SCOTUS upholds abortion tablet telehealth entry. And, Trump returns from China go to

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At present’s high tales

The Supreme Courtroom upheld entry to the abortion tablet mifepristone yesterday. The excessive court docket’s order implies that the treatment will stay accessible through telehealth whereas Louisiana’s case in opposition to the Meals and Drug Administration strikes via the decrease courts. The Supreme Courtroom stayed a Might 1 ruling from the New Orleans-based U.S. fifth Circuit Courtroom of Appeals would have banned entry to mifepristone by mail. The court docket ruling would have impacted the entire nation.

• 🎧 The FDA’s attorneys argued within the decrease courts that the case must be paused whereas it conducts a brand new security evaluation of mifepristone, prompted by strain from Republican lawmakers. The company requested to finish the evaluation first, however the fifth Circuit rejected this request. The FDA didn’t reply to the appeals court docket’s ruling, which NPR’s Selena Simmons-Duffin says is hanging as a result of a key a part of this case is concerning the company’s energy. Simmons-Duffin says this case raises an vital query: Ought to judges be capable of reshape nationwide entry to FDA-approved drugs, or ought to FDA scientists make that willpower? Former FDA leaders have urged the excessive court docket to take care of entry to mifepristone through telemedicine, saying it wants a secure regulatory framework for the FDA to manage drugs within the nation.

President Trump is returning to the U.S. after a two-day state go to to China. The president mentioned that China would purchase soybeans and Boeing plane, however nothing has been seen in writing but. As Trump celebrated the announcement of the deal, he did not sound utterly stable, NPR’s Tamara Keith tells Up First. China has made buy guarantees earlier than just for them to fall brief. A 12 months in the past, a damaging commerce struggle raged between the 2 international locations. Final fall, Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping reached a truce. Keith says the larger image now’s that this go to additional strengthens that settlement. Trump additionally mentioned he and Xi mentioned the Center East, and agreed that the Strait of Hormuz ought to stay open and Iran ought to by no means have a nuclear weapon. Keith says it would not seem that the U.S. secured any commitments from China to assist strain Iran to reopen the Strait or agree to show over its nuclear materials.

After every week of political turmoil and cupboard resignations within the U.Okay., a number of folks have expressed curiosity in difficult Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his place. Starmer and his Labour Celebration suffered vital losses in native and regional elections final week, highlighting the rising unpopularity of Starmer’s management. His tenure has been troubled by a struggling financial system, backlash over his appointment of an envoy related to Jeffrey Epstein and an increase in antisemitism, which the federal government has declared a “national emergency.”

• 🎧 When Starmer’s center-left Labour get together received lower than two years in the past, it was seen as a return to boring stability after a revolving door of prime ministers, NPR’s Lauren Frayer says. However polling exhibits that voters imagine Starmer hasn’t delivered on guarantees to enhance authorities providers and the price of dwelling. Starmer says a number of elements past his management, such because the struggle in Iran, are dragging his approval score down. He desires extra time in as prime minister, however it would not appear to be the get together is keen to provide that to him, Frayer says. His get together would seemingly substitute him with certainly one of his former allies, although none have but filed for candidacy.

Particular schooling academics within the Salmon River Central College District of New York confined college students with disabilities in picket bins, state officers say. Akwesasne Mohawk kids, who make up about two-thirds of the district’s enrolled college students, had been amongst among the college students who had been confined. Native officers confirmed that workers had constructed and used a minimum of two bins in November and December of final 12 months. The state’s investigation revealed that a minimum of 5 elementary-age college students had been positioned in a “timeout” field, based on a report obtained by NPR. The investigation additionally discovered that the dad and mom of those kids weren’t notified, which is a violation of state laws. Dad and mom described this apply as harking back to previous abuses in authorities colleges that ravaged Native communities. New York’s state schooling division has since quietly ordered sweeping reforms within the district.

What’s Consuming America

Chef Jenifer Halin, culinary coordinator, cleans up the salad bar within the cafeteria at Nice Valley Excessive College in Malvern, Pennsylvania on February 2, 2026. (Rachel Wisniewski for NPR)

Rachel Wisniewski for NPR

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Rachel Wisniewski for NPR

What’s Consuming America is a particular sequence exploring the intersection of meals and the financial system.

