NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-17-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen is in El Salvador. He says that Salvadoran officials have refused his request to release a man mistakenly deported from Maryland to a Salvadoran prison. And Piers-Claudia Grisales has more. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said the Salvadoran vice president also refused his request to visit with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Regardless, Van Hollen said more U.S. officials will travel to fight for his release.

I may be the first United States senator to visit El Salvador on this issue, but there will be more and there will be more members of Congress coming. Van Hollen argued against the administration's claims that Averigo Garcia has ties to gang activity. He was granted protection from deportation by a judge in 2019. The administration admitted in legal proceedings the deportation was a mistake, but have since refused a Supreme Court decision upholding an order they must facilitate the man's return. Javier Rizales, NPR News. A day after NPR broke the story on a whistleblower's concerns about Doge's activities at his federal agency, several Doge representatives visited that agency's headquarters.

NPR's Jenna McLaughlin has more. In recent days, a whistleblower working in the IT department of a small independent federal agency filed an official disclosure with Congress and spoke to NPR. In recent days, a whistleblower working in the IT department of a small independent federal agency filed an official disclosure with Congress and spoke to NPR. Daniel Barulis works for the National Labor Relations Board, which protects employees' rights to unionize. He says Doge requested the highest level access right before a large chunk of data was removed from the system. The NLRB told NPR that it never authorized access to the systems. Then, a day later, senior officials at NLRB sent an email obtained by NPR, revealing that DOJ had made its first official visit to the agency, and that two DOJ representatives

will be working there part-time. NLRB says they will comply with DOJ's requests, but will remove personal data from records before sharing them. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the central bank needs more clarity on the effects of President Trump's new tariffs. Speaking in Chicago, Powell says that at some point,

consumers will feel their effects, too. Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation. Inflationary effects could also be more persistent. Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices, and ultimately on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored. President Trump is vexed.

Writing online, Trump claims that Powell is, quote, too late and wrong. Trump claims the U.S., too late and wrong. Trump claims the U.S. is getting rich on terrorists, but he cited no evidence. The president also says that the Fed chair's, quote, termination cannot come fast enough. You're listening to NPR News. Relief groups are increasingly alarmed at conditions in Gaza. Israel has been blocking all relief supplies to the Palestinian enclave for the past six weeks. The UN says there's a rise in acute malnutrition among Gaza residents.

The number of Palestinian children who participate in therapeutic feeding programs has been slashed by two-thirds. More than 20 tribes and nonprofits across the country were awarded around $350 million to address critical infrastructure needs. But MPR's Nate Perez reports the Trump administration has frozen those funds. The money came from the EPA's Community Change Grants, funded through the country's first significant climate policy, the Inflation Reduction Act. The Tabona Foundation received $20 million to replace homes contaminated with asbestos and lead for the native village of Tyonik in Alaska.

The Foundation's executive director, Vaidee Croteau, says that money would have changed people's lives. Everything is in limbo and the bills still come in, the rent still comes in. Now dozens of tribes don't know if or when they will have funds that were awarded to them under the Biden administration. The EPA spokesperson Molly Vaslou says that community change grants are under review to see how they align with the administration's priorities. Nate Perez, NPR News.