NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-22-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

NPR News: 05-22-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration is targeting a crucial revenue source for Harvard University in its latest standoff with the Ivy League School. It's barring Harvard from future enrollment of international students, and the government is telling currently enrolled foreign students at Harvard to transfer out or they will lose their legal status. Harvard says the administration's actions are unlawful. Flags are flying at half staff at Israeli missions

in memory of two embassy aides who were gunned down last night outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. The Israeli ambassador said the young couple was soon to be engaged. The sole suspect chanted, Free Palestine while he was being detained. Jackson Sidenberg of Member Station WAMU reports on reaction from the area's Jewish

community. Leaders of the Jewish community in Washington say they are horrified. They also say they are hurting and trying to figure out how to move forward. Some like the Anti-Defamation League's Meredith Weisel say they are not surprised by the violence. In many ways, we know that this tragedy was probably inevitable. The data has been staring us in the face. Anti-Semitism is at a record level and it feels like this is just being festered on both sides of the political spectrum.

Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith have promised to offer Jewish institutions whatever aid they can to feel safe and secure. For NPR News, I'm Jackson Sinnenberg in Washington. President Trump's pressing Senate Republicans to finish what the House started, approve his budget. NPR's Claudia Grisales does a deeper dive into the multi-trillion dollar tax and spending package laid out in a more than 1,000 page piece of legislation.

Senate Republicans are already sharing plenty of skepticism about the House approved plan key to President Trump's domestic agenda. The package would extend tax cuts passed under Trump's first term, reshape immigration policy and could eliminate Medicaid coverage for millions. Fiscal hawks blanch at adding $3 trillion in deficit spending, while moderate Republicans say cuts to Medicaid are a red line. Senate Majority Leader John Thune will have to juggle those demands plus Trump who has been eager to unleash ire on any Republicans who buck the

effort. The GOP hopes to get a final bill to Trump's desk this summer, a plan that includes a provision to lift the debt limit ahead of a critical deadline. Claudia Grisales, NPR News. The upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, which officially starts June 1st, is projected to be even busier than before. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a 60% chance of above-normal activity, as many as 19 name storms, several of which could become major hurricanes. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow is up 167 points.

This is NPR News. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is instructing federal land managers to post signage at all sites, asking visitors to flag any information that they feel tells a negative story about the site and its history. NPR's Chloe Veltman has more. Secretary Burgum's order aims to implement President Trump's executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, which called for removing content from sites that, quote, inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.

Teresa Piano is the president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association. Thinking about thousands of signs being placed, the manpower, the cost, so that people can report on what they don't like about how that site is interpreted. It's frightening. The Interior Department did not respond to NPR's questions about how it plans to implement the signage. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. The University of Maryland's graduating class is getting ready for its cur-men-cement. Yep, that's right, you heard right, cur-men-cement, cause Muppet superstar Kermit the Frog is taking the stage.

I know today is one of the most important days of your lives, and I am so honored to get to share it with you. The late Jim Henson who created Kermit was a UMD graduate. Kermit was on X giving the graduating Terps a sample of his keynote speech tonight. The Dow is closed down, slightly ending the day at 41,859. The S&P was down 2 at 5842.

The NASDAQ was up 53 points. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.