--:-- Giles Snyder: Support for this podcast and the following message come from the University at Buffalo, where researchers have developed an imaging system that uses radar and AI to assess wounds without removing bandages. More at buffalo.edu slash NPR.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.
--:-- Giles Snyder: North Carolina's largest city is now the latest to be targeted by a surge in federal immigration agents.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The All-Man Security Department confirmed the surge in Charlotte last night, and agents have been seen making arrests.
--:-- Giles Snyder: A crackdown has sparked protests.
--:-- Vanessa Javier: Every corner, every area that I saw today is like somewhere my family does tend to go like for their groceries, for the restaurants that they want to go eat and stuff like that.
--:-- Vanessa Javier: But so yeah, it was definitely nerve-wracking and scary for me and for my parents.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The All-Man Security Department says the surge is aimed at ensuring public safety, but Charlotte's Democratic mayor says it's causing unnecessary fear.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Mortgage experts are skeptical about the Trump administration's plan to offer homebuyers a 50-year mortgage.
--:-- Pearsville Chapel: Backers of the 50-year mortgage say it would help buyers get into a home they might not otherwise afford.
--:-- Bruce Marks: But the longer loan would take decades to build equity.
--:-- Bruce Marks: The 30-year term has always been the sweet spot in this country.
--:-- Bruce Marks: But the affordability crisis is real, Marks says.
--:-- Bruce Marks: And in Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Hendricks of NBKC Bank agrees.
--:-- Chris Hendricks: What else is staggering is the median age for that first-time home buyer is 40 years old right now.
--:-- Chris Hendricks: Hendricks says he wants the government to find ways to boost housing supply and help first-time homebuyers.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Bill Chappell, NPR News.
--:-- Bill Chappell: The season's first heavy rainfall is pounding Gaza this weekend.
--:-- Bill Chappell: It's flooding tents and hampering recovery after two years of war.
--:-- Bill Chappell: With winter approaching, the U.N. says the need of refugees is immense.
--:-- Lauren Frayer: Wind and rain are hampering efforts to stay warm and dry in places like Al-Muwasi, where up to half a million displaced Palestinians are staying, mostly in temporary tents.
--:-- Mahmoud Basal: A spokesperson for Gaza's civil defense agency, Mahmoud Basal, says rain has inundated those makeshift shelters.
--:-- Lauren Frayer: In a statement, Hamas decried what it called Israel's continued obstruction of humanitarian aid into the Strip.
--:-- Lauren Frayer: Israel says it opened a border crossing this week into northern Gaza where the UN declared a famine last summer
--:-- Lauren Frayer: The UN now says quote full and sustained opening of existing and additional crossings is required and that the transport of aid within Gaza remains limited and highly congested.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Zelensky made the announcement in a social media video a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations for the release of 1,200 Ukrainians.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Meanwhile, Zelensky is promising an overhaul of state-owned energy companies following a corruption scandal.
--:-- Giles Snyder: And you're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Southern California remains on alert for the potential for high water and mud and rock slides following heavy rain from an atmospheric river storm.
--:-- Giles Snyder: The drenching rain prompted flood warnings in areas of coastal Los Angeles that were scarred by those January wildfires.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Voters in Chile are going to the polls today in the first round of a presidential election in which crime and immigration are among top concerns.
--:-- Giles Snyder: And in Ecuador, voters are deciding today whether to once again allow foreign military bases as part of the fight against drug trafficking.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Critics cite sovereignty concerns.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Disability rights activist Alice Wong has died according to her friend and fellow activist Sandy Ho Wong died Friday in San Francisco from an infection She was 51 and a winner of the MacArthur Genius Grant
--:-- Chloe Veltman: Alice Wong was best known as the founder of the Disability Visibility Project.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: The group highlighted disabled people and disability culture through storytelling projects, social media and other channels.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: Wong also received acclaim for her 2022 memoir, Year of the Tiger, An Activist's Life.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: Edited several works on disability and wrote a column for Teen Vogue.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: Disability justice organiser Yomi Sachiko-Young spoke about Wong in an interview earlier this year with NPR member station KQED.
--:-- Yomi Sachiko-Young: Alice is my comrade in political struggle.
--:-- Yomi Sachiko-Young: She is my friend.
--:-- Yomi Sachiko-Young: She's a foodie.
--:-- Yomi Sachiko-Young: She's an artist.
--:-- Yomi Sachiko-Young: She's a bit bougie, which I love.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: Alice Wong was born in Indiana in 1974 to immigrant parents from Hong Kong.
--:-- Chloe Veltman: She was diagnosed at birth with muscular dystrophy, a progressive neuromuscular disease.
--:-- Giles Snyder: And you're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Giles Snyder: This message comes from Mint Mobile.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Starting at $15 a month, make the switch at mintmobile.com slash switch.
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