The Brief

Back in 2023, artist Ana Inciardi made an Instagram reel that got over 17 million views.

In the short video, you see a bright red box with coin chutes reminiscent of a bubble gum machine. A colorful sign reads, "Mini Print Vending Machine." Underneath art depicting a single fried egg, a strawberry, and other food items reads a promise: "4 quarters = 1 surprise print."

In the video set to the band Pinegrove's then-viral song "Need 2," a pair of hands puts four quarters into one of the three coin chutes, pushes the slot in, and out pops a randomly assigned print of a jar of pickles.

Those were Inciardi's hands — and artwork —and she now has at least 50 vending machines located across the United States. Inciardi says her inspiration for swapping out stale potato chips for linocut prints of potato chips came from childhood memories.

"There was this sticker and tattoo vending machine at a supermarket near where I grew up in Brooklyn at Key Food on Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street," Inciardi said during a recent visit to one of her machines, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. "All the time as a kid, I would get like a Batman or a Spider-Man tattoo out of that thing. And then I was like, 'I wonder if I could get one of those to sell my little prints in there."

Ana Inciardi with her mini print vending machine.

(

Dana Valletti

)

Inciardi's linocut prints are made from carved linoleum. Each layer of color is stamped onto the linocut one by one. But the most exciting thing for her is watching people appreciate her prints in real life.

"This is my first time at this museum. It's the first time seeing this vending machine," Inciardi said about the location. "It's always really sweet watching people. I always, like, shed a little tear the first time I see it. It's really cute."

Inciardi's work primarily focuses on food and the items used to make that food. She showcases yellow slickers or overalls worn while picking vegetables, as well as blue tins of sardines. There may even be a pink prawn in the mix. Just like a bubble gum machine, you don't know which print you'll end up with — you may get a completely different print each time, or end up with doubles. Some of Inciardi's fans even trade her mini prints.

"My friend got me the strawberry a couple of weeks ago and I just had to get one for myself," said D.C. resident Arianne Motte. "This is talk of the town."

Motte said she and her group of girlfriends often trade the small art prints within their circle. The vending machine has been at the museum since August 2024. There's another one at the United States Botanic Garden across town.

"People have been calling them Pokemon cards for women," Inciardi said to Motte and her sister at the D.C. museum vending machine.

Inciardi's work has sparked joy and a sense of community at the 50 vending machines, from Portland, Maine, to California, Inciardi's machines remain stocked, even with high demand. She says she hopes to expand internationally.

There is a subReddit page dedicated to Inciardi's work. A group of 300 people or so post there about their love for her mini prints.

One post features a framed trio of mini prints featuring carrots, a watering can and a bunny rabbit eating carrots while wearing a blue jacket. It's undeniably cute and shows off how fans curate their own traded prints, thematically.

The origin story behind Inciardi's vending machine prints began out of necessity in 2020.

"I'd just become a full-time artist and I was, like, covered in ink every day and I was just filthy," Inciardi told fan Arianne Mott at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in D.C. "And my wife is a farmer. And we have coin-operated laundry in our basement. And we couldn't find quarters anywhere. I was like, 'What if we had like a little vending machine where I could collect quarters for my laundry. And that was literally how I came up with it."

Inciardi and her wife still do their laundry with quarters from the vending machines.
Copyright 2025 NPR

With the removal of the black-box warning on hormone therapy for menopause, some providers and patients report shortages or delays, waiting for a pharmacy to restock transdermal estrogen patches.

When Jennifer Skoog Mondesir headed to the pharmacy to pick up her estrogen patch, she never knew what she'd find.

Mondesir, who is in her late 40s and in perimenopause, relies on the patch to help improve symptoms, including low energy. She lives in Jersey City, N.J. But last summer, she started running into a frustrating wall.

"I went to CVS. I can't tell you the amount of times I've been there and they're like, 'We're out of patches,'" she says. Or they'd tell her to check back tomorrow. "So it was like a monthly mad scramble," Mondesir says.

