NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-23-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

NPR News: 04-23-2025 1PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On this week's Wild Card podcast, Brett Goldstein says even though his shows Ted Lasso and Shrinking get emotional, he doesn't. I'm a crybaby. I guess I thought you might be like a closet crier. No. I mean, I write all this stuff because then I don't have to live it. Whoa. She's like, I got him.

I'm Rachel Martin. Brett Goldstein is on Wild Card, the show where cards control the conversation. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration is shutting down data collection for a landmark federally funded study about women's health. Here's NPR's Rob Stein. The Health and Human Services Department is cutting off funding for all the centers that have been collecting data

about tens of thousands of women who have been participating in the Women's Health Initiative for decades. The project has produced a series of landmark discoveries about women's health, including the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women. Scientists say the decision cuts off crucial research at a time when the nation needs to study older women and chronic disease more than ever. Rob Stein in PR News. Elan Musk, the architect of the federal government shrinking entity known as DOGE, told investors in his Tesla company last night that he plans to spend less time helping President Trump

next month. And Piers Kamila Domomenosky with more. He said that he would be stepping back somewhat from Doge, but he did not frame that as a response to the criticism of his work there. He said that it was simply that the bulk of the work setting up the entity was done already. Musk also said he still expects to spend one to two days a week on government work, saying that it's important to fight waste and fraud in government. NPR's Camila Domenosky. For three days, the public will be able to pay their final respects

to Pope Francis. He died Easter Monday at the age of 88. NPR's Ruth Sherlock says the pontiff's body lies in state at St. Peter's Basilica. Ruth Sherlock Francis is lying in a single wooden casket rather than the three nested coffins that's been traditional of previous Pope burials. And the coffin at St. Peter's Basilica is facing the church pews at ground level, not raised up. And this is typical of his papacy,

of trying to keep a little of the ordinary even in this very extraordinary job. NPR's Ruth Sherlock, the day before his death, Pope Francis granted an audience with visiting Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. The meeting lasted only a few minutes. Vance is echoing what Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said about Russia and Ukraine negotiations.

If the two countries cannot reach an agreement, it might be time for the U.S. to walk away. And Piers Dipa Shivaram has more. Vance is traveling in India with his family. He told reporters it's time for Russia and Ukraine to say yes to the proposal to end the war. We're going to see if the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line. Vance said parties have been negotiating in good faith, but now it's time to take the final step

toward a diplomatic agreement and long-term peace. He says both Russia and Ukraine will have to give up some of their current territory in the process. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. The Dow is up more than 600 points, or roughly 1.5%. It's NPR News. The ongoing security instability in Haiti is now prompting a global hotel chain to shut down in that country. Reuters reports that

Marriott has decided to shutter its site in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Cited is the head of Digicel Haiti saying the decision is based on the ongoing insecurity in the country. Marriott launched its Port-au-Prince location a decade ago. However, in recent years, critical services across the country, especially in the Haitian capital, have been significantly compromised or collapsed as a result of gang warfare and control. Around the world, coral reefs are suffering from the worst bleaching event on record. NPR's Jacob Fenston tells us 84% of the planet's reefs are affected from Florida to Fiji.

Coral reefs are intricate and important ecosystems, brightly colored due to algae living symbiotically inside them. But when oceans are too warm, the algae release toxins, causing the coral to kick them out, turning reefs white. Last year was the Earth's hottest on record, driven by the burning of fossil fuels. According to the International Coral Reef Initiative, the current bleaching event started in early 2023, and it's unknown when it will end. Coral can recover from bleaching if ocean temperatures drop soon enough, but bleaching is often deadly. In 2005, the U.S. lost half its reefs in the Caribbean due to a mass bleaching event. Coral reefs are valuable, protecting shorelines from erosion and sustaining fishing

and tourism industries worth billions of dollars. Jacob Fen Singh, NPR News.