Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. Also — tributes have poured in from around the world remembering Pope Francis as a leader who advocated for the poor and the dispossessed, and the Supreme Court considers a case brought by parents who want to pull their kids out of public school classes because of objections to some learning materials.

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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Ryland Barton, Krishnadev Calamur, Arezou Rezvani and Janaya Williams.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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