daily08152026

 Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. Lala has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Hawaii's Big Island. NPR's Ava Pukic reports Lala has maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. Hawaii Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency prior to Lala's arrival. It's not just the amount of wind. It's the heavy rainfall. It's the flooding. It's the entirety of this storm which gives us pause, and again, this is a very serious storm. We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time, so none of us really have experienced this in the last couple decades. Lala could dump up to 25 inches of rain across Hawaii's Big Island. The Hawaii National Guard is mobilized to help with emergency response efforts. The last hurricane to make landfall on the Big Island was in 1871.
The USS George Washington is heading towards the Middle East as concerns grow over poor conditions on another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. NPR's Tom Bowman says spouses of sailors aboard the USS Lincoln have been airing their concerns to Pentagon officials. They say, you know, there is food aboard. It's not maybe the best food, maybe, you know, energy bars or corn dogs rather than a decent hot meal. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said these concerns are misrepresented. But Navy Secretary Hong Kong had a pretty stormy meeting with families of the Lincoln sailors. There were like 200 people in this room in San Diego. So they're getting an earful, really, from family members now, as well as sailors. The USS Abraham Lincoln, with about 5,000 crew members, has been out at sea for more than eight months.
Israeli settlers attacked a construction worker today trying to restore water service to a Palestinian-American home in the West Bank that has been under siege since last Sunday. NPR's Frank Lankvitt reports from Tel Aviv. Video from the home's occupant shows more than a dozen Israeli settlers chasing a backhoe and jumping aboard as the operator tries to drive to safety. The homeowner, Lou Ayridi, a Palestinian-American businessman who lives in Toledo, said the settlers are trying to take over his home and should be arrested. Imagine that you have gangsters in front of your house and you call the police on them. And when the police come, they go hang out with them. Israeli soldiers did run off the settlers today. Israeli Defense Forces said it deployed more soldiers to the area and pledged to protect all residents. But Palestinians say land grabs are rarely punished because they advanced the government's goal of expanding Israeli control of land, Palestinians claim. Frank Lankvitt, Tel Aviv.
AAA says the national average price for gasoline increased five cents last week to now $4.07 a gallon. It's NPR.
Democrats have picked South Carolina to lead their presidential primary calendar, with party officials selecting January the 22nd, 2028, as the first primary. Nevada will follow next on February the 1st. New Hampshire, which typically had been the first primary in the nation, will move back to February the 8th. But still to be decided, when the traditional Iowa caucuses will be held, Republicans have not announced their primary schedule.
Authorities in Australia are racing to vaccinate its little penguins against the deadly HV bird flu virus as it records the first penguin fatality. Conservationists are concerned that this wait could mean for the world's biggest little penguin colony and other native birds. Rachel Bongiorno has more. Every evening, hundreds of tourists quietly gather on the shores of Phillip Island, about two hours' drive from Melbourne, hoping to catch a glimpse of these adorable birds as they waddled their way up the sand to their burrows. But living in such close quarters is what makes penguins at higher risk. Although only 5,000 out of around 40,000 penguins will begin their vaccinations on Monday, the state's chief veterinary officer, Graham Cook, says it's still ambitious. This is the largest vaccination project in wildlife that has ever been undertaken. Just over 200 birds have tested positive for the virus since it first arrived in June.
The owner of a signed Picasso print that was stolen in Milwaukee got a phone call from police this week. The painting has been returned.