The Brief

Longtime KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin has died at age 64. The station announced his sudden death Friday during KTLA's "Morning News" program.

A cause of death could not immediately be confirmed, but it was characterized as sudden. A representative for the KTLA could not be reached, but in a statement on the social media platform X, the station called Rubin a giant in the local news industry and a fixture of Los Angeles morning television for decades.

"His laugh, charm and caring personality touched all who knew him. Sam was a loving husband and father: the roles he cherished the most. Our thoughts are with Sam’s family during this difficult time," the station wrote.

Rubin had been with KTLA since 1991. Before his time on Channel 5, Rubin worked at KTTV, where he also covered Hollywood.

His colleagues were visibly shaken as they mourned his death on air Friday afternoon.

"Lived life to the fullest. We don’t know what exactly happened. But we know it was sudden, because we were just with him yesterday,” morning news anchor Frank Buckley said.

“He was born to be a broadcaster,” KTLA reporter Eric Spillman added. “There’s just nobody who compares with him.”

Rubin is survived by his wife and four children.

Tributes pour in

As news of his death spread, fans remembered Rubin as an L.A. institution.

@joerussotweets shared Rubin's cameo in Wes Craven's 1994 film New Nightmare, adding that he's devastated by the loss.

@lizzard011 shared a classic photo of the KTLA Morning News Team, featuring a younger, sepia-toned Rubin.

Greg Grunberg, an actor best known for his roles in Heroes and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was shocked by the news. His Star Wars co-star Mark Hamill replied "awful news."

Less than an hour after his death was announced, "Rest In Peace" and "KTLA" were trending on X.

Actor Ben Stiller remembered Rubin as a "consummate pro," writing that he did his first interview with him in the 1990s.

"He made everyone feel comfortable and it was always fun and easy," Stiller wrote on X. "He was an institution. We have lost him way too soon."

Actor Octavia Spencer wrote on social media that it was always a pleasure to see Rubin and be in his presence.

And Jaime Chambers, a FOX 5 San Diego reporter whose career started at KTLA, wrote that getting to work and learn from Rubin was a pure gift.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Thirty years ago, Jim O’Hara Jr. woke up from a coma, unable to walk, talk or eat. An 18-wheeler had broadsided his car, leaving him, then 18 years old, with a severe brain injury, according to his father, Jim O’Hara. Doctors said the young man’s condition wouldn't improve much. But O’Hara refused to leave his son in a nursing home.

After more than a year of hospital stays and rehabilitation, he brought Jim Jr. home, knowing he’d need far more help than one person could provide. California’s system of regional centers seemed like an answer. These centers purchase and coordinate support services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities and are designed to do exactly what Jim Jr. needed: help rebuilding his life.

Then O’Hara learned his son didn’t qualify. Under California law, a person’s disability must begin before age 18 to qualify for the regional centers system.

California’s ‘age of onset’ rule that determines eligibility is narrower than federal law and stricter than most states. O’Hara has spent years fighting to change it, pushing to extend access to people whose disability commenced as young adults, up to age 22. Now he’s trying again, this time alongside his state representative Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a Santa Clarita Democrat.

Schiavo said she is seeking to make this change through the annual budget process. She acknowledged the task could be an “uphill battle,” given the state’s projected budget troubles, but said it’s a change that’s long overdue.

“California has really fallen behind the rest of the nation on this issue,” Schiavo said. “It’s hard to look at new programs or expansions when you’re looking at cuts. ... Last year we were able to find new dollars for priorities, so we're hoping this will be one of the priorities we can figure out how to make happen.”

The promise of early intervention

Without the regional center system, O’Hara became the advocate and case manager he wished his son had. He trained as a behavioral aide, appealed to insurance companies, shuttled his son to appointments and therapies and designed a home schooling program.

“I devoted 10 years of my life to my son's rehab. I don't regret a single second of it,” he said.

It paid off. Gradually, Jim Jr.’s humor and his self-awareness began to resurface.

Today, at 49, he talks, walks and cracks jokes. He loves to read and bowl — progress beyond what doctors anticipated.

