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Today’s top stories
The U.S. Department of Justice is requesting an extensive amount of election data from Colorado. It’s specifically seeking “all records” related to the 2024 federal elections, according to documents obtained by NPR. Additionally, the DOJ has asked the state to preserve any remaining records from the 2020 election. Several voting experts and officials have informed NPR that this request is highly unusual and concerning, especially in light of President Trump’s false claims regarding elections.
Voters walk into the Oak Creek Town Hall to drop off their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024, in Oak Creek, Colo.
Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
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Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
Recent polling across various surveys shows a conflicting message about whether people approve of Trump’s deportation policies. This week, a CBS poll found 54% of people approved of his approach to deportation. But yesterday, a Quinnipiac poll showed 56% disapproved. The numbers indicate unpredictability within the public’s opinion, showing that a percentage of people are open to being swayed, NPR’s Domenico Montanaro tells Up First.
- 🎧 Even though people say they are in favor of deporting people who do not have permanent legal status, there is a difference between the hardened criminal that the administration says it is focused on and hardworking community members, Montanaro says. He reports that the president has received pushback from members of his own party, who warn that the administration should be cautious of how far it goes on the issue. Democrats have shied away from making a strong case in favor of immigration, but the further Trump goes on the matter, the easier it is for Democrats to have a message and appear united on the topic.
The Trump administration plans to repeal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s fossil fuel-fired power plants. These coal and gas generators are the second-largest source of climate pollution in the U.S., behind transportation. The proposal is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to roll back more than two dozen rules and policies.
- 🎧 The EPA argues that the U.S. power plants are a small and declining part of global greenhouse gas emissions — around 3% — and they’re no longer a significant contributor to the problem. NPR’s Jeff Brady says that one analysis showed that if U.S. power plants were a country, they’d be the sixth-largest contributor to global climate pollution. “This action would be pretty laughable if the stakes weren’t so high,” says Meredith Hankins, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Hankins and others from the industry say the Trump administration is propping up the coal industry at a time when Americans are experiencing the effects of a hotter planet in the form of intense storms, flooding and wildfires.
Part of the Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” aims to penalize colleges and universities whose students leave with student loan debt but not enough earnings to pay it off. The proposal would order colleges to assume some of the financial responsibility for the unpaid debt. If it can make it through the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposal could save the government more than $6 billion over the next decade.
- 🎧 The proposal would categorize a school’s student loan borrowers by program and calculate the unpaid federal loan amounts for each program in a given year, NPR’s Cory Turner says. Colleges would then need to reimburse the federal government for a portion of this unpaid debt. Experts tell Turner that colleges need accountability, but a few are worried about the plan, which would require a ton of data.
