NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-15-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

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Tariffs, recessions, how Colombian drug cartels gave us blueberries all year long. That's the kind of thing the Planet Money podcast explains. I'm Sarah Gonzalez and on Planet Money, we help you understand the economy and how things all around you came to be the way they are. Para que sepas. So you know. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Cora Ba-Coleman. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments over an executive order signed by President Trump. The president is seeking to overturn birthright citizenship for some Americans. But the Supreme Court is being asked to focus on a technical argument.

That's whether lower federal court judges should be allowed to block any of Trump's executive orders by nationwide injunction. Amanda Frost is a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. She says Trump seeks to expand presidential power. The hallmark of the Trump presidency is the power to unilaterally change law. He's done it across many different areas, not just immigration, although immigration particularly. And I would say this birthright citizenship executive order, purporting to end a constitutional right that has been protected and long recognized for over a century by every branch of government, epitomizes that approach to law.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide by summer. Representatives of Ukraine and Russia are in Turkey. They're supposed to hold the first direct talks since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. NPR's Joanna Kikissus reports the Kremlin says Russian President Putin won't attend the talks. Putin had suggested direct talks and at one point President Trump said he might join too. But only one leader, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is in Turkey today. He spoke to reporters in Ankara after learning the Kremlin was sending technocrats to the

talks. Zelensky explained what he's considering before sending his own delegation. Zelensky said, we need to understand the level of the Russian delegation, what their mandate is and whether they are capable of making any decisions on their own because we all know who makes the decisions in Russia," he said, referring to Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also in Turkey and could attend talks in Istanbul. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kiev. California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed rolling back state health insurance benefits for adult immigrants who do not have legal status. CAP radio's Laura Fitzgerald reports the shift comes as California faces a 12 billion dollar

deficit. In 2024, California began allowing adult immigrants without legal status to enroll in Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. But more people signed up for benefits than expected. And with the state facing a budget shortfall, Newsom is now proposing the state-free Medi-Cal enrollment for adults without legal status. I don't want to be in this position but we are in this position. And instead of rolling back the program, meaning cutting people off for basic care, we have to adjust the comprehensive nature of the care. The proposal would still allow children without legal status to have access to Medi-Cal. Democrats in the state legislature are expected to push back on Newsom's proposal during the

final month of budget negotiations. A final budget will be adopted in mid-June. For NPR News, I'm Laura Fitzgerald in Sacramento. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 60 points. This is NPR. President Trump is on his Mideast trip. He's arrived at his last destination, the United Arab Emirates. He began the day in Qatar.

That's where Trump helped announce new business deals. That included the Qatari government's decision to place a huge order with U.S. aircraft maker Boeing worth about $96 billion. Last year, the U.S. saw the largest drop in fatal drug overdoses ever recorded. A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found drug deaths plummeted 27 percent, saving tens of thousands of lives. NPR's Brian Mann reports. Drug researchers are still scrambling to understand why fatal overdoses are dropping so fast. Most experts say it's a mix of better health care developed under the Biden administration,

weaker fentanyl being sold on American streets, and the high number of drug users who've already died. In a brief statement, the CDC called the drop remarkable and attributed the shift to policies that began in 2017 when President Trump declared an opioid emergency during his first term. But drug deaths rose dramatically after 2017 and continued to rise through 2023, when fatalities began to drop.

Fatal overdoses are still far higher in the U.S. than other countries, with roughly 80,300 deaths reported in 2024. Brian Mann, NPR News. Missouri state lawmakers have voted to again put the issue of abortion to voters. Just last year, Missouri voters approved an abortion rights amendment, but Missouri Republicans are seeking to overturn that and ban nearly all abortions. The vote by the lawmakers means the issue will be back on Missouri ballots likely late next year.

This is NPR. Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. This is NPR.