NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-30-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

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SHAY STEPHENS Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. President Trump held a rally near Detroit Tuesday to highlight his first 100 days in office. Alex McLennan of member station WDET has details. ALEX MCLENNAN In a roughly hour and a half long campaign-style speech, Trump told the crowd he's making good on promises, including on tariffs and immigration. He also took aim at ongoing court battles against his administration, saying the U.S. cannot allow

— Radical of judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States. — The Trump administration is facing a number of legal challenges over its handling of deportations and funding cuts and Tuesday evening a federal judge ordered the White House to restore 12 million dollars in funding to radio free Europe. For MPR News, I'm Alex McClennan in Detroit. Harvard has released two long anticipated reports on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at the university. The move comes as the Trump administration pressures elite schools to crack down on anti-Semitism or lose federal

funding. From member station GBH, Kirk Karapesza has more from Boston. The reports describe an atmosphere of hostility and fear, finding deep religious and cultural divisions on the Cambridge campus following Hamas' attack on Israel. Among the key recommendations, update admissions criteria to value students ability to engage in constructive dialogue, something that comes as a relief to Charlie Kovett, a Jewish sophomore at Harvard. The issues really start there. There also was a recognition that Harvard's DEI programming right has programming has not made any effort to include Jews and hopefully that's something that's going to change.

Both reports fund a sense of alienation among Jewish and Muslim students and the university is considering revamping orientation as well as a major initiative promoting viewpoint diversity. For NPR News, I'm Kirk Carrapezza in Boston. Thousands of Los Angeles County employees are staging a 48-hour strike to call attention to their contract talks and to demand higher pay. Lillian Cabral is a member among the members of Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union who say that the county is not negotiating in good faith. They started five days before our contract was over, then they came with us. They came to sit down with us. That's unacceptable. They know.

Picketer Kelly Jo says understaffing has left the county public health system stretched too thin. Working at County System, you are working every day with the shortest staffing and you have to improvise. You have to make it work. County officials say budget cuts, including layoffs, are needed to close a nearly one billion dollar budget shortfall. Los Angeles County cites the cost of rebuilding from the January wildfires and a multi-billion dollar settlement of a sex abuse case. This is NPR News. Canada's Liberal Party won the most votes in Monday's parliamentary election, but not the outright majority needed to pass legislation on its own. Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Carney ran on a vow to resist U.S. aggression on trade and security.

His office as Carney spoke with President Trump by phone Tuesday, and that both leaders agreed that it is important for their nations to work together. The only all-female unit to serve overseas during World War II has now been awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. NPR's Rachel Triesman has the story. Rachel Triesman The 6888, as it's called, was a mostly black all-female unit that made history by deploying to England in early 1945. Their mission was to sort through backlogs of undelivered mail for American service members. The women worked around the clock to clear some 17 million pieces of mail in just three months, half the expected time. After working in France, they returned home in 1946 without any public recognition for

decades. Congress bestowed the award and President Biden signed the law in 2022. Only two of the 855 women lived to see this medal ceremony. Rachel Triesman, NPR News. U.S. consumer confidence dropped nearly eight points last month to its lowest level since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference board says consumers are worried

about President Trump's tariffs and the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference board says consumers are worried about President Trump's tariffs and the possibility of a recession. U.S. futures are lower in after hours trading on Wall Street. On Asia Pacific markets, shares are mostly higher, but down a fraction in Shanghai. This is NPR News.