NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-21-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. In St. Peter's Square today, mourners gathered praying the rosary to remember Pope Francis, who died this morning following a stroke and heart failure at the age of 88. Just yesterday, he celebrated Easter with an appearance and blessings from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica before riding in the open-air Pope-mobile through the crowd. And Frances, the first Latin American pope, is being remembered by that community. From member station WUNC, Erin Sanchez-Guerra has more. Atziri Lopez is a lifelong Catholic from rural Johnston County, North Carolina.

She says the world's first Latino pope grew her faith. It's just easier for the message to get to your heart. You know, instead of hearing it from a translator or, you know, just as soon as I heard him speak, it would just strike my heart right away, like, and I would just want to cry and just be, just feel a sense of happiness and hope for the future. Lopez says she'll honor Pope Francis through spreading the love of God with

humility in the unique way that the Pope did. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Sanchez-Guerra in Durham. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was challenged before the Supreme Court today, and Piercellina Simmons-Duffin has more. The case Kennedy v. Braidwood is about the ACA's rules that make preventive care evaluated by a task force fully covered by insurance companies. The case was brought by a group of Christian business owners in Texas who asserted that having to cover things like contraception and PrEP, which prevents HIV infections, violates their religious freedom. Public health experts warn a ruling that rolls back free preventive care could

cause more Americans to get sick and even die. The oral arguments on Monday were very technical. Legal experts think the justices may uphold the law, but give the health secretary, currently Robert F. Kennedy Jr., more control over the task force. Salina Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. Wall Street plunged again today as President Trump renewed his attacks on the Fed for not cutting interest rates. And pure Scott Horsley reports.

President Trump described the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, as a, quote, major loser and warned of an economic slowdown unless the central bank cuts interest rates. Trump complained last week that the Fed is falling behind, noting that the European central bank has cut rates seven times in the last year. Europe, unlike the United States, has not imposed steep tariffs on all imported products. Powell has warned that Trump's tariffs are likely to cause at least a temporary jump in US inflation, which has made the Fed skittish about cutting rates.

The dust-up has investors worried, adding pressure to a sell-off in the stock market. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. And by the close, the Dow was down 971 points, NASDAQ down 415. This is NPR News. The Environmental Protection Agency is considering changes to how it tracks carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. And Pierce Rebecca Herscher reports those gases are the main cause of climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency currently requires thousands of factories and other

industrial sites to report their greenhouse gas emissions. That means tracking how much carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide those facilities release. Those gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing global warming. The information the EPA collects is the most granular and comprehensive greenhouse gas data available. Now, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says the agency is considering changing its requirements. For example, some types of industrial sites could be exempted from the reporting rules. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.

It's a big earnings week on Wall Street with White House adviser Elon Musk's Tesla due to report earnings tomorrow. The electric carmaker says its first quarter auto sales were down 13 percent. Shares of Tesla were down 5 percent at close today. Google's parent company reports earnings on Thursday. NASA's Lucy spacecraft beamed back pictures from its latest asteroid flyby, and the photos show the asteroid is bigger than scientists thought and it's shaped like a lumpy bowling pin. Lucy came within 600 miles of the harmless asteroid this weekend in the main asteroid

belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was a dress rehearsal for the asteroid flybys to come. Lucy was launched in 2021 to study the unexplored so-called Trojan asteroids. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.