Papilio is an enthusiastic and adventurous caterpillar. Then she’s a blob of goo, hanging out in her chrysalis. Her main goal in life? Metamorphose into a butterfly and learn to fly!

Papilio is a children’s story told in three parts, about three stages of a butterfly’s life, written and illustrated by three friends: Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou Musser.

Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, Andy Chou Musser / Viking Books for Young Readers / Viking Books for Young Readers

“We wanted to do the project because it would just be a fun thing to do between the three of us,” explains Tabor. “But we thought that there needed to be some kind of a reason for three authors and illustrators to work together on a project.”

A story about three stages of a butterfly’s life (OK, OK, there’s really four stages, but the egg phase isn’t all that interesting) felt like a perfect way to justify the collaboration and show off their voices and illustration styles at the same time.

Clanton took on the caterpillar phase. “I was inspired by my youngest son and just this unstoppable wonder and curiosity he had. And I put a lot of that into Papilio’s character as she’s just entering this world,” he says. Clanton’s illustrations tend toward cartoony — he used watercolors, ink, leaf pressings, stamps, markers and colored pencils. Really anything he could get his hands on, he says.

Corey R. Tabor /

While the three author-illustrators used a cohesive color palette — soft, spring-like pastel tones — they intentionally did not illustrate their sections in the same style. “At each stage of life, she sees the world a little bit differently. So it makes sense that the illustrations would change a little bit with her,” says Tabor, who illustrated the chrysalis section, which the friends agree was the most challenging.

“The character can’t really do anything,” explains Tabor. “She’s just stuck inside of her chrysalis all the time.” So they decided that, while Papilio dissolves into goo and works on reconstituting her body, a bird would pick up her chrysalis and fly off with it — sending the chrysalis on a crazy adventure. Tabor used colored pencils and watercolor to illustrate his portion. “I wanted it to have kind of like a loose, wild feel to it,” he says. “To kind of match the adventure that the chrysalis goes on.”

Andy Chou Musser /

When it came to the butterfly section, Chou Musser says he was initially stuck. He knew what he wanted Papilio to look like — a black, swallowtail butterfly — but not how her story would end. Then he learned that butterflies don’t start life knowing how to fly. “That really informed how I wrote my section,” Chou Musser says. “I think Papilio learns that it’s OK to fail and that practice is really important and that being tenacious and trying something over and over again pays off.”

At its heart, Papilio is a story about change, transformation and growing up. And one thing you learn as you grow up is that it’s OK to ask for help. Andy Chou Musser, Ben Clanton and Corey Tabor say they hope their children’s book encourages kids to collaborate and work together to make something new. Because while they probably could have written and illustrated Papilio on their own, it was much more fun to do it with friends.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Updated July 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM MDT

At least 67 people are dead following flooding that slammed central Texas over the weekend, while a desperate search for 11 girls continues.

59 of the confirmed deaths occurred in Kerr County, Sheriff Larry Leitha said Sunday, including 21 children. In addition to the deaths in Kerr County, there were eight deaths due to the flooding in surrounding counties.

The flooding hit Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp next to the Guadalupe River, where 11 campers are still missing, Leitha said. Officials earlier said some of those campers may be stranded and unable to call for help.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Friday night that the state is committing all the necessary resources to continue with a search and rescue mission, including members of the Texas National Guard and state troopers.

The governor issued a disaster declaration for several counties in the area of the state known as the Hill Country, about 70 miles north of San Antonio. Abbott expanded the disaster declaration on Saturday to add more counties impacted by flooding and signed a disaster declaration requesting assistance from the federal government.

W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said Saturday afternoon that officials are still “actively searching” for people alive but that those efforts “will turn into recovery at some point.”

“When you talk to the men and women that are up there in those helicopters and out in those boats and walking the ground, they’re looking for live people right now and doing everything they can to continue to search as fast as possible,” Kidd said during a press conference.

Abbott also said during the press conference he has instructed every state agency involved with search and rescue to “assume everybody missing is alive” and warned “every minute counts.”

.@USCG is punching through storms to evacuate Americans from central Texas.

We will fly throughout the night and as long as possible.

This is what the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard do. pic.twitter.com/2vOgkS5Hun — Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) July 4, 2025

Officials say more than 850 people have been rescued so far, and many of them were rescued by helicopters. Texas officials say some of the areas affected remain without power or internet access.

Leitha said in a Saturday morning news conference that rescue efforts were ongoing, but he could not give a timeline of how long it would take to recover everyone affected by the flood.

“This community is strong and will continue to pull together,” Leitha said. “We will not stop until every single person is found … I can’t tell you how long it’s going to take. It’ll take a while.”

