NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-19-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

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These days, there's a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider this from NPR as a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This Podcast from NPR. Lyle, from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Former President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. His office says it has spread to his bones, but the office also says it appears to be

hormone sensitive, and that means there are options for effective disease management. Dr. Ben Davies is a professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He explains some of Biden's options. It could include hormonal injections, which should kind of calm it down and take away some of the testosterone levels in his body so that the disease stops growing quite as fast and can kind of almost melt away from the bones. He also can get chemotherapy, which is a great study that happened just a few years ago, which could extend his life if

he qualifies for it. And radiation therapy, too, is definitely in play. He spoke to NPR's morning edition. Writing online, Biden said that, quote, cancer touches us all. He thanked well-wishers for their love and support. President Trump says that this hour he'll speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has been trying to bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Trump also says he'll speak later with Ukraine's president and leaders of NATO. Pope Leo XIV has met with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And Berseru Sherlock reports the conversation comes ahead of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Vance, a Catholic convert, was among the last political leaders to meet with Pope Francis before he passed away. Pope Francis and the Trump administration had starkly different views, particularly

on the topic of migration. Pope Leo has already spoken out in support of migrants, And in a readout of the meeting with Vance, the Vatican described, quote, an exchange of views and calls for, quote, respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved. The Vatican has offered to host peace talks to try to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. Ruth Sherlock and PR News, Rome. Stocks opened lower this morning after Moody's stripped the federal government of its AAA bond rating. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 40 points in early trading.

Moody's was the last of the big three credit rating agencies to lower its estimate of the U.S. government's creditworthiness. the company warned that U.S. policymakers have failed to address a rising tide of government debt. The move comes as congressional Republicans are weighing an extension of the 2017 tax cut, which is expected to add trillions of dollars in additional red ink over the next decade. That additional borrowing is only partially offset by GOP spending cuts. Stock in Walmart opened lower after President Trump took to social media to say the retail giant should eat the cost of his new tariffs rather than raising prices.

Walmart warned last week that some price increases are inevitable given the magnitude of the president's import taxes. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, the Dow is now down 28 points. This is NPR. The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a press conference today about the crash of a Mexican naval ship into New York's Brooklyn Bridge this weekend. The crash of the tall ship killed two people and injured more than a dozen others.

New York City officials say the ship lost power and mechanical functioning. It was pushed by the river's current into the bridge. A barrier is standing in the way of some people's aim to eat well, food prices. And Pierce Amy held reports a new survey finds healthy foods may be increasingly out of reach for some Americans. While Americans say taste is the top driver behind how they fill their carts, a recent Pew survey finds 70% say higher prices have made it harder to eat healthy.

Some items are definitely getting more expensive. Peyton Schaeffer was grocery shopping in Washington, D.C. and says she looks out for healthy items like tofu and yogurt. There's days where I'll go and I'm like, maybe I should skip those more specialty items. Inflation is cooling, egg costs cracking down about $1 a dozen from the record to $6.23 in March, but egg costs remain historically high. Overall, food prices are still up almost 30% from before the pandemic. Amy Held and PR News. Pro golfer Scotty Schaeffler won the PGA Championship yesterday. It's his third major title. He held off John Rahm in

the final round to take home the victory by five strokes. Scheffler fared much better this year than last year's PGA Championship. That's when the golfer was arrested ahead of the second round for charges that were later dropped, that he wasn't following instructions from police. This is NPR.

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