NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-16-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. The Trump administration is suing Maine over that state's refusal to ban transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports. President Trump signed an executive order for this. Maine Democratic Governor Janet Mills did not comply, saying her duty is to follow state law. A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to come up with more information about what it's done to bring back a migrant deported by mistake to El Salvador. The case of Kilma Abrego Garcia has gone to the U.S.

Supreme Court. The justices ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return. And Piers Jimena Bustillo says the lower federal court judge has been holding daily court hearings to check in on this. During Tuesday's hearing, Judge Zines said that she had received quote, information of little value on what had been done to fulfill any of this. So she granted a request from Abrego Garcia's lawyers for the government team to undergo a process called expedited discovery. This means that government officials from Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state will be deposed under oath.

And Piers Jiminebustio reporting. Japan will seek to roll back U.S. tariffs today in talks with U.S. officials in Washington. And Piers Anthony Kuhn reports, Japan is one of the first countries to enter into such negotiations and other governments will be watching its progress. Leading Japan's delegation is Ryosei Akazawa. He's a close ally of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. As he left Tokyo, Akazawa said he wanted to build trust with the U.S. and achieve a win-win outcome.

Ishiba has said he won't be rushed into making any deal, but he's also not considering retaliating with tariffs of his own. President Trump, who will join his commerce and treasury secretaries for talks with Akizawa, has a list of grievances against Japan. He accuses the U.S. ally of using non-tariff barriers to block U.S. exports of automobiles and farm products, keeping Japan's currency undervalued and contributing too little to the cost of stationing U.S. troops in Japan. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul. Stocks opened lower this morning as the Commerce Department reported a bigger than expected

jump in retail sales last month. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 300 points in early trading. Retail sales jumped by 1.4 percent in March, a sign that shoppers continued to spend money even as confidence in the U.S. economy fell. The rise was largely fueled by a big jump in auto sales as car buyers raced to make deals before Trump administration tariffs took effect in early April. Spending at restaurants also jumped in March, but spending at grocery stores failed to keep

pace with rising grocery prices. Car makers were also hustling to get ahead of tariffs last month. Auto manufacturing activity rose 1.2 percent. Overall, industrial production was down, however, as warmer-than-usual weather depressed demand for heat from utilities. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR. Authorities in Dallas say four male students were injured at a high school after a shooting yesterday. Three sustained gunshot wounds that are not life-threatening.

Dallas police say a suspect is in custody. The civil rights group, the NAACP, is suing the U.S. Department of Education. It's challenging the agency's threats to end federal funding for schools that do not get rid of DEI programs. The group says this effort blocks legal work to provide equal opportunities to black students. It also claims the federal agency's guidance both misinterprets federal law and contains factual inaccuracies. This year's unofficial competition to become the song of the summer is already underway. NPR's Stephen Thompson has this report. The Billboard charts are usually dominated by major stars.

Last year, just 14 artists landed a career-first top 10 single. This year, only three artists have hit the top 10 for the first time, and two of them did the trick just this week. Alex Warren's song, Ordinary, zips from number 14 to number seven. The rapper Big X the Plug also hit the top 10 for the first time this week, with All the Way debuting at number four.

It's a hip hop country hybrid that features the singer Bailey Zimmerman. If you're looking to score the song of the summer, cracking the top ten in April is a great place to start. Stephen Thompson, NPR News. And I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News from Washington.