NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-18-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

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This month, Shortwave is diving into the science of psychedelics. Chances are you've heard of drugs like LSD and magic mushrooms or psilocybin. Now some researchers are making new drugs inspired by psychedelic compounds. With a key difference, they're taking out the trip. We just move things around a little bit here and there. Hear about how it works on Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. What Works on Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. A federal appeals panel is refusing to block a court order for sworn testimony on the Trump

administration's effort to facilitate the return of a mistakenly deported Maryland resident. Kilmore Obrego Garcia was flown to El Salvador where he's been in prison since last month. And Piarra Cimena Bustillo has more. Judge Paula Zines ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release and return and order the U.S. Supreme Court upheld. The judge earlier this week said Justice Department lawyers have provided little information of value about what they're doing to bring Abrego Garcia back. She ordered the parties to undergo expedited discovery to understand what, if anything, had been done.

The administration appealed that order, but a panel of appellate judges denied it. They said if the government has conceded that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported, quote, why then should it not make what was wrong a right? The administration could appeal to the Supreme Court. Ximena Bustillo, NPR News, Washington. Meantime, Maryland, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen has visited Abrego Garcia at the prison where he's being held. Van Hollen posted a joint picture online but gave no indication of the man's status. President Trump is criticizing the chairman of the Federal Reserve for not lowering interest rates.

As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, Trump's own trade war is making that more difficult by putting pressure on prices. Trump accused the Federal Reserve of dragging its feet on interest rates even as the European Central Bank lowers borrowing costs there. The president says Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will face mounting political pressure for a rate cut without noting most of that pressure is coming from Trump himself. I would say the Fed really owes it to the American people to get interest rates down. That's the only thing he's good for. Powell told the Economic Club of Chicago this week that Trump's tariffs are likely to cause higher inflation, at least temporarily. That's a big reason the Fed is taking its time in cutting rates. Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington. A gunman opened fire at a

Florida State University Thursday, killing two people and injuring five others. Police say a suspect identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Eichner was injured by officers and taken into custody. Leon Kerney's sheriff, Walter McNeil, says Eichner is the son of a county law enforcement official. Our deputy, Deputy Eichner has been with the Leon County Sheriff's Office for over 18 years. She has a tremendous job that she's done. Her service to this community has been exceptional. Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.

The shootings occurred Thursday morning at FSU's main campus in Tallahassee. The university has canceled all events there through Sunday. This is NPR. The U.S. Supreme Court is delaying its ruling on President Trump's claim that the Constitution does not automatically guarantee citizenship for everyone born in the United States. Lower courts have blocked Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship for people whose parents are in the U.S. illegally. The high court justices plan to hear arguments on the matter

at a hearing scheduled for May 15th. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with European officials in Paris Thursday. They were discussing efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, Rubio also spoke with his Russian counterpart by phone. According to the State Department, Rubio told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov the

same message he's been communicating to the Ukrainian delegation in Paris. That is, that President Trump wants this war to end. Here's State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. And now the civilized world waits to see if Russia is indeed serious. She says Rubio is in Paris along with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, just days before a deadly Russian missile strike on Ukraine on Palm Sunday. That strike has added urgency to the Trump administration's peace efforts.

Michelle Kellerman and PR News, the State Department. Officials in Belize say a U.S. citizen was killed there Thursday while trying to hijack a small plane carrying 16 people using a knife. Authorities say the suspect allegedly stabbed three people before a passenger fatally shot him. No word on the suspect's hometown in the U.S. or a possible motive. This is NPR News.