FBI raids WaPo home; Greenland; Mental health funds : NPR
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Today’s best stories
Some media executives are calling yesterday’s FBI search of a journalist’s home an alarming intrusion. in freedom of the press. The agency searched Washington Post the home of journalist Hannah Natanson as part of the Trump administration’s investigation into a leak. Officers seized two computers and his smart watch. Last month, Natanson documented the purge of hundreds of thousands of federal employees based on more than 1,000 sources.
The Washington Post building at One Franklin Square Building on June 5, 2024 in Washington, DC
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
- 🎧 It is highly unusual for the agency to search a journalist’s home rather than his office.said NPR’s David Folkenflik First. The government informed the newspaper that Natanson was not the focus of the investigation. Marty Baron, former editor-in-chief of The Washington Posttold Folkenflik that this administration has a history of trying to undermine an independent press and trying to interfere with its work.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen says there is still ‘fundamental disagreement’ between his country and President Trump regarding the island of Greenland, Danish territory. After meeting with Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday, Løkke Rasmussen said Trump clearly wanted to “conquer” the territory. The two sides, however, agreed to form a working group to continue discussions on U.S. security concerns.
- 🎧US seeking to acquire Greenland challenges rules of international orderparticularly the UN charter which states that a member cannot use force against another country to seize territory, explains Stewart Patrick, formerly of George W. Bush’s State Department. Denmark has announced plans to strengthen its military presence in Greenland, which could be seen as a step back from allegations that it cannot defend the country, according to NPR’s Franco Ordoñez. Sweden and Germany also announced they would send military forces to the region, which could send a message to the United States that Denmark is not alone.
A Trump administration official confirmed to NPR that sweeping cuts of more than $2 billion in funding for mental health and substance abuse programs are being reversed. This turnaround comes after the distribution of letters announcing the news Tuesday evening, causing shock waves in the American public health system. Originally, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration was ending grants to approximately 2,000 organizations, which are front-line programs helping some of the nation’s most vulnerable people.
- 🎧 The turnaround comes as a relief to people like Hannah Wesolowski, who is with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She says these organizations are deeply demoralized and that during those 24 hours, many people thought they were going to lose their jobs and that their very sick patients would lose their care. NPR’s Brian Mann says people he spoke to feel discouraged because of the unexplained defunding, and that there has subsequently been no clear explanation as to why the money was returned. This comes as the Trump administration has been signaling for months that it believes many of the nation’s public health programs are ineffective and need to be replaced.
Deep dive
Elementary school students in computer laboratory
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Adam Kaz/Getty Images
The risks of using generative artificial intelligence to educate children and adolescents currently outweigh the benefits, according to a new study from the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. The study reveals that the use of AI in education can “compromise children’s fundamental development” and that “the damage it has already caused is formidable”, although it is repairable. Here’s what the report found:
- 💻 AI can help students learn to read and write. It has been shown to be most effective when it complements, rather than replaces, a teacher’s efforts.
- 💻 Students increasingly entrusting their own thinking to technology can lead to the type of cognitive decline more commonly associated with brain aging.
- 💻 One problem with children’s overuse of AI is that the technology has been designed to reinforce users’ beliefs, which can be a problem when it comes to developing social-emotional skills.
Explore these recommendations to help you harness the benefits of AI without exposing children to the risks that technology currently presents.
Live better
Living Better is a special series about what it takes to stay healthy in America.
Body dissatisfaction is increasing among young people and is starting to affect more boys, according to clinicians including Dr. Jason Nagata. This developing trend challenges a long-standing trend in medicine that primarily associates body image issues with girls. Some teens who crave muscle like their social media idols may develop compulsive and dangerous exercise and diet habits. Nagata says negative body image attitudes in boys often stem from feeling like they’re not muscular enough. A small portion of these young men develop an obsession with becoming bigger and more muscular, also known as bigorexia.
- 🏋️♂️ Bigorexia was first described in a case report in 1993, but has remained relatively understudied until recently.
- 🏋️♂️ The three major pressures that contribute to the increase in muscle dysmorphia and men’s desire to build muscle are family, peers and the media.
- 🏋️♂️Nagata estimates that a third of teenagers in the United States are trying to bulk up. However, the lack of knowledge about this condition makes it more difficult to determine how many people develop bigorexia.
3 things to know before you leave
This screenshot from a video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon capsule leaving the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four members of NASA Crew 11 inside, Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
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AP/NASA
- NASA’s Crew-11 crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego aboard its SpaceX Dragon capsule after a nearly 10-hour journey from the International Space Station, completing the orbiting laboratory’s first medical evacuation.
- Let Freedom Ring, an annual concert celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr., is moving from the Kennedy Center to the Howard Theater to save money.
- This week’s faraway postcard takes you to the Hospitaller Fortress of Acre, Israel. NPR’s Michele Kelemen says that as you walk through its underground tunnels and rooms, projected lights display animated images of the Knights Hospitaller marching in a funeral procession.
This newsletter was published by Yvonne Denis.
