May 19, 2026

Brittney Melton

up first newsletter writer

Good morning. Saturday Night Live’s 51st season has wrapped. As is tradition, it's time for NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson to cruelly rank this season's musical guests. Here’s the news we’re following today:

Today’s top stories

The rearview of multiple police vehicles outside of the Islamic Center of San Diego.

Gregory Bull/AP

San Diego police are investigating a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont, Calif., as a hate crime. Authorities responded to a call from the center yesterday and found three people dead. They also found two teenagers, who they believe were the shooters, dead in a car. Police believe they died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. They were 17 and 18 years old. San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said “there was definitely hate rhetoric involved,” but did not explain further. The FBI says it is also conducting an investigation.

🎧 Authorities have not released the identities of the shooting suspects and victims, NPR’s Juliana Kim tells Up First. Wahl mentioned that one of the victims was a security guard at the center. Kim says families waited hours for their children to evacuate from the school inside the mosque. One of the parents, Montaser Barbakh, told her he was shocked by the shooting but also said that he has always been worried about the possibility of such an attack. Barbakh said he felt that places of worship are increasingly under attack.

Today marks the busiest primary election day of the 2026 midterms so far. Voters in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania will participate in crucial contests. President Trump's influence on his party will be tested in several Republican primaries. In Kentucky, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie faces off with Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein. Recent primaries in Indiana and Louisiana have highlighted that Republican voters are willing to oust incumbents whom Trump deems disloyal. Meanwhile, Democrats are aiming to flip Republican-held seats in November, and their primaries will highlight what is motivating their voters. Here's what else NPR is watching on this big primary day.

A federal judge yesterday dismissed Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns from years ago, following the president's request. The suit is the first known instance of a president suing the government he heads. Shortly after the request to dismiss the case, the Department of Justice announced that, as part of the settlement with Trump, it would establish a $1.7 billion "anti-weaponization fund." The president says the money will be used to reimburse people who were "treated horribly" by the Biden administration. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appoint a board to oversee this new fund, and Trump will be able to fire the members. The fund will be developed with taxpayers' dollars.

🎧 It's not clear whether the government will disclose who receives money from the fund, NPR's Carrie Johnson says. Watchdog groups say they're concerned that people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will get compensation. The Trump administration says former President Obama created a fund like this years ago to compensate farmers who faced long-term racial discrimination. Trump's settlement is three times bigger, and a judge did not sign off on it. Former Justice Department employee Rupa Bhattacharyya tells Johnson that the Trump administration previously tried to eliminate such third-party settlements, only to now embrace them. Bhattacharyya says the administration's actions are an abuse of taxpayer money.

A California jury yesterday dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit against his former business partner, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The jury said Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit. Musk alleged that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman breached their charitable trust by abandoning OpenAI's founding mission and profiting from that decision. The unanimous decision of the nine-member advisory jury took less than two hours. They said Musk exceeded the statute of limitations when he launched his case in 2024.

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Climate Solutions Week

A man walks across a street that is in front of a Welcome to Coalville sign.

Kim Raff for NPR

NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about how communities are moving forward on climate solutions despite significant political headwinds. As the federal government halts plans to address climate change, states, cities, regions, and even neighborhoods are trying to fill the gap by cutting climate pollution and adapting to extreme weather.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has signed executive orders to revive the coal industry and pushed policies to halt new solar and wind projects. Despite this, a coalition of big cities and small towns in conservative Utah is pursuing a different path to increase renewable power on the electric grid. Their initiatives could serve as a model for other U.S. cities to take climate action, even as the federal government retreats from clean power. Salt Lake City is one of the 19 communities that have formed the Utah Renewable Communities initiative, which aims to generate enough clean electricity to power nearly 300,000 homes and businesses. To accomplish this feat, they plan to build solar arrays and wind farms. After years of effort, they have updated regulations to add clean energy to the grid, partnered with the regional utility, Rocky Mountain Power, and secured funding for their projects.

Picture show

A close-up of Rex, the tortoise, in the grass.

Adriana Zehbrauskas for NPR/57999420m

On a recent spring evening, a large tortoise named Rex got loose, took a stroll down a sidewalk and left a Phoenix-area neighborhood in a tizzy trying to find his owners. Rex's venture highlighted the challenges that sulcata tortoise owners face. They might start out tiny, but adult African sulcatas are the world's third-largest tortoise. The U.S. banned the importation of these animals in the early 2000s, but breeding them remains legal. They can weigh up to 200 pounds and live for up to 150 years. Rex, in particular, is at least a couple of feet long. These tortoises need large grassy enclosures for roaming, along with access to clean water and dry, warm shelter in winter. They also dig. Many people are unaware of these needs when they purchase African sulcatas. Check out these photos of Rex's journey back to his owners and read more about sulcata tortoises.

3 things to know before you go

Large cloud of black smoke rises to the sky after the UPS Flight 2976 crash.

Stephen Cohen/Getty Images

1

The nation's top safety investigators will launch a fact-finding hearing today to determine the cause of the deadly crash of UPS flight 2976 in Louisville, Ky., last November. Preliminary findings indicate the cargo plane only reached 30 feet off the ground before it crashed.

2

A new KFF analysis predicts that as many as 5 million people may drop their coverage from Affordable Care Act marketplaces this year. A major reason for this drop is enhanced premium tax credits for these health plans expired at the end of last year.

3

A state judge in Manhattan ruled yesterday that prosecutors can present a gun, a silencer and a notebook found with Luigi Mangione during his arrest at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s to the jury. Several other items he had will not be allowed in the high-profile trial for the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO on a Midtown street. (via Gothamist)

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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