NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-30-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

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First impressions are always important. That's not just for dates or for your in-laws. At the NPR Politics Podcast, we know that first impressions are important for any presidential term, too. So all this month, we're reviewing the first 100 days of Donald Trump's second stint. What's been done, what's to come, and what might change? Politics may not always make sense, but we'll sort it out for you over on the NPR Politics Podcast. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The U.S. economy has shrunk for the first time in three years. NPR's Scott Horsley says the Commerce Department found gross domestic product fell at an annual

pace of three-tenths of a percent from January to March. This is all about the President's trade war, which has been really disruptive both around the world and here at home. Taxes on imports are now the highest they've been since at least the Great Depression. That's triggered a big sell-off in the stock market. And Americans are telling pollsters they're really pessimistic and think we could be headed for a recession. And PR Scott Horsley.

Government data show President Trump's efforts to downsize the federal government are taking an especially heavy toll on black employees. And PR's Hansi Lo Wang reports black people make up a greater share of the federal civilian workforce compared to the population as a whole. The government's latest public data from September show black people made up about a third or more of the staff at many federal agencies,

including the Departments of Education, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. Krish Marsh, a sociologist and demographer at the University of Maryland, says the data show the Trump administration's cuts are likely to hurt the Washington, D.C., suburbs in Maryland. That federal work has helped turn into the country's two wealthiest majority black counties. If you're now deciding to shrink the jobs in the federal government, you do understand that one of the consequences is going to be that you're going to be probably the jobs in the federal government, you do understand that one of the consequences is gonna be that you're gonna be probably shrinking the black middle class.

Is that by design? Or is that just like a happenstance of what's happening right now? The White House did not respond to MPR's request for comment. Hansi Luong, MPR News, Washington. A federal judge in Vermont is ordering the release of Columbia University student while his immigration case is pending.

Mohsen Madawi was arrested and detained by mass agents April 14th following a naturalization interview at an immigration office. In a petition, he argues government officials violated his First Amendment right to free speech and his right to due process. The Trump administration alleges Madawi's presence undermines its effort to combat anti-Semitism. Vietnam is marking 50 years since communist forces seized the city of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. Here's NPR's John Rewich. Following the war, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, and its streets were packed for the celebration. Chinese, Cambodian, and Lao troops took part.

Vietnamese Communist Party Chief To Lam addressed the nation. He celebrated the victory as one of justice over tyranny and said the focus now is on the future. To build a better Vietnam, he said, the country must unleash all productive forces, unlock resources and tap the potential to accelerate socioeconomic development. More than 58,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of Vietnamese died in the war. Today the two countries enjoy close relations. John Ruch, NPR News. US stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow is down more than 200 points or roughly half a percent. it's NPR News. House Republicans have unveiled sweeping changes they want to make to the federal student loan system.

NPR's Kori Turner with details. Republicans on the House Education Committee want to eliminate the PLUS loan program for grad students and cap what parents can borrow to help their kids pay for college. For low-income students, Pell Grants could be used to pay for short-term workforce training, but it would be harder to qualify for the full Pell Award. On student loans, they want to simplify the system, down to two repayment plans for new

borrowers – a standard plan with fixed monthly payments and an income-based plan with a repayment window up to 30 years. Republicans are also proposing what they're calling skin-in-the-game accountability for colleges, with schools having to reimburse the government for a share of the debt when their students don't repay their loans. Kori Turner, NPR News. Kori Turner Florida is on the verge of banning fluoride from the state's public drinking water. Governor Ron DeSantis is set to sign or veto the legislation after it won final approval

in the state legislature yesterday. The only other state that has banned fluoride in the public drinking water is Utah. The action's in line with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push against fluoride in the water that he and others have said pose a public health risk. However, many dentists and public health officials

dispute the claim. They argue that fluoride replaces minerals lost during normal wear and tear and helps prevent cavities. The Dow has fallen 180 points, sits at 40,340. The S&P is down 44 points, Nasdaq's down 201 or more than 1%.

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