To O’Hara, that trajectory proves just how much early intervention matters.

“But the insurance and the rehab systems are not set up for that,” he said. “The regional center is. We didn't have it; I had to create it myself.”

Today, 21 regional centers serve nearly a half-million Californians with conditions including autism, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Regional centers act as a hub, connecting people to therapies, adult day programs, social skills training, independent living support and job training — all managed through a single point of contact.

The California Department of Developmental Services, which regulates regional centers, says people whose disabilities begin after age 18 are generally directed to other programs: in-home supportive services, the state department of rehabilitation and independent living centers. Pathways exist.

But parents like O’Hara say this misses the point. Regional centers offer something those programs don’t — comprehensive, coordinated services for life.

A years-long fight

Since 1978, federal law has defined developmental disabilities as severe, chronic conditions “attributable to a mental or physical impairment” that manifest before age 22. California’s cutoff of 18 puts it out of step with both federal policy and a growing body of research showing that the brain continues developing well into the mid-20s — meaning a traumatic brain injury acquired in late adolescence or early adulthood could disrupt development just as profoundly as one earlier.

California lawmakers have tried several times before to close that gap. In 2022, a bill authored by state Sens. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge, and Scott Wilk, a Santa Clarita Republican, made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom vetoed the bill, pointing to cost. While his veto message expressed support for extending services to people whose disabilities originated before age 22, he said covering more Californians would require tens of millions of dollars from the state’s general fund that had not been set aside that year.

Such a request, Newsom said, would have to go through the budget process.

Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions during a press conference at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on Feb. 11, 2026.

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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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CalMatters

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At the time, the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that extending regional center services to people whose disability started between ages 18 and 22 retroactively would expand eligibility to 1,000 to 2,000 people in the first year, at a cost of $15 million to $60 million.

Schiavo is now pursuing the expansion through the budget rather than standalone legislation and said she expects her ask to fall in that range.

The Association of Regional Center Agencies supports the idea, with a caveat: that the state allocate adequate funding for this expansion.

The population regional centers serve is already growing quicker than the general population, with the Department of Developmental Services projecting a 7.6% increase in clients for the coming fiscal year. That growth is driven partly by rising autism diagnoses, according to the state, and partly by more aggressive outreach to communities of color — centers have faced criticism in the past for inequitable services.

People with brain injuries acquired in young adulthood may also need additional or different support than those with disabilities from birth, said Amy Westling, the association's executive director.

“It’s not that there is a fundamental disagreement that people with acquired and traumatic brain injury particularly in this age range need additional support,” Westling said. “It’s just a question of, does this proposal include enough consideration of the financial support that would be necessary to make it possible?”

‘What will happen when I'm gone?’

Katherine Graham gets emotional thinking about what will happen to her son’s care when she is no longer around.

In June 2002, her son Joe was a 21-year-old psychology student in Santa Rosa. A traffic accident threw him 40 feet from his car, first responders told her.

He didn’t break any bones, but he did suffer a devastating brain injury.

“Right after the accident, they said, ‘He will be a vegetable. He will never walk. He will never talk,’” Graham said.

Like Jim Jr., Joe Graham is not eligible for regional center services because his brain injury happened after age 18.

Joe Graham at his volunteer job at a community kitchen.

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Photos courtesy of Katherine Graham

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Joe with his mom Katherine Graham.

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Photos courtesy of Katherine Graham

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For nearly a quarter-century, Katherine Graham has overseen every aspect of her son’s care, constantly searching for activities and services that could help his recovery, sometimes paying out of pocket. Today, at 44, Joe walks, talks, volunteers and lives in his own apartment. He gets some help through Medi-Cal’s in-home supportive services, including assistance with personal care, shopping and laundry. But transportation, managing appointments, staying on top of medication and even looking for opportunities to socialize have largely fallen on his mother.

A retired school teacher from Ukiah, Graham has advocated long and hard for her son.

More than anything, Joe wants to work again and be independent. But his disability makes it difficult to read social cues and understand personal boundaries, Graham said. She believes that if her son had had prompt access to social skills training and job coaching that regional centers provide, he’d be further along in his recovery.

