NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-03-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

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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, I'm Dale Willman.

A ceremony marking Foreign Affairs Day turned heated on Friday as a top Trump administration official defended the dismantlement of USAID. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports that USAID's memorial wall is on display temporarily at the State Department's headquarters. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau comes from a foreign service family and he served as the Trump administration's ambassador to Mexico in the first term. But as he spoke on Foreign Affairs Day about his respect for career diplomats, an audience member shouted that USAID employees were not

treated with that same respect. Landau defended the decision to fold USAID into the State Department. Anything we're doing for promoting, using our soft power around the world, promoting these projects, should be coordinated with foreign policy. I would think as the State Department, we would recognize the value of having that. Landau laid a wreath at the USAID Memorial Wall and promised to find a permanent home for it. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. President Trump has once again threatened to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt

status. As MPS Janaki Mehta reports, this is the latest volley in a battle between the Trump administration and the world's wealthiest university. Trump first made a similar threat last month. This morning, he published a more definitive statement on Truth Social, saying, quote, Carly dollars in federal funding from Harvard if it didn't overhaul many of its campus policies. It's not yet clear if the IRS is actually moving towards taking action against Harvard. Federal law prohibits a president from directing the IRS to investigate its political enemies. Janaki Mehta, NPR News.

President Trump this week signed an order to cut federal money for PBS and NPR. Trump says the public service-oriented alternative to commercial broadcasters is politically biased. PBS President Paula Kerger says the service is needed now more than ever. There are many media organizations, some do really great work. We use the same tools,

but we're in a profoundly different business. Our business is to provide content that is educational, and there isn't a lot of content that looks like us across the spectrum. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting meanwhile says Congress controls its funding not the White House. President Trump is also slashing the Environmental Protection Agency. Staffing cuts will especially affect the agency's Office of Research and Development which provides scientific analysis for policymakers on the risks of air pollution, chemicals, and other environmental dangers. Administrator Lee

Zeldin says the cuts will save about $300 million a year. Stocks finished higher on Wall Street to end the week. The Dow gained 564 points, finishing up more than one and a quarter percent. This is NPR News. Minecraft is a popular video game and now movie and it's also helping science. MPR's Regina Barber reports on how researchers are using the game to study how people learn. In the past, psychologists studied two modes of learning separately. You were either learning on your own or from another person. But cognitive scientist Charlie Wu and his team wanted to look at how these modes of learning interacted with each other.

Wu and his team created scenarios with the video game Minecraft for over 100 participants. These scenarios had rewards clustered or randomly distributed, and this distribution altered how much players had to interact with others. This study found that the most successful players were the most adaptive, switching between individual mining and using social learning when the situation called for it. The findings were a new way to look at learning, and using Minecraft to do so was also unique. Wu and his team published this study in the journal Nature Communications. Regina Barber, NPR News. You know, the airline says it's canceling about 10% of its flights leaving Newark Airport

in New Jersey starting this weekend. The airline was forced to delay, cancel or divert hundreds of flights this week because of issues with air traffic control there. The FAA is about 3,500 controllers short of its targeted staffing levels. Equipment problems also added to the difficulties. Two employees of a Southern California technical College were shot on campus on Friday. Authorities say the shooting is related to workplace violence. One of the two women who were shot is listed in critical condition at an area hospital.

The suspect is believed to be a former employee. The school went on lockdown for at least an hour after the incident. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.