NPR News: 09-05-2026 5AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is downplaying the U.S. conflict with Iran, saying that he agrees with Vice President J.D. Vance that it's not a war. I tell you what, a lot of people don't call it a war. I call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing. We did Venezuela and we did this. Trump says U.S. forces are carrying out intermittent airstrikes and that no Americans can ground troops are fighting inside of Iran. The conflict has killed 18 U.S. service members and has caused the U.S. nearly $38 billion. Trump says American strikes have badly damaged Iran's nuclear program and insist Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon. Diesel prices are still climbing after hitting a record high on Friday. AAA says the national average is now 588 per gallon. NPR's will arubin reports on what those rising costs mean for one American farmer.

1:04Dale Heminger runs a dairy and cabbage farm in upstate New York and diesel is his fuel. We have to run tractors and harvesters and trucks and they almost exclusively run on diesel. The cost for a gallon of diesel is up about $2 over the past year. That means fuel has caused Heminger close to $45,000 for a tank of $10,000 gallons. Last year it was $25,000. It's really putting a pinch on things. And because crop prices are often set in advance, there isn't much wiggle room. We're price takers. We can't just pass it on. So we have to weather the storm. He says they're bracing for the harvest and for the next six months to be very tight financially. Will Arubin and PR News. The mistrial in the Lindsay Clancy murder case is renewing attention on postpartum psychosis and maternal mental health. Clancy's defense team argued she was experiencing the rare psychiatric condition when she killed

2:06her three children and tried to take her own life. NPR's retu-chattergy reports. Postpartum psychosis is an extremely rare condition affecting only one or two in a thousand new moms. Post-health care providers may come across just one or two patients in their lifetime. And then, even general psychiatrist know little about the condition and how to treat it. It's not listed in the diagnostic and statistical manual of the DSM, which providers use to diagnose mental health disorders. Perry-Natal Psychiatrists, like Dr. Nancy Biet at UMass Chan Medical School, want to change that. Having postpartum psychosis recognized in the DSM, I think is an absolute important step. A step towards helping providers accurately diagnose patients and treat them before the condition escalates. Retu-chattergy and PR News. This is NPR. Lawmakers in Colorado are demanding that the federal government stop rounding up wild horses by helicopter in the state.

3:09Colorado Public Radio's Dena Sieg reports almost 900 wild horses were recently captured in a remote part of the state. Democratic Congressman Joe Naguze says he was horrified by videos of the recent roundup, during which nine horses died. Wild horses are part of the spirit of the American West, and I've long believed that the BLM needs to curb the inhumane ways in which they are conducting these roundups. But the Bureau of Land Management says these roundups are needed to keep the horses from damaging the land and to stop them from starving on a drought-stricken range. The next roundup in the state is scheduled to begin September 10. From PR News, I'm Steena Sieg in Grand Junction, Colorado. Rome is cracking down on the hundreds of golf carts that are carrying tourists through the city's historic center. Critics say the carts are clogging already crowded streets, parking illegally and adding

4:09to the pressures of overtourism. There may be as many as 500 carts operating in Rome, while bookings this summer were up 147 percent compared with 2024. City officials are working on rules that we cap the number of carts, establish fixed routes and regulate which companies can operate them. To our operators, argue the electric carts take up less space than buses and vans and offer tourists a cleaner way to see the city. This is NPR News. As the political landscape shifts beneath our feet, we're all vulnerable to a well-funded distraction economy determined to take our eye off the ball. Our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, is here to help where our focus is not the horse race, but the state. We tackle the big political stories of the day and why they matter for our democracy. Join me, Todd Zwilland and me, Jen White, on the 1A Podcast from WAMU and NPR.