NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-27-2026 4AM EDT

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

NPR News: 03-27-2026 4AM EDTTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The Senate has brought the funding fight over the Department of Homeland Security to an end. Following a 42-day standoff, the Senate approved a bill overnight that funds agencies such as TSA and FEMA, but leaves out the department's main immigration enforcement operations. Senate Republican leader John Thune took to the floor after the vote to blame Democrats for what he called a piecemeal approach. They wanted an issue. Politics over policy, self-interest over reform, pandering to their base over actually solving a problem. It's an appalling commentary on the state of the Democratic Party.

Senate Democrats had refused to fund DHS over objections to immigration enforcement tactics following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump's rose. and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms. So legislation still needs House approval before going to President Trump for his signature. Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey playing a role in efforts to end the U.S. Israeli War on Iran in Pierszai Betrari reports. Iran says there are no negotiations with the U.S.

And its list of conditions for halting the war include payments for damages and an end attacks on Iranian-backed militias in the region. Trump, meanwhile, says he wants Iran to halt all nuclear enrichment and curb its missile and drone production. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badra Abdel-Adi says Cairo is working to bridge existing gaps between the U.S. and Iran's positions. We are supporting the peace initiative by President Trump to open the door for negotiations with the Iranian side.

He says Egypt is communicating directly with Iran's foreign ministry. A. Abatrawi, Empire News, Dubai with reporting by Ahmed Abohama underhambah in Cairo. A federal judge has tossed a lawsuit alleging advertisers on the ex-social media platform organized an illegal boycott. MPR's Bobby Allen reports on the second major legal setback for Elon Musk this week. Back in 2020, Musk set from the stage of a public event. If someone is going to blacklist me with advertising, then, well, they can hit the road, except he used more graphic language. It was a reference to advertisers like Apple, Disney, IBM, and Comcast that had halted spending on X after concerns that anti-Semitism was spreading on the site unchecked. Musk sued over it, alleging a brand-organized conspiracy against him.

Now, a federal judge in Texas has thrown the lawsuit out for lack of merit. The legal defeat comes days after a jury in San Francisco found Musk defrauded investors in his purchase of the site once known as Twitter. Musk's lawyer has said the trial was corrupted by the judge's bias against Musk. Bobby Allen and PR News. NPR. Federal judge, as a brother and sister, have been charged after an explosive device was found earlier this month outside a gate at McDill Air Force Base in Tampa. Greg Keough is a federal prosecutor for the Middle District of Florida. He says Alan Shang fled to China with his sister Anne Mary. He remains in China, but his sister was arrested upon her return to Florida. Keio says

she's being charged as an accessory to the crime for allegedly selling the car used to drop off the device. The bomb is placed on the 10th. They left on the 12th. On the 11th, they attempted to destroy evidence by selling the automobile involved to CarMax. The authorities say Alan Shang actually planted the device and made a 911 call saying there was a bomb at the base. Religious radio stations make up about one quarter of all broadcast stations in the U.S. A new Pew Research study finds an even larger portion of Americans listen to faith-based radio. NPR's Jason DeRose reports. that 45% of Americans listen to religious radio stations, and they do so for a variety of reasons,

for spiritual uplift, to relax, for advice or guidance, and because programming is what they consider family-friendly. The kinds of programs listeners tune into vary. Nearly four in ten say they listen to religious music, three in ten listen to sermons or religious services. While the analysis found that political commentary makes up a relatively small part of programming on these stations, 40% of those surveys said keeping up with news and politics was a reason for listening. Jason DeRose, NPR News. And I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News.