NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-17-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

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We've all been there running around a city looking for a bathroom but unable to find one. Hello, do you have a restroom we could use? A very simple free market solution is that we could just pay to use a bathroom, but we can't. On the Planet Money podcast, the story of how we once had thousands of pay toilets and why they got banned from Planet Money on NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

At least five people are dead after a possible tornado swept through St. Louis Friday during the afternoon rush hour there. Fire Chief Dennis Jenkinson says the focus now is on making sure everyone is safe. We have seven teams, search teams in place that are searching a coordinated grid, if you will, that's reporting back to a command post so we can track everything that they do. They are searching with the police department who's providing assistance. The storms also killed two other people in Missouri. They're part of a major weather system that's also spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin and left hundreds of thousands of people without

power over a broad swath of the Midwest. I'm Karen Zarr for Member Station WUKY in Lexington, Kentucky. High winds, torrential rain, golf ball-sized hail, and tornadoes thrashed parts of the state overnight. The mayor confirmed fatalities in London, Kentucky, although the number of dead hasn't been confirmed by authorities. Confirmed tornado warnings were issued. In Somerset, Sean Likens and his son Garrett captured what appeared to be a funnel cloud illuminated in the darkness by flashes of lightning.

It's right there. It's right there. It's a rope. It's right there. It's right there. It's a rope. It's a rope. It's right there. Less than a minute and a half later, Garrett pleaded for his father to come inside. Dad, we gotta go. Thousands of Kentuckians are without power and flooding is now a concern. For NPR News, I'm Karen Zarr in Lexington. Stocks finished up this week after the U.S. and China agreed to temporarily lower their

most punishing tariffs. As MPR Scott Horsley reports, investors also welcomed an encouraging inflation report. Investors cheered the 90-day rollback of triple-digit tariffs, which had brought trade between the U.S. and China to a near standstill. Most imports from China still faced taxes of at least 30 percent, much higher than they were paying at the beginning of the year. But the temporary truce was enough to get goods flowing again, and investors are hoping for further relief. The government's latest inflation report showed little evidence that tariffs are pushing up prices yet. Consumer prices in April were up just 2.3 percent from a year ago. That's

the smallest annual increase in more than four years. For the week, the Dow jumped 3.4 percent, the S&P 500 index rose five and a quarter percent, and the Nasdaq soared more than seven percent. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. President Trump's major tax break and spending cuts bill did not make it out of committee on Friday. Four conservative Republicans voted against the measure and demanded more cuts to Medicaid and green energy tax breaks before they would support it. The budget committee will meet again on Sunday. Democrats call the package bad economics. A Russian drone has struck a passenger bus in Ukraine's northeastern Sumi region, killing

nine people and injuring four others. Ukrainian officials say that the attack happened on Saturday. You're listening to NPR News. During the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, audiences marveled at a man with a jetpack who soared around the Los Angeles Coliseum. When the Olympics returns to LA in 2028, futuristic vehicles will once again be flying around, this time it's air taxis. A fleet of helicopters will shuttle VIPs and fans around the city. But reporter

Brandon R. Reynolds of member station KCRW tells us that a future of flying cars just like the jetpacks isn't quite here yet. When the LA Olympics Committee announced a partnership with Archer Aviation to deploy electric air taxis in 2028, it might have seemed like part of the city's goal for a car-free Olympics. But UCLA urban planning professor Michael Manville says it's not exactly a wide-scale solution. And it would represent a real convenience and value for a small number of people who wanted to move around quickly during the Olympics. I mean it would be probably an exaggeration to even call it a drop in the bucket

in terms of this goal of having a car-free Olympics. Manville says one solution to the traffic is less futuristic, for the city to just encourage people to work from home. For NPR News, I'm Brandon R. Reynolds in Los Angeles. The New York Knicks have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, with a 119-81 win Friday night over the Boston Celtics in game six of their series. Two players each scored 23 points

in the win. The 38 point margin of victory was the Knicks largest ever in a postseason game. The Knicks will now face the Indiana Pacers in the conference finals. Game one is Wednesday night in New York. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Consider Dale Willman, NPR News.