NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-30-2026 3AM EDT

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

NPR News: 04-30-2026 3AM EDTSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Jail Snyder. The Pentagon says the Iran War has cost $25 billion so far. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports on Defense Secretary Pete Hegsess testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Hegseh was defending the administration's proposed $1.45 trillion defense budget with a focus on rebuilding U.S. military industry. But it's the first time he's appeared under oath since the Iran War started. And Democrat Adam Smith asked why. President Trump ordered the attack after claiming to have destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons program last year.

Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated. Underground, they're buried and are watching them 24-7. We had to start this war, you just said, 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat. Now you're saying that it was completely obliterated? They had not given up their nuclear ambitions. Higgs has said the biggest adversaries are Democrats and some Republicans who, were criticizing the war. Quill Lawrence NPR News.

The Congressional Black Caucus is pledging to fight back after the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday's ruling that strikes down a majority black congressional district in Louisiana. The CBC's chair, New York Congresswoman Yvette, is calling the ruling an outright power grab that could lead to more redistricting efforts across the country that could aid Republican efforts to retain control of the House. Jerome Powell, planning to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as Chair ends next month. Powell said Wednesday that he will stay on for an undetermined period of time, citing what he said were unprecedented legal attacks by the Trump administration. MPR. Scott Horsley.

That is unusual. Fed chairs usually walk away from the central bank when their term is done, but, you know, Powell is a staunch defender of the Fed's ability to operate independently of political pressure, and that has really been challenged during the Trump administration. The president's threatened to fire Powell. He's tried to fire another Fed governor. The Justice Department even launched a criminal investigation of Powell and his colleagues. U.S. Customs says that it expects the first of its tariff-free funds to hit on May 11th. And P.R. Salina Selyuk reports that so far only a portion of refunds are getting refunded. Companies that paid President Trump's tariffs before they got struck down by the Supreme Court

began to request refunds on April 20th. That's when U.S. Customs launched a special online process to file claims and importers have submitted claims for tens of millions of shipping. Roughly a third of those claims did not mean the technical requirements from U.S. customs. Importers can fix errors and refile. The claims that did go through and made it past another layer of disqualifications cover roughly a fifth of the shipments that the government says are due for refunds. That's as of Sunday or about a week into the process. Court records suggest that refunds are already on the way for about 3% of the shipments.

Alina Selyuk, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Washington State's governor is ordering one of the country's largest immigration detention centers to allow state health inspectors in from member station KUOW. Sarah Meises Tan has more. Washington state health officials say the facility about an hour south of Seattle has been refusing entry to inspectors for the past three years. That's despite over 3,000 complaints from detainees reporting conditions such as dirty water, contaminated food, unsanitary living conditions, and accounts of sexual assault. Here's Governor Bob Ferguson.

Washington State has a right to ensure the health and wellness of people detained within our borders, period, full stop. The center has, on average, held around 1,300 detainees on any given day. The company that owns the facility did not respond to a request for comment. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Mises Tam in Tacoma. And Louisiana, a grand jury has indicted the sheriff. of Orleans Parish and her chief financial officer on charges linked to last year's escape of 10 inmates. Officials say Sheriff Susan Hudson is facing 30 felony counts and CFO Bianca Brown is facing 20.

Louisiana's Attorney General says Sheriff Hudson did not personally open the doors for the inmates, but that she enabled the escape by refusing to comply with basic legal requirements. After spending Wednesday New York City, King Charles and Queen Camilla, or to make a few stops in Virginia today and participate in a formal farewell event with President Trump at the White House as they wrap up their four-day state visit. This is NPR.