Up First from NPR - Israel Attacks Iran State TV, Minnesota Suspect Hearing, Purdue Pharma Settlement

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Israel has expanded its attacks on targets inside Iran to include the country's state television studios. The suspect accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband faces federal and state murder charges, and Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family have reached a multibillion dollar settlement with states. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Vincent Ni, Cheryl Corley, Andrea DeLeon, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Claire Murashima, and Christopher Thomas. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel attacked the studios of Iran's state TV news channel in a fifth day of fighting. Israeli leaders say they are not ruling out Iran's supreme leader as a military target. So what's Israel's goal in a steadily widening war? I'm Steve Inskeep with Amartinus and this is Up First from NPR News. Prosecutors gave a detailed account of the man accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband. This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service. The suspect had a notebook with the names of dozens of targets,

quote, mostly are all Democrats. What does the security video reveal about his actions? Also, states reached a new settlement with the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, ending the family's ability to sell opioids in the U.S. Stay with us, we've got all the news you need to start your day. Decades ago, Brazilian women made a discovery. They could have an abortion without a doctor, thanks to a tiny pill. That pill spawned a global movement, helping millions of women have safe abortions, regardless of the law. Hear that story on the network from NPR's Embedded and Futuro Media, wherever you get

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President Trump left a G7 summit in Canada a day ahead of schedule. The president said it was to focus on the rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. He also posted a warning on his social media platform, Truth Social, telling Iranians to immediately evacuate their capital. For more, we're joined by NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. So considering President Trump's warning, what's the mood like in Tehran right now? Well, we know that people are very anxious.

There is an atmosphere of panic and confusion in Tehran today. People are stocking up on food. Tehran streets are quiet, especially at night, which is when Israel carries out most of its strikes. NPR reached out to a woman named Baran in Tehran. She asked us to only use her first name because the situation is so sensitive in Iran right now. She said she and her family tried to leave Tehran yesterday, but had to turn around. You can feel the fear, hear the fear in her voice. She says they couldn't fill up their tank.

All gas stations had lines a couple miles long and people were waiting up to four hours for fuel. The roads out of the city are also bumper-to-bumper traffic, so leaving, evacuating Tehran is no easy feat right now. Now Israel's ambassador to the UN told us last week that preemptive strikes were meant to prevent Iran from putting together a nuclear weapon. So five days in, how has Israel's messaging and actual targets changed? I mean, you're right. So almost immediately after the start of the attack on Friday morning, Israel struck military targets, killing top security officials like the chief of staff of Iran's army. It also struck three nuclear facilities, including the main one called Natanz. But

now Israel is expanding its attacks. For example, yesterday, the Israeli military attacked the studio complex of Iran's state news channel. You know, there's a video online of the moment you hear the anchor speak and then the explosion. You know in the video you see the anchor flee the studio and pieces of the roof start to fall on top of her head. Israel's defense minister confirmed the attack saying quote, We will strike the Iranian dictator everywhere. So now the question is, is the political apparatus fair game now? Will Israel go for Iran's supreme leader next, for example? Yes.

So if Israel does that, I mean, does this mean this war changes from nuclear capabilities to regime change? So the Israeli military has said that it's been instructed to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities, not specifically for regime change. But in an interview on ABC yesterday, correspondent Jonathan Karl asks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this question. So are you going to target the Supreme Leader?

Look, we're doing what we need to do. I'm not going to get into the details. So you know, Netanyahu hasn't ruled it out. All right. So where does this put the United States now? So, so far the US has only helped with defending Israel with the interception of missiles. Trump has always said that Iran, he doesn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He says he has, but a preference is to do this via a deal. He said that maybe Israel's war may force Iran to make a deal, but now, you know, Iran pulled out of the talks.

