NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-08-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: May 9, 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 in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A crowd in St. Peter's Square erupting in cheers today as they got their first view of the new pope. Chicago-born missionary Robert

Pravos becoming the first ever American pontiff to lead the 1.4 billion member Catholic Church. Prevost will go by Pope Leo XIV, spoken Italian, as heard here through an interpreter as he succeeds the late Pope Francis. Help us and all others to build bridges with dialogue, with meeting, to be one common common people living always in peace. Thank you to Pope Francis. The 69-year-old Prevost is viewed by many as a compromise between the conservative and the more liberal factions of the Catholic Church. Catholics, meanwhile, across the world gathered at churches to share in the news of their new pontiff in Mexico, one of the most Catholic countries in the world, Pope Leo XIV's fondness for Latin America was received with joy. In Mexico City, all the bells at the Metropolitan Cathedral rang just after white smoke rose

above St. Peter's Square. Faithful gathered in front of screens, and when the American Cardinal Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, there was surprise and then the giant organ began to play. Sixty-one year old Josefina Contreras was shaking with emotion. The Lord did not punish us, she said. The new pope spoke in Spanish, he cares about Latin America, and he will stand up to President Trump, she said. That last bit could not be independently verified. Adr Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates now says he'll donate the bulk of his fortune, the remaining 99 percent of his money, to his Gates Foundation. That's an amount currently worth an estimated $107 billion. In an interview with NPR's All Things Considered, Gates also explained the timing of the announcement. My decision came after thinking about this for several years, and it's really timed with the year I turned 70 and our 25th anniversary. And so it's kind of strange that here we are in the middle of a global health emergency where the U.S. made gigantic abrupt cuts and some of the European countries are also making cuts. Gates says the foundation will wind down in 2045 earlier than previously planned.

Gates Foundation is an NPR supporter. The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to allow an end to humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from four countries, potentially setting them up for deportation. The emergency appeal filed today calling it justice to hold a lower court decision keeping in place legal protections for more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. This is NPR. A federal court has ruled Alabama cannot use a congressional district map. It says intentionally discriminates against black voters. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports the ruling comes in

an ongoing voting rights case that resulted in the state getting a second black member of Congress. A panel of three federal judges says the Alabama legislature intentionally drew its congressional district map to dilute black voting strength, which is unconstitutional and violates the Voting Rights Act. The court enjoined the state from using the map in future elections. The ruling comes in a lawsuit that made it to the US Supreme Court, which agreed that Alabama's congressional map was discriminatory in a state where African Americans make up lawsuit that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed that Alabama's congressional map was discriminatory in a state where African Americans make up about a quarter of the population.

Black voters who sued called the ruling a testament to the persistence of generations of black Alabamians who pursued political equality at great cost. Debbie Elliott, NPR News. The Trump administration now says it's proposing a multi-billion dollar overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system. That follows a number of recent incidents including major problems at Newark Airport this week. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said today the plan would call for six new air traffic

control centers along with technology and communications upgrades at all of the nation's air traffic facilities over the next several years. Price tag for the project was not immediately revealed. Stocks gained ground on Wall Street today. The Dow is up 254 points. The NASDAQ rose 189 points. The S&P 500 gained 32 points today. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.