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Episode Date: August 2, 2025

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Noor Rahm Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. Rising deaths from hunger in Gaza prompted a visit to the territory by President Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. NPR's Aya Petraoui reports they were escorted in Gaza by Israeli forces as they visited a U.S.-funded food distribution site that's overseen by Israel. Huckabee shared a photo on X from the site they visited in southern Gaza. It shows a crowd of Palestinians standing behind barbed wire waiting for food.

An armed American contractor manning the site stands next to a banner proclaiming 100 million meals have been delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Iyad Amawi, a Palestinian aid coordinator in Gaza, says Witkoff's visit to the site doesn't reflect the quote true scope of the catastrophe. Aid should not require such suffering. It should reach people where they are, not force them into a race for survival. Gaza's health ministry says more than 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces trying to reach food at these US-backed sites. Israel's military says troops have only fired warning shots at the crowds. Aya Batraoui, MPN News. President Trump announced new tariffs on dozens of trading partners this week. He's giving Mexico another 90 days to work out a new trade deal. This comes after Mexican President Claudia

Shanebomb met with U.S. members of Congress. One of them was Republican Don Bacon of Nebraska, who says the Mexican market is important for his state. What they trade to us, at least in the agriculture area, is by and large things we don't grow ourselves or at least at the level that we need. So avocados, tomatoes, even though we have good tomatoes here in the United States, we don't have the volume. And Mexico fills that gap. We have great corn, soybeans, ethanol. These are all things that Mexico wants to purchase from us. So I see it as a win-win trade relationship, and we should try

to keep the tariffs and barriers as low as we can. Bacon spoke this morning with NPR's weekend edition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is barring several major medical groups from taking part in making vaccine recommendations. NPR's Ping Wong reports. For decades, the CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee worked closely with medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. Now the CDC is kicking them out of the process. In the text of an email reviewed by NPR, the CDC accused professional medical groups of

being biased in favor of their constituents and barred them from participating in behind-the-scenes meetings where data and policy get debated. The move happened days after the Senate confirmed Susan Menares as the CDC's new director, and weeks after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced the members of the committee with his own picks. In a statement, eight of these medical groups said they were disappointed, alarmed, and worried that the move would further undermine trust in vaccines. Ping Huang, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. People in a mountainous area of western Montana are being urged to stay inside today as police

search for a gunman. They say a 45-year-old man opened fire in a bar yesterday in the town of Anaconda. Four people were killed. Authorities described the suspect as a military veteran who is armed and extremely dangerous. The owner of the bar told the AP the bartender and three customers were killed and he wasn't aware of any conflicts with the shooter. Former Food Network star Paula Deen has abruptly closed her flagship restaurant in Georgia. Matt Bloom reports.

Deen's menu featured all the hallmarks of Southern cooking, like fried chicken and butter cake served family style. After opening in Savannah, the restaurant's popularity helped the chef score a deal to host a Food Network show called Paula's Home Cooking, which ran for over 200 episodes. Her show was canceled in 2013 amid a lawsuit by a former employee and controversy over racially insensitive comments Dean made in a deposition, but fans still flocked to the Lady and Sons to eat. In a statement, Dean didn't give a specific reason for the closure, but thanked guests for their years of loyalty.

Dean said she would continue to focus on running her four other namesake restaurants across the southern U.S. Matt Bloom, NPR News. The Swim World Championships wrap up in Singapore tomorrow. The U.S. has won eight gold medals so far. Katie Ledecky won the gold today for the 800-meter freestyle where she remains unbeaten. She first won that race in the 2012 Olympics and hasn't lost it since then. I'm Nora Rahm.

NPR News in Washington.