NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-22-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

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This is Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. So much is changing so rapidly right now with President Trump in office. It feels good to pause for a moment sometimes and look around at what's what. To try and do that, we've been finding these incredible stories about right now that are funny and have feeling and you get to see people everywhere making sense of this new America that we find ourselves in. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Two Israeli embassy employees have been shot and killed

outside of a museum where the American Jewish Committee had been holding an event in Washington, D.C. Authorities have arrested a suspect identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Illinois. Here's D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith. Pamela Smith, D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief, Illinois, D.C. We believe the shooting was committed by a single suspect who is now in custody. Prior

to the shooting, the suspect was observed pacing back and forth outside of the museum. He approached a group of four people, produced a handgun, and opened fire, striking both of our decedents. Israeli Ambassador Yakeel Leiter says the slain embassy staff members were a couple about to become engaged to marry. In a post on his social media site, President Trump says, hatred and radicalism have no place in the US. The Trump administration has officially accepted a gift from the Qatari government, a Boeing

747 luxury jetliner worth several hundred million dollars. As NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports, an Air Force spokesperson says the aircraft will be upgraded for use as Air Force One. The spokesperson told NPR that the Department of Defense had instructed the Air Force to quote award a contract to modify a Boeing 747 aircraft for an executive airlift, saying further details are classified. They spoke on the condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Trump has suggested the plane could be converted quickly for use as a new Air Force One, but experts say it will likely require significant upgrades to

meet the high security and communications requirements, work that could take several years and cost anywhere from several hundred million to a billion dollars. Kat Lonsdorf, MPR News, Washington. Kat Lonsdorf, MPR News, Washington. U.S. House members paused for a moment of silence during their marathon session on a massive tax and spending plan this morning to remember Congressman Jerry Connolly. The Virginia Democrat died Wednesday, weeks after announcing that his esophageal cancer had returned.

Connolly was 75. The Justice Department is backing out of proposed oversight agreements with police departments in Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis. As Minnesota Public Radio's Matt Sepick reports, the move comes days ahead of the fifth anniversary of George Floyd's killing. A federal investigation after the 2020 murder

of George Floyd, who was black by a white officer, found widespread racial discrimination in the police department. City leaders finalized the consent decree in January, just before President Biden left office. But President Trump's Justice Department says it wrongly equates statistical disparities with intentional discrimination. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says the city still plans to abide by the agreement. People should expect us to do this work. People have been demanding for years that we do this work

and we're not going to let them down. The city is already under a similar court ordered settlement agreement with the state of Minnesota. For NPR News, I'm Matt Sepick in Minneapolis. This is NPR. The Justice Department is also backing out of Biden-era police reform decree with the Louisville, Kentucky, Police Department signed in the aftermath of Breonna Taylor's shooting death. As Louisville Public Media's Amina Elahi reports, local officials are promising that police reforms there will continue.

Louisville officials have made policing changes in the five years since police killed Breonna Taylor, an incident that sparked mass racial justice protests here and beyond. And following a scathing Department of Justice report that alleged patterns of wrongdoing by Louisville police, local leaders agreed to work with the feds on reforms. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg defended the city's decision not to oppose the DOJ's motion to dismiss the consent decree case. We see the writing on the wall and it's time to move forward. He said it's time to focus on reforms, not the process, and said he's designed a plan to improve the Louisville Metro Police Department without federal oversight.

For NPR News, I'm Amina Elahi in Louisville. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has agreed to pay almost $180 million to settle clergy sex abuse claims. The settlement is to be paid out after the diocese emerges from bankruptcy and is subject to approval by survivors, creditors, and the bankruptcy court. The agreement stands from a lawsuit filed in 2020 by a man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest when he was in eighth grade. Tsunami alerts were issued following a magnitude 6 earthquake off the Greek island of Crete

today. The quake could be felt in Albania, Bulgaria, and in Turkey. There have been no reports of injuries or serious damage. This is NPR News.