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Episode Date: May 1, 2025

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Hey, it's Aisha Harris from Pop Culture Happy Hour. If you love NPR podcasts, you'll want the new NPR Plus podcast bundle. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat selection of NPR Plus podcasts with sponsor-free listening and bonus episodes. Plus, you'll be supporting public radio. Check it out at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. In her first public remarks since leaving office, former Vice President Kamala Harris

urged Americans to organize. Harris told a crowd in San Francisco last night that the country is witnessing the realization of a Republican agenda that has been decades in the making. She says that includes ending public education, slashing government spending, and giving tax breaks to the rich while leaving everyone else to fend for themselves. You are not alone, and we are all in this together. And straight talk, things are probably going to get worse

before they get better. Harris' American ideals are being abandoned and that the nation's system of checks and balances is crumbling. The Department of Homeland Security plans to increase deportations over the next 100 days. Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin says DHS is already delivering on President Trump's promise to halt illegal border crossings.

In an interview with NPR's Michelle Martin, McLaughlin also said the agency conducts internal investigations to ensure that more U.S. citizens are not being removed from the country illegally. The nation's gross domestic product shrank at an annual rate of three-tenths of a percent during the first three months of the year. Details from NPR's Scott Horsley. That drop was largely driven by a surge of imports as businesses and consumers raced to stock up before the president's tariffs took effect. Imports are a negative for GDP. Personal spending, which is the biggest driver of economic activity, grew less than half as fast as

during the previous quarter. Other economic scorecards are also flashing warning signs. The S&P 500 index is down sharply since Inauguration Day, and consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington. President Trump blames the declining gross domestic product on Joe Biden. Trump also says global tariffs will not spark a recession, but does acknowledge that some Americans will have to deal with lower inventories and higher costs. Trump says it means some kids will have just $2 instead of $30, citing his stiff tariffs on goods imported from China. Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court appear open to allowing publicly-affunded religious

charter schools. NPR's Nina Totenberg says a test case from Oklahoma could transform public education. On one side of the case are two Catholic diocese in Oklahoma. Representing them is lawyer James Campbell. You can't create a public program and then just simply say that no religious organization can apply. On the other side is the state's Republican Attorney General, Gantner Drummond. Gantner Drummond, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of

Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of

Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S The United States and Ukraine have signed an agreement to share rare minerals. Under the deal, Ukraine will give the U.S. access to its minerals and natural resources in exchange for continued U.S. support for its war with Russia.

Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says the deal is a message to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process that will last. More than 100 people are facing eviction from homeless camps on public land in central Oregon. The U.S. Forest Service is expected to close an encampment in Deschutes National Forest near Bend today to make way for wildlife mitigation treatment. Nominations for the 69th Annual Drama Desk Awards

have been announced. The awards are given out a week before the Tonys and do not distinguish between work on or off Broadway. As Jeff London reports, some New York theater insiders think that they can sometimes predict the winners. The nominators showed love to musicals about robots and cartoon characters. Maybe happy ending the robot love story received nine nominations while Boop, a show about the famous black and white cartoon character come to life, received eleven.

Revivals of Gypsy and Sunset Boulevard got seven apiece. Two Tony Award favorites, Dead Outlaw and Buena Vista Social Club didn't make this year's ballots because they were nominated for their off-Broadway runs last year. The former was named Outstanding Musical. The Drama Desk Awards will be presented on June 1st. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. US futures are higher in after-hours trading. This is NPR News. Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it. And it all comes really This is NPR News.