NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-19-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: May 19, 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. President Trump is claiming progress towards securing a peace in Ukraine after a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Yet the call failed to achieve the immediate ceasefire the Trump administration has been seeking from Moscow NPR's Charles Mainsesmore. Despite more than two hours of talks praised by both leaders as constructive, Trump and Putin gave strikingly different takes on what had been achieved. Putin said Russia sought a negotiated settlement but insisted positions still needed to be fleshed out and concessions granted by Kiev before any peace could take hold. In contrast, Trump, in opposed to social media, said Russia had

agreed to immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire and, more importantly, seek an end to the war. Trump also appeared to downplay earlier threats to sanction Moscow over its failure to sign on to the ceasefire deal, instead praising investment opportunities in both Ukraine and Russia once a peace deal was finalized. Charles Mainz in PR News, Moscow. Even as President Trump has gone after retailer Walmart for indicating it might pass on some of the costs of his tariffs to customers, some members

of his administration are acknowledging that could happen. In a post on social media, Trump attacked the world's largest retailer, saying the company quote, made billions last year and should eat the tariffs and not charge customers. Trump bound to keep a close eye on the company. However, in an interview Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson conceded some higher costs could be passed on to shoppers. Speaker Mike Johnson says the House will vote this week on President Trump's tax and border bill.

NPR's Deidre Walsh reports there are still major internal GOP splits to resolve though. Leaders are balancing demands from moderates and fiscal conservatives, Bill. NPR's Deidre Walsh reports there are still major internal GOP splits to resolve though. Leaders are balancing demands from moderates and fiscal conservatives, and the Speaker can only afford to lose three votes and still get the package through the House. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told CNBC they agreed to one demand from the fiscal hawks. So we worked with Dr. Oz, and Dr. Oz will ultimately be the person over at CMS to implement the work requirements. And we're coming to a much earlier date, early 2027. After consulting with the agency overseeing Medicaid, he said new work requirements for

Medicaid recipients without dependents will kick in earlier than the 2029 date in the current bill. Moderate House Republicans are still pushing leaders to revive a tax deduction dubbed SALT to offset high state and local income taxes in their districts. Deidre Walsh, NPR News, The Capitol. Memorial Day is a week away,

but already travel predictions are coming out from people like Auto Club AAA. AAA predicts around 45 million people will travel at least 50 miles or more from home over the Thursday through Monday holiday period. Most trips will be by car. Drivers wanting to beat the rush should leave early Thursday morning. Airports are expected to be at their busiest on Friday. Stocks gained ground on Wall Street today. The Dow is up 137 points. You're listening to NPR.

Home rental company Airbnb is being accused by Spain's government of violating rules, including having some rental properties listed without a license number, and others that fail to specify whether the owner is an individual or a company. As a result, Spain's government says it's blocking more than 65,000 holiday listings on the platform. It comes at a time Spain is grappling with a home affordability crisis. Sesame Street is headed to Netflix as NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports the iconic kid show was without a distributor after being dropped by Max.

Netflix says it will begin streaming the 56th season of Sesame Street later this year. Me like boo! I'm a-ba-deba-deba-deba! Under its previous distribution deal, PBS had to wait months before airing new episodes after they first ran on Macs. Now, PBS Stations and the PBS Kids platform will run new episodes on the same day and date as they stream on Netflix. As an educational show steeped in research, Sesame Street is expensive to produce. In March, Sesame Workshop announced it was laying off 20 percent of its staff amid the changing media and funding landscape.

Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. A 28-year-old woman who became lost in California's eastern Sierra Mountains says she survived for weeks outdoors by foraging for food and boiling snow for water. Tiffany Slaton described her solo camping trip gone awry during a news conference with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. Slayton was found last week in a cabin an owner had left unlocked in case lost hikers needed help. She'd been on what was supposed to be a three-day biking and backpacking trip. Slayton is reported to have trekked at least 20 miles in extreme conditions. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.