NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-16-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

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When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Throughline podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Throughline, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Throughline podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The Supreme Court has ruled the Trump administration will not be allowed to deport a group of Venezuelans

while their case is being litigated in the courts. Justices today blocking Trump for deporting people under the Alien Enemies Act and sending the matter back to a federal appeals court. Justices acted on an emergency appeal to a request from the Trump administration to be allowed to quickly resume the fast-track deportations of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members. The high court had already called for a temporary halt to those deportations. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented.

House Republican leaders have suffered a setback on their efforts to advance President Trump's so-called Big Beautiful bill. NPR's Deidre Walsh reports on the GOP divisions over the tax package. House Speaker Mike Johnson is still aiming for a full House vote next week on the tax border and energy bill that includes the bulk of President Trump's domestic agenda. But GOP divisions over spending cuts, changes to Medicaid and tax cuts threaten that time frame. The bill has now failed to advance out of the Budget Committee after four fiscal hawks opposed it. South Carolina Republican Ralph Norman was one of them. Sadly I'm a hard no until we get

this ironed out and I think we can we made progress. Moderates representing districts with high state and local taxes are insisting on relief for their constituents, while some other conservatives are demanding bigger spending cuts. GOP leaders vow to work through the weekend to find agreement on a final plan. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, The Capital. Consumers continue to be pessimistic about the direction of the economy. A preliminary reading from the University of the economy. A preliminary reading from the University of Michigan shows its monthly consumer sentiment index falling

for a fifth straight month. The decline comes as Americans continue to worry about whether President Donald Trump's trade war will worsen inflation. The group says this index fell 2.7% to its lowest level since June of 2022. A labor watchdog has opened an investigation into Doge's interaction with the National Labor Relations Board. As Stephen Fowler explains, it comes after NPR's reporting about sensitive data leaving the agency.

The inspector general for the NLRB is investigating the Department of Government Efficiencies actions at the independent agency. This, after both a whistleblower disclosure and NPR reporting, revealed reams of sensitive case management data was removed from the NLRB's network. News of the investigation was first reported by FedScoop. More than a dozen federal court cases alleged Doge staffers have unlawfully gained access to sensitive data maintained by federal agencies across

the government, including the Social Security data with little explanation about who has access to that data and how that access complies with privacy laws. Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Atlanta. Stocks gained ground to close out a winning week on Wall Street. The Dow was up 331 points. The Nasdaq closed up 98 points today. You're listening to NPR. A threatened strike by New Jersey transit workers materialized early this morning, leaving tens of thousands of commuters in New York and New Jersey either working from home or finding other ways to get around. Union representing striking train engineers says wages remain the key sticking point between

the two sides. New Jersey Transit transports about 350,000 people daily. Some buses were also affected. The WNBA season tips off tonight following a season with the league's highest attendance in more than 20 years. NPR's Becky Sullivan has a preview. The first game will include the debut of the hyped rookie Paige Becker's,

who just last month won the NCAA title with her UConn Huskies. She was just chosen first overall in the draft by the Dallas Wings, who will take on last year's league runner-up in the Minnesota Lynx and their MVP candidate, Nafisa Collier. On Saturday there are two marquee games, first a heavyweight matchup between the New York Liberty, the defending champs, and the Las Vegas Aces, the great team they knocked out en route to their title last season. Then Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will take on Angel Reese in the Chicago sky.

The WNBA has extended the regular season from 40 to 44 games, and the league has added a 13th team, the Golden State Valkyries, whose first game is Friday night. Becky Sullivan in PR News. Authorities in Melania, Trump's home country, Slovenia, say they're looking for a bronze statue of the First Lady that was sought from its base

and carried away. A life-size sculpture in her hometown was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term in office, during his central Slovenia, who replaced a wooden statue that was set on fire a year earlier. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. You're listening to the NPR Network. Live from NPR News in Washington.