NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-02-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

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When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Throughline podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Throughline, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Throughline podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The U.S. economy is coming off a month of slower job creation. The Labor Department is reporting an increase of 177,000 jobs in April, lower than the month before, which was revised downward. As President Trump's tariffs and government funding cuts weigh on the public, however, the labor market continues to show resilience. The unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent. The administration closed a little

known trade loophole that had enabled shoppers to buy sharply discounted Chinese goods. The de minimis provision allowed shipments valued under $800 to enter the U.S. without customs inspections and duty freight. Aaron Rubin, founder of the warehouse management system Ship Hero, describes what today's action means for the platforms like Shien and Temu that sell discounted Chinese goods directly to American shoppers. There'll be some delays.

It's not gonna be as easy as it's been where you could typically expect your items from Temu and Shien to be a little bit slower than your Amazon packages, but still get there consistently in about a week. Now there's gonna be more variability where some of your packages might sit for several weeks because the customs process is more complicated with this change. As we begin to wind down a week of analysis over the first 100 days of Trump 2.0, we turn

to Wisconsin. Many conservatives in the swing state who voted for President Trump say they're on board with his rapid efforts on immigration and the economy. For Member station WWWM, Maayan Silver has more. 48 year old Rebecca Smith is a Trump voter from Milwaukee who says the border was like quote Swiss cheese under former president Joe Biden. She appreciates Trump's efforts there even though she says she realizes detentions and deportations upend people's lives. You could say it seems really cruel, but at the same time, wasn't it really cruel when we had an open border and just let all these people in? 87% of Republicans approve of how the president is

handling immigration, according to the latest NPR, PBS News Marist poll. That compares to a 44% approval rating for Trump on immigration among voters overall. For NPR News, I'm Ayaan Silver in Milwaukee. The Justice Department is suing a handful of states over their efforts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for damages from climate change. More from NPR's Michael Copley. The Justice Department is suing New York and Vermont over laws that are aimed at holding fossil fuel companies responsible for damages from more extreme storms and heatwaves. The department is also suing Hawaii and Michigan to stop them from suing fossil fuel companies

for allegedly misleading the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. The Justice Department says climate pollution is a national and global issue, and that states are exceeding their authority. An environmental coalition called Make Polluters Pay says the Justice Department lawsuits are politically motivated. The Supreme Court has already refused to halt climate lawsuits filed against the fossil fuel industry by various states and localities. Michael Copley, NPR News. From Washington, this is NPR.

This is NPR. A massive crowd, possibly exceeding 300,000, is on an annual religious journey in Taiwan. They're carrying the statue of a revered local deity from one temple to another. NPR's Emily Fang reports, the vast numbers of pilgrims are traveling a route that they believe is dictated by the gods. The sea goddess Mazu is worshipped across Taiwan and in parts of southern China. And this annual pilgrimage is meant to bring one of her likenesses by palanquin to one of her temples in the island's Miao Li County. The journey takes hundreds of thousands of pilgrims as long as 10 days to finish, but

has been completed in under three days in some years. Because the precise route the parade with the mazu statue will take is determined by fortune tellers bearing her palanquin who divine which roads to walk while the faithful set off fireworks. The pilgrims following behind mazu will often sleep outdoors on the side of the road or in homes offered by generous passerby and begin walking again the next day. Emily Fang and Pure News. Some of the world's fastest horses and their jockeys are preparing for tomorrow night's Kentucky Derby, the first of the Triple Crown races.

Here's Louisville Public Media's Amina Elahi. Nineteen horses, two minutes, one and a quarter miles. Every year, the high-speed race on dirt track draws droves of revelers and betters to the historic Churchill Downs race track. Journalism, a three-year-old Bay Colt is considered the favorite this year following a recent string of consecutive victories. For the second year in a row the race will feature a five million dollar purse paid out to the top five finishers. For NPR News, I'm Amina Elahi in Louisville. It's NPR.

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