell/Picture courtesy of Geoffery Powell

1. As extra folks type friendships on-line, the evangelical group Cru is bringing its ministry to VRChat. The social platform lets tens of millions of customers work together by avatars resembling anime characters, animals, robots and people.
2. Swimply, an Airbnb-style firm, is letting folks hire out swimming pools and different non-public areas, resembling tennis and basketball courts. The corporate says non-public pool reservations have topped 275,000 this yr, up 50% from final yr.
3. Individuals have been consuming espresso lengthy earlier than they dumped tea into Boston Harbor or fought a warfare for independence. Colonial coffeehouses served as a hotbed for brewing up plans for revolutionary acts. This is what to learn about America’s early historical past of espresso.

This text was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.