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--:-- Dale Willman: Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.
--:-- Dale Willman: President Trump has removed tariffs on a lengthy list of items. The reversal of some of his sweeping import taxes comes after Democrats won several high-profile seats in last week's elections. Many of the winning candidates focused on affordability during their campaigns.
--:-- Dale Willman: NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben has more.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: The long list of items that tariffs will be removed from includes foods like fruits and vegetables, beef and coffee. American importers paid those tariffs with many passing costs on to U.S. consumers. Removing these tariffs could therefore lower the higher prices the tariffs caused.
--:-- Danielle Kurtzleben: The tariffs that will be removed are the sweeping country-by-country tariffs Trump first introduced in April, calling them reciprocal tariffs. Recent polls have shown Americans' approval of Trump on the economy, typically a strong issue for him, has slipped. Consumer confidence has also declined.
--:-- Dale Willman: Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
--:-- Dale Willman: Air traffic controllers have been paid for the first time in more than a month. As NPR Joel Rose reports the Federal Aviation Administration says controllers received the first installment of their back pay from the government shutdown today.
--:-- Joel Rose: Air traffic controllers received about 70 percent of the take pay they earned during the shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation. They're supposed to get the rest later this month, including any overtime or shift differential pay they've earned.
--:-- Joel Rose: Those can be significant sums because many controllers work six days a week with mandatory overtime. Controllers had been required to work without pay since the shutdown began. Some took on second jobs and many called out sick, leading to staffing shortages at many air traffic control facilities.
--:-- Joel Rose: But most controllers now seem to be back at work, with only a handful of staffing shortages reported in recent days.
--:-- Dale Willman: Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
--:-- Dale Willman: A federal judge has signed off on Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy plan. The plan involves settling lawsuits against the company at the center of the nation's opioid crisis. NPR's Sidney Lupkin has more on our story.
--:-- Sidney Lupkin: The Sackler family will pay up to $7 billion to Purdue's creditors as part of a restructuring plan a federal judge said he would approve in the coming days. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York heard from people affected by the opioid crisis as well as nearly 20 expert witnesses, according to a statement from Purdue.
--:-- Sidney Lupkin: The plan will also provide a pool of up to $1 million to compensate individual victims. Purdue will dissolve as part of the arrangement and emerge as a new company, Noah Pharma. It will focus on providing opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines with no obligation to maximize profits.
--:-- Sidney Lupkin: The new company will not involve the Sacklers.
--:-- Dale Willman: Sidney Lupkin and NPR News.
--:-- Dale Willman: The Pentagon said Friday that it launched another attack in the Caribbean on a boat officials say was carrying drugs. Four people were killed in that attack. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the attack on Friday, even though it occurred last Monday.
--:-- Dale Willman: That was one day after two other similar attacks by U.S. forces.
--:-- Dale Willman: Stocks closed mixed today on Wall Street, and you're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Dale Willman: Russia says Ukraine has attacked a key oil port city along the Southern Black Sea. At least four people were injured in that strike. It comes during a number of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's energy sector. NPR's Charles Maines reports from Moscow.
--:-- Charles Maines: The attack took place in the city of Novorossiysk, one of Russia's largest oil export ports, with local officials declaring a state of emergency amid damage to a docked ship, apartment buildings, and an oil depot.
--:-- Charles Maines: While some media reports said the attack forced a full halt to all oil deliveries, local officials said only the fire crews had resulting blazes from the drones under control.
--:-- Charles Maines: The incident comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the use of reservists to better protect critical infrastructure. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has justified pass strikes on Russian energy saying they cut into the Kremlin's ability to finance the war against Ukraine over the long term.
--:-- Dale Willman: Charles Maines, NPR News, Moscow.
--:-- Dale Willman: Shareholders of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are backing the proposed $85 billion merger of the two railroads. If approved by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, it would create the nation's first coast-to-coast rail network.
--:-- Dale Willman: The proposed merger has also won the support of the largest rail union, along with hundreds of shippers. But competing railroad BNSF says the merger would hurt competition and lead to higher rates.
--:-- Dale Willman: Police in Oakland, California, say Laney College football coach John Beam died Friday after being shot on the campus the day before. It was the second shooting at an Oakland school in two days. A suspect has been arrested in that shooting.
--:-- Dale Willman: Laney is known for his role in the 2020 Netflix documentary, Last Chance U.
--:-- Dale Willman: I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.
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