50% of U.S. military bases face health care access issues; Tony Awards takeaways

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Scorching temperatures took over the Midwest yesterday. Over the next few days, the heat wave is expected to reach much of the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Meteorologists say temperatures could break daily record highs. It could be the longest heat wave experienced in decades for some locations, according to the National Weather Service.

A boy plays in a splash pad at Riverview Park on June 05, 2024 in Mesa, Arizona. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• ☀️ Try to stay indoors as much as you can if you are living under a heat warning. If you have to go outside, stay safe by avoiding these eight mistakes.

Israel's military announced yesterday that it would pause fighting from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily along about seven miles of road on a southern route in the Rafah area in Gaza. The pause aims to allow aid trucks to safely travel from the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel deeper into Gaza.

• 🎧 NPR's Kat Lonsdorf says it's too early to know how the pause is going. A U.N. spokesperson for Palestinian affairs says the agency couldn't take advantage of the first day of the pause because of "law and order conditions" on the ground. During a press tour, an Israeli military spokesperson told NPR's Daniel Estrin that more than 1,000 trucks worth of aid are waiting at the border but blamed the U.N. and other aid groups for not doing their part to distribute it effectively.
• 🎧 The pause comes as Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice. Palestinians in Gaza describe a somber Eid, as food is hard to come by, let alone meat for the Eid sacrifice.

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops and their families are unable to find health care off base when the Pentagon orders them to do so. An NPR investigation found that 50% of U.S. military bases are located in a federally designated health professional shortage area — commonly called “health care deserts.”

• 🪖 Some bases have their own military hospitals and clinics, but they're expensive, NPR's Quil Lawrence tells Up First. The Pentagon has tried to downsize its health care system in the past decade by outsourcing to private civilian care. This isn't easy because "there's no slack in the civilian health care system," and many hospitals are reluctant to accept troops' Tricare insurance. The Pentagon acknowledged that the downsizing went too far and needs to reverse course in an internal memo obtained by NPR.

There were few surprises at the 77th annual Tony Awards last night, except for the winner of Best Musical. The Outsiders, an energetic adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s beloved YA book, took home the last award of the night. Hell’s Kitchen, a musical loosely based on Alicia Keys’ life, only won two awards out of 13 nominations. Here are five takeaways from the ceremony and the full list of winners.

Deep Dive

Some people get obsessed with romance and fantasy novels. What's the science behind this kind of guilty pleasure? proxyminder/Getty Images/E+ hide caption

toggle caption proxyminder/Getty Images/E+

If you spent your weekend binge-watching Bridgerton and then staying up way too late for House of the Dragon like I did, you might know a little something about guilty pleasures. Whether you're reading "romantasy" or eating a bar of chocolate, this is what sets a "guilty" pleasure apart, why they can be just what you need to get through a rough day, and how to have a balanced pleasure cycle.

• ❤️ For a long time, neuroscientists thought the brain had a singular "pleasure" system driven by dopamine. Many now believe the brain may have separate pathways for "wanting" and "liking."
• ❤️ Research suggests that feeling guilty about something may make us like it more.
• ❤️ Think about why you may feel guilty about your interests and consider embracing what brings you joy instead.
• ❤️ You can get stuck wanting something that no longer brings you pleasure, like smartphones and video games. Focusing on social pleasures can help you find balance.

Picture show

At a one-day workshop run by the Care School for Men in Bogotá, Colombia, male medical students at Sanitas University learn how to cradle a baby. This class of participants consists of medical students, but the usual enrollees are dads of all types. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

toggle caption Ben de la Cruz/NPR

Across the world, women shoulder three-quarters of all unpaid caregiving, according to the International Labour Organization. At Bogotá's Care School for Men, a city-led program, men learn how to tend to their families and homes and to step up to do their share of housework and child care. Besides hands-on learning, men who participate also discuss the importance of challenging the gender norms they were raised with. Ferley Sáenz says the program allowed him to reconnect with his children.

• 📷 See pictures of Sáenz putting his skills to the test at home with his family and other participants hard at work.

3 things to know before you go

Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the famously pointy and rusty Iron Throne. Ollie Upton/HBO hide caption

toggle caption Ollie Upton/HBO

1. Welcome back to Westeros. Season 2 of House of the Dragon premiered last night. NPR's Glen Weldon recaps the bloody events and gives us some parting thoughts. Warning: Spoilers lie ahead.
2. The Kunsthaus Zurich museum in Switzerland will remove five paintings from public view to investigate whether they were looted by Nazis during World War II.
3. The International Olympic Committee has reassigned the 1900 silver medal in the men's 25-kilometer cycling race from Great Britain to France.

This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Anandita Bhalerao contributed.