Michel Fortier / The San Antonio Express-News/AP / The San Antonio Express-News Damaged vehicles and debris are seen roped off near the banks of the Guadalupe River after flooding in Ingram, Texas, on Friday.

Leitha said that officials are not asking the community for volunteers, but the Salvation Army in Kerrville is requesting supplies, including: trash bags, bleach, diapers and other nonperishable essentials.

At an earlier briefing, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said more than 500 responders and 14 helicopters were deployed to find anyone who is trapped in the inundated area.

“We have deployed a number of personnel to multiple locations throughout the Texas Hill Country to assist with search and rescue efforts,” Patrick said, noting that the region is popular for summer camps, including one for hundreds of girls. He said the state’s emphasis is to locate unaccounted for teenagers.

“Within 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet and it was a destructive flood — taking property and sadly lives,” Patrick said. He added that the region got 12 inches or more of rain per hour.

The situation may still get worse. Leitha said authorities believe the number of fatalities could grow.

“This is probably going to be a couple of days’ process,” Leitha said during the earlier press conference.

Eric Gay / AP / AP People are reunited Friday at a reunification center in Ingram, Texas, after flash flooding hit the area.

At an elementary school in Kerrville, which served as a reunification center, hundreds of people waited for news from their relatives. Some parents were able to meet with their children, but some have yet to hear from their kids.

That’s the case of Tanya Powell. Her 21-year-old daughter Ella Rose was still missing. “She was near the camp at a house with three of their friends, they are college seniors in San Antonio. They were here for the weekend and we lost touch with them about 4 a.m. and haven’t gotten any word from them,” Powell said.

One of the summer camps affected, Camp Mystic, is an all-girls Christian summer camp that has been operating in the area for nearly 100 years.

Angela Trafton’s granddaughter was attending camp when rain began pouring during the night. The girl survived, but Trafton was left shaken by the ordeal.

“We’re so grateful,” she said, barely able to speak through her tears. “This is her seventh year [as a camper]. I don’t know that she’ll ever come back now.”

Christopher Lee / The San Antonio Express-News/AP / The San Antonio Express-News First responders deploy boats along the Guadalupe River after deadly flooding on Friday in Kerrville, Texas.

On Friday, the National Weather Service issued a hazard weather warning. In a statement, the NWS warned, “Flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible.” The agency said an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall across the region, but that “isolated spots in the Hill Country could see up to 5 inches.”

The NWS explained the extreme rainfall is being caused by a moist tropical air mass combined with a slow moving storm system in counties across south central Texas.

KSAT News meteorologist Sarah Spivey in San Antonio said that the “rain bomb” the area is currently experiencing is typical in the aftermath of years-long droughts like those in the affected counties.

“You know, we’re in a multi-year drought here in this area, and if you’ve been in this area long enough, you know even in 1987 there was a flood very similar to the one that is happening right now,” Spivey told NPR Saturday morning. “Our droughts tend to end with these rain bombs in the summer months, and it’s just something that we have to prepare for over and over again in the future.”

Climate change is driving more extreme rainfall events across most of the U.S., making dangerous flooding more likely. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, or water vapor, leading to heavier downpours. In Texas, the heaviest rainstorms now drop about 20% more rain than they did in the late 1950s, according to the National Climate Assessment.

Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP via Getty Images / AFP via Getty Images A member of the public stands next to overturned vehicles and broken trees on Saturday after a flash flood at the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas.

Spivey also pointed to the terrain of the region, which is more susceptible to flood damage.

“It’s called the Hill Country for a reason. Winding hills and a river, Guadalupe River, that runs through these hills onto limestone, so there’s not much area for the water to soak into,” she said.

Kerr County officials said the Guadalupe River, which runs through the region, is currently cresting at 39 feet or more — up from about 3 feet before the rainfall.

Judge Rob Kelly signed a declaration of disaster, following the devastation to property and loss of life left behind by the severe weather storm.

“Suffice it today this has been a very devastating and deadly flood,” Kelly said during a Friday morning press conference.

Kelly’s office said damages will be monumental to both public infrastructure and private properties, with estimates impossible to determine until floodwaters recede.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Updated July 6, 2025 at 7:05 AM CDT

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Chantal is forecast to bring heavy rains as it moves inland across northeastern South Carolina on Sunday.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for portions of the two Carolinas, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm was about 70 miles (112 kilometers) east of Charleston, South Carolina, early Sunday, and 85 miles (136 kilometers) southwest of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at 50 mph (80 kph), and it was moving north at 8 mph (13 kph).

Rain bands from Chantal were moving onshore, the hurricane center said, with flash floods an increasing concern.