“My concern is what will happen when I'm gone and can no longer support him or provide help. Who is going to continue to protect, to guide, as well as fill out leases and recertifications for services?” Graham said.

O’Hara, too, says he will keep pushing for his son and so that people with disabilities can more easily access critical support services proven to help them become more self-sufficient.

“As long as he has me, my son will keep moving forward, but if something happens to me, that could stop,” O’Hara said. “My goal is to never let that happen.”

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

President Donald Trump delivered the first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday night. The speech gave Trump the opportunity to tout accomplishments and outline his agenda for his administration's second year.

It comes at at time when Americans are divided on whether Trump's first year has been a success. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that six in 10 believe the country is worse off than last year and that a majority think the state of the union is not strong.

Reporters from across NPR's newsroom are fact checking his speech and offer context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy.

Immigration

Do we have the strongest and most secure border so far?

This is partly true.

It is not true that there have been zero crossings; for example, there were 237,538 in 2025, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But Border Patrol encounters with migrants crossing into the United States from Mexico have fallen to their lowest level in more than 50 years, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of statistics from the federal government.

While it is true that there were a historic number of crossings during the Biden administration, it is untrue that the border was wide open for people to cross unvetted: in the final year of his administration, President Biden significantly tightened controls.

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Did murderers, ex-convicts and mental institution patients emigrate to the U.S. under Biden?

There is no evidence of this.

A historic number of people came across the U.S. border during the Biden administration, however many were vetted. Programs like parole and the CBP One app required entry screenings and interviews.

There has also been extensive research showing that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are less likely to commit crimes than citizens. What's more, although the number of people in immigration detention is at a historic high (near 70,000 as of earlier this month), around 74% have no criminal conviction.

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Did members of the Somali community pillage $19 billion?

Almost 100 defendants — many of Somali descent — have been charged by the Department of Justice in connection with alleged fraud connected to federal social safety net and child welfare programs in Minnesota, according to the White House.

In one high-profile case, federal prosecutors charged dozens of people in 2022 connected to a Minnesota nonprofit called Feeding Our Future with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayer-funded child nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president has used that controversy to attack the Somali American community at large in Minneapolis, including calling Somali immigrants "garbage" who "contribute nothing."

— Jasmine Garsd, Immigration Correspondent

Foreign policy

Foreign investment 

Trump referenced this figure, but a White House website of total investment at both home and abroad sits at under $10 trillion. And other analyses have found that number inflated as well.

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Iran's nuclear program "obliterated"

Trump again repeated his oft-stated claim that the U.S. "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program during one day of bombing in Iran last June. There's a broad consensus that combined U.S. and Israeli strikes inflicted major damage on Iran's nuclear program. However, Iran has not allowed international inspectors to examine their nuclear facilities, making a precise assessment impossible.

In addition, Trump has not explained why he's considering a new round of attacks on Iran's nuclear program if it was 'obliterated' just months ago.

— Greg Myre, national security correspondent

 "I ended eight wars"

President Trump has had diplomatic successes, but his repeated claim that he's ended eight wars is an exaggeration.

Perhaps his biggest success to date was brokering a ceasefire in the Israel and Hamas war in Gaza last October. However, Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes, killing hundreds of Palestinians since the truce was announced. Israel alleges many ceasefire violations by Palestinian militias.

Trump's list also includes Israel and Iran. Israel and the U.S. exchanged airstrikes with Iran for 12 days last June before Trump declared a truce. However, none of the longstanding issues were resolved, and Trump is again threatening to attack Iran.

— Greg Myre, National Security Correspondent

Iranian protesters killed

Iran's security forces unleashed a brutal crackdown against protesters in January. The Human Rights Activist News Agency has put the death toll at more than 7,000, though various human rights groups say the number could be even higher. Iran's government has acknowledged more than 3,000 deaths in clashes, a figure that includes protesters and security force members.