Mondesir is not alone. Doctors who prescribe hormone therapy to manage menopausal symptoms report rolling shortages and delays, which are in part due to rising demand. It's a reversal from the early 2000s, when the treatment fell sharply out of favor.

Dr. Nora Lansen, chief medical officer of Elektra Health, says use of hormone therapy has grown steadily over the past several years as both clinicians and patients have taken a fresh look at the evidence.

"Over the past four to five years, demand has picked up as clinicians have familiarized themselves with current research and patients have become more interested," Lansen said.

The shift is a turnaround from the early 2000s, when hormone therapy use plummeted. Back then, the Food and Drug Administration placed a black box warning — the strongest safety label — on estrogen products, following results from the large Women's Health Initiative study. It found women on hormone therapy faced increased risks of heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolism, "which of course incited grave concern among users and prescribers," Lansen says.

Last year, the FDA removed that black box warning, pointing to evolving evidence of safety, newer methods of delivering hormone therapy and alternative combinations of products.

One key change is how estrogen is delivered. As an alternative to oral estrogen pills, which is what the women in the Women's Health Initiative study took, many women now use estrogen patches or gels, which deliver the hormone through the skin, bypassing a first pass through the liver. Lansen says that distinction matters.

"The transdermal version of estradiol has a lower risk of blood clots, and a blood clot can cause a heart attack [or] a stroke. So without passing through the liver and its metabolism, this transdermal version of estradiol is really a much safer option. And that's why there's been such demand," she says.

CVS, in a statement to NPR, confirmed that manufacturers have been unable to provide sufficient supplies of several estrogen products. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists lists multiple estrogen products with current or recent shortages, but the manufacturers do not give a reason for the shortages.

A spokesperson for Amneal Pharmaceuticals, one of the companies that makes estradiol patches, wrote in a statement to NPR that "following the FDA's removal of boxed warnings on hormone replacement therapy, we have seen a significant increase in demand." The company is meeting its current contracts and is working to increase production to help meet growing demand, the statement said.

For Mondesir, a personal trainer, the stakes felt high. Before starting hormone therapy, fatigue was a daily battle.

"I have to show up to my clients with energy. And I found that I would have to have a second, third cup of coffee, which is not like me," she says.

After switching to an online pharmacy, she has been able to fill her prescription without disruptions or delays.

"My energy level is much better," she says. And she hopes as supply and demand even out, the shortages and delays will cease.

Copyright 2026 NPR

At Las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca in Pico Union, owner Lidia Young hears from customers that gas prices are playing a major factor in whether they can eat at her restaurant.

“It’s becoming very difficult because I have customers who come from far away, and with the increase in gas prices, they’re telling me they won’t be coming here anymore,” Young said, who has operated the business for about 30 years.

“Yesterday, some customers told us it would cost them more to drive here than to pay for the food,” she said Monday. 

It’s a reality that many small business owners are grappling with, as gas prices react to the war in Iran.

Gas prices surged across the country over the last week, with the average price spiking 51 cents, according to data compiled by GasBuddy. In L.A. County, the average price stood at $5.25 per gallon as of Monday, a dollar more than a month ago, AAA reported, and experts said to expect more volatility as the United State’s and Israel’s deadly war with Iran continues.

Between attacks on oil facilities, slowing of traffic in a key Middle East shipping route and general uncertainty, the price of oil jumped to over $100 per barrel this weekend for the first time since the pandemic

Some states could see prices go up another 20 to 50 cents this week, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement on Monday.

“While the situation remains highly fluid, consumers are already beginning to feel the impact as energy markets adjust to this sudden escalation,” he said.

By late Monday, the price of oil dropped back down to under $90 after President Donald Trump told CBS News the war is “very complete, pretty much.”

Trump later added he might remove sanctions on oil-producing countries — potentially Russia, though he did not specify — to keep oil prices from rising again. He also claimed the war in Iran was having a limited effect on gas in the U.S., in spite of prices jumping at pumps across the country.

“We have so much oil,” he said at a press conference Monday night. “We have Venezuela now as our new partner.”

At Un Solo Sol Kitchen, owner Carlos Ortez drives from Boyle Heights to about seven different suppliers every week for produce and ingredients for his vegan dishes. 

