NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-02-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

NPR News: 05-02-2025 9AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. The Labor Department has released its jobs data for April. It says U.S. employers added 177,000 new jobs last month. That's fewer new jobs than were created in March, but it's a larger number than economists had forecast. The April data show the labor market has not slowed down significantly, even though there are indications President Trump's new tariffs are starting to affect the job market. The Trump administration is ending a duty-free exemption on low-value imports from China

starting today. That includes sites like Xi and Ertemu. And here's Emily Fang says the move will make those goods much more expensive for American consumers. There has been pressure since the Biden administration to end what's called the de minimis loophole, meaning packages under $800 were not charged an import fee. More than one billion of these packages now come to the U.S. a year, mostly from China, a more than six-fold increase from the last decade. The Trump administration says it's now going to charge customs duties

on packages from China in order to combat fentanyl trafficking and to collect revenue for the government. American consumers are now sharing screenshots of the new import cost estimates they're getting on Tomo, which in most cases double or even triple the cost of their purchases from China. And trade logistics companies are warning of massive delays in shipping in the coming weeks. Emily Fang and Peer News, Washington. companies are warning of massive delays in shipping in the coming weeks. Emily Feng, NPR News, Washington. President Trump is set to propose a summary of his

budget to Congress. NPR has learned he'll propose 163 billion dollars in spending cuts. These cuts will be targeted at discretionary spending that does not involve defense spending. The budget summary will be released later today. It's sometimes called a skinny budget. It does not include federal spending on safety nets such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Presidents often release a skinny budget proposal followed later by the traditional full budget proposal that includes all spending and revenue projections.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico says it has filed 82 criminal charges against people who were apprehended while crossing through a newly created military zone. It's along the southern U.S. border. For Member Station KJZZ, Alisa Resnick has more. Alisa Resnick, KJZZ Member Station KJZZ A presidential memo transferred more than 170 miles of public land in New Mexico to the Department of Defense in April. Additional acreage was also transferred to the military by the Department of Interior. The moves essentially extend Arizona's Fort Huachuca across state lines and allow U.S.

military personnel to participate in immigration enforcement by temporarily detaining people. Those charged under the code face a maximum penalty of a year in prison. The federal government contends the military extension will help border patrol agents better control the border, while rights groups say it will erode constitutional protections against military activity on U.S. soil. For NPR News, I'm Alisa Resnick in Tucson. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Aid agencies are warning mass starvation is imminent in Gaza.

Hisham Mahanat is with the International Committee of the Red Cross. If the humanitarian aid is not resumed within the following few weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross will not be able to maintain its humanitarian response. Activities and programs like the Community Kitchen that provide hot meals for thousands of families every day. Nearly the only one meal that these families and these children have will not be able to continue working. He spoke to the BBC. Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, best known for her 90s hit, I Kissed a Girl, died yesterday. In a statement, a spokesperson says she died in a house fire outside Minneapolis.

NPR's Amy Held reports Sobue was 66 years old. It was 1995 and a song like none before was climbing the charts. I Kissed a Girl is considered the first openly gay-themed song to break into the Billboard Top 20. Sobue told NPR's Ask Me Another in 2018 the label wanted it to be a goofy novelty. They wanted to take away the queerness of it. But it made an impact. Still to this day, I get people who are saying that song meant a lot to me growing up in Alabama and I wanted a song like that when I wish there would have been when I was a

kid. With the sardonically aspirational supermodel from Clueless, Sobule called herself a two-hit wonder. Sobue continued to record and perform with biting takes on politics and culture. Amy Held, NPR News. On Wall Street and pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. I'm Korva Kuhlmann, NPR News.