So now, as the war intensifies, all eyes may be on whether or not Trump changes course and decides to directly get involved in the war. MPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. The man suspected of killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and her spouse and wounding another lawmaker and his wife now faces federal and state murder charges. Police apprehended 57-year-old Vance Belter late Sunday in rural Minnesota. NPR's Meg Anderson is here. So Meg, Minnesota's acting U.S. Attorney General Jonathan Thompson has called what happened in Minnesota a political assassination. What is suspect Vance Belter

charged with? Yeah, Belter is facing six federal charges, including two counts of murder for the killings of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. Those charges can carry the death penalty if he's convicted. He's also facing federal charges for shooting State Senator John Hoffman and his wife. At the state level, officials charged Belter with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder, but officials say they do plan to pursue first-degree murder charges. Okay. Now, federal authorities released more details yesterday. What did they have to say?

That's right, and the details officials describe about what happened are really chilling. Belter allegedly went to the Hoffman residence first, where video of the exchange was recorded on a security camera. That video shows a man wearing a hyper-realistic silicone mask and dressed like a police officer. He knocks and yells that he's the police and to open the door. Here's acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Thompson at a press conference yesterday describing what happened next. Jonathan Thompson, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Attorney General

Senator Hoffman and his wife Yvette came to the door. When they opened the door, Belter shined the flashlight in their faces and said there had been a shooting reported in the house. Belter asked if they had any weapons. When Belter lowered his flashlight, which he had shined in their face, they realized that he was not a police officer. SONIA DARA GERMES The man officials allege is Belter began shooting right after that, and Hoffman's daughter, Hope, is the one who called 911. After that shooting, Belter allegedly went to the homes of two other state lawmakers

but was not able to get to them. Then he allegedly went to Hortman's home where officials say he killed her and her husband. Now, officials there are saying that all of this was a targeted political attack. Why are they saying that? Yeah. So there was a notebook found inside the alleged shooter's car, which we've learned more about now. It contained a hit list with the names of at least 45 lawmakers and officials in Minnesota

and several other states and at the federal level. It is now confirmed that they were mostly or all Democrats. Here's the FBI special agent in charge of the Minneapolis field office, Alvin Winston. This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service. Let me say this clearly, political violence has no place in this country. Police also recovered six guns from the scene. Most of those were found in the abandoned car. And they say that, you know, if the alleged suspect had not been forced to flee,

they think he would have kept going on his rampage. What's gonna happen next? Yeah, so Belter is now in federal custody. On June 27th, he's going to have a preliminary hearing. That's the time that a judge will decide whether or not to set bail. All right. That's NPR's Meg Anderson. Meg, thanks.

You're welcome. One of the darkest, most complicated chapters of the U.S. opioid crisis may finally be nearing an end. Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family who own the company have reached a $7.4 billion opioid settlement with all 50 states and U.S. territories. If it's approved, the plan would end a legal fight over the harm caused by OxyContin, the company's opioid painkiller. NPR's addiction correspondent, Brian Mann, is here now.

So Brian, we're going to dive into the legal and financial part of this settlement in just a second. First, though, remind us how Purdue Pharma and OxyContin changed America. Well, it's really huge. Opioid pain medications used to be doled out very cautiously by doctors and hospitals. And what we've learned in legal documents made public

during this court fight is that under the leadership of members of the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma convinced regulators in the healthcare industry Oxycontin could be used a lot more liberally. They said without a huge risk of addiction or overdose. And that turned out not to be true. Ryan Hampton is an addiction activist now.

He was hooked on Oxycontin for a decade. It completely destroyed my life. Ryan Hampton is an addiction activist now. He was hooked on Oxycontin for a decade. It completely destroyed my life. It took almost everything that I had away from me. And Purdue Pharma has pled guilty twice to federal crimes for false marketing. The Sacklers were never charged with crimes and they've denied any wrongdoing.