On Tuesday, he plans to drive to Glendale to purchase Armenian flatbread, known as lavash, as well as vegetables at Canto Food Company in downtown L.A. and grains at Whole Foods.

At Las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca in Pico Union, owner Lidia Young hears from customers that gas prices are playing a major factor in whether they can eat at her restaurant.

“Last week it wasn’t as bad as I expect it to be this time,” Ortez said on Monday. Even though Ortez drives an electric vehicle, he worries about the hit to his electric bill.

In Pico Union, Isabel Treminio has been selling cleaning supplies, snacks and toys at her small market Variedades Todito for about 25 years. She’s also worried about what the increase in gas prices means for her business.

“Yes, it affects us when gas prices go up because when gas goes up, everything else goes up too,” she said.

“Since we’re a small business, we can’t afford to keep our prices lower. Customers come in and tell us that everything is more expensive, and they’re not buying as much. Right now, it’s getting worse than in other times.”

At Las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca in Pico Union, owner Lidia Young hears from customers that gas prices are playing a major factor in whether they can eat at her restaurant.

Mariachis are also feeling the pinch at the pump as they travel for their gigs.

“We continue to charge the same while the costs for everything else rises,” said Joel Soto, a musician at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. 

For Teodoro Cuevas, another mariachi, the increase in gas prices impacts him because he’s retired and on a fixed income. The spike in gas prices coincides with a lack of work, Cuevas said. 

“You feel everything much more when you’re on [fixed] income,” he said. 

The bigger hit to small businesses may come when higher fuel prices affect imported ingredients, like at Las Siete Regiones de Oaxaca in Pico Union. Young, the restaurant owner, relies on many ingredients outside of a simple car ride.

“I also bring certain ingredients from Oaxaca, like quesillo, tlayudas, mole and chapulines,” Young said. “A plane flies them from Oaxaca to Tijuana, and then someone brings them to me by truck. With the higher gas prices, it will definitely cost me more.”

The post Gas prices are surging, and small business owners in LA are already feeling it appeared first on LA Local.

The Trump administration said this will be the most intense day of strikes on Iran, while Israel intensified its attacks in Lebanon, as the war in the Middle East entered its 11th day.

"Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a news conference on Tuesday. He said the Pentagon was giving the president "maximum options," and that the war will not be "endless."

It came a day after President Donald Trump touted major success but sent mixed signals on whether the fighting was almost over.

Iran launched drones and rockets across the Gulf region on Tuesday, while Israel's military said it conducted strikes against the financial infrastructure of the Iran-backed organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran, nearly 500 in Lebanon and 12 people in Israel, according to figures from Iranian and Lebanese health officials and Israeli authorities. Seven U.S. soldiers have died in the war so far, the Pentagon says.

Here's what to know about the latest developments in the conflict.

To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below:

Trump on war's end | Iran's reaction | Israel strikes Hezbollah | Iranian strikes | Iran-backed militia in Iraq | Turkey NATO air defenses | Trump's reaction on Iran's new leader | Iran women soccer team

Trump sends mixed signals on when the war will end

In a phone call with CBS News Monday, President Trump said, "I think the war is very complete, pretty much." He said Iran's military capabilities were wiped out.

At a later press conference, Trump's first since the war began, he said the U.S. was "achieving major strides toward completing our military objective" and warned Iran against disrupting global energy supplies.

But at a separate event with Republican lawmakers in Miami, he struck a more open-ended tone. "We've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough," he said. "We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long running danger once and for all."

Trump also intensified his warnings about the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on social media late Monday that if Iran does anything to stop oil shipments from flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. would respond "TWENTY TIMES HARDER" than it has so far.

Trump's warning came as markets went into shock over fears of supply disruptions. The price of oil briefly hit nearly $120 a barrel on Monday, then fell back after Trump suggested the war might end soon.

— Rebecca Rosman

Iran says it will decide when the war ends

In an apparent response to President Trump's remarks, Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that Iran, not the U.S., would have the final say on the end of the war.