Heavy rain was forecast for parts of North Carolina through Monday, with total rainfall of 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) and local amounts up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) that could lead to flash flooding.

South Carolina’s Emergency Management division had warned residents earlier of the possibility of isolated tornadoes along the coast and of minor coastal flooding.

It also warned drivers not to venture on water-covered roads or around road-closure signs where flooding occurred.

Copyright 2025 NPR

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

What does it take to get food today in Gaza? It involves a perilous journey that NPR’s producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, experienced himself last week. Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli troops as they approach these food sites, according to health officials and international medical teams in Gaza. U.S. officials have accused American media of spreading Hamas misinformation. The account that you are about to hear is rare reporting by a journalist from inside a new food distribution site that the U.S. and Israel set up in Gaza, sites which the United Nations calls death traps. Before we start, a warning. In this story, you will hear the sounds of gunfire and descriptions of violence. Here’s NPR’s Daniel Estrin.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Strict Israeli controls on food entering Gaza have driven widespread hunger. Our colleague Anas Baba has lost a third of his body weight during the war. He’s been eating one small meal a day, rationing his food supplies until they ran out three weeks ago.

ANAS BABA, BYLINE: I cannot find the basics – just, like, flour, cooking oil, lentils.

ESTRIN: Israel bans international journalists from independent access to Gaza. Baba is from Gaza and has been reporting for NPR throughout 20 months of war – reporting on the war and living through it, experiencing hunger and observing what it does to a person’s body.

BABA: Women faint in the street. Shildren faint in the street. Hunger is a little bit of an addiction. Once you feel that your stomach, your brain, your body is craving something, you will not be afraid of anything, and you can do anything to bring food for your children and for yourself.

ESTRIN: Last Monday evening, he and his cousin walked for hours to get food at a new distribution site run by private American contractors with a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF.

BABA: It’s truly a day in my life that I will never, ever forget. We packed a small, like, backpack – water, bandages, first aid kit.

ESTRIN: Others tuck a large empty sack under their belt on one hip, and on the other…

BABA: And the other side is a knife to protect themselves from the looters and the bandits.

ESTRIN: Around midnight, Baba joined large crowds waiting to approach the food site. GHF has changing hours and opens and closes the site at very short notice, they say to prevent crowd surges. But to get there, you have to pass through an Israeli military zone. Baba says some edge close to get to the front of the crowd before the site opens despite the risk of Israeli soldiers perceiving them as a threat.

(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD BUSTLING)

BABA: This is the moment where everyone here says that the GHF site is open. And now it’s 1:30 after midnight.

So all of the cars turns on the engine, and they started to race each other, motorcycles. And between them, there is people running between the cars. I saw some people there being crushed. I saw some people that they were literally underneath the cars.

ESTRIN: He ran with the crowd, but when they got close to the site, they were shocked to find an Israeli tank. The crowd was wrong. The food site was not yet open.

BABA: Every single person started to retreat and run, and the tank did not even waited a second.

ESTRIN: Baba recorded the gunfire from a distance.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

ESTRIN: He and his cousin threw themselves to the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Shouting in non-English language).

BABA: And I heard the gunshots and the people screaming that they are injured. And other, they saying that my brother died, my friend died.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

BABA: It’s still, at the meantime, 1:48.

And the gunfire didn’t stop. And I can see in front of me that people are still waiting. They’re not leaving.

ESTRIN: The Israeli military told NPR people gathered near the site and adjacent to Israeli IDF troops. Quote, “reports of injured individuals as a result of IDF fire in the area were received. The details are under review.”

BABA: At 2 a.m. the gunfire just stopped, and we told ourselves maybe this is a sign from them. We were going to go for another run. I stepped on bodies, and I didn’t stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD BUSTLING)

BABA: This is another run.

ESTRIN: This time, the GHF site was open. Baba watched large crowds tear down a fence to reach boxes of food sitting on wooden pallets.

BABA: I grabbed my cellphone and started to record what I’m seeing in front of me.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE IDLING)

BABA: And people enter, fighting each other to take as much as possible.

A woman in her 40s with her son, and that woman, sweaty, with an angry face, she was holding two knives in her own hands, and she was screaming at everyone, do not even touch my son or the food.

ESTRIN: It didn’t used to be this kind of free-for-all. For most of the war, there were hundreds of aid distribution centers across Gaza. U.N. agencies would send a text message when it was your turn to pick up food, and everyone got some. Israel and the U.S. accused Hamas of diverting that aid, so they set up the GHF to keep Hamas away. But at the GHF site, Baba saw people he believes were Hamas members, based on their looks, taking food for their families. GHF told NPR it’s impossible to screen for individuals affiliated with Hamas, but said it was preventing Hamas from controlling the flow of aid. GHF also said it forbids Palestinians from filming U.S. contractors at the site.

