NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-09-2026 4AM EDT

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

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Live from NPR news, I'm Giles Snyder. Confusion continues about the ceasefire with Iran after President Trump claimed complete and total victory. Iran says it closed a strait of four moves again after Israel continued to attack the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, a conflict that has displaced more than a million people and killed scores Wednesday, according to local health officials. But White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says reports said the strait is closed or false. NPR's more Allaisen reports. The war began with the president saying there would be no deal with Iran except, quote, unconditional surrender. Now the end of the war seems to be about keeping ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The White House says Iran has agreed to open the strait and that there's been an uptick in boat traffic through the strait. The White House also posted an official statement from the Iranian government that says, quote, passage through the strait will be coordinated with the Iranian armed forces. asked who was currently in control of the strait, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt didn't answer. Even if Iran is allowing some ships to pass through, if Iran keeps control of the strait, military experts say they would keep a lot of leverage over the global oil markets, and that would be a strategic defeat for the U.S. Mara Liason, NPR News, the White House.

New Jersey is asking a federal judge for a preliminary injunction to block an immigration detention center in Roxbury, New Jersey. Bruce Convisor reports on the latest move in an ongoing legal battle. Governor Mikey Sherrill and State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport argued that the site is not zoned to operate as a jail. The filing argues that the proposed 1,500 bed facility would overwhelm the municipal sewage system and create a traffic nightmare in the town of 23,000. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have plans to convert a 470,000 square foot warehouse into a prison. Reconstruction is slated to begin next month. Republican Congressman Tom Cain has appealed to DHS to work with local officials on the project.

Kane has previously come under fire for not doing enough to back the community. For NPR News, I'm Bruce Convizer in Greenbrook, New Jersey. The Artemis 2 Moon Mission astronauts have unveiled a special item on board their capsule as they return to Earth. On a video link with Mission Control in Houston Wednesday, mission commander Reid Wiseman said the crew took with them an American flag that was to have landed on the moon with the Apollo 18 astronauts, whose mission in 1973 was canceled. We are honored to carry the torch from Apollo through our beloved international space station further than humans have ever gone around the far side of the moon and safely home back to Houston.

Artemis II remains on track for a splashdown on Friday in the Pacific off San Diego on Monday. The astronauts reached a record-breaking distance from the Earth. This is NPR News. In Los Angeles, Jasvin Senga, the drug dealer who sold actor Matthew Perry, the fatal deuce of ketamine that led to his death. With sentence Wednesday, Steve Froterman was outside the courthouse. Before the sentence was announced, the judge heard from Matthew Perry's family. His stepfather, Keith Morrison, described what he called the daily grinding sadness. Prosecutors asked for a 20-year sentence.

Defense attorneys asked for time served. the judge ruled that Sanga should serve 15 years in prison. Afterwards, Morrison reacted. I feel bad for the family of the perpetrator here as well. You know, nobody won today. Two more defendants in the case still need to be sentenced, including Matthew Perry's personal assistant who injected him with the fatal dose. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.

A Long Island architect accused in a string of unsolved murders dating back to the 1990s facing life in prison. Rex Hurerman entered guilty pleas Wednesday, admitting in court that he killed eight women in a case at Steinmeet investigators until DNA evidence led to his arrest. The crimes are known as the Gilgo Beach Killings. Authorities say Huraman killed the women over a 17-year span. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says last month was the hottest march in 132 years of recordkeeping. And federal weather data show this past March was a most abnormally hot month of any month of the year. Noah says the average temperature was 9 degrees above the 20th century normal.

This is NPR News.