--:-- Shea Stevens: This message comes from Capital One with the Venture X Card. Earn unlimited double miles, a $300 annual Capital One travel credit, and access to airport lounges. Capital One. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Details at CapitalOne.com.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The Trump administration is defending its plans to give the South American nation of Argentina a $20 billion lifeline. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says it is in the U.S.'s interest to help out an ally.
--:-- Shea Stevens: We're using our economic strength to create peace, just as you've done all over the world. And it is much better to form an economic bridge with our allies, people who want to do the right thing, than have to have shooting at narco gun moats.
--:-- Shea Stevens: President Trump says the U.S. bailout is contingent upon his Argentine counterpart, Javier Mille, remaining in power. Milet met with Trump at the White House Tuesday, a month after losing a provincial election.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Argentina's midterms are set for October 26th.
--:-- Shea Stevens: New tariffs on imported kitchen cabinets bathroom vanities and upholstered wooden furniture kicked in Tuesday Several small home improvement companies in the U say they expect some short pain due to the latest tariffs but hope it will boost domestic production Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies is forecasting steady home remodeling activity through next year.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The U.S. has struck another vessel off the coast of Venezuela. NPR's Ada Peralta reports that it was the sixth time that the U.S. has used lethal force against a boat in the Caribbean.
--:-- Ada Peralta: President Trump says the vessel was, quote, trafficking narcotics. Trump released a video on social media showing what appears to be a stationary vessel at sea, which is then blown up by a projectile. He says six, quote, narco-terrorists were killed.
--:-- Ada Peralta: The White House did not provide any evidence that the boat was carrying drugs. Venezuela's government has claimed that a similar attack killed civilians on a fishing boat.
--:-- Ada Peralta: Last week, the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said the boat that had been hit then was Colombian, carrying Colombian citizens. This isn't a war against drugs, Petro charged. He says it's an attempt to topple the Venezuelan regime and get its oil.
--:-- Ada Peralta: I'm reporting from Mexico City.
--:-- Shea Stevens: President Trump has honored conservative activist Charlie Kirk posthumously with the country's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. More from NPR's Deepa Shivaram.
--:-- Deepa Shivaram: Kirk founded Turning Point USA one of the country's largest conservative youth organizations that has chapters all over the country.
--:-- Deepa Shivaram: The Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony was held on what would have been Kirk's 32nd birthday. He was assassinated last month at an event in Utah.
--:-- Deepa Shivaram: In the White House Rose Garden, Trump called Kirk a martyr and an American hero.
--:-- Deepa Shivaram: So today, like those martyrs before him, Charlie's voice, his message and his legacy are stronger and greater than ever before.
--:-- Deepa Shivaram: The ceremony took place shortly before the State Department started revoking visas of people who they described as foreigners who had, quote, celebrated Kirk's death.
--:-- Shea Stevens: U.S. futures are virtually unchanged in after-hours trading.
--:-- Shea Stevens: This is NPR.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Maine's Democratic Governor Janet Mills is challenging Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins in the 2026 election. Mills joins a crowded field of Democrats hoping to unseat Collins, who currently chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Republicans currently hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate.
--:-- Shea Stevens: New testing data shows that when it comes to reading, the nation's third through eighth graders are still mired in a pandemic slump. NPR Cory Turner has details.
--:-- Cory Turner: The data comes from NWEA a K testing and research organization and its spring 2025 MAP Growth Assessment a suite of tests taken by millions of students in thousands of schools across the U.
--:-- Cory Turner: In reading students across most grade levels are still performing at or even below pandemic lows.
--:-- Cory Turner: NWEA said this stagnation is consistent regardless of race, ethnicity, or school poverty level.
--:-- Cory Turner: In math, the news was only slightly better. Achievement either held steady or, in some grades improved slightly, though nearly all grades remain behind the performance levels of kids in those same grades back in 2019.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Corey Turner, NPR News.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Walmart has announced another expansion into online retail. It is partnering with OpenAI, allowing customers to make purchases within ChatGPT.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Walmart CEO Doug McMillan says the days of using a search bar and a long list item responses are over.
--:-- Shea Stevens: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that the company's partnership with Walmart will make everyday purchases simpler.
--:-- Shea Stevens: You're listening to NPR News.
