NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-22-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has unveiled his plan to streamline a department he says has become too bloated. He's cutting 132 offices and about 700 jobs at the State Department. More from NPR's Michelle Kelliman. Spokesperson Tammy Bruce says Rubio is trying to make the State Department great again. This is a reorganization plan. It is not something where people are being fired today. No one's going to be walking out of the building. It's not that kind of a dynamic. But the department is planning about a 15 percent cut in personnel, and Rubio is abolishing

some offices that he says have become a platform for left-wing activists. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jean Jahin, says reforms must be done with care. She warns that when America retreats, China and Russia fill the void. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. More than 170 presidents of U.S. colleges and universities have signed a letter denouncing the Trump administration's actions targeting higher education institutions.

NPR's Joaquin Meadow reports. This statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities shows higher ed leaders are by and large forming a united front against the Trump administration, which in recent weeks has frozen billions of dollars in federal funding for several universities because it says they aren't doing enough to address anti-Semitism and are promoting DEI programs it considers illegal. The letter calls the Trump Administration's actions, quote, unprecedented government overreach and political interference in higher education. Those who have signed include leaders of state schools, liberal arts colleges, and private universities from Whitman College and Washington Adventist University to Princeton, Brown, and Harvard.

Janaki Mehta and PR News. The International Monetary Fund's latest forecast for global growth is projecting significant slowing with almost all the blame being laid at the doorstep of the Trump administration's terror fight with other countries. IMF chief economist Pierre-Livier Gorinches today also cited confusion over the policy. Beyond the abrupt increase in tariffs, the surge in policy uncertainty is a major driver of the economic outlook. If sustained, the increase in trade tensions and uncertainty will slow global growth significantly. The IMF now projecting global economy will grow at just a 2% rate this year, down from

the previous forecast of 3.3%. Shares of Elon Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla rose today, had a first quarter earnings and while earnings were up, revenues came in below expectations. Tesla's been facing headwinds, including a strong backlash due to Elon Musk's leadership of President Trump's Doge cost-cutting team. Tesla reported revenues of $19.34 billion. On Wall Street today, the Dow was up more than 1,000 points. You're listening to NPR.

The Vatican is reporting, Pope Francis was thankful he was able to greet throngs of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Easter. Francis died just a day later. Francis, who is recovering after being hospitalized for five weeks with pneumonia, died yesterday at the age of 88. The Vatican says the Pope will lie in state for several days with a funeral mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City this coming Saturday. Memorial Masses for Francis are being held around the world today.

Around 40% of women have dense breast tissue and it puts them at higher risk both for developing cancer and for cancer to be missed by mammograms. But MPR Juki Noguchi reports follow-up imaging can be expensive and hard to get. Mammogram results now include information about whether a patient has dense breasts, but many don't know what to do with that information or when to get a follow-up MRI. Wendy Berg, a radiologist, says MRIs can catch many more early stage cancers,

but many doctors themselves don't know what to advise patients. And so it remains incumbent on the woman herself to look at her risk factors, to talk to her doctor and say, hey, I'd like to get an MRI. Don't wait for them to recommend it to you. Berg says self-advocacy could help more women at earlier ages catch cancers so they can be treated.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. Scientists now say they think a newly discovered green comet is likely broken apart and therefore will not be visible to the naked eye. A comet named Swan comes from what's called the Oort cloud, which is well beyond Pluto. The past few weeks the space rock was visible using telescopes and binoculars but may not have survived its trip past the sun. I'm Jack Spear in PR News in Washington.