— Greg Myre, National Security Correspondent

Economy

A "turnaround for the ages"

The U.S. economy was in solid shape before President Trump returned to the White House for his second term. In fact, in October 2024, The Economist had labeled the U.S. economy "the envy of the world," because it had bounced back from the pandemic recession in stronger shape than most of its peers. To be sure, many Americans were frustrated with the high cost of living, and that dissatisfaction contributed to Trump's victory the following month. However, costs have continued to climb over the last year, and that dissatisfaction is now weighing on Trump's own approval rating. Nearly six-in-ten Americans say the country is worse off now than it was a year ago, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Inflated claims about inflation

Inflation has cooled in recent months. But the cost of living is still climbing faster than most people would like. A few items have gotten cheaper in the last year, such as gasoline and eggs. But housing, groceries, electricity and natural gas have all gotten more expensive.

Inflation reached a four-decade high of 9.1% in 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent prices soaring around the world. By the time President Joe Biden left office, inflation had fallen to 3%. It dropped as low as 2.3% last April, before rebounding to 3% in September.

Trump's tariffs have raised the price of some imported goods, but the effects on the overall cost of living have been limited. Annual inflation dipped to 2.4% in January. (A separate measure of inflation, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, shows that prices are still climbing at roughly the same rate that they were a year ago.)

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Stock market 

The stock market has enjoyed big gains over the last year, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average topping 50,000 for the first time earlier this month. In 2025, the S&P 500 index jumped 18%, after a 24% gain in 2024. The stock market rally has given a boost to many people's retirement savings. It's important to remember, however, that stock ownership is very concentrated. The richest 10% of families own 87% of all stock market wealth, while half of all Americans own little or no stock.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Job growth

Job growth slowed sharply in the last year. U.S. employers added just 181,000 jobs in all of 2025, compared to more than 1.4 million in 2024. Hiring picked up in January of this year, but the job gains last month were concentrated in health care — an industry that is typically insulated from the ups and downs of the broader economy. Unemployment has remained low — just 4.3% in January — but that's up from 4% a year ago when Trump returned to the White House.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Tax cuts

Congressional Republicans voted last summer to extend portions of the 2017 tax cut which otherwise would have expired last year. An analysis by the Tax Foundation found the package — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is the sixth largest tax cut in U.S. history, not the largest. The bill also adds new tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. The result will be somewhat higher take-home pay for many workers in 2026. The bill also cut government spending on safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the bulk of the tax savings will go to the wealthy. Middle-income households will see a smaller benefit, between $500 and $1000 a year. For families making less than $55,000 the loss of government benefits will likely outweigh any tax savings, leaving them worse off. The tax cut is also expected to encourage more business investment, which could boost future economic growth.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Standing by tariffs after rebuke by SCOTUS

The federal government has been collecting about $30 billion every month in tariffs, which is far more than it made from import taxes before Trump returned to the White House last year.

The Supreme Court struck down about half of Trump's tariffs last week, ruling that the president had exceeded his authority. Some of those levies are being replaced with alternative import taxes.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs — though lawmakers have delegated limited tariff powers to the executive branch.

Economists say the vast majority of tariff bills are being paid by businesses in the U.S. that import products. In some cases, those costs are being passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Tariff revenue, while substantial, has fallen short of what the administration projected. This is partly because some imports have been granted tariff exemptions, and partly because importers have shifted production to countries facing lower tariff rates. Imports from China, for example, made up 12% of total imports in 2024. By last fall that had dropped to about 8%.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Tariffs and manufacturing

President Trump argues that high tariffs will spark a renaissance in U.S. manufacturing. But it hasn't happened yet. Factories have been in a slump for most of the last year, shedding 108,000 jobs in 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

No doubt Trump's taxes on foreign imports have allowed some U.S. factories to raise their prices. But the vast majority of factory managers, many of whom rely on foreign components, say tariffs have been a drag on their business. "Morale is very low across manufacturing in general," one unnamed factory manager told the Institute for Supply Management in December.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Energy

Gasoline prices

According to GasBuddy, only the cheapest 10% of stations in the country are seeing prices of $2.31 per gallon or cheaper. And while gasoline was $1.85 a gallon in Iowa in early January, prices have since risen. As for $1.99 gasoline, "only 8 out of roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide are selling gasoline below $2 per gallon," GasBuddy's Patrick de Haan wrote on Tuesday.

