Remembering Dolly Parton, Secret CIA Trip to Moscow, Tragedy in Nepal | The Wrap Up | PragerU Kids

Before we start this episode, you should know that The Wrap Up is a weekly news show created especially for teens and tweens. Each episode recaps the week's biggest stories across politics, culture, sports, international news, and more. All presented in a clear, informative, and age-appropriate way. Enjoy more free videos for kids of all ages on our website. Parents and teenagers can subscribe for free at PragerUKids.com. America says goodbye to country music icon Dolly Parton. CIA director John Ratcliffe makes a rare, unannounced trip to Moscow. A massive flash flood tore through Nepal on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and leaving over a thousand more missing. And a Florida teen is being called a hero after saving a 99-year-old man from a burning home. We'll get into all that in your Quick Hits right now. What's up, guys? Welcome to The Wrap Up, where we break down the biggest stories of the week that you might have missed but definitely need to know. I'm your host, Cher. We begin with the loss of a legend. Dolly Parton, one of the most beloved entertainers in American history, died Tuesday in Nashville after a short bout with cancer. Parton's family announced her death in a video statement from her nephew, Brian Seaver, who also served as her longtime head of security. Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest. Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly. Parton grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee. One of 12 children, she rose to become one of the best-selling reporting artists of all time. Here is Dolly in her own words on growing up. Very poor as far as material things, but we had all the important things in life. Things like a good mom and daddy, understanding and kindness, a love for each other, a love for the Lord, and appreciation for the land from which we made our living. Over her career, she wrote more than 3,000 songs, including classics Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, and I Will Always Love You, which was famously covered by another legend, Whitney Houston. She sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won 11 Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Parton starred in beloved films like Nine to Five and Steel Magnolias. She built the Dollywood theme park in her home state of Tennessee, yet friends often said she stayed remarkably down-to-earth, despite being one of the most recognized entertainers on the planet. Parton may be remembered just as much for her generosity as her talent. In 1988, she founded the Dollywood Foundation to fight high dropout rates in her home county. She promised every seventh grader $500 if they graduated high school. That effort helped cut the dropout rate from 35% to just 6%. In 1995, she launched her most famous charitable project, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. She created it in honor of her father, who never learned to read. The program mails a free book every month to enrolled children, from birth until kindergarten, at no cost to families. The Imagination Library has gifted more than 332 million books to children across five countries. Over 3 million books still go out every single month. Following news of her death, President Trump ordered American flags flown at half-staff nationwide for one week. There has never been anyone like her, and never will, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Rest in peace, Dolly. The world loves you. Goodbye to an irreplaceable American icon. Up next, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made surprise unannounced trip to Moscow this week. It's the highest-level visit by a Trump official to Russia since January. It's also the first time a sitting CIA director has visited Moscow since 2021. Flight tracking data showed a U.S. military plane flying from Joint Base Andrews through Latvia and into Moscow on Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the visit. He said Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials and that Putin had been briefed on the talks. To understand the context, you have to go back a decade. After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the U.S. spent over 40 years locked in the Cold War, a tense standoff between the two nuclear-armed superpowers who never fought directly. That era ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. But the relationship is still complicated. The two countries have cycled between cooperation and confrontation ever since, clashing over NATO's expansion, cybersecurity, and Russia's alliances with Iran and North Korea. The most serious break came in February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. That war is now in its fifth year. It has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. It's also drawn in billions in Western military aid to Ukraine, while peace talks have stalled. That backdrop makes Ratcliffe's trip especially notable. The last CIA director to visit Moscow, William Burns, met with Putin in November 2021. That was just three months before the invasion. This time, ahead of Ratcliffe's arrival, the U.S. reportedly asked Ukraine to pause long-range strikes on Moscow. Officials haven't said what was discussed. But the timing comes as intelligence reportedly suggests Putin could test NATO's resolve in the coming years. President Trump downplayed the trip. He called it semi-routine and said it wasn't meant to warn Putin against attacking NATO territory. In our next story, a massive flash flood tore through Nepal on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and leaving over a thousand more missing, including American tourists. It reportedly felt like an earthquake at first. Just after 8.30 a.m. local time, the ground shook along the Nepal-China border. Early readings registered it as a 4.4-magnitude quake, but geologists later determined it wasn't an earthquake at all. It was an avalanche of ice and rock, tumbling down a mountainside with the force of a magnitude 5.2 quake. That avalanche slammed into the Linde-Kola River, a tributary of the Koshi River flowing from China into Nepal. The impact triggered a sudden, violent surge of water downstream. It swept through villages in Nepal's Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Videos showed entire buildings half-buried in mud, vehicles swallowed whole, and people running for their lives ahead of the wave. The death toll has climbed quickly and is still rising. Officials now report hundreds of people killed. Nepal's tourism board says thousands more remain missing, including dozens of American citizens. Many of the missing were tourists passing through the region. That includes a group headed towards Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred pilgrimage site for Hindus. Nepal's government has deployed army helicopters for search and rescue. It has also asked both India and China for help. The U.S. State Department says it's aware Americans have been affected and is closely monitoring the situation. And in our final story, a Florida teenager is being called a hero after saving a 99-year-old man from a burning home. 16-year-old Avery Carmichael was driving home from Mariana High School on Monday when she noticed thick smoke rising into the sky. At first, that might not seem unusual. Avery lives in a rural part of Florida where people often burn brush and leaves. But something about this smoke didn't look right, so Avery decided to check it out. As she got closer, she realized a camper home was on fire. Then she saw a 99-year-old man trying to make his way down the steps, but he was struggling to get out. Avery immediately pulled into the driveway and ran to help. She climbed the steps, put the man's arm around her, and carried him away from the burning home. Avery says she wasn't thinking about being afraid. She just knew she had to act. The fire completely destroyed the man's home, but thankfully he escaped without any serious injuries. Calhoun County Sheriff Michael Bryant praised Avery for putting herself in danger to save someone else, saying her actions showed incredible bravery and character. And Avery says if she ever found herself in the same situation again, she wouldn't hesitate to help. Not bad for a 16-year-old who was just driving home from school. And now it's time for Quick Hits. Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen is about to pick on 100 go-carters in a made-for-TV event called Max vs. 100. The race will put Verstappen's karting roots to the test against 100 everyday drivers. Verstappen said, I spent a long period of my life go-karting, so it's always nice to return. California berry giant Driscoll's is shaking up its leadership. CEO Soren Bjorn stepped down from the top job amid a growing legal storm over allegations that its strawberries contain toxic, forever chemicals. A consumer fraud class-action lawsuit accuses the company of deceptive marketing over alleged pesticide and PFAS contamination into strawberries. Microsoft just officially confirmed Xbox's new Disc-to-Digital feature, letting players insert a physical Xbox One or Series X game disc to claim a digital copy tied to their account. The license comes with perks like Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the disc still works exactly like before. Tim Curry, the actor behind Home Alone 2's fussy hotel concierge Mr. Hector, has died at 80 at his Los Angeles home. The English actor became a fan favorite for his portrayal of Dr. Frankenfurter in 1975's cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but he also had a host of other iconic screen performances to his name. Anne Michael May, wife of Patriots quarterback Drake May and known for her viral baking videos, granted a make-a-wish for 16-year-old Skylar, a Massachusetts teen battling a brain tumor. The two baked gluten-free chocolate chip cookies together at Gillette Stadium, and Skylar walked away with a custom jersey and sideline passes to the next night's preseason game. Skylar said, That's it for this episode. We'll see you back here next week on another episode of The Wrap Up. Thank you for watching The Wrap Up. To make sure you never miss an episode, subscribe to PragerU.com.