NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-17-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: May 17, 2025

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On NPR's ThruLine, witnesses were ending up dead. How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power. Find NPR's ThruLine wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jyle Snyder. Severe storms overnight, spun-off reported, tornadoes leading to fatalities and widespread damage in Kentucky. Karen Zarr reports from Member Station WUKY in Lexington. Just weeks ago, Kentucky was hit with deadly flooding. Today, the state is reeling from more destructive weather, high winds, torrential rain and golf ball

sized hail. In Somerset, Mayor Alan Keck surveyed the destruction in the dark of night. A lot of structures took on significant damage and it's a really scary time for our community. Keck said it looked as if a tornado touched down, lifted off the ground and briefly hit again, creating a swath of crumpled buildings, vehicles and trees. The storms have since passed, but areas of Kentucky dealt with the risk of flash flooding in their wake. For NPR News, I'm Karen Zarr in Lexington.

And St. Louis, searchers have been going building to building looking for people who may have been trapped or hurt following those severe storms that included at least one tornado yesterday. Dennis Jenkinson is the fire chief in ST Louis. We have at this time mapped the path of the tornado. We've got a very good idea of the path it took in the destruction that came after ST Louis officials say more than 5000 homes were damaged by a powerful tornado that ripped through the city during the afternoon rush hour yesterday. They confirmed five people were killed.

President Trump back at the White House from his trip to the Middle East. He returned last night as Republicans on the House Budget Committee, plan to try again tomorrow night to advance his budget package called the Big Beautiful Bill. That bill hit a roadblock in the Budget Committee yesterday. And Pierce Tamara Keith has reaction from the White House. Fiscal conservatives on this key committee are balking at the bill, but this isn't the end of the story. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said the White House will continue to have conversations

over the weekend to strongly urge House Republicans to support the bill, describing it as a generational opportunity. Levitt added that the White House expects all Republicans to vote for this bill. This bill is the main legislative vehicle for President Trump's agenda, including big tax cuts and cuts to spending on programs including Medicaid and food assistance for the poor. In an earlier social media post Trump demanded

unity and said quote we don't need grandstanders in the Republican Party. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Former FBI director James Comey is being investigated by the Secret Service. The Homeland Security Department says Comey has been interviewed about a social media post that Republicans say was meant to incite violence against President Trump. Comey took the post down and he says violence never occurred to him. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. Iran's president says his country will continue talks with the US over the country's nuclear program but in a speech in Tehran today, President Masoud Pesachian says Iran will

not respond to President Trump's threats. Trump said yesterday that Iran needed to move quickly or something bad will happen. Pesachian says Iran will not back down from what he called Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Three Iranian men appeared in a British courtroom today charged with spying on behalf of Iran. They're among the eight people arrested in two separate investigations by British counterterrorism police earlier this month. Seven are Iranian nationals. When the Summer Olympics return to Los Angeles in 2028, futuristic vehicles will be flying around. A fleet of helicopters will shuttle, VIPs and fans around the city.

But reporter Brandon R. Reynolds, a member station KCRW, reports that a future of flying cars is not quite here yet. When the LA Olympics Committee announced a partnership with Archery 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 in 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.

Manvill 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. And I'm Joel Snyder. This is NPR News.