"Iran will determine when the war ends," Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini told Iranian state media.

Sardar Shekarchi, a spokesperson for Iran's armed forces, called Trump "the delusional president."

In an interview with PBS Newshour on Monday, Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said he did not believe negotiating with the United States would "be on the table" again.

"We have a very bitter experience of talking with Americans," he said. He pointed out indirect nuclear talks were underway last June when the U.S. attacked Iran, and negotiations had resumed in February when the U.S. attacked again.

Israel strikes more Hezbollah targets; Lebanon's president calls for direct talks

Israel said it carried out a new wave of strikes in Lebanon, targeting assets and storage facilities tied to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which is tied to the militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli military said the organization finances weapons purchases and provides salaries for Hezbollah.

Israel has been striking southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, both Hezbollah strongholds, since the Iranian-backed group launched rockets into northern Israel last week.

Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, said Tuesday that Lebanon was ready to enter direct talks with Israel to put an end to the fighting there.

An official briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic affairs, told NPR that Israel saw positive signs from the Lebanese government in its approach to Hezbollah, but that the war would continue.

Israel and Lebanon last held direct negotiations in early December, over securing the southern Lebanese border.

— Hadeel Al-Shalchi

Iran continues strikes on neighboring Gulf countries

Iran's missile and drone attacks continued across the Gulf on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed two drones over the kingdom's oil-rich eastern region.

Kuwait's National Guard, meanwhile, said it downed six drones in areas north and south of the country.

The United Arab Emirates also condemned what it called a drone attack targeting its consulate general in Iraq's Kurdistan region, saying it caused material damage but no injuries.

Iraq says airstrike on Iran-linked militia killed five

Iraq's military said an airstrike killed at least five members of an Iran-linked militia in the city of Kirkuk, located near the border with Iran.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the strikes.

NATO boosts Turkey's air defenses

Turkey's Defense Ministry said that a U.S. Patriot air defense system was deployed to its Malatya province as NATO takes steps to boost Turkey's air defense amid missile threats from Iran.

Malatya is home to the Kurecik NATO radar base, which helped identify an Iranian ballistic missile headed toward Turkey over the past week.

Iran has denied explicitly targeting Turkey.

— Durrie Bouscaren

Trump "disappointed" with new supreme leader pick, won't say if he will be targeted

Trump said Monday he was "disappointed" that Iran had named Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as its new supreme leader, arguing it would mean "more of the same problem" for the country.

Asked whether the new leader had "a target on his back," Trump said it would be "inappropriate" to comment.

In an interview with CNN Monday, Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, declined to rule out assassination plans targeting Khamenei, saying Israel would not disclose operational steps in advance.

"We never in a war declare what will be our operational steps or actions for that kind of thing," Sa'ar told CNN. "You will have to wait and see."

Iranian women's soccer players granted humanitarian visas in Australia

Australia has granted humanitarian visas to five members of Iran's women's soccer team, after they sought protection over fears of reprisals for refusing to sing Iran's national anthem during a match. The women, who were visiting Australia for a tournament when the war broke out, were later labeled "traitors" on Iranian state television, fueling concerns about their safety if they returned home.

The announcement came after calls from rights groups in Australia and by President Trump for the Australian government to help the women.

On Tuesday, Australian police said five of the women were transferred "to a safe location" after they made asylum requests.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the other 21 team members would be returning to Iran.

Rebecca Rosman contributed to this report from Paris, Hadeel Al-Shalchi from Beirut and Durrie Bouscaren contributed from Istanbul.
Copyright 2026 NPR

It's the last day of a cool front before a heatwave takes over Southern California for the next few days.

Temperatures across the region will range from 65 to 72 degrees.

In Coachella Valley, it will be warmer with highs from 79 to 84 degrees.

Meanwhile, wind advisories will go into effect around 5 p.m. for the 5 Freeway corridor, western Antelope Valley foothills, Ventura County mountains and parts of the Santa Barbara County mountains. Wind gusts could reach up to 45 mph.

Forecasters say windy conditions could lead to fallen tree limbs and possibly power outages.