While the specific prices named by President Trump are exceptional rather than representative, gasoline is certainly cheaper now than it was before his inauguration. The national average gasoline price is currently at $2.92 a gallon, according to AAA, or about 22 cents cheaper than this time a year ago.

Those prices are driven by global markets, and a worldwide oversupply of oil is the dominant force keeping prices in check. Presidents do not set gasoline prices. However, politics can be a factor in global markets, and Trump has put pressure on the oil cartel OPEC to keep oil prices down.

— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent

Data centers and electricity rates

Electricity prices rose 6.3% in the last 12 months – more than double the overall rate of inflation. That's partly due to the high cost of natural gas, which is a major fuel for power plants. It's also due to increased demand, some of which comes from power-hungry data centers. Rising electricity prices were a big theme in last year's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

— Scott Horsley, Chief Economics Correspondent

Venezuelan oil "received" in the U.S.

Since the U.S. captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last month, the U.S. government has been helping sell some of Venezuela's oil. The U.S. has worked with two Swiss oil trading companies, Vitol and Trafigura. (Both Vitol and Trafigura have pleaded guilty to bribery and settled cases with the Department of Justice during the Biden administration.)

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright says that U.S.-facilitated oil sales total more than $1 billion. However the Venezuelan government has said it has only received $300 million. In a Senate hearing last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said $200 million is in a bank account in Qatar. It's unclear where the rest of the money is and if and when it will get to the Venezuelan people.

The U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world and the world is currently oversupplied with oil.

– Julia Simon, Climate Solutions Correspondent

Oil and natural gas production

The U.S. set an annual crude oil production record last year, rising about 400,000 barrels a day from 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration. That was not a new trend initiated by Trump — crude output rose for four years in a row. However, it's expected to drop by about 100,000 barrels a day in 2026, thanks in large part to low oil prices. Globally, the world is currently oversupplied with oil.

It is true that natural gas production is up; the EIA forecasts record natural gas production in 2026 and 2027. Natural gas prices were low in 2024 but jumped sharply last year, due in part to massive exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. to other countries, mostly in Europe and Asia.

Oil companies have not been on a drilling spree, as Trump's "drill, baby, drill" phrasing would suggest. According to Baker Hughes, a firm that monitors the energy industry, the number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. this week is down about 7% from this time a year ago. Low oil prices and skeptical investors have kept companies cautious. However, technological improvements have helped make U.S. oil production more efficient, squeezing more oil and natural gas out of existing wells, which has helped keep production high anyway.

— Camila Domonoske, Cars and Energy Correspondent

Government

DHS and terrorism prevention

Since Trump took office for his second term in January 2025, there have been mounting concerns among former federal employees and field experts about a diminished capacity to counter violent extremism. Many seasoned counterterrorism officials left government service, and budget cuts have fundamentally shifted the core infrastructure that had been devoted to community-based prevention programs, data-gathering and analysis. In the case of one of these programs, the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, the administration replaced an outgoing head with a 22-year-old without experience in law enforcement or counterterrorism. Outside of DHS, other agencies that have traditionally played a role in countering violent extremism, such as the FBI, have seen manpower diverted to immigration enforcement.

— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent

Congressional stock trading ban faces tough odds for passage

Congress has unsuccessfully pursued a stock trading ban for their members for years. Members of both sides of the aisle have put forth proposals that have drawn broad, bipartisan support. However, those efforts have fallen short of becoming law.

Those failures have spanned several House speakers, including former Speakers Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy. Pelosi's husband, Paul, has drawn attention as a venture capitalist who has been active in trading.

This time around, the GOP-led Stop Insider Trading Act has little chance of passage, currently without much bipartisan support.

— Claudia Grisales, Congressional Correspondent

Voter fraud is already incredibly rare

Trump has been claiming that noncitizens are voting en masse in American elections for more than a decade.

