NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-24-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

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This is out of her glass. In Lily's family, there's a story everybody knows by heart. If this story had never happened. All of us wouldn't be here right now. Sammy wouldn't be here. Nina wouldn't be here. Wally wouldn't be here. Anyone that we know wouldn't be here.

So what happens when Lily's mom tells her this story is not true? This American Life, surprising stories every week. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funds to jurisdictions that limit police cooperation with immigration authorities. As NPR's Jasmine Garz reports, the judge says the order is unconstitutional. In the order, signed on his first day in office, President Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal

funds from sanctuary cities. This injunction was requested by San Francisco and over a dozen other municipalities in California, Oregon, Connecticut, and New Mexico. It temporarily bars the administration from taking any action to withhold or condition federal funds. In 2017, during the prior administration, a similar executive order was also found unconstitutional. The administration must notify all federal departments of this order by next Monday. Jasmine Garst, NPR News, New York. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says Russia poses a long-term threat to members of the

alliance. He was in Washington today for talks on peace in Ukraine. After a meeting with President Trump, Rutte told reporters he doesn't see the U.S. walking away from the peace process, but that he cannot predict how Vladimir Putin will respond. I worked with him for four years between 2010 and 2014. I stopped trying to read his mind. We'll see. But there is something on the table now, I think, where the Ukrainians are really playing

ball and I think the ball is clearly in the Russian court now. Ukraine's president has rejected a U.S. proposal that would require it to give up land already seized by Russia and to stay out of NATO. Existing home sales in the U.S. dropped in March down nearly 6 percent from a month earlier. As NPR's Laura Walmsley reports, it's a sign that the spring housing market is slumping. Seasonally adjusted, the drop in existing home sales was the largest month-over-month decline since November 2022. And it throws cold water on the idea that this would be the spring the housing market

would recover, after two extremely slow years. Economists point to high mortgage rates as the culprit. Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are now about 6.8 percent, having risen in recent weeks as President Trump's tariff threats roiled the bond markets that influence mortgage rates. Prices are still climbing, though more slowly than before. The median existing home sales price in March was about $404,000. Sales of new homes, meanwhile, ticked higher last month, up 7% from February. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington.

And Wall Street stocks closed higher with the Dow Jones industrials gaining 486 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 457 points and the S&P 500 added 108. This is NPR. The Trump administration is restoring funding for a women's health study. The money was cut because the National Institutes of Health, which funds the study, had not met an executive order to reduce spending on contracts and grants and to cut jobs by at least 35 percent. Tesla's formerly proprietary charging system is becoming more widely adopted, a change that's rolling out in phases.

Kia drivers, for example, can now use Tesla's large supercharger network. Details from NPR's Kamila Dominovski. Lots of companies are building electric vehicle chargers, but Tesla has a commanding lead with the most chargers and the best reliability ratings. Every major EV maker in the US has embraced Tesla's tech. Kia is the latest to actually get access to Tesla's network after some delays. Owners of existing vehicles will need an adapter.

Future vehicles will come with a Tesla charging port built in. Kia says that getting access to superchargers nearly doubles the number of DC fast chargers, the kind you might use on a road trip, that Kia drivers can use. Camila Domenoski, NPR News. A labor rights group is suing Starbucks, alleging the company has obtained coffee from Brazilian farms that are accused of keeping workers in slave-like conditions. International rights advocates filed the lawsuit

in Washington on behalf of eight Brazilian farm workers. The plaintiffs accused Starbucks of violating trafficking laws by repeatedly sourcing coffee from a farm cooperative that the Brazilian government has cited for labor violations. Starbucks says the claims are without merit. This is NPR News. If buying a home feels out of reach, you might have more options than you think. says the claims are without merit. This is NPR News.