NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-20-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

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You're listening to the NPR Network. Live from NPR News, I'm Lachie. A living, breathing record of your neighborhood, the country, the world. Told by thousands of local journalists who live in the places where stories unfold. Backed by a national newsroom that puts it all in perspective. Hear the whole country's story.

Hear ways of thinking that challenge your own. Hear the bigger picture with NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Senate Republicans say a massive House spending plan still has a long way to go before final passage. NPR's Claudio Graciales reports the Senate's GOP leaders made the remarks after meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Claudio Graciales Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a recent U.S. credit rating downgrade is a warning shot for ongoing talks shaping a new sweeping partisan spending plan. And that's why I think a lot of our colleagues have made it very clear that in order for

a bill to get through the House and Senate and on the president's desk, it has to make a meaningful dent in the out-of of control spending we've seen over the past several years. Thune said House Speaker Mike Johnson reassured Senate Republicans that the tax cuts and spending package cannot raise the deficit or debt. The group met after President Trump pushed House Republicans to approve what he calls his big, beautiful bill, one that still faces a long list of competing demands from various GOP factions.

Claudia Desalves, NPR News, The Capitol. habeas corpus is a legal term for the constitutional provision giving people the right to challenge their attention by the government. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill today clearly thought it meant something else. Here's New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Haysen questioning Nome. Secretary, Nome, what is habeas corpus? Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right

that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to... No, let me stop you, ma'am. Habeas corpus, excuse me, that's incorrect. President Blinken used it... Excuse me. Hasn't called habeas corpus, excuse me, that's incorrect. President Blinken used it. Excuse me. Has been called Habeas Corpus the foundational right that separates free societies like America

from police states like North Korea. Meanwhile, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Millers talked about suspending it in order to expand the administration's ability to deport migrants. As tornadoes and severe weather hit the country this spring, some National Weather Service offices are halting round-the-clock shifts because of lack of staff, Mountain West News

Bureau's Hunter Mears-Bock reports. Offices in Alaska, California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wyoming are shutting down from 11 at night to 6 in the morning. That's because staff is down by up to 60% in those offices due to federal cuts. The Weather Service Union's Tom Fahey says nearby offices could help pick up the slack. The Weather Service at this particular time is simply doing triage. It's like battlefield medicine. You have a pop-up hospital that comes in, takes care of people.

Fahey says the Trump administration has approved 155 temporary employees, but the Weather Service has lost about 600 workers in recent months. The agency said it continues to meet its core mission. For NPR News, I'm Hannah Merzbach in Jackson, Wyoming. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 114 points, the NASDAQ fell 72 points. This is NPR. Israel in the face of mounting international criticism is continuing to move ahead with its latest offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military launching airstrikes today that health officials in Gaza

say killed at least 85 Palestinians. Israeli officials at the same time they were carrying out the strikes said they did allow dozens more aid trucks to enter Gaza. It was not clear whether the supplies were reaching any of the two million people there who have been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months. A book about Muslim women and girls in southern India

has won this year's International Booker Prize. It is called Heartlamp. As NPR's Andrew Limbong explains, it is the first short story collection to win the award. The International Booker Prize goes to the best fiction translated into English. Lamp, as NPR's Andrew Limbong explains, it is the first short story collection to win the award. The International Booker Prize goes to the best fiction translated into English, and this year, the author Bada Mustak and translator Deepa Bhasti won for the book Heartlamp. It's a collection of stories Mustak wrote between 1990 and 2023, originally in the Canada language, which is

used mostly in southern India. Mustak is a lawyer and a women's rights advocate and many of the stories in the book are inspired by incidents she'd hear from the woman coming to her looking for help. The judges called the book Beautiful, Busy, and Life Affirming. The International Booker Award comes with a prize of 50,000 British pounds, about 66,000 US dollars, split between the author and translator. Andrew Limbong and Peer News. Today is the eighth annual World Bee Day. Experts say the insects numbers continue to fall as a combination of factors ranging from

insecticides to parasites to disease lessen their numbers. Bees are hugely important to humans since they pollinate a significant number of crops that humans eat. This is NPR.