daily08192026

 Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The federal debt topped $40 trillion today, a new high-water mark that shows no sign of receding. The news comes just five months after the debt surpassed $39 trillion. The government continues to pile up debt at a rapid clip as spending outstrips revenue by more than $2 trillion a year. The T administration blames the deficit on Democrats. As negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain at a standstill, President T downplayed the significance of the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz today, saying nations are getting their oil and gas elsewhere. People have found other alternatives, which they never thought about. Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and other places. In addition, a lot of pipelines, record numbers of pipelines are being built. So I think the Hormuz Strait's not going to be quite as important as it was in the past. Closure of the Strait continues to disrupt world energy markets. The national average price for a gallon of regular gas is $4.08. Before Israel and the U.S. launched the war in February, it was $2.98. T says he may reopen negotiations with Iran at some point. Earlier this week, he threatened to bomb U.S. ally Oman for discussing a plan to reopen the Strait with Iran.
Three candidates President T endorsed lost in yesterday's Republican primaries in Florida and Wyoming. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, there may be some cracks emerging in the president's grip on the Republican Party. The win rate for candidates President T has endorsed remains well over 90 percent. But in the crowded primary field for Florida's 19th congressional district, T endorsed late, and his pick came in second. Scandal-plagued Congressman Cory Mills failed in his bid for re-election in Florida's 7th congressional district. T had endorsed him early. But in an after-the-fact social media post, the president claimed he had told Mills to drop out. In Wyoming's Republican gubernatorial primary, T's endorsed candidate also lost to a more moderate Republican. And it wasn't even close.
The course for this weekend's IndyCar race in Washington, D.C. will take cars at top speeds right past multiple art galleries and history museums. That's raised concerns. NPR's Rachel Treisman reports. The race cars will travel at up to 180 miles per hour, right past landmarks like the National Archives Building and Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Art historian Mary Oaken worries the vibrations could harm the artifacts inside. Independence Avenue is a 25-mile-per-hour zone. That's not some accident of faith that it's a great idea to violate. IndyCar and the White House say they are following all protocols and don't expect damage. The National Gallery of Art says it ran vibration tests and is taking precautions. That includes boarding up some outdoor sculptures.
Major U.S. stock indexes rose today.
Colombia's president, Abelardo de la Espriera, is asking President T to suspend tariffs to help Colombia recover from last week's devastating earthquake. The 7.4 magnitude quake killed at least 312 people and injured nearly 4,000.
Family and friends of Nolan Wells are remembering him tonight on what would have been his 19th birthday. The black teenager took a boat trip with all-white friends on July 4th but didn't return alive. Elise Gregg from the Gulf States Newsroom and Mississippi Public Broadcasting reports. The community is gathering in Biloxi tonight at Greater St. John AME Church for a prayer rally for Wells and his family. Pastor Jamal Bryan of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia is the keynote speaker. The emotional roller coaster that the family and the community is on is the speedy ride with no seat belt. So we're coming really just to put our arms around them and extend prayers for them. The family is still waiting on key details from the death investigation to be released. Results of a state autopsy haven't been shared and an independent autopsy found Wells' cause of death to be undetermined. The NAACP has joined the family's legal team.
The mission to save NASA's sinking telescope has been called off. NASA paid Catalyst Space Technologies $30 million to try to lift the aging SWIFT observatory to higher orbit. The startup says it will not attempt to capture it because of problems with controlling the rescue craft. The telescope will plunge through the atmosphere later this year. Intense solar activity caused SWIFT to lose altitude faster than expected.