--:-- Windsor Johnston: This message comes from NPR sponsor Odoo. Some describe Odoo like a magic beanstalk because it scales with you and is magically affordable. Odoo, exactly what a business needs. Sign up at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: President Trump is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House at this hour.
--:-- Emily Fang: NPR's Emily Fang reports the meeting comes amid increasing pressure to end the war in Gaza.
--:-- Emily Fang: U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkopf told reporters that there might be a breakthrough on the plan in the coming days, but we reached out to Hamas negotiators who say they have not yet received any kind of written proposal of this plan.
--:-- Emily Fang: And so the question now is, is there enough pressure on the U.S. and Hamas, on Israel to overcome fundamental disagreements which have sunk previous ceasefire proposals?
--:-- Emily Fang: NPR's Emily Fang reporting from Tel Aviv.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Trump and Netanyahu are expected to hold a joint press conference at the White House following today's meeting.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The top four congressional leaders will hold talks with President Trump at the White House this afternoon
--:-- Caroline Levitt: The meeting comes a day before the deadline to avert a government shutdown White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt tells Fox News the president is asking Congress to keep federal agencies funded under a bill that passed the House but was rejected in the Senate
--:-- Caroline Levitt: The president is giving Democrat leadership one last chance to be reasonable, to come to the White House today to try to talk about this.
--:-- Caroline Levitt: And now is not the time to try to get political points against Donald Trump.
--:-- Caroline Levitt: Now is the time to do right by the American people and keep the government funded.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: A temporary measure keeping the government open would need at least 60 votes in the Senate to pass.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Officials in Oregon are suing the Trump administration to block the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The state argues the president's description of the city as, quote, war ravaged is pure fiction.
--:-- Christopher Blank: In Memphis, a new crime-fighting task force backed by local, federal, and National Guard troops is launching this week.
--:-- Christopher Blank: In a city known for both high crime and civil rights activism, residents and local leaders are divided over the deployment.
--:-- Christopher Blank: For Rachel Spriggs and scores of activists who protested the task force over the weekend, federal help has a checkered history in this majority black city.
--:-- Christopher Blank: Because here help has meant harm.
--:-- Christopher Blank: Here help has meant harassment
--:-- Christopher Blank: But many locals including city council members such as Yolanda Cooper Sutton say the tough measures are a consequence of previous failed crime interventions
--:-- Christopher Blank: What are you going to do about it? What solutions do we have in place?
--:-- Bill Lee: For Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, the solution is a surge of law enforcement from 13 federal agencies and state troopers.
--:-- Bill Lee: The National Guard, he said Friday, will neither be armed nor make arrests.
--:-- Bill Lee: It will work with Memphis police as the department focuses on violent crime.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: For NPR News, I'm Christopher Blank in Memphis.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Stocks are trading mixed on Wall Street at this hour.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Dow was down 26 points.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Nasdaq Composite up 183.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: This is NPR News in Washington.
--:-- Amy Held: Food insecurity is a growing issue in the U.S., made worse by rising inflation and cost of living.
--:-- Amy Held: NPR's Amy Held reports in the D.C. area.
--:-- Radha Mathia: A new survey finds after sweeping federal job cuts, a persistent problem is deepening.
--:-- Radha Mathia: Radha Mathia is CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank.
--:-- Radha Mathia: Food insecurity just remains extremely high at 36% of our population.
--:-- Radha Mathia: That means limited access to enough good food, and their survey finds it's growing more severe.
--:-- Radha Mathia: It goes from not being able to choose the nutritious foods that you might want to eat to actually reducing the size of meals and skipping meals
--:-- Radha Mathia: Then there are thousands of federal workers who lost jobs during mass cuts 41 percent of those households are now food insecure.
--:-- Amy Held: It's part of a national problem that may soon get harder to assess and address.
--:-- Amy Held: The USDA says it's ending its survey after it became politicized.
--:-- Amy Held: Its last report from January found food insecurity rose by a million households.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Tropical storm Imelda is expected to strengthen as it moves off the southeast coast this week.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The National Weather Service says the storm developed near the Bahamas on Sunday and could become a hurricane.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Imelda's center is expected to stay offshore, but its wide reach will still bring impacts.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Forecasters say heavy rainfall is expected along the coastal Carolinas through Tuesday, bringing the risk of flash flooding.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: On Wall Street, the Dow down 16 points at this hour, the S&P up 27.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.
