NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-17-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Last night was a tough one for the city of London, Kentucky. Powerful storms tore through the state, leaving behind widespread destruction. Mayor Randall Weddle is London's mayor. Right now, you know, we're just working diligently. The emergency services, all of our first responders still retrieving people out of debris. We do have multiple fatalities at this time. The storms that hit Kentucky last night were part of a severe weather system that killed seven people in Missouri, five of them in St. Louis. Researchers are going building to building, looking for those who may be trapped or

hurt. City officials say more than 5,000 homes were damaged. Power outages stretch from Missouri to 5,000 homes were damaged. Power outages stretched from Missouri to Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina. A labor watchdog has opened an investigation into Doge's interaction with the National Labor Relations Board. Stephen Faller reports this comes after NPR is 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 allege 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. Russian drone strike in Ukraine's northeastern Sumi region is being blamed for killing nine people and injuring four others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the dead are civilians and police have posted photos of a nearly destroyed passenger van. The attack came after Moscow and Ky failed to agree to a ceasefire talks in Istanbul. Israeli military says it's begun a massive expansion of its military operations inside Gaza over the past week. Israeli airstrikes have dramatically intensified. Gaza health officials say more than 150 Palestinians have been killed in just the past 24 hours. Here's NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reporting.

Israel is calling this new expansion of its military operations in Gaza Gideon's Chariots. The military gave Hamas an ultimatum before launching surrender or it will increase its strikes. Tens of thousands of Israeli reservists were called up for the operation and the plan includes displacing a large majority of Gaza's population south. Israel said it would wait to launch Gideon's chariots until after President Trump ended his trip to the Middle East this week. Trump visited Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar but not Israel. He departed the region on Friday. There was hope that during his visit, there would be a breakthrough in the long stalled ceasefire talks.

Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And you're listening to NPR News. The U.S. Supreme Court has kept in place a temporary block preventing the Trump administration from using the 18th century wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport a group of migrants in Texas that it accuses of being in a Venezuelan gang. The court is faulting the White House for seeking to remove them without adequate due process, justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. A pair of sheriff in Louisiana says there are

indications that the 10 inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail yesterday had help. Three employees have been placed on suspension pending the outcome of an investigation. Three of the inmates have been recaptured, the remaining seven still free, including suspects charged with murder. The Eurovision Song Contest Finals are tonight in Basel, Switzerland and will stream live in the United States on Peacock starting at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports a winner will be selected for the remaining pool of 26 songs. The favorite to win this year's top prize is Sweden's Barabarabastu, let's just sauna. This earwormy ode to the beloved Scandinavian tradition is performed by Kaj, a group from

Finland's Swedish-speaking minority. Sweden has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times. It's tied with Ireland for the most wins in the competition's 69-year history. And it seems that number's potential naughtiness is not lost on some of the competitors this year. Among Eurovision 69's offerings are Finland's Ich, Komma, I'm Coming, and Australia's Milkshake Man with its wink-wink references to bananas. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. And I'm Joel Snyder. This is NPR.