NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-15-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: May 15, 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 Korova Coleman.

Representatives from Russia and Ukraine are expected to gather in Turkey today for peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived, but it's not clear that he'll join the negotiations. This is the first time the two sides may meet for talks since the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. But NPR's Charles Means reports from Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be there. There had been speculation as to whether Putin would attend the talks ever since the Russian

leader proposed them, choosing to reveal the idea to journalists in a surprise announcement over the weekend. Putin's offer came amid pressure from Western powers to agree to an immediate 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions on Russian banking and energy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had committed to attend the negotiations if Putin did the same. President Trump, currently in the Middle East, also said he might join if it helped bring the sides together. Yet late Monday the Kremlin announced it was sending mid-level technocrats to Istanbul,

several of whom were involved in earlier failed negotiations three years ago. Charles Mayne's NPR News, Moscow. At the U.S. Supreme Court today, President Trump is challenging the longstanding interpretation of the 14th Amendment. It was enacted after the Civil War to guarantee citizenship to all babies

born in the United States. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports. Nina Totenberg-Trump has long claimed that there is no such thing as birthright citizenship in the Constitution. And on his first day in office, he issued an executive order barring automatic citizenship for any child whose parents entered the country illegally or on a temporary visa. Today's arguments, however, are likely to focus on a separate question that the Trump administration is asking the court to resolve, a technical legal question that could make the process for challenging any Trump policy far more difficult and lengthy.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. Held Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told lawmakers yesterday he wants less money for his agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. He was questioned by separate panels in the House and Senate. And Pierre-Selena Simmons-Duffin reports that lawmakers grilled Kennedy about mass layoffs at his agency. 10,000 staffers at HHS have been fired since Secretary Kennedy began leading the agency, with thousands more taking buyouts or early retirement.

Here's Kennedy responding to a question about who decided which staff to cut. Elon Musk gave us help in figuring out where there was ways, fraud, and abuse in the department. It was up to me to make the decision. Lawmakers of both parties questioned the wisdom of shrinking the size of the National Institutes of Health, which Kennedy described as being corrupt and in need of a new direction. Selena Simmons Duffin, NPR News, Washington.

You're listening to NPR News. A county judge in Wisconsin will be arraigned in federal court today. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is expected to plead not guilty to two federal charges. She's accused of directing a migrant in the U.S. illegally out of her courtroom in order to evade arrest. Dugan has argued the Trump administration's case is unprecedented and unconstitutional. Perimenopause is a topic of increasing interest that's partly due to the long list of symptoms associated with it.

NPR's Katie Arittle reports the condition is hard to diagnose. Some clinicians caution women who are in their late 30s through early 50s, don't assume all maladies are related to perimenopause. There's a lot of other health conditions that can show up in midlife. Nanette Santoro is a gynecologist in Colorado. Maybe it isn't your hormones. Let's try these other things first. And that's a little tricky. So sometimes that involves judgment on the part of the clinician.

It also involves some possibly a need for the doctor or the patient to be more assertive. Santoro says testing for hormone levels can be inconclusive and is not always that helpful. Katie Riddle, NPR News. Authorities in northern Minnesota say wildfires have destroyed about 150 structures, including homes and cabins. Three main wildfires have scorched about 58 square miles of forest. None of the wildfires is contained.

Scores of people have evacuated. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has activated the National Guard to help. Forecasters have again posted heat advisories for southern Texas today. It could feel like 113 degrees in areas near Corpus Christi. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington. You're listening to the NPR Network. Live from NPR News. I'm live from Coleman, NPR News in Washington.