Show full transcript 0:58 Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. 1:03 This message comes from Satva. 1:05 Have a big day coming up? 1:07 Remember, tomorrow starts tonight, with the restorative sleep you need to perform at your best. 1:12 The kind every Satva mattress is designed for. 1:14 So whether it's the first day of school, a new job, or an important presentation, 1:19 Satva helps you be the best version of you. 1:21 And now, save 15% off purchases of $1,000 or more at satva.com.npr. 1:27 That's S-W-A-T-V-A dot com slash NPR. 1:33 This message comes from Edison Electric Institute. 1:36 Behind Friday night lights, coffee shop Saturday mornings, and every big and small moment in 1:42 between, America's electric companies are hard at work, strengthening reliability, serving 1:47 responsibly, and innovating for tomorrow. 1:50 To keep communities safe, secure, and connected, and provide their customers with the energy 1:55 of every day. 1:56 America's Electric Companies, powering the energy of every day. 2:01 This message comes from Schwab. 2:03 Investing with Schwab is like a hike with endless trails. 2:07 Go solo with self-directed investing. 2:09 Take stops along the way with trading 2:11 or choose a guide with full service wealth management. 2:14 Whatever trails you take, you can invest your way with Schwab. 2:19 Residents along the northern Gulf Coast 2:22 are waking up today to assess the damage from Hurricane Isaias. 2:27 Now the remnants of the storm are drenching the southeast. 2:30 It may landfall Friday near Destin, Florida as a Category 2 hurricane. 2:36 And there's Debbie Elliott is nearby in Crestview, Florida and joins us. 2:39 Debbie, thanks for being with us. 2:41 Oh, good to be with you, Scott. 2:43 What was it like? 2:44 Well, you know, I'm just north of where it came ashore. 2:47 I'm about 30 miles inland, close to Interstate 10 here in the Florida Panhandle. 2:51 Rain and wind gusts started picking up late yesterday afternoon. Most of the 2:57 businesses all around here were long closed by then, including the Waffle House 3:02 I might add, which is famous for staying open in all kinds of circumstances. By 3:07 nightfall the pine trees outside my hotel window were just swaying with 3:12 the wind gusts and they started whacking against the building. Sheets of 3:17 rain were pounding the window like a fire hose. Wind gusts here topped 70 miles an hour. It almost 3:23 sounded like there were waves lapping against the side of the building. I recorded a little bit 3:28 of it. So you can imagine if it was that intense here it had to be much worse down on the coast. 3:38 And what have you been able to learn about what happened there? 3:41 Well the National Hurricane Center says Isaiasas came ashore with 105 mile an hour winds, 3:47 higher gusts in some places. You know, that's enough to snap trees and power 3:52 lines, knock down street signs, and rip awnings from buildings, and some of the 3:57 early morning images we're seeing show just that. Some, you know, big huge oak 4:01 trees just uprooted. Power outages. Last time I checked this morning, more 4:06 than 800,000 customers are without electricity, mostly in Florida and 4:12 Alabama, but also over in Georgia. According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 4:16 his crews headed out pre dawn. They're going to get to work clearing down trees 4:20 and debris from the roadways so that linemen and search and rescue teams 4:24 can get out and get working. He says people should be patient and let the 4:28 emergency responders do their job today. Just make sure you stay safe 4:33 during this period of time. You can't unring the bell if you mess around 4:37 with the down power cord. Can't unring the bell if you end up, you 4:41 know, driving in flooded waters and get into a wreck. And so just make 4:44 sure you're safe. This is going to pass. Things are going to get back. We're going to get that done. 4:50 Some wind shear did now knock the storm back just before it made landfall. At one point, 4:56 it was a category three hurricane over the Gulf. And Debbie, what other 5:00 affects are people feeling from the hurricane? You know, some problems like boil water notices 5:05 in some communities. Local officials have said, you know, they were not able to respond to 5:10 emergency calls in the height of the storm because it wasn't safe to be on the roads. 5:14 and it might remain so until all the downed power lines are cleared. Some 5:19 good news is the storm surge ended up being less devastating than originally 5:24 forecast. It was as much as five feet near where the hurricane made landfall. You 5:29 know that definitely caused coastal flooding but it didn't you know wash 5:33 away entire structures or anything. The area hit was under an evacuation 5:38 order so hopefully people escaped the worst. We'll know more later today 5:42 as officials start checking out the damage. 5:45 I should add that President Trump 5:47 did approve disaster declarations for Alabama and Florida. 5:51 That frees up federal resources to help in the response. 5:54 Storm is no longer a hurricane, 5:56 but it's still a threat as it moves inland. 