NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-02-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

NPR News: 05-02-2025 8PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. The NPR Politics podcast makes politics a breeze. Every episode will break down the day's headlines into totally normal language and make sure that you walk away understanding what the day's news might mean for you. Take a deep breath and give politics another chance with the NPR Politics podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. College leaders are responding to President Trump's repeated threats to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status. As Kirk Harrapezza of Member Station GBH reports, on social media today, Trump resurfaced the idea, saying it's

what they deserve. To be clear, the president does not have the authority to single-handedly revoke an organization's tax-exempt status. But Katherine Bond-Hill, the former president of Vassar College, says Trump's threat shows that some policymakers have lost sight of colleges' service to the public good. They do this through research, groundbreaking research, but also through educating undergraduates and graduate students that add to our country's pool of human capital. Hill says some of Trump's criticisms of Harvard and higher ed in general are valid and schools

need to address them. Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment. For NPR News, I'm Kurt Carrapezza in Boston. In a statement, a Harvard spokesperson says there's no legal basis to rescind the school's tax-exempt status, which supports its educational mission. European Union regulators are finding TikTok $600 million for sending users' personal data to China. NPR's Bobbi Allen reports it's the largest ever penalty imposed under EU digital privacy laws.

Regulators in Europe say TikTok has weak safeguards in place to protect millions of users across the 27 nation block from having their sensitive data sent to Beijing. The $600 million fine came under the EU's general data protection regulation. TikTok responded by saying the EU is focused on a select period before new data safety measures were enacted. TikTok says it has never sent Europeans data to Chinese officials. The crackdown in Europe comes as TikTok's future in the U.S. remains uncertain. The video app is now banned under federal law, but the Trump administration is not enforcing

it, and instead is pushing for a deal that would have American investors take over TikTok's U.S. operations. Bobbi Allen, NPR News. Bobbi Allen, NPR News. Employers added slightly fewer jobs in April, but still more than analysts were expecting. The Labor Department says employers added 177,000 jobs last month. This says President Trump's trade war started to weigh on the wider economy. NPR's Scott Horsley has more on where the jobs are. Some of the jobs are coming in industries that are pretty well insulated from the ups and downs of the economy, like healthcare.

That saw the biggest job gains last month. And, you know, hospitals are generally pretty recession-proof. But restaurants and bars are not recession-proof, and they also added about 17,000 jobs in April. That was not a given, especially after we got some worrisome reports this week about a drop in U.S. sales at restaurants like McDonald's and Domino's Pizza. NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. Wall Street higher by the closing bell. The Dow up 564. The NASDAQ up 266. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

A research team has developed a new approach they say could one day lead to a universal anti-venom against venomous snakes. And here's Ari Daniel has more. Many snake species produce venoms that can be harmful or deadly to humans, but they don't all work the same way. Jacob Glanville, the CEO of the company Centivax, wondered about producing a universal antivenom by finding a person who'd been exposed

to lots of different venoms. He eventually found someone who'd been bitten some 200 times. If anybody has broken through the problem of getting the immune system to focus, it's this guy. Glanville scoured this man's blood for antibodies that neutralized multiple venoms. And when he and his team combined two of the best ones, along with another molecule, the result offered mice complete protection against multiple species of venomous snakes from all over the world.

Soon, the researchers plan to expand their coverage to include Vipers. Ari Daniel, NPR News. Amid tariff uncertainty, more gamers are facing price hikes, including Microsoft, which is raising prices on its Xbox consoles and controllers. The Xbox Series S rose $80 to just under $380. And the more powerful Xbox Series X is now $100 more expensive at nearly $600. The tech giant didn't mention tariffs specifically,

but it did cite wider market conditions and the rising cost of development. Also prices some of the accessories, including wireless controllers and headsets, are going up. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from NPR News from Washington.