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Today’s top stories
Six states have now promised to send their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., which will result in over 1,100 new soldiers patrolling the streets. All of the states so far have Republican governors: Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Ohio. The deployment follows President Trump’s declaration that there is a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital.
Members of the National Guard patrol near the Washington Monument on Saturday. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption
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Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
- 🎧 NPR’s Meg Anderson tells Up First that after looking at last year’s murder rates, she found that many of the states sending troops have cities with higher crime counts than the capital. In Jackson, Miss., the murder rate is four times higher than that of Washington, and in Memphis, it is nearly triple. Washington still has a higher violent crime rate than some other major cities, including New York City, but the numbers are falling. Insha Rahman, with the advocacy group the Vera Institute of Justice, says the president’s enlisting of governors to send troops signals a political power grab, and it’s not about making cities safer.
European leaders have been urgently working to figure out the next steps to ending Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine following their meeting at the White House on Monday. Trump has ruled out sending U.S. troops to join a European-led force that would guard against another potential Russian invasion. Less than 24 hours after the meetings with Trump, the European Union leaders who were present were in virtual sessions debriefing their counterparts.
- 🎧 The urgency shows how high-stakes this is for Europe, says reporter Teri Schultz. Trump has pledged that the U.S. will help with security guarantees for Ukraine, but the president has made it clear he wants Europe to take the lead. European Council President António Costa says there is a difficult road ahead, but the U.S.’s support has brought reassurance. A large unanswered question is how willing Europeans are to send their people to Ukraine because it is unclear whether the mission would be to monitor, reinforce or defend a ceasefire. Those terms all mean very different things and carry different levels of danger for those deployed.
Texas lawmakers are expected to vote in favor of redrawing the state’s congressional map today. The bill would then head to the Senate tomorrow and then to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to sign it. Texas Democrats left the state for a couple of weeks to slow down this process. Upon their return, Texas Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows ordered Democrats to sign a paper pledging they would show up today if they wanted to leave the building after work earlier this week.
- 🎧 The new map, which could bring five new GOP seats, could make all the difference for Republicans, who currently hold the House by a few seats, Blaise Gainey of The Texas Newsroom says. Democrats say the new map weakens Black and Latino votes in illegal ways, and they will challenge it in court. California Democrats also plan to vote this week on a map that would give an edge to five more Democrats in the House next year. In California, the law requires an independent commission to do the redistricting, but the state is seeking voters’ approval in a special election in November.
Living better
There’s a growing consensus among researchers on how many daily steps are needed to improve health. Marco VDM/iStockphoto/Getty Images hide caption
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Marco VDM/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
Counting steps is the main way many people track their daily activity — or lack of it. Many Americans spend nine-plus hours sitting every day and could probably stand to take a few more steps. But how many daily steps do you need to improve your health? New research, published in The Lancet Public Health, suggests 7,000 is a good target, and the more you move, the less likely you are to die from cardiovascular disease and other ailments. However, the evidence doesn’t discount the value of getting more than that many steps per day. Here’s what else the research found:
- 🚶♀️ The widely cited target of 10,000 steps is not rooted in solid science; instead, it was popularized by a Japanese promotional campaign.
- 🚶♀️ The study found that taking 7,000 steps a day reduced the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes by 14%, cardiovascular disease by 25%, symptoms of depression by 22% and dementia by 38%.
- 🚶♀️ The study was unable to draw any definitive conclusions about whether the speed you take your steps makes a difference. There are various ways to measure intensity and observed distinctions could simply reflect better overall fitness and physical function.
Picture show
Members of Calling All Brothers welcome the students of Dr. Martin Luther King School of Social Justice and Breakthrough Magnet School to their first day of school in Hartford on August 17, 2024. Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public hide caption
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Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public
NPR network photographers all cover a wide variety of stories in different parts of the U.S., and understand that photos connect people in ways words can’t. In each assignment, they often find common ground in the everyday moments of communities gathering. To celebrate World Photography Day, they shared these moments in Here, together, a visual exploration of scenes of family, friends, neighbors and strangers that showcase unique experiences of joy and challenges. Each photographer reflects on the complex ways we connect, coexist and navigate life. From hundreds gathering for Seattle’s annual “From Hiroshima to Hope” event to the weiner dog race in St. Louis, check out their work.
3 things to know before you go
This undated artist’s conception released by NASA 13 April, 1999 shows an intermediate-sized black hole, which exists in the heart of spiral galaxies throughout the universe. Black holes emit no light. What is visible from Earth is the accretion disk (matter swirling into the black hole, often glowing in x-ray energy) and jets (beams of particles moving away from the black hole). An intermediate-sized black hole is 100 to 10,000 times as massive as the Sun, yet occupies a region smaller than the Moon. Previously, only two types of black holes were thought to exist: stellar black holes, several times more massive than the Sun, and supermassive black holes, with the mass of a million or billion times that of the Sun. AFP PHOTO NASA (Photo by NASA / AFP) (Photo by NASA/AFP via Getty Images) NASA/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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NASA/AFP via Getty Images
- A research team detected the oldest and most distant black hole using data from NASA’s James Webb Telescope. It formed shortly after the Big Bang.
- Students at Central High School in Kansas City, Mo., came back to school dressed to impress. They shared style tips everyone can use. (via KCUR)
- More women in the U.S. are having babies without partners. NPR is interested in exploring the unique situations and challenges that single moms face. If you have a story to share, fill out this form, and you could be featured in a future story.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