5:58 What's the risk now? 5:59 You know, it moved very quickly up into the Southeast. 6:03 Forecasters say, you know, expect power outages, 6:06 flash flooding, possibly some mudslides in the mountains 6:10 and tornadoes over Florida's Big Bend region, 6:14 Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, 6:15 even the Tennessee Valley are at risk. 6:19 A lot of college football fans are hoping it moves quickly 6:22 and won't disrupt this evening's kickoff 6:25 of the Alabama, Georgia football game in Tuscaloosa. 6:27 President Trump was planning to go to that, 6:30 but he canceled his trip yesterday 6:32 as the hurricane was bearing down 6:34 and ESPN moved its morning college game day program 6:37 indoors just to be safe. 6:39 but so far it looks like the game's on. 6:42 And here's Debbie Elliott on the job in Crestview, Florida. 6:44 Thanks so much. 6:45 You're welcome. 6:53 President Trump says the US will begin 6:55 to import Russian diesel in an attempt 6:58 to drive down prices at gas pumps before the midterms. 7:02 The US had banned Russian diesel 7:04 to limit their revenue amid the war in Ukraine. 7:07 Joining us from Moscow to talk about this reversal 7:09 is NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Mainz. 7:12 Charles, thanks for being with us. 7:13 Good morning, Scott. 7:14 that. 7:14 And tell us please about the president's announcement. 7:16 I gather it was on social media. 7:18 Yeah, that's right. 7:19 Trump revealed the news on his truth social platform. 7:22 He wrote that he had a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, whereby 7:28 Putin agreed to immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the U.S. and 7:33 global markets with more to follow. 7:36 Trump said this meant diesel prices for Americans and for the rest of the world 7:39 would be coming down in his words in record numbers and fast that was in all caps and he said he 7:45 did this with certain constituencies in mind, saying farmers, ranchers and truckers were his 7:50 greatest priority. Those of course are some of the groups who have been unhappy about the rise 7:54 in diesel prices and who Trump will need to turn out in the midterms if Republicans are 7:58 going to hold the house, much less the Senate. It is an election year. Politics 8:03 might be driving US economic policy abroad. That's right. At least for now, the US 8:08 formally placed sanctions on Russia, Russian diesel shortly after the Kremlin's full-scale 8:13 invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, and it just took minutes after Trump's announcement 8:18 for the Treasury Department to issue a six-month waiver to those trade restrictions. 8:22 Charles, how would a deal actually work? 8:25 Oddly enough, this requires Russia to first lift its own diesel export ban. 8:29 The Kremlin put that restriction in place in response to gas shortages that have hit 8:33 Russia over the summer due to sustained Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities, 8:39 that crisis has basically eased a bit. 8:41 So this deal comes at a moment really when industry experts here were already calling 8:45 for the lifting of this ban on exports to other parts of the world, saying Russia 8:49 was basically losing out on profit. 8:51 And this US deal to lift sanctions certainly helps them do this just quicker maybe than 8:56 some thought. 8:57 And how are the leaders of Russia talking about the deal? 9:00 Well, the Kremlin issued a more general statement than Trump, saying it was ready to supply 9:04 diesel to the U.S. and global markets, kind of full stop. 9:07 But clearly, part of the story behind this deal is the warm relationship between Trump 9:11 and Putin. 9:13 A Kremlin adviser, Yuri Shikov, later described to journalists the atmosphere of this call 9:17 saying Trump had wished Putin a happy birthday, Putin turned 74 this week, and said even 9:22 that neither side wanted to put down the phone just by taking a call for an hour 9:26 and a half. 9:29 Here's what Chukhov saying he hoped Trump wouldn't mind if he quoted him, but that 9:34 the U.S. president had told Putin he was ready to talk more today, to more tonight, or 9:38 any day after. 9:40 So these guys really seem to like each other. 9:42 And how much will importing Russian oil actually affect prices in the U.S.? 9:46 Well the Russian contribution to the global diesel needs in the short term isn't that 9:51 much. 9:52 And industry experts say actually it isn't likely to have the immediate impact 9:55 fact that Trump says or is promising for diesel prices at the pump, how that impacts voters' 10:01 decisions in November, of course, we'll have to see. 10:04 But the other interest here for Trump is Ukraine. 10:06 Trump has actually blamed Ukraine for driving up prices at the pump through its attacks 10:10 on Russian energy facilities, even though most experts would say that while that may 10:14 be a factor, the real cause has been Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. 