College districts within the U.S. are involved that it might get much more costly to arrange meals underneath new federal dietary pointers. In January, the Trump administration overhauled the nationwide dietary pointers. Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has urged People to decide on high-quality, nutrient-dense protein and to keep away from extremely processed meals. These pointers set federal vitamin requirements that colleges in federal meal applications should observe. Many districts nonetheless depend upon processed, premade meals and protein stays the costliest ingredient on the cafeteria plate, faculty vitamin consultants say. The administration has additionally lower applications that assist colleges purchase meals from native farmers.

• 🍎 The Division of Agriculture remains to be updating the vitamin requirements required for establishments taking part within the College Breakfast Program and Nationwide College Lunch Program, which fed 30 million kids final 12 months.
• 🍎 Animal protein at school meals is among the most extremely processed parts, says Mara Fleishman, CEO of the Chef Ann Basis, which works to assist colleges cook dinner extra meals from scratch. Hen nuggets, which comprise round 35 elements, are present in practically each U.S. faculty district, she says.
• 🍎 Districts that wish to put together hen strips from scratch might make them utilizing six to seven elements, however it may be difficult, Fleishman says. They’ve to think about the monetary, labor and waste implications of cooking from scratch.
• 🍎 Schooling directors and youngster vitamin advocates have mentioned for years that college cafeterias face tight budgets partly resulting from inadequate federal reimbursements. Reimbursement charges are adjusted yearly primarily based on the buyer value index. College vitamin administrators say that the will increase usually are not sufficient and Congress must rethink the reimbursement system as meal program prices rise.

Saving cash on meals will be difficult. NPR’s newest publication journey will provide help to select, plan and cook dinner three reasonably priced meals over 4 weeks. The information will even offer you tips about eating out. Join the The best way to Minimize Your Meals Invoice right here.

Weekend picks

Isabel Leonard as Frida and Carlos Álvarez as Diego carry out in a scene from Gabriela Lena Frank’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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

🍿 Films: Martin Quick’s lengthy profession in comedy is widely known within the new documentary Marty, Life Is Quick. The movie reveals how ceaselessly he has endured the lack of members of the family.

📺 TV: Amadeus focuses on 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a genius who makes use of music to specific what he can’t articulate. The restricted sequence tells a fictionalized story of the rivalry between Mozart and the court docket composer Antonio Salieri.

📚 Books: Eve J. Chung’s The Younger Will Keep in mind tells the story of Ellie Chang, a Chinese language American struggle correspondent. Stranded in an unfamiliar space that she’s often known as enemy territory, Chang should depend on strangers to search out her approach again dwelling.

🎵 Music: Tomorrow, the 25 international locations that made it via to Eurovision’s Grand Last will get to carry out their songs. Peacock and YouTube will stream the occasion within the U.S. Try the high 10 finest songs within the competitors, based on NPR’s Glen Weldon.

🎭 Theater: The opera El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego sees late Mexican painter Frida Kahlo leaving the underworld on the Day of the Useless to reunite together with her husband and fellow artist, Diego Rivera. Audiences can see it on the Metropolitan Opera in New York via June 5, or test it out dwell in theaters on Might 30.

❓Quiz: This week’s take a look at features a enjoyable addition: a fill-in-the-blank-option. Want a touch? The reply to that query is expounded to a discovery about Neanderthals included in yesterday’s publication.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Eileen Wang, pictured in 2023, stepped down from her position as mayor of the Metropolis of Arcadia on Monday, hours after the Division of Justice unsealed a plea settlement wherein the 58-year-old mentioned she was responsible of performing as an unlawful overseas agent on behalf of China’s authoritarian authorities.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Pictures

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Pictures

1. The now former mayor of Arcadia, Calif., Eileen Wang has reached a cope with federal prosecutors after admitting to performing as an unlawful overseas agent for China, court docket paperwork unsealed this week reveal.
2. On this week’s version of Far-Flung Postcards, NPR’s Miguel Macias takes readers to Seville, the place it’s snail season. The Caracoles present in southern Spain differ from the well-known French escargot in that they’re smaller and eaten immediately from the shell.
3. Adidas has created a novel ball for every FIFA World Cup since 1970. This 12 months’s design options graphics for the three host international locations: a blue star for the U.S., a purple maple leaf for Canada and a inexperienced eagle for Mexico. (through KNKX)

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.