But a lot of public health experts believe this company's actions cleared the way for the opioid fentanyl crisis that killed more than 50,000 people last year alone. So Purdue Pharma is in bankruptcy now and there's a new deal that states have signed off on. What's new in this deal? Yeah, so the big change is this deal would no longer force people who believe they were harmed by OxyContin to drop civil lawsuits that are directed at members of the Sackler family. The last attempt at a deal that was overturned by the US Supreme Court included broad legal protections for

the Sacklers. That was really controversial. Under this deal, the Sacklers are expected to pay roughly $6.5 billion out of their personal fortunes. They'll give up ownership of the company, but they won't get that broad immunity from lawsuits. I reached out to the Sacklers for comment about this and haven't heard back. But legal experts I talked to say this version of the settlement is a lot more likely to survive legal challenges. How will this money be spent if this deal is finalized? Yeah. Most of the money,

including a billion dollars coming from Purdue Pharma's company coffers will go to States and communities over the next 15 years. Activists hope this money will be spent helping more people in addiction get better treatment and health care. One thing I'm hearing a lot of concern about though is that this money could wind up redirected just to prop up existing programs. That's because the Trump administration is now trying to make deep cuts in federal spending. Also a $850 million of this money is going to go to individual victims and families harmed by Oxycontin. Ryan Hampton, the activist I spoke to said, he only expects to receive about $3,500. And for $3,500 to be a paycheck to absolve Purdue's role in destroying my life

is a meaningless gesture but at this point I'm ready to put this behind me. So as we near the end of this legal battle over Oxycontin, Hampton and others I've been talking to say they're left with really big questions here about whether this led to any kind of real justice. Brian, you've been reporting on this a long time, really quick. You mentioned the end of this legal battle but does this story ever really truly have an end?

Well, right now we're still seeing tens of thousands of people die from opioid deaths every year, and so this public health crisis continues. That's NPR Addiction correspondent, Brian Mann. Brian, thank you. Thank you. And that's up first for Tuesday, June 17th. I'm Amartinez. And I'm Steve Inskeep.

There's an easy way to stay connected to the news and podcasts from the NPR network, and that is the NPR app. You hear community coverage from your local station, which is what makes NPR different from any other network, the local stations across this country. You also hear stories from around the world and podcast suggestions based on what you like. Download the NPR app in your app store. We got one more thing for you inquisitive types. It's from some of the most curious folks we got here,

our colleagues at NPR's Shortwave podcast. They've been digging into the science behind the headlines, specifically the feasibility of a US missile defense system modeled after the Israeli missile defense system called Iron Dome. Hi, short waivers. I'm here with NPR science correspondent, Jeff Brumfield.

So Jeff, since last week, Israel has been attacking Iran's nuclear facilities along with many other targets around the country. What's happening there? That's right. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he took this action because Iran has been stockpiling enriched uranium by some estimates enough to produce about 10 nuclear weapons if they chose to do so. And Netanyahu basically said that this was a preemptive attack to stop Iran's nuclear program. And in response, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles, many of which have struck targets in central Israel. And in response, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles, many of which have struck targets

in central Israel. And the Trump administration has been following this closely in part because Israel has a pretty sophisticated missile defense system, right, Jeff? Yeah, that's right. Israel's missile defense system colloquially is known as Iron Dome. And President Trump is fascinated by it. Earlier this year, he made a speech to Congress, and in it, there was a big request.

I'm asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art Golden Dome Missile Defense Shield to protect our homeland, all made in the USA. Golden Dome. Trump is sort of riffing off the Iron Dome name there. And Trump has talked about Golden Dome quite a bit during his campaign. He wants to see it built during his second term. This is a very dangerous world. We should have it. We want to be protected and we're going to protect our citizens

like never before. So today on the show, we'll talk about Israel's missile defense system and what a similar system could look like in the U.S. Can it be done and how much will it cost? I'm Emily Kwong. And I'm Jeff Brumfield. And you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Okay, Jeff, let's start by talking a little bit about what we're seeing in Israel right now.

