Israel strikes Iran, U.S. official says; Taylor Swift’s ‘Tortured Poets’ is here

Today’s top stories

• Reporting from Tel Aviv, NPR’s Rob Schmitz tells Up First the response in Israel has been “fairly muted.” Commercial flights continue in and out of its largest airport at the moment, and the system that issues threat alerts to civilians has not changed the threat level. In Iran, flights were grounded but resumed hours later. Meir Litvak, from the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, tells Schmitz that the strike’s location shows Israel’s ability and intent to hit Iran’s important sites. He also mentioned that the strike’s limited scale and location signal a desire to stop the back-and-forth actions rather than escalate the situation.
• Trita Parsi from the Quincy Institute in Washington, an expert on Iran and U.S.-Israel relations, points out in an interview with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadel that despite public defiance from the Netanyahu government, the U.S. has tremendous influence. The big question is: Is enough of this influence being used to put a stop to this escalation?

• NPR’s Ximena Bustillo, who has been at the courthouse this week, describes some lighthearted momentsahead of a serious trial as a “diverse swath of New Yorkers” shared details of their lives. One juror described dating a lawyer, saying the relationship ended “fine.” Another says he uses a flip phone and doesn’t watch podcasts. Trump is in the room for jury selection. Bustillo reports he’s been quiet throughout the process and “is not happy to be here,” as he says the trial is interfering with his ability to campaign.

We, the voters

• Students and faculty share how gun violence has affected them and what they think is vital for creating a positive school culture. Read their stories here.

Weekend picks

• TV: The new Disney+ series X-Men ’97 picks up where the original 90s animated show ended. A lot has changed: Secrets are revealed, team rosters are shuffled, and characters meet shocking fates. But fans can still expect big fights, big powers and mutant melodrama.
• Books: The NPR Books team has five new recommendations from my favorite genre: thrillers. These books will take you from murder in present-day Texas to cryptography in Cold War Berlin to an online community that might hold the solution to a missing-person case.
• Music: Producer Metro Boomin and rapper/singer Future started out as collaborators and later made hits of their own. The two have reunited for a new pair of albums: We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You.
• Quiz: Okay, so you know that jurors have been selected for Trump’s trial. But do you know what that process is called? Study up before you take this week’s quiz.

3 things to know before you go

1. More people are embracing what NPR’s Bobby Allyn calls “Grid Zero” by hiding all photos from their Instagram accounts. But this trend doesn’t mean that users are spending less time on the app.
2. More than a dozen members of the Kennedy family have endorsed President Biden’s reelection bid, turning their backs on their family member, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 
3. Trader Joe’s has recalled fresh basil sold in 29 states and Washington, D.C., after a federal investigation linked it to a dozen salmonella cases.

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