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Today’s prime tales

Despite two indictments and a possible third coming up, former President Donald Trump continues to be the undisputed front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump has embraced his authorized issues by making them a part of his core message that the system is rigged towards him.

Donald Trump speaks throughout a Make America Great Again rally at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on October 27, 2020, in West Salem, Wisconsin.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images

Donald Trump speaks throughout a Make America Great Again rally at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway on October 27, 2020, in West Salem, Wisconsin.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images

• Data reveals that Trump will get a lift in polls after he will get into authorized hassle, in response to NPR’s Franco Ordoñez. But on Up First at the moment, Ordoñez says, “It’s one factor to win the nomination, it is another to win the general election.” His authorized issues may harm him with independents and swing voters, leaving some GOP leaders and donors frightened in regards to the common election.

A battle over faculty selection and the separation of church and state is enjoying out in Oklahoma. The ACLU and 9 residents within the state have filed a lawsuit to cease a digital constitution faculty from opening. Oklahoma taxpayers would fund St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Charter School, which opponents say is unconstitutional. (through KOSU)

• State Impact Oklahoma’s Beth Wallace says faculty selection insurance policies that subsidize private education with public dollars have been a sizzling matter in her state in addition to within the nation. The plaintiffs argue that college students whose identities battle with the Catholic Church can be discriminated towards, and college students with disabilities will not obtain sufficient assist. The faculty’s supporters hope the case will go to the Supreme Court, the place the conservative majority may rule on their facet.

The deadline for veterans to obtain retroactive PACT Act advantages is August 9, and advocates are urging veterans to enroll. The invoice, hailed as the most important growth of care in VA historical past, was passed last year and offers well being care advantages for veterans uncovered to burn pits and toxins like Agent Orange.

• Some veterans are reluctant to enroll as a result of they have been disappointed by the VA before or wish to transfer on with their lives, veteran Dan Nevins tells NPR’s Quil Lawrence on Morning Edition. But Nevins, who misplaced each his legs in a bomb blast and was recognized with most cancers two years in the past, says it needs to be simpler this time. 

Paul Reubens, finest identified for creating and appearing as Pee-wee Herman, has died of cancer at 70. The petulant man-child that Reubens portrayed in works like Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Pee-wee’s Playhouse delighted youngsters and adults alike.

• “In many ways, he felt like an embodiment of childhood,” NPR’s Stephen Thompson says. Childhood will be magical and stuffed with play but in addition bizarre and subversive. Thompson provides, “Pee-wee was for kids who felt weird — he belonged to us.”

Deep dive

Drag Queen Brigitte Bandit reads a guide throughout a narrative time studying on the Cheer Up Charlies dive bar on March 11, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Bills to limit drag performances throughout the nation have didn’t make an influence.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Drag Queen Brigitte Bandit reads a guide throughout a narrative time studying on the Cheer Up Charlies dive bar on March 11, 2023 in Austin, Texas. Bills to limit drag performances throughout the nation have didn’t make an influence.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

As states wrap up their legislative periods for the 12 months, NPR and its member stations are overlaying the authorized realities and arguments of the numerous makes an attempt to curb LGBTQ+ rights throughout the nation.

• Efforts in Republican-led states to limit drag performances for youths have fallen short. Bills have been scuttled, blocked, vetoed and extra.
• Twenty states with gender-affirming care bans are underneath intense authorized scrutiny over whether or not they violate the 14th Amendment, which ensures individuals equal safety underneath the regulation.
• Gender-affirming care has by no means been challenged earlier than, and the subject may go as much as the Supreme Court if circuit courts cannot agree.

Weekly dose of surprise

When individuals take heed to the identical music, their mind waves can synchronize. It’s a method that music creates a way of connection and surprise.

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BlackJack3D/Getty Images

When individuals take heed to the identical music, their mind waves can synchronize. It’s a method that music creates a way of connection and surprise.

BlackJack3D/Getty Images

Weekly Dose of Wonder highlights wondrous, awe-inspiring tales that deepen our connection to the pure world and humanity.

Music has at all times been an enormous half of NPR’s Rob Stein’s life. He says listening to music is the closest he is “ever come to having a religious experience.” Scientists say it is as a result of music triggers the manufacturing of enjoyment chemical compounds within the mind. It may even synchronize brain waves amongst individuals listening to the identical music.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

A aid carved on a block in a stairway, one of many many thrilling artifacts uncovered at Ocomtun in May.

Octavio Esparza Olguin/National Autonomous University of Mexico

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Octavio Esparza Olguin/National Autonomous University of Mexico

A aid carved on a block in a stairway, one of many many thrilling artifacts uncovered at Ocomtun in May.

Octavio Esparza Olguin/National Autonomous University of Mexico

1. Laser know-how helped archeologists discover a huge Maya metropolis in Mexico. The beforehand unknown metropolis could have served as a political heart, making scientists question their knowledge in regards to the Maya civilization.
2. The big, flashing ‘X’ signal put in at headquarters for X, previously generally known as Twitter, in San Francisco has been taken down after 24 neighbors filed complaints.
3. British researchers have found that the sound male crickets make once they rub their wings collectively is used to attract female mates. May the loudest cricket win!

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.