Yeah. So I actually want to back up a second just briefly to talk about the events after October 7th, 2023. That was of course when Hamas militants attacked Israeli civilians along the Gaza border. Along with that attack, there were thousands of rockets fired out of Gaza and the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted many of those rockets. And actually, since the start of the conflict, Iron Dome has been very busy intercepting rockets from Gaza, intercepting rockets from Lebanon. And the way it works is really interesting.

Basically it is a network system of missile launchers that are tied to radars and computers. And so when they see incoming missiles, they make a decision if the missile or rocket is going to fall in a populated area, Iron Dome will fire an interceptor to knock it out of the sky. Mm-hmm. I was picturing something a little like this kind of shield over an area, but it's not a dome at all. It sounds more like a system.

That's right. It is. And it's actually part of an even larger Israeli network of missile defenses. There are two other systems called Arrow and David Sling. And those systems have been front and center more recently with this attack from Iran because Iran is using much larger missiles to attack Israel. These missiles are coming in from much further away and so they're actually intermediate range, medium range ballistic missiles that go up into space and then actually come down on Israel at very, very high speeds. And that is something that is much more difficult to intercept than say a rocket fired from Lebanon or Gaza or near the Israeli border.

And you know, I think turning back to the Golden Dome now, that what we're seeing coming out of Iran is actually a more sort of characteristic type of threat that America might face. Okay, so whatever golden dome Trump wants to build would have to stand up to this kind of missile technology. That's right, you know, the US's main adversaries that could hit it with missiles are major superpowers, you know, Russia and China. And the types of missiles they have are even bigger and more sophisticated than the ones held by Iran.

So now we're talking about intercontinental ballistic missiles. These missiles don't launch near our borders. They launch from halfway around the world. They go way up into space. And when they come down down they are fast. They are coming down to earth at hypersonic speeds. That makes them virtually impossible to intercept. And of course, the final complication is many of them are armed with nuclear weapons. I spoke to Jeffrey Lewis. He's a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International

Studies who tracks missile programs and he put it this way. Defending against an ICBM that is burning out at seven kilometers a second where you can't make any mistakes, you can't miss any, or it's still the worst day in American history, that is a completely different problem set. So when Jeffrey looks at what it took to build Iron Dome and then imagines building Golden Dome. It's the difference between a kayak and a battleship. Where would the US even start with building a battleship Golden Dome? It really goes back to this question of how do you defend against these big intercontinental

missiles? You know, basically the best time to go after them is right when they've launched. At that point, they're slow moving and big and full of fuel. Laura Grego is a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. She says there's just one problem. The launch phase of those missiles really only lasts three to five minutes. So you only have some hundreds of seconds that you have available to catch them as they're launching. Oh, so Golden Dome would have to respond within that three to five minute window?

That's right. But remember, these missiles are being fired from half a world away. So how do you catch a missile being launched from, say, the middle of Russia just minutes after it lifts off? There's really only one way to do it, and that's from space. The idea is you have some sort of satellite in orbit that can knock out the rocket on its way up. Now this idea may sound familiar to you, Emily, because the sort of concept of having space-based interceptors is almost as old as the space age itself. And I'm not sure if you remember, but Republican President Ronald Reagan famously tried

to do this in the 1980s. I know this is a formidable technical task, one that may not be accomplished before the end of this century. Yet current technology has attained a level of sophistication where it's reasonable for us to begin this effort. Though clearly the dream of it is still alive. So what would be involved in such a

project today? There's a number of concepts, but one way to do it would be to have a little interceptor satellite that could drop down on the missile and strike it as it's launching. The problem is the globe is really, really big and satellites zip around it really quickly. So you need a lot of things in space in order to have them in the right place at the right time. Laura Grego was part of a panel formed by the American Physical Society that looked at missile defense recently and they concluded a constellation of about 16,000 interceptors would be needed to attempt to counter a rapid salvo of 10 solid propellant ICBMs.

