NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-13-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

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Imagine, if you will, a show from NPR that's not like NPR, a show that focuses not on the important but the stupid, which features stories about people smuggling animals in their pants and competent criminals in ridiculous science studies, and call it Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me because the good names were taken. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Yes, that is what it is called wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Twenty-seven Democratic senators have introduced a resolution to try to block the Trump administration from accepting a $400 million luxury plane from Qatar.

They'd like to see Republicans speak out as well. More from NPR's Michelle Kalman. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jean Shaheen, describes the Qatari offer as clearly illegal and corrupt and says it raises national security concerns. Air Force One is not just an airplane that flies the president around. It's also a White House in the air in that you have to have secure communications, you have to be able to refuel in case there's an emergency. President Trump says only a quote stupid person would say no to a free very expensive airplane.

Shaheen says she's heard private concerns from some of her Republican colleagues. Only Democrats have signed on to a resolution opposing this. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. The Trump administration says it's cutting an additional $450 million in grants to Harvard University. NPR's Alyssa Nadwarni reports it comes a day after the university's president refuted government allegations of extreme liberalism and anti-Semitism. In the latest escalation between the Trump administration and the world's wealthiest

university, a federal anti-Semitism task force wrote a letter telling Harvard it will lose additional grants from eight federal agencies. This comes in addition to $2.2 billion that was already frozen last month by the administration. The letter said Harvard faces, quote, steep uphill battle to reclaim academic excellence. It also said, quote, there is a dark problem on Harvard's campus and went on to say institutional leaders have forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support. University officials did not immediately provide comment on the letter. The school is suing to block the federal funding freeze. A listen ad warning, NPR News.

Prices ticked up slightly last month. The government's broadest measure of inflation, the consumer price index, rose two-tenths of a percent in April. That was in part due to lower prices for gasoline since it was muted, however, NPR's Scott Horsey says not everything is coming down. Housing costs are still going up. Electricity is more expensive. So is coming down. Housing costs are still going up, electricity is more expensive, so is car insurance.

Furniture prices jumped about 1.5% last month and that could be an early warning sign of what's to come as higher tariffs start showing up in retail prices. We didn't see a whole lot of that in the April numbers, but forecasters do think tariffs will start to push up the price of other imports in the months to come, especially for things like new cars and clothing. On Monday, the U.S. and China did agree to a 90-day pause on the triple-digit tariffs they put in place against one another's goods last month. Stocks closed mixed on Wall Street today, the Dow fell 269 points,

the NASDAQ rose 301 points. You're listening to NPR. Broadway's most recent box office numbers were released today, and the cumulative figures surpassed the pre-pandemic high with the season not yet finished. Broadway's taken in $1.8 billion in ticket sales. Reporter Jeff London says it's fueled by three big productions featuring Hollywood stars, among other factors. You could say everything's coming up roses on Broadway.

Everything's coming up roses. Or is it? In the 2018-2019 season, the last one before the pandemic, the total gross at this point was one point seven nine three billion dollars. With a few weeks to go, the total box office will almost certainly hit a record. Part of the reason was the trifecta of star-driven vehicles featuring Denzel Washington, George Clooney, and Kieran Culkin, which charged sky-high ticket prices. Their three shows accounted for 20% of the box office take. But audiences are down 3%, and production costs have risen so much that only one out of ten shows now turn a profit.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. US health officials are citing possible health risks as being behind the effort by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to phase out ingestible fluoride supplements designed to strengthen kids' teeth. The announcement runs counter to what has been a mainstay dental practice for decades. The Food and Drug Administration is promising it will conduct a scientific review of the products by late October. Critical futures prices moved higher today, oil gaining nearly 3% to 6367 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.