May 20, 2026

Brittney Melton

up first newsletter writer

Good morning. Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's Taiwan Travelogue has won the 2026 International Booker Prize. It’s the first-ever work translated from Mandarin Chinese to take home this prestigious award. Here’s the news we’re following today:

Today’s top stories

A close-up look at a person’s blue jacket that has a bedazzled Trump pin that reads Trump above an American flag.

Brynn Anderson/AP

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky yesterday lost the Republican House primary by nearly 10 percentage points. Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein secured the victory over Massie, who is the latest Republican lawmaker to lose his seat after angering the president. This became the most expensive House primary in history, with $33 million spent on TV ads, much of it directed at Massie, according to NPR’s ad-tracking partner AdImpact. Meanwhile, in other states like Georgia, Democrats continued to show strong enthusiasm. Larger voter turnout could be a good sign for the party ahead of the November midterm elections. Here are four takeaways from last night’s primaries.

🎧 Several U.S. House primaries in Alabama won't be counted and will require special elections in a few months due to redistricting, NPR's Stephen Fowler tells Up First. The state is reverting some districts to older lines that are more favorable to Republicans. In many other races across the U.S., the general election was essentially held yesterday because so many were uncontested, Fowler said.

➡️ Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary for Georgia governor and will face the Republican runoff winner. In the GOP primary, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones will compete against healthcare executive Rick Jackson next month.

Yesterday, Trump said he was an hour away from deciding to launch new strikes against Iran before he called them off. He said he delayed them because "serious negotiations" were happening, and said he would give Iran two or three days — or maybe a week — to reach a deal. Vice President Vance later presented a slightly different perspective, indicating that Iran has two options: Continue negotiations or face a restart of the military campaign.

🎧 The possibility of the U.S. striking Iran this weekend highlights the uncertainty analysts fear could prolong the conflict for months, NPR's Franco Ordoñez says. Mona Yacoubian, a former State Department official who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warns that the situation could turn into a "frozen conflict" in the region, capable of reigniting at any moment. Vance has said that Iran is fractured, and its leaders have different views on what direction to take. The vice president says he is unsure whether the division stems from poor communication or a lack of good faith, but he acknowledges it complicates the process. It can be challenging to reach an agreement when the parties can’t agree on the issues that are being negotiated, Ordoñez says.

San Diego authorities have released more details about the victims and suspects in the California mosque attack that killed five people, including the two suspected gunmen. Police Chief Scott Wahl says the three victims died while attempting to stop the gunmen. Imam Taha Hassane of the Islamic Center of San Diego identified them as Mansour Kaziha, 78, Nader Awad, 57, and Amin Abdullah, 51. Police say Abdullah, a security guard, saved the lives of 140 children during the shooting. Officials said the two teen suspects met online, and a special agent in charge of the FBI field office said they “did not discriminate on who they hated.”

🎧 The suspects appear to have livestreamed the shooting, NPR's extremism correspondent Odette Yousef says. A 75-page document has been attributed to them, containing the names of two individuals. NPR has confirmed those two names with a person familiar with the case, who was not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation. The writings and the video make it clear that these two individuals were part of a global white supremacist accelerationist movement, Yousef says. She adds that everything she reviewed in the video and documents was familiar to her. Many elements of their attack appear similar to the 2019 attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, including the livestreaming and the type of clothing the shooters wore. While Yousef says these signs indicate the suspects were replicating previous attacks and consumed online content that influenced how they carried out the shooting, she says she found some differences. Their writings didn't always reference the pseudoscience and conspiracy theories found in obscure online hate spaces. It incorporated concerns like the fear of Sharia law overtaking small Texas towns and claims about Somali daycare fraud in Minnesota. Yousef says these ideas aren't fringe discussions in far-right circles, but mainstream conversations among right-leaning media and even politicians, including members of Congress and the White House.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed the nation's first law banning prediction market sites from operating in the state. The Trump administration has initiated a lawsuit in response, preparing for a legal battle over the crackdown on popular platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. This new state law makes it illegal to host or advertise prediction markets, which it defines as systems that allow consumers to wager on future outcomes, including sports events, elections, live entertainment and global affairs. The prohibition would force prediction market platforms to exit the state or face potential felony charges. The law will take effect in August.

Newsletter continues after sponsor message

Climate Solutions Week

Aaron Ontiveroz/Denver Post via Getty Images

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.

Denver's largest source of climate pollution comes from powering, heating and cooling the city's skyscrapers. The world's oldest continuously operating commercial steam system heats the city's more than 100 downtown buildings. It requires burning natural gas, a fossil fuel. Now, Denver is trying a greener solution: a thermal energy network. The plan involves heating and cooling a cluster of large downtown buildings with water, Earth's heat and even sewage. Over the next decade, the city plans to repurpose parts of its old system to create an "ambient loop" that circulates water through underground pipes between 11 city-owned buildings. Similar networks already exist in campuses and cities around the world. If successful in Denver, the city could set a nationwide example for decarbonizing dense downtown areas.

Deep dive

Cambria CEO Marty Davis wearing a long-sleeve white shirt underneath an open puffier vest. He also has on a hard hat and shades.

Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via Getty Images/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images

A kitchen countertop mogul and Trump donor is using tariffs to hurt his competitors in the quartz industry. His competitors say it is a textbook case of political favoritism. Cambria CEO Marty Davis has repeatedly asked the U.S. government to impose more tariffs on quartz. Davis' $500 million company manufactures the quartz used for kitchen and bathroom countertops. The increased taxes are raising costs for his rivals and other businesses that rely on imported materials, forcing them to pass higher prices on to homeowners and consumers. They argue that Davis is harming jobs, particularly at small businesses, and unfairly increasing prices for middle-class homeowners. Here’s a look at Cambria’s history of petitioning for tariffs:

➡️ In 2018, during Trump's first term, Cambria successfully petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission to impose tariffs on companies that import quartz from China. Over the next few years, Cambria pushed for taxes on quartz imports from India and Turkey.
➡️ In September 2025, Cambria and other domestic manufacturers petitioned the government for a "global safeguard" action. This move asked for an investigation into a surge of imports and ongoing violations of U.S. trade laws. They said it was needed to combat persistent “country-hopping” and illegal evasion tactics that avoid tariffs and undermine the U.S. stone countertop market.
➡️ In April, the trade commission backed Cambria's petition, recommending tariffs of up to 40% on imported quartz slabs for a 4-year period, along with import quotas. Trump now has the final decision on whether to accept or reject these tariffs.

3 things to know before you go

A wedding cake split in two with bride and groom toppers on the separated sections.

Rubberball/Mike Kemp/Getty Images/Brand X

1

A new study indicates that the widening educational and economic gap between men and women is transforming marriage and family dynamics in the U.S., leaving many women facing a shrinking pool of financially stable partners.

2

Autumn Barnes' mom, Barb Barnes, struggled to taper off the opioid medication she was given after she underwent open-heart surgery in 2005. Recognizing her struggle, a nurse shared her own history of recovering from opioid addiction. Barb's interaction with her unsung hero stuck with her and transformed how she handled physical pain.

3

A coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in federal court yesterday challenging a Trump administration rule that limits access to federal student loans for borrowers pursuing graduate degrees in various popular healthcare-related fields.

Get headlines from your local NPR station.

Visit NPR.org to find your local station.

Enjoying this newsletter

Forward to a friend! They can sign up here.

LOOKING FOR MORE GREAT CONTENT?

Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Politics, Health and more!

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.