NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-04-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

NPR News: 04-04-2025 10AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh Air, up first. NPR News Now, Planet Money, Ted Radio Hour, ThruLine, the NPR Politics Podcast, CodeSwitch, Embedded, Books We Love, Wildcard, are just some of the podcasts you can enjoy sponsor-free with NPR+. Get all sorts of perks across more than 20 podcasts with the bundle option. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Stocks continued their sell-off this morning as investors react to President Trump's widening trade war. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than a thousand points in early trading.

Thursday was the worst day in the stock market in five years and so far Friday is looking pretty grim as well. President Trump's sweeping tariffs threaten to raise costs for domestic businesses and consumers. They're also likely to hurt exporters, including farmers and factories. Overnight, China said it would apply matching tariffs to all U.S. imports. There is some positive news this morning on the U.S. job market. The Labor Department says employers added 228,000 jobs last month, about twice as many as the months before. The report's based on a survey taken three weeks ago, however, and doesn't reflect the fallout from this week's tariff news.

The unemployment rate inched up to 4.2 percent. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. President Trump says he supports a proposal in Congress that would allow House lawmakers, who are new parents, to cast their votes by proxy. But House Speaker Mike Johnson strongly opposes this. So the Bills backers used a procedural tactic to bring it to the floor. And yesterday, they got a surprising supporter, President Trump. I like the idea of being able to, if you're having a baby, I think you should be able

to call in and vote. I'm in favor of that. But Speaker Johnson says proxy voting will do, quote, violence to the House chamber. The top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees are upset following news reports the director of the National Security Agency has been fired. The New York Times and Washington Post report General Timothy Hawk has been fired. The New York Times and Washington Post report General Timothy Hawk has been dismissed. They say Hawk was fired after President Trump held a meeting with far-right activist Laura Loomer, who called for the removal. NPR has not independently confirmed this.

The U.S. Department of Education has sent state leaders a warning letter. It says that if schools do not get rid of DEI programs, they could lose federal funds for their low-income students. NPO's Janaki Mehta has more. The letter says, quote, "'The use of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to advantage one's race over another is impermissible.' What's at stake is Title I funding,

which sends money aimed at low-income students to nearly 90% of the country's school districts. State and local leaders have 10 days to sign a certification letter to prove they're abiding by civil rights laws or they risk losing Title I. The agency hasn't clearly defined what it considers a violation, but the department's acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Craig Traynor, said the agency has seen many schools flout civil rights, quote, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another

based on identity characteristics. Janaki Mehta, NPR News. The stock market is still plunging. The Dow's down more than 1,000 points, or about 2.5%. The NASDAQ is down about 3%. This is NPR. A powerful line of storms is plowing across the central U.S. and to the Midwest.

Flash flood warnings are posted from eastern Kentucky into West Virginia. The National Weather Service warns that for some areas this is a once-in-a-generation series of storms. At least seven people have been killed by the storms. A play co-written by and starring George Clooney officially opens tonight on Broadway. Jeff London reports, good night and good luck has already broken some early preview box office records. Clooney and his partner, Grant Heslov,

took their 2005 screenplay and adapted it for the stage. Both the film and play look at journalist Edward R. Murrow as he took on Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare in the 1950s. There are a certain kind of people wired a certain kind of way. Who know there's a story behind the story if you're bold enough to search for it. Even before opening the play has caused a sensation. For the last two weeks, it's brought in around $3.3 million. That's a record for a play on Broadway, with tickets going for as much as $799.

It runs through June. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. The Philadelphia Zoo is celebrating the birth of four critically endangered Galapagos tortoises. It's the first time this has happened at the Philly Zoo is celebrating the birth of four critically endangered Galapagos tortoises. It's the first time this has happened at the Philly Zoo. Even more astonishing is the age of the hatchlings' parents. They're about 100 years old. Galapagos tortoises can live up to 200 years.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington. A couple months ago, here at Planet Money, we stumbled across our favorite kind of economic KORVA KUHLMAN, NPR News in Washington.