--:-- Shea Stevens: This message comes from Dataiku. Companies can struggle to turn data into real AI apps. Dataiku makes it easy with low-code tools so anyone can build and scale AI. Visit dataiku.com slash NPR.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.
--:-- Shea Stevens: President Trump is throwing the weight of the White House behind Argentina's president. It's an unusual move, and it comes as Argentina prepares for legislative elections later this month.
--:-- Shea Stevens: More from NPR's Giles Snyder.
--:-- Giles Snyder: During a meeting with visiting President Javier Millay, President Trump held U.S. aid over the heads of Argentinian voters, warning them not to abandon Millay. If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Millay is not on the ballot until 2027, but his party suffered a landslide loss in a local election in September, and this month's election for seats in Argentina's National Congress is seen as a referendum on his policies.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Millet was at the White House after the Trump administration provided his country with a $20 billion financial lifeline.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Trump also threatened to withhold federal dollars if Saron Mamdani wins New York City's mayoral election next month.
--:-- Charles Snyder: Several news organizations are rejecting an edict from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that reporters sign a pledge to cover only issues that are authorized by his team.
--:-- Charles Snyder: As NPR's David Folkenflik reports, the edict goes against what Hegseth promised when he was nominated. He came to office promising the most transparent Pentagon in American history, and it's been anything but.
--:-- David Folkenflik: He's only had a couple of briefings. You have almost no even background briefings by senior Pentagon officials expressing things. They have, as I've mentioned, really tightened access to where people can go to just get background briefings, have conversations where things are explained to them or unpacked for them, not even secrets, just saying, well, this is what that means or here's what that is technically about, about a certain development.
--:-- David Folkenflik: And you saw Hegseth, in fact, implement lie detector tests for senior Pentagon officials that he had thought had leaked information early in his tenure.
--:-- David Folkenflik: So, this is an effort by the secretary really to consolidate and control information from getting out.
--:-- Shea Stevens: North Carolina Democrats gathered in Nashville to denounce the Republican-led effort to redraw the state's congressional map.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Gerard Albert III from Blue Ridge Public Radio has the story.
--:-- Gerard Albert III: In North Carolina existing congressional maps give Republicans a strong advantage in 10 of the state 14 seats. Now Republicans want another one.
--:-- Gerard Albert III: State Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said this week the party is doing everything we can to protect President Trump's agenda.
--:-- Gerard Albert III: Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, says her party intends to challenge the legality.
--:-- Anderson Clayton: Redistricting is only supposed to happen every 10 years after a census has been taken. And we know right now that Republicans are going to use every egregious power grab that they can to try to hold power in Congress.
--:-- Gerard Albert III: In 2023, a GOP-led state Supreme Court approved a partisan map that allowed the party to take 10 seats in Congress.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a major Republican-led challenge to the Voting Rights Act.
--:-- Shea Stevens: For the second time, the justices will hear arguments today over Louisiana's congressional map.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The Voting Rights Act was adopted to address decades of legal barriers that prevented or made it hard for blacks and other non-whites to vote.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a new president for its 17 million members, commonly called Mormons.
--:-- Shea Stevens: 93-year-old Dallin H. Oaks is taking the helm at the church, as KUER's Sierra Hewlett reports.
--:-- Sierra Hewlett: The last president and prophet Russell M Nelson died last month. His successor Dallin H Oaks used to be a Utah Supreme Court justice.
--:-- Sierra Hewlett: Columnist Jana Reese says that background could influence his leadership. She says Oaks is concerned about the rise of political authoritarianism.
--:-- Jana Reese: He could serve as a reminder of justice and law and order and precedent and a lot of things that in America, people have been throwing out the window.
--:-- Jana Reese: Oaks has also long been outspoken about his beliefs against same-sex marriage.
--:-- Jana Reese: Reese says it's yet to be seen if he'll continue that trajectory as president.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The Trump administration has revoked visas of six foreigners who made comments critical of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
--:-- Shea Stevens: The State Department says the decision was made following a review of social media postings.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Meanwhile, President Trump has posthumously awarded Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
--:-- Shea Stevens: U.S. futures are unchanged in after-hours trading.
--:-- Shea Stevens: This is NPR News.
--:-- Shea Stevens: Support for NPR and the following message come from IXL Learning.
--:-- Shea Stevens: IXL Learning uses advanced algorithms to give the right help to each kid, no matter the age or personality.
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