But it's illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal races, and they have never been found to vote in anything but microscopic numbers. In the rare cases they do vote, research has found it's often due to misunderstandings about the rules, as opposed to an attempt to influence election results, as Trump often claims.

Still, since Trump took office for his second term, his government has put more resources than ever before toward trying to find these voters. They've found very little.

"Even states that are looking everywhere to try to amplify the numbers of noncitizens … when they actually look, they find a surprisingly, shockingly small number," said David Becker, an election expert who runs a nonprofit that has been tracking noncitizen voting audits across the country.

In Michigan, an audit after the 2024 election found 16 alleged noncitizen votes out of the state's roughly 5.7 million cast. In Iowa, it was 35 votes out of 1.67 million cast.

Experts often note that for immigrants without legal status, it doesn't make sense to risk prison, deportation and family separation to cast one ballot — especially because the inherent paper trail of voting makes it very easy to get caught.

Trump correctly noted that not every state requires voters to show photo ID at the time they cast a ballot. But he oversimplified the dozen or so states that don't have such a requirement in implying that anyone can easily vote without being verified by officials first.

Federal law already requires identity verification for all voters at registration, by mandating they provide a valid driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. People who don't register in person are also required to provide ID the first time they vote, regardless of the state they live in.

The SAVE America Act that Trump referenced tonight isn't expected to garner the requisite 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a legislative filibuster, but you can still read a breakdown of what's in the proposed Republican election overhaul here.

— Miles Parks, Voting Correspondent

Warrior dividend 

Trump announced military service members would receive a $1,776 "warrior dividend" during his prime time address in December.

The money was allocated to service members in the massive omnibus budget bill known as "One Big Beautiful Bill." Congress — which has the power of the purse and is solely responsible for taxation and appropriation — approved $2.9 billion to subsidize housing for military members. Trump rebranded those funds as the "warrior dividend."

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Health

Prescription drug prices

This claim is not true. Americans still pay several times more money for prescription drugs than people in peer countries. The Trump administration has taken aim at drug prices in various ways, but how helpful those efforts will ultimately be — and for how many people — is not yet clear.

His biggest move so far has been to use tariffs as leverage to negotiate deals with more than a dozen drugmakers, and then launch a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx where people can buy brand-named drugs at a discount. There are only about 40 drugs currently available on the site, and those same companies Trump struck deals with raised prices on hundreds of other drugs they sell. For most people, using insurance and paying a copay for their medications will be cheaper than TrumpRx, according to an analysis by KFF.

What many peer countries do to keep the prices of prescription drugs down is to regulate those prices. President Trump and congressional Republicans have generally rejected that approach, branding it as "government price setting."

— Selena Simmons-Duffin & Sydney Lupkin, health correspondents

Payments to insurance companies

At this point, Trump's "Great Health Care Plan" isn't a comprehensive health policy, but an articulation of policy priorities that Trump has asked Congress to develop into legislation. He supports loosening rules around mandatory benefits required by the Affordable Care Act and promoting health savings accounts, which allow people to set aside pre-tax funds to pay for certain health-related expenses. Under current law, HSA funds can't be used for health insurance costs like premiums.

Even the "catastrophic" or skinny plans preferred by Trump are private insurance plans, and the money paid for them goes to big insurance companies. The only way to stop payments to health insurance companies would be to bolster public health insurance options like Medicaid and Medicare.

A recent poll from KFF found Americans are more worried about health costs than any other household expenses. It also found that people plan to vote based on whether they think a candidate will help with health costs.

This year, ACA premiums have doubled on average, and in some cases, have increased much more, because Republicans did not vote with Democrats to extend extra ACA tax credits. Since then, more than a million people have dropped their coverage.

— Selena Simmons-Duffin, Health Policy Correspondent

Transgender youth

For the second year in a row, President Trump has brought as a guest a parent with a story about a child who began a gender transition in secret. The children mentioned in both speeches seem to have done some version of "social transition," which involves changing a name, pronouns, clothes, haircuts and the like. All of those things are reversible.

This is a topic he brought up frequently during his presidential campaign, in which he and Republicans spent millions on anti-trans ads.

