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 Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington is heading toward the Middle East. This comes after reports of mental health and supply issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has spent a record-setting 240 days at sea supporting the Iran War. Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton is a Marine veteran and one of the lawmakers demanding answers about the reported conditions on the ship. It's so obvious that nobody here believes in the mission. I don't believe in the mission. How can our troops floating around the Gulf believe in this mission when it's been an abject failure, when it's actually done more to empower Iran than can curtail their nuclear weapons program or anything else? And that's why we've got to end this war. Independent military news outlet Stars and Stripes reported family members and sailors saying the roughly 5,000 service members aboard the Lincoln have endured food and water shortages, disrupted mail service, and long work days with little time off. The Navy acknowledged the Iran War has created an environment, quote, where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions.
The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is focused on strengthening the U.S.-Israel partnership. As NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports, it's become the center of a debate over money and politics. AIPAC's affiliated Super PAC has spent about $62 million in this cycle, according to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign spending. For comparison, that's close to the amount spent by crypto and AI-related super PACs. AIPAC is often singled out by name in ads and in campaign speeches, becoming a proxy for growing distaste for money and politics. Here's Democratic political analyst Van Jones. Now it seems like AIPAC has somehow become the symbol of everything that's wrong with money and politics. The organization faces a difficult moment. For decades, there was strong bipartisan support for Israel, support that has waned in the last few years. Barbara Sprunt, Washington.
Search and rescue operations continue in western Colombia, three days after a powerful earthquake killed more than 270 people, about 500 others remain missing. The mayor of one of the hardest-hit areas is asking residents to cooperate with rescue efforts. Reporter John Otis has more from the city of Cali. Colombian officials know they are in a race against the clock to find people trapped in collapsed buildings. Cali mayor Alejandro Eyre says they are now focusing on seven sites in the earthquake zone where they have the best chance to save people. The mayor also called on Cali residents to avoid the disaster zone so as not to cause traffic jams or get in the way of rescue teams. He added that workers inside the buildings need silence so their listening devices can detect signs of life.
Major U.S. stock indexes rose today.
The company that operates the network of FLOC cameras that record license plate numbers of passing vehicles is making changes intended to quell privacy concerns and address abuses by some law enforcement members. Once optional guardrails will be mandatory by January 1st. Among them, all law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that's intended to flag abnormal search behavior.
New research from UC San Francisco reflects a change in care for low-risk prostate cancers in the veterans' health care system. April Demboski of KQED reports more physicians aren't defaulting to invasive treatments. Historically, low-risk prostate cancers were treated aggressively with surgery and radiation. This often led to devastating side effects like incontinence and erectile dysfunction. UCSF urologist Matt Kuperberg says many of these men were over-diagnosed and over-treated. Meaning, men would go on to surgery, radiation therapy, other treatments that they did not need, that did not extend their life, and only threatened their quality of life. But according to Kuperberg's research, the tide has shifted in the last 20 years, especially at the VA. Doctors have backed off over-treatment. Now, 93% of low-risk prostate cancers are monitored with blood tests and checkups.
Baseball returns to the Field of Dreams in an Iowa cornfield tonight with a game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. Inspired by the 1989 movie starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, the game's played on a major league regulation field amidst the cornrows of Dyersville, Iowa. This is NPR.