NPR News: 07-04-2026 6PM EDT

Dan Ronan· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. 4th of July celebrations are getting underway in cities and towns across the country today, but a dangerous heat wave is forcing schedule changes, prompting some cancellations, and raising concerns about heat-related illnesses. NPR's Rob Mann, Brian Mann reports.

Brian Mann0:21

For a lot of Americans, like eight-year-old Logan Longsworth from New Jersey, this holiday is just about having fun.

Logan Longsworth· Soundbite0:26

How I'm gonna be celebrating the 4th of July is I'm gonna light some firecrackers and stuff like that, and we also saw the Statue of Liberty.

Brian Mann0:34

But people in much of the country are facing dangerous heat. An Independence Day parade scheduled for today in Washington, D.C. was canceled. Many events have been rescheduled to start later to avoid the hottest part of the day. Fireworks have been banned in parts of the country because of high wildfire risk. Officials are warning the public to take lots of precautions, limit your time outdoors, bring water, and stay in the shade whenever you can. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York.

Dan Ronan· Host0:59

Republican lawmakers defunded some healthcare providers that offer abortion with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. As NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports, that provision only lasted a year, and the year is now over.

Selena Simmons-Duffin1:13

Under the provision, when patients enrolled in Medicaid came to Planned Parenthood and several other organizations for cancer screenings and annual exams, et cetera, Medicaid would not reimburse them for those visits. It's been a longtime goal of anti-abortion rights activists, and it was enacted for the first