U.S. prices far outpace paychecks; centuries-old fruit found at Washington’s home

Good morning. You’re studying the Up First e-newsletter. Subscribe right here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all of the information it’s essential begin your day.

Today’s prime tales

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen travels to Atlanta immediately, the place she’s anticipated to announce new monetary sanctions in opposition to people and organizations concerned in fentanyl trafficking. Street fentanyl kills greater than 70,000 Americans a 12 months and generates billions of {dollars} yearly in black market income.

• 🎧 Law enforcement businesses are already seizing much more fentanyl at the border and contained in the U.S., NPR’s Brian Mann tells Up First. But fentanyl is really easy and low cost to make that when cops seize an enormous batch, cartels simply churn out extra. “That’s seen as a relatively harmless cost of doing enterprise,” Mann studies. Yellen’s anticipated sanctions purpose to disrupt fentanyl networks by seizing money and belongings and penalizing professional corporations that assist the drug commerce.

Home prices have far outpaced paychecks in lots of components of the U.S., in keeping with a brand new report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Median home gross sales prices final 12 months had been about 5 occasions the median family earnings, and there are indicators it may worsen. Rising property taxes and insurance coverage charges add extra monetary pressure for would-be homebuyers. Millions of Americans are caught renting, which has pushed up competitors and pricing in that market too. How unhealthy is it the place you reside?Search your city here to seek out out.

The Israeli navy says it is accredited plans for an offensive in Lebanon if diplomatic efforts fail to comprise the battle at the border, the place Israel has been often buying and selling fireplace with the Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah. In Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had stark warnings for Israel in the event that they adopted via.

• 🎧 NPR’s Jane Arraf says Nasrallah’s remarks had been the “hardest hitting” for the reason that conflict in Gaza started in October, and never simply in rhetoric. He stated that Hezbollah didn’t need to go to conflict, but when it broke out, Hezbollah would battle with “no rules.” Hezbollah has additionally made it clear that it will not resolve its battle with Israel till the conflict in Gaza can also be resolved. Analysts say speeches like this from either side are supposed to act as a deterrent fairly than an escalation, and the chance of the state of affairs Nasrallah outlined stays low.

Deep Dive

Surveys present youthful Americans doubt the security of sunscreen. Misinformation on social media is not serving to.

Anna Vishnyak/Getty Images

disguise caption

toggle caption

Anna Vishnyak/Getty Images

TikTok is filled with movies of influencers giving recommendation on well being and skincare. When it involves sunscreen, there’s a lot of misinformation.

• ☀️ 1 in 7 American adults underneath 35 imagine utilizing sunscreen day by day is extra dangerous than direct solar publicity, in keeping with an Orlando Health Cancer Institute survey. Rajesh Nair, a surgical oncologist who helped craft the survey, says that is particularly regarding as a result of melanoma is without doubt one of the most typical cancers in younger adults.
• ☀️ Many Gen Z members are unaware of sunburn dangers and fundamental solar safety, in keeping with an American Academy of Dermatology survey. 30% mistakenly assume tanning is protected if you happen to do not burn.
• ☀️ Dermatologist Heather Rogers says hesitation in the direction of sunscreen might stem from research that found chemical sunscreens could also be absorbed into the bloodstream at greater ranges than beforehand thought. Although she says this must be studied additional, she says it’s necessary to notice that dangers with chemical sunscreens haven’t been proven in people
• ☀️ If you are involved about chemical sunscreens, Nair and Rogers advocate utilizing a mineral sunscreen like zinc oxide, which creates a bodily barrier in opposition to UV rays and is much less prone to enter the bloodstream.
• ☀️ Sun publicity is not solely unhealthy in your well being. It’s one of the crucial widespread causes of wrinkles, darkish spots and different indicators of untimely getting old.

New from NPR

This essay was written by Meribah Knight, Embedded: Supermajority host.

I stay in Tennessee, one in all 29 states with a legislative supermajority. Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-to-1 within the statehouse. And what’s been taking place there has made lots of information lately. Last spring, Republicans expelled two freshman Black lawmakers, each Democrats, for protesting on the House flooring in favor of stricter gun legal guidelines. It was a hanging energy flex that made me surprise: Is there a much bigger story to inform about this political second? And what would possibly it reveal about democracy?

Supermajority, a brand new sequence from NPR’s Embedded in partnership with WPLN, covers one legislative session as I follow three politically conservative mothers whose kids survived a mass capturing at their small non-public Christian college. This was the incident that led these Democratic lawmakers to protest contained in the Capitol. These girls weren’t lively in politics. They’d by no means frolicked at their state Capitol. Each got here from deeply conservative upbringings, they usually assumed their lawmakers shared their values. But now they’re difficult their Republican lawmakers. State politics, the ladies come to appreciate, are far extra consequential than they’d ever imagined.

The first episode of Supermajority is out immediately. You can take heed to it here. Catch new episodes of this 4-part sequence each Thursday.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

In this handout photograph, Just Stop Oil protesters sit after spraying an orange substance on Stonehenge, in Salisbury, England, on Wednesday. (Just Stop Oil through AP)

Just Stop Oil/through AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

Just Stop Oil/through AP

1. Two local weather activists from the environmental group Just Stop Oil have been arrested after spraying an orange substance on the Stonehenge monument in England. They stated the motion was a name for the U.Okay. to cease utilizing fossil fuels by 2030.
2. Archeologists at George Washington’s historic Virginia home have unearthed greater than two dozen bottles of cherries and berries from the 18th century.
3. Ralph Lauren has unveiled Team USA’s Olympic and Paralympic uniforms for the opening and shutting ceremonies in Paris. This is the model’s ninth time serving as its official clothes shop.

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.