10:19 Be that as it may, Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to unilaterally halt its attacks 10:23 on Russia to help with these gas prices, something Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky thus far 10:29 refused to do without a reciprocal move by Moscow. How has President Zelensky reacted to news that 10:35 Russia and the US are striking this deal? Well, he clearly doesn't like it. He said that the White 10:39 House's decision prolongs the war by replenishing Russia's war chest. Here's Zelensky speaking 10:44 in a voice message to reporters last night. So here's Zelensky says the deal means more 10:53 more money for this war and more money to inflict suffering on Ukrainians, adding it 10:57 only feeds Putin's ability to keep fighting. 11:00 Left unsaid, this deal gives Trump even more incentive to pressure key of the halt its attacks 11:04 on Russian energy, even as Putin continues his attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, 11:10 on homes, on heating electrical power stations, as we enter into the winter months with 11:15 Ukraine's air defenses depleted. 11:17 NPR's Russia correspondent, Charles Mange, thanks so much. 11:20 Thank you. 11:20 Federal immigration agent shot a man in New York City earlier this week. Oscar 11:34 Belgall, a 28-year-old from the Dominican Republic, survived and is now in ice 11:39 custody while the courts wrangle over what happens next. His five-year-old 11:44 child was in the backseat of the car at the time of the shooting but was unharmed. 11:49 Reporter Steve Castenbaum joins us. Steve, thanks for being with us. 11:53 My pleasure, thank you. The mayor of New York and the governor have 11:57 demanded that ICE release video footage from the body cameras that were worn by 12:01 agents in the shooting, which has not happened, but New York police did release 12:05 body cam footage. What does it show? Well, we see that they pulled up to a 12:10 chaotic scene right after the shooting. We see an ICE agent wearing a yellow 12:15 construction vest. He's holding a rifle. Bel Gala is on the ground in 12:20 handcuffs. He's bleeding from the neck. People are yelling at the ICE 12:23 agents NYPD officers called for an ambulance to be rushed to the scene but then they decided 12:29 to put the shooting victim in their car and then they raced to a nearby hospital. 12:41 We also got to see how this started. A second video came out. It was from a security camera 12:47 that was on a building and it captured the moment when ICE agents approached Belgal in 12:51 in his car and he sped off. 12:54 There was a hearing at Federal Court in Manhattan 12:56 yesterday afternoon and Belgal's attorneys 12:58 argued for his immediate release. 13:00 What came out of the hearing? 13:01 Well, the judge issued an emergency order 13:04 prohibiting immigration authorities 13:05 from deporting Oscar Belgal while this issue was pending. 13:09 Federal agents took him from the hospital 13:11 on Thursday evening just a few hours 13:13 after he was brought in. 13:15 He still had a bullet fragment in his neck. 13:17 The family and immigrant advocates 13:19 It's thought that he was still in New York, but Attorney Howard Solis said they were surprised 13:24 to learn at that hearing that he was actually taken to New Jersey and not to a medical facility. 13:29 Obviously he's afraid. 13:31 He's deeply concerned about his five-year-old son. 13:33 It was the first thing he asked me is whether his son is okay. 13:36 The judge ordered that Belgal has to be kept at a federal detention facility either 13:40 in New York or New Jersey while this plays out in the court here. 13:45 Leaders in New York were very quick to call for ICE to end its activities in the city 13:49 and just leave New York. 13:51 Homeland security officials responded by saying New York's sanctuary policies make the city 13:57 less safe. 13:58 What have they been saying? 13:59 Well, state law here prohibits police from aiding federal agents in enforcing immigration 14:04 policy in any way. 14:06 They're only allowed to help with law enforcement. 14:08 Homeland security secretary Mark Wayne Mullins spoke at a briefing in Washington, and he 14:12 He said that this man had a criminal conviction, several arrests, they claimed he was associated 14:17 with a gang, and they asked New York police to hold on to him. 14:21 This individual is a threat to our community. 14:24 As you heard, we had an attainer on him. 14:27 He was on probation. 14:29 The state of New York knew he was illegal, and they chose to release him back into 14:35 the streets and into the community. 14:37 And one of the reasons they wanted this man is because they said he may have information 14:41 about the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Patrol agent that took place here last year. 14:46 Steve, we saw anti-ice protests around the courthouse yesterday. What's ahead? 14:51 Well, the judge has to make a decision on the petition to release the man, 14:54 and local officials are conducting their own reviews here. 14:57 Reporter Steve Kastenbaum in New York, thanks so much. 15:00 Thanks for having me. 15:05 And that's it first for Saturday, October 10th, 2026. I'm Scott Simon. 15:10 And I'm Aisha Roscoe. Dave Mystich produced today's podcast along with Michael Radcliffe and Gabe O'Connor.
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