NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-19-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: April 19, 2025

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When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Throughline podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Throughline, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Throughline podcast from NPR. Janine Hurst Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Early this morning, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration not to deport a group of Venezuelan men held in North Texas under an 18th century wartime law for now. The administration alleges the men are gang members. The ACLU sued, saying the men have a right to have their cases heard in court. Today's high court action follows an April 7th decision

in which the court made it clear that any people the government wants to deport under the Alien Enemies Act needs to be given the chance to challenge the decision. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return a Tufts University student to New England. Ramesa Ozturk was stripped of her visa and arrested last month over her pro-Palestinian activism. And here's Adrienne Florido has more. A. Ice agents detained Ozturk outside Boston and quickly moved her to New Hampshire and then Vermont before flying her to Louisiana. They did that despite a Massachusetts judge's emergency order that she be kept in the state so she could challenge her detention there. The case is now being heard by a federal

court in Vermont. Judge William Sessions ruled that because ICE ignored that initial order not to move Osturk, it must now return her to Vermont by May 1. He wrote that not requiring that would turn judicial authority into a mockery. Once Osturk is back in Vermont, he said he will decide whether she should also be freed from detention while she fights her deportation. Adriene Flaherty, NPR News. Across the U.S. today, hundreds of rallies and actions are taking place protesting the Trump administration, including in Lexington, Kentucky, where around 1,000 people gathered

this afternoon. John McGarry of Member Station WEKU has more. The rally was titled, No Kings Then, No Kings Now. The courthouse square in downtown Lexington was filled with people carrying signs calling actions by the Trump administration both illegal and unconstitutional. Penny Gibson was among the protesters. I'm very upset with what's going on. I'm a boomer and I thought we had gotten everything all fixed up and now look at this. Look where we are now.

The rally was the third here in the last five weeks. Gibson said she believes the protests are making a difference. She cited a report of a local teacher saying kids are suddenly interested in their civics classes. For NPR News, I'm John McGarry in Lexington, Kentucky. Today is the 30th anniversary of the deadliest homegrown terror attack in the U.S., the Oklahoma City bombing, when a truck bomb exploded, destroying a nine-story federal building and killing 168 people, 19 of them children.

At a ceremony honoring the victims today, former President Bill Clinton warned people about the polarizing nature of modern-day politics. If our lives are gonna be dominated by the effort to dominate people we disagree with, we're gonna put the 250-year-old march toward a more perfect union at risk. He says today in his presidency, he won't forget. You're listening to NPR News. The patriarchs and church leaders in Jerusalem have issued an Easter message calling for peace in the region. Empires Jason DeRose has more. Church leaders in the Holy Land write that despite the quote, present darkness that engulfs

the region, they're proclaiming a message of life and hope. The letter draws particular attention to the two churches in Gaza at which hundreds of Palestinians have taken refuge over the last year and a half, Holy Family Catholic Church and St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church. It also says church leaders stand in solidarity with the staff of the Anglican-run Ali Arab Hospital in Gaza who continue to care for the sick and wounded despite bombardment from Israeli troops. They call on all Christians to work for a just and lasting peace that extends, quote, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Jason DeRose, NPR News. In central London, thousands of trans-right protesters gathered today to rally. Days after

the UK Supreme Court ruled that a woman is a person born biologically female and that transgender women are excluded from that legal definition. Protesters came together for what was billed as an emergency demonstration in Parliament Square. Trans groups are worried that Wednesday's landmark decision would undermine their rights, even though the UK's highest court said transgender people remain protected from discrimination. The head of the country's Equality and Human Rights Commission says the ruling means transgender women will be excluded from women's restrooms, hospital wards, and sports teams. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.