So far, the Trump administration's efforts to ban trangender care has focused on medical interventions for youth. Using threats of withheld federal funding, investigations, proposed regulations, and subpoenas, the White House has succeeded in shutting down many gender clinics for youth at hospitals across the country. There are also many lawsuits challenging these actions.

— Selena Simmons-Duffin, Health Policy Correspondent

Crime

Declining murder rates 

Murders have been on a steep decline following a pandemic-era surge.

The homicide rate in 35 studied cities dropped 21% in 2025, compared with 2024, according to data from the Council on Criminal Justice.

The FBI hasn't released 2025 homicide data for all jurisdictions nationwide yet. However, the Council on Criminal Justice states "there is a strong possibility" that the murder rate will be roughly 4 per 100,000 residents. That, according to the council, would be the lowest rate ever recorded, going back to 1900. It would also mark the largest single-year percentage drop in homicides on record.

Murders and violent crime were already declining under the Biden administration. In 2024, President Joe Biden's final year in office, violent crime dropped to a 20-year low.

— Saige Miller, Washington Desk Producer

Was Iryna Zarutska killed by an immigrant?

Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on August 22, 2025 while riding the light rail line in Charlotte, N.C. Zarutska, who was 23, was stabbed by 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr., who has a reported history of mental health issues.

In tonight's address, Trump claimed Brown was an immigrant released into America thanks to an open border policy. There is no evidence of this. Local media has reported that Brown was born and raised in Charlotte and had spent time in and out of North Carolina jails.

— Jasmine Garsd Immigration Correspondent

Drug cartels as FTOs

Under Trump, the State Department has designated a number of drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or FTOs. This is a novel use of the designation, which has traditionally been used to go after overseas entities that have threatened the security interests of the U.S., such as al-Qaida or ISIS. This pivot in definition of FTO has raised some concern among those who were previously involved in the designation process and other counterterrorism experts. They say that responding to criminal narcotics enterprises that operate from a profit motive is fundamentally different from disrupting networks that sow ideological and violent opposition to the U.S. government.

— Odette Yousef, Domestic Extremism Correspondent 

Copyright 2026 NPR

Only one president in U.S. history has gone before Congress during a State of the Union address and said that the state of the union was "not good."

It wasn't President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

It was Gerald Ford in 1975 with the country facing similar economic problems to today's, including high prices. People continue to say that prices and the cost of living are their top concerns, and they blame Trump's policies, particularly his tariffs, for making things worse.

But Trump ignored those economic warts, instead boasting that "our nation is back" and that it had achieved a "turnaround for the ages."

It all amounted to a fairly standard Trump speech. It hit familiar notes on immigration and culture, was wide-ranging and record-setting — the longest spoken State of the Union address in recent history at 1 hour and 48 minutes — and had a usual amount of Trump showmanship.

Here are five takeaways from what Trump had to say in this midterm election year:

1. Trump ignored the difficulties people are facing with the economy.

Voters have been saying for a long time that prices and the cost of living are their top concerns. It's largely what has landed Trump and the Republican Party in a precarious position ahead of this year's midterm elections.

And yet, Trump largely ignored the economic hardships many are feeling. He gave a rosy outlook, touting the stock market and lower gas prices. But the reality is, it's just not how voters are feeling, and Trump did not have an "I feel your pain" moment in this speech.

Trump's approval ratings are at or near record lows, and voters are blaming his policies, particularly his tariffs, for making things worse. In this speech, he doubled down on those tariffs. With the Supreme Court justices sitting just feet away, he criticized their ruling last week that many of his tariffs were illegal. He said he had come up with "alternative" legal justifications for keeping them in place.

2. Trump's midterm message is … not new

There was no novel political message from the president in this speech. Trump talked a lot about his political hobby horses: the woes of immigration, crime and the culture wars. He tried to hit a reset button on immigration, focusing on border security and crimes committed replete with gory anecdotal details.

It's a tactic that's long been employed by Trump, the GOP and conservative media to advocate against immigration, particularly when data doesn't back up allegations of higher levels of crime committed by those in the country without legal status.

