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Episode Date: July 11, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Luis Skiyavoni. The largest housing bill in decades became law overnight without President Trump's signature. As NPR's Stephen Bazaa reports, the law is meant to encourage home building across the country. This law is packed with more than 40 different provisions, and at the heart of it is the idea of boosting the number of houses in the U.S. to decrease the cost to buy a home. The law encourages home building, in part by loosening federal regulations, and offering financial carrots to communicate. communities that build more homes. It also bans large investors from buying up more than 350 homes, a policy pushed by President Trump. Trump refused to sign the law to protest lawmakers not passing his voter ID election overhaul bill, the Save America Act. He did not veto the housing bill, and it automatically became law 10 days after he received the bill from Congress and did not take any action. Stephen Massaha, NPR News. Graham Platner has formally withdrawn from the U.S. Senate race in Maine in the wake of sexual assault allegations, which he's denied.

The state's Democratic Party chair, Charlie Dingman, has confirmed on X that a formal process to fill the vacancy is underway. The convention will be fair, representative, and as transparent as possible, as we all come together in service of our ultimate goal, defeating Susan Collins and winning this Senate seat. Their nominating convention is slated for July 25th. Meta says it has removed a new feature allowing users to turn anyone's public photo into an artificial intelligence image. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the move follows widespread backlash over privacy and copyright concerns. Meta's AI future Muse Image automatically opted in users, meaning anyone with a public Instagram profile could have their photos turned into AI without their consent. That's spark swift blowback for many users. privacy advocates, and Hollywood, which criticized the AI image maker as a threat to copyright and a person's

likeness. One user wrote on X quote, Think about what that means. Your kids, your precious moments, your face. Metafield's entitled to it and is betting you won't dig three menus deep to say no. In a statement, Meta said they heard the feedback that the feature missed the mark, saying its intent was to provide a useful creative tool on Instagram. Bobby Allen and PR News. In the southeastern Missouri town of Leicesterville, severe flooding Friday led to helicopter evacuations from a summer camp. More than 200 children and staff were lifted by Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopters from Camp Tom Sock. Heavy rains had washed away roads in the surrounding area, even as the forecast called for continued rainfall. Rescues were also underway just south of St. Louis at the Bearcat getaway campground near the Black River.

Campers there had climbed to the roof of. of a building to escape raging waters when the roof collapsed. There were no reports of fatalities or major injuries. This is NPR News. Spain has advanced to the World Cup semifinals with a two-to-one win over Belgium. Steve Futterman reports from Los Angeles. Spanish fans here in L.A. were ecstatic. The match wasn't decided until the final minutes.

Spain, the favorite, jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 3.5. 30-minute mark. But just 11 minutes later, Belgium tied it at 1-1. It was the first goal given up by Spain in the entire World Cup. It stayed that way until the 88th minute. That's when McEl Marino kicked a rebound shot into the net for the win. David Lafado traveled here from Barcelona. We've seen that Spain has the best team in Europe and in the world. We're going to win the World Cup. That may be easier said than done. Next up for Spain, a semi-final. match against the top performing team in the World Cup, France. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman at the World Cup in Los Angeles. Six World Cup teams are left standing. Later today, Norway

plays England at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Tonight, Argentina plays Switzerland at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Ticket prices are still over $1,000, but down from previous highs, ticket resale site Tick Pick has tonight's Norway-England game at roughly $2,000 a ticket, down from almost 4,000. At Wimbledon, Yannick Sinner is still in the hunt for a repeat of his championship after beating seven-time winner Novak Djokovic Friday. He'll be playing Alexander Zverev, who won the French Open in Paris. I'm Luis Skiyvone and PR News, Washington.