NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-16-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

NPR News: 04-16-2025 1PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On the Wild Card Podcast, author John Green fights to be optimistic. I keep learning again and again that hope is the right response to the human condition. And I have to learn this over and over again because despair is an incredibly powerful force in my life. I'm Rachel Martin. Join us for NPR's Wild Card Podcast, the show where cards control the conversation. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has ruled that there is probable cause to find the Trump administration in contempt for violating his order to immediately pause any deportation flights under the Alien Enemies Act. The administration invoked the act to target members

of a Venezuelan prison gang that President Trump says are invading the United States. Senator Chris Van Hollen has arrived in El Salvador to push for the release of a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported last month. The Maryland Democrat says he'll continue to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia. The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration,

to let the government of El Salvador know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego-Garcia home. The Trump administration responded to Van Hollen's trip, calling Abrego-Ggo Garcia a, quote, criminal immigrant who is already home. The Salvadoran citizen entered the United States illegally, but an immigration court later granted him protection from deportation to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia has been living in the U.S. legally and has no criminal record. President Trump has signed a new executive order aimed at reducing prescription drug prices. NPR's Cindy Lupkin reports the order has several parts. Cindy Lupkin, NPR The president signed an executive order instructing the administration to advance cost-cutting moves like increasing generic drug competition. The order also aims to improve Medicare drug price negotiation, which passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden in 2022. An official said he thinks the Trump administration can get more savings than the Biden administration.

Because the number of drugs subject to negotiation increases each year, greater savings over time were baked into the law. The order also instructs the FDA to facilitate state programs to import lower-cost drugs from Canada. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News. Hamas is rejecting a new Israeli ceasefire in Gaza. The proposal calls for disarming the militant group as a condition for ending the war. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. The new Israeli proposal is to pause the war in Gaza for a month and a half,

free about half of Hamas's living Israeli hostages within the first week, and negotiate the disarmament of militant groups. A Hamas official tells NPR the group rejects the proposal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Hamas was still preparing a formal response to mediators, but in a statement, Hamas and other Palestinian groups said their weapons were for self-defense. They said the ceasefire proposal did not include guarantees to end

the war and withdraw Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel's defense minister says Israel is changing tactics and won't withdraw troops from areas they capture in Gaza. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. It's NPR. 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 don't get rid of DEI programs. The group says the Trump administration effort blocks legal work to provide equal opportunities to black students. A new study shows a further decline in TV series and films shot in Los Angeles, once

the entertainment capital. NPR's Mandelita Barco reports production on L.A. sound stages has plummeted as well. On location productions in Los Angeles dipped more than 22 percent the first three months of this year, according to Film LA, which issues film permits in the area. The nonprofit group found production also shrank on LA sound stages. Spokesman Philip Sokolowski says other states and countries have lucrative tax credits to lure productions out of California. Meanwhile, studios and streamers are ordering fewer series and films.

It's not just Los Angeles that is feeling this. It's happening in every other major production center. And with less work to go around, the competition for what's left is intensified. The report says the recent wildfires had only a small effect on L.A. filming. Productions are still rebounding from the covid-19 pandemic and delays by the Hollywood writers and performers strikes. Mandelit Del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles. A jury has yet to be selected for the retrial of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

Weinstein is back on trial on sexual assault accusations. A prior conviction was overturned after New York's highest courts at his first trial included witnesses who shouldn't have testified. This is NPR.