BABA: People came to me telling me, look at your forehead. There is three green laser points on my head from the American contractors, and one of them say that out loud with a speaker, no filming is allowed.

ESTRIN: Asked about this reporting, GHF acknowledged the concern that the changing hours could expose people to potential Israeli military fire. The military says it’s opened new roads and created new signage. GHF says Hamas has wounded and killed people en route to their sites and has killed and threatened Palestinians working with them. One hundred and seventy rights groups and aid groups have called for the GHF system to be dismantled. At the distribution site, Baba grabbed whatever food he could find tossed on the ground.

BABA: I pulled 5 kilograms of rice. It was open with some sand in it, but I didn’t care. It’s food. I can wash it.

ESTRIN: His cousin got trampled on the ground by the crowds, and he helped pull him up. Then they fought upstream through a river of people trying to leave with their bags of food. Walking back, they were stopped by four masked thieves.

BABA: They were having big knives, and they told us, you do have two options. Give us half of what you had – OK? – or we’re going to harm you.

ESTRIN: When the thieves refused to negotiate, Baba and his cousin threw two bags of food at the thieves and ran away with enough food to give their relatives. Baba was left with about a week and a half of supplies for himself.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Crying in non-English language).

ESTRIN: Later that morning, Baba went to the hospital. Health officials said more than 200 people were wounded and 26 killed outside the food site.

BABA: There is no white shrouds in the hospitals in the meantime. The dead bodies that lying on the ground were covered by the same sacks that they were taken at to fill it up with food.

ESTRIN: Every day GHF has opened its food distribution sites – including today – Gaza health officials say hungry people seeking food have been killed, and many people return from the sites empty-handed.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv, with NPR’s Anas Baba in Gaza City.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday made his first public appearance since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran began, attending a mourning ceremony on the eve of Ashoura.

Khamenei’s absence during the war suggested the Iranian leader, who has final say on all state matters, had been in seclusion in a bunker — something not acknowledged by state media. State TV in Iran showed him waving and nodding to the chanting crowd, which rose to its feet as he entered and sat at a mosque next to his office and residence in the capital, Tehran.

There was no immediate report on any public statement made. Iranian officials such as the parliament speaker were present. Such events are always held under heavy security.

After the U.S. inserted itself into the war by bombing three key nuclear sites in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump sent warnings via social media to the 86-year-old Khamenei that the U.S. knew where he was but had no plans to kill him, “at least for now.”

On June 26, shortly after a ceasefire began, Khamenei made his first public statement in days, saying in a prerecorded statement that Tehran had delivered a “slap to America’s face” by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar, and warning against further attacks by the U.S. or Israel on Iran.

Trump replied, in remarks to reporters and on social media: “Look, you’re a man of great faith. A man who’s highly respected in his country. You have to tell the truth. You got beat to hell.”

Iran has acknowledged the deaths of more than 900 people in the war, as well as thousands of injured. It also has confirmed serious damage to its nuclear facilities, and has denied access to them for inspectors with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Iran’s president on Wednesday ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, further limiting inspectors’ ability to track a program that had been enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels. Israel launched the war fearing that Iran was trying to develop atomic weapons.

It remains unclear just how badly damaged the nuclear facilities are, whether any enriched uranium or centrifuges had been moved before the attacks, and whether Tehran still would be willing to continue negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program.

Vahid Salemi / AP / AP Iranian Shiite Muslims mourn in a ceremony as water is being sprayed for heat management, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, July 4, 2025, ahead of Ashoura, a remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

Israel also targeted defense systems, high-ranking military officials and atomic scientists. In retaliation, Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of them intercepted, killing 28 people and causing damage in many areas.

Ceremony commemorates a death that caused rift in Islam

The ceremony that Khamenei hosted Saturday was a remembrance of the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein.

Shiites represent over 10% of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, and they view Hussein as the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein’s death in battle at the hands of Sunnis at Karbala, south of Baghdad, created a rift in Islam and continues to play a key role in shaping Shiite identity.

In predominantly Shiite Iran, red flags represented Hussein’s blood and black funeral tents and clothes represented mourning. Processions of chest-beating and self-flagellating men demonstrated fervor. Some sprayed water over the mourners in the intense heat.

Reports of problems accessing the internet

NetBlocks, a global internet monitor, reported late Saturday on X that there was a “major disruption to internet connectivity” in Iran. It said the disruption corroborated widespread user reports of problems accessing the internet. The development comes just weeks after authorities shut down telecoms during the war. NetBlocks later said internet access had been restored after some two hours.

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