Trump's message worked in 2024, but two very important things have changed: (1) he owns the economy now, and people don't feel great about it and (2) he has a record now on immigration. And while people have said in polling that they are in favor of deportations, they're not happy with how his administration has gone about them — especially since most of those rounded up have no criminal record — and after two Americans were killed by federal officers in Minnesota in January.

3. There was no legislative agenda.

State of the Union addresses can sometimes descend into laundry lists of things the president wants Congress to accomplish.

Not this speech.

There were only about half a dozen specific things Trump asked Congress to do:

• "Codify" Trump's attempts to lower drug prices, though it's unclear how.
• Pass the "Stop Insider Trading Act" that would restrict the Wall Street trading of members of Congress and their spouses.
• Pass what Trump is calling the "Delilah Law" that would ban commercial licenses for immigrants in the country without legal status.
• Restore funding for the Department of Homeland Security. After the killing of the two Americans in Minnesota, Democrats refused to authorize new funding for DHS, leading to a partial government shutdown. 
• Pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. Proven instances of fraud, including by noncitizens, are very rare, but Trump claims there is "rampant" cheating. It's something he has used to justify his 2020 election loss, and it's a claim he could use to cast doubt on this year's outcome — if Republicans lose.
  

While those are certainly consequential, they don't add up to a major legislative push. That's not surprising, though, since Trump has spent the better part of the last year trying to consolidate power in the White House.

4. The Democratic response had a wide range.

State of the Union speeches have turned from staid to raucous in the past 16 years. Outbursts and protests have become more common. That was certainly the case Tuesday night. Some Democrats boycotted. Others, like Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, shouted at the president about things she found outrageous during the speech. Rep. Al Green of Texas carried a sign that read, "Black people aren't apes," a reference to a Trump social media post featuring a video that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. For the second year in a row, Green was removed from the chamber.

Then there was Abigail Spanberger, the governor of Virginia, who had the task of delivering the official Democratic response. Channeling the campaign message that got her elected in November, she focused on the economy. Trump, by not addressing the difficulties people are feeling about the economy, gave Spanberger an opening, and she took it.

She hammered home a sharp message that many Democratic candidates in swing districts will likely aim to emulate. It has a good chance of success, as Democrats look to flip only a handful of seats to take control of the House, and midterm elections are not kind to the party in power — especially when the president is unpopular.

Come 2028, though, there could be a reckoning on the horizon for the Democratic Party on what it stands for and what direction it wants to take the country in a post-Trump world.

5. None of this will likely matter much politically because views of Trump are "baked in."

After the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll was released last week, pollster Lee Miringoff, who conducts the poll with his colleagues at Marist University, said Trump had an opportunity "to try and reset with the nation, but it's a tall order when views about him are so baked in."

Instead of trying to reach out beyond his base, he resorted to trying to bait Democrats, calling them "crazy" in an effort to position himself as "normal" on things like immigration, crime and transgender rights.

And he turned the address into a show. The gold-medal winning Olympic men's hockey team was there. So were veterans, who were decorated, live on-camera, with medals of honor.

Trump may have missed an opportunity to speak to voters' concerns, especially since presidents don't get that many opportunities to speak to the nation in prime time.

But, for Trump, no matter how things are going, the show must go on — and it will for roughly three more years.

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Another toasty day is on tap for Southern California as temperatures continue to rise all week long. The National Weather Service also says that it's going to be windy today. In L.A., wind gusts will reach 30 to 45 mph over the Santa Monica mountains, the Antelope Valley and even the I-5 corridor.

If you ask me, beach days during the winter are the most underrated and today's forecast proves my point. If you're heading to Santa Monica or hitting up other SoCal beaches, enjoy the 70- to 75-degree weather.

More inland, areas like downtown L.A., inland Orange County and even the Inland Empire will see highs from the upper 70s to the low 80s. Over in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys, meanwhile, warmer temps await with highs up to 85 degrees. And the Coachella Valley will be the warmest of them all, where high temperatures will reach the low 90s.