Wait, wait, wait. Okay, let me slow this down for my math brain. You would need 16,000 of these interceptors to properly take down 10 missiles. That's a huge system you'd need to defend against like just that. Yeah. And I should say it could be even more. There's a lot of different things that factor into how many interceptors you need. These numbers can slide around, but we're talking many thousands, possibly tens of thousands. Until recently, that felt like it was impossible. But now we actually do have a constellation of thousands of satellites in orbit called

Starlink. Oh, this giant constellation that provides internet via satellite, Starlink, we use it here on Earth right now. Yeah, that's right. And I should say Starlink is not a missile defense system, but it is a proof of principle that it's possible to mass produce satellites and put them in orbit and have them communicate with each other and form a network. Okay. So, what once seemed like an impossible problem is now starting to feel more possible. Is Golden Dome actually going to work, Jeff?

Well, some people think it's at least worth a serious look. It's a welcome development and it's in some respects overdue. That's one of them, a guy named Tom Karakho. He's director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He notes that missiles are just becoming a bigger and bigger part of warfare. I mean, we've really seen that just in the last few days in Israel. Missiles have become weapons of choice.

They are what folks reach for. What we reach for to strike deep into our enemy's territory is what everybody reaches for to be able to strike from a standoff position. And he really worries that if the US got into a large conflict with Russia or China, it needs to be ready to defend against missiles, which may or may not have nuclear weapons. I don't want to just deter a nuclear exchange. I want to deter a conventional war with China and Russia.

And we do that by raising the threshold. The threshold to attack, of course. But I think Tom and everyone I interviewed agreed that there's still a huge amount of work that would have to be done before a golden dome could become a reality. Okay, so lay it out for me. We can launch a lot of satellites, but then what else do we need to really make a golden dome? Well, I mean, we would still need to develop satellites that can actually hit missiles.

That's technology that we don't have right now. And so there's a couple of ways to do that. As I mentioned, the sort of simplest architecture in some ways is to make microsats that could just slam into the missiles, drop on top of them as they launch. Some other people I've spoken to are big fans of satellites with lasers.

They could use directed energy to blow up missiles. Whatever the approach, it's gonna take a lot of work to design, test, and then mass produce these satellites. And they're not gonna be cheap. The Trump administration is estimating Golden Dome could cost around $175 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office recently said it would be closer to half a trillion dollars.

Oh, that's a lot of money, because the government annually spends in the trillions. That's right. This is a very expensive project. It probably is. You know, no one who really understands these systems thinks it could happen in the remaining three years of Trump's second term, to be honest with you. And then there's one more thing to think about, Emily, and that's the old military saying

that the enemy also gets a vote. Yeah, I suppose US nuclear adversaries are not just going to sit around watching Golden Dome get built and do nothing. That's right. And you know, I think again, there's a lesson here in what we're seeing in Israel right now. Iran has actually been probing Israel's air defenses, trying to find ways to slip through. And, you through. Iran's ability to do this is somewhat limited, but China and Russia are major players and they do not like America's missile defense system. Jeffrey Lewis, the missile defense expert we heard from right at the start,

he thinks that Russia and China may find ways to outfox Golden Dome and it may ultimately end up making things worse. may ultimately end up making things worse. We will end up with vastly larger Russian and Chinese nuclear forces. We will end up with the Russians and the Chinese having all kinds of crazy sci-fi weapons. In short, we will end up spending tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars to be in, at best, the same place we are today and most likely a much worse place.

And you know, again, looking to Israel as an example, I don't know what the final answer really is. Clearly, missile defenses are important and they protect populations from harm. At the same time, you know, there's evidence that Russia and China are preparing for Golden Dome before it's even been built. Jeff Brumfield, thank you for bringing all this on. You're welcome, Emily. Short Waivers, if you found this episode interesting or informative, follow Short Wave right now

on the NPR app or your favorite podcasting platform or just text it to a friend this episode, which was produced by Rachel Carlson and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer, Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening to shortwave from NPR. Thanks for joining us and keep your curiosity satisfied with shortwave NPR's science podcasts available in the NPR app or wherever you get those podcasts.