NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-23-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

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On NPR's Thru Line, witnesses were ending up dead. How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power. Find NPR's Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Lakshmi Singh. A federal judge is blocking the Department of Homeland Security from prohibiting international student enrollment at Harvard University. NPR's Alyssa Nedwarni says the Ivy League schools sued the government today on constitutional grounds. In a statement, Harvard said the action was unlawful, they called it retaliatory, and said it threatened serious harm to the Harvard community and

our country. Harvard is already suing the Trump administration over research funding cuts related to accusations of anti-Semitism on campus and that trial is set to start in July. NPR's Alyssa Nedwarni reporting. The Trump administration has been demanding that Harvard turn over all of its records on its foreign student body. Harvard says the Trump administration's latest action has caused university-wide turmoil for thousands of students just days before graduation. Congressional Democrats are introducing a bill that would shift control of the U.S. Marshals Service from the Justice Department to the federal courts. NPR's Carrie Johnson

reports on concern that the Marshals may be caught in a power struggle. Congressman Eric Swalwell of California worries the Trump administration could order the Marshals Service not to enforce a court order or remove security protection from judges who ruled against the White House. That's why he and other Democrats in Congress are trying to move the Marshals Service out of the chain of command at the Justice Department and under the wing of Chief Justice John Roberts and the policymaking body of the federal courts. This year, judges have faced violent threats

and calls for impeachment because they've ruled against President Trump and the Doge team remaking the government. The courts have asked for an increase in security funding to help confront those threats. because they've ruled against President Trump and the Doge team remaking the government. The courts have asked for an increase in security funding to help confront those threats. Kari Johnson, NPR News, Washington. US stocks are trading lower this hour after President Trump threatened new tariffs on European imports and iPhones.

The Dow is down 250 points and Piers Scott Horsley has the latest. In what's become a familiar pattern, President Trump took to social media this morning with new tariff threats, sparking a sell-off in the stock market. Trump says trade talks with the European Union are going nowhere, so he's threatening to oppose a 50% tax on

imports from Europe starting next month. The president's also threatening to slap a 25% tax on iPhones unless Apple agrees to build the devices in the United States. Smart phones and other electronics have so far gotten a pass in Trump's trade war. Stocks were already under pressure this week as the bond market recoiled from rising government debt. Higher bond yields lead to higher borrowing costs. Mortgage rates inched up this week to 6.86%. Scott Horsley in pair news Washington the Dow Jones industrial average down 246 points roughly half a percent at forty one thousand six hundred fifteen the S&P is down 38 the

Nasdaq is down 169 this is NPR news summertime while the unofficial start of it anyways, kicking off for many people across the US, a record number expected to travel at least 50 miles or more for this long Memorial Day weekend. Many people will be driving this period. NPR, as Amy held, reports gas prices are at a four-year low. AAA projects more than 45 million people getting away around Memorial Day. 40 million driving.

Regular gas is down about 40 cents a gallon from last year, now averaging about $3.20. Three years ago, it was over five. Jonathan Peoples is in Lincoln, Nebraska. We are thankful that the gas prices are dropping because it gives us more opportunity to go out and explore, you know, and just see things more. And despite air traffic control problems, AAA projects more than 3.6 million people

are flying. Barbara Slavins is at Chicago's O'Hare. This is crazy. Oh my gosh. When I walked in, I hoped we could make our flight. Holiday air travel forecasts rise almost 2% over last year. Amy Held, NPR News. North Korea's responded to a botched launch with a threat.

The reclusive government's leader Kim Jong-un is reportedly furious that a second naval destroyer failed to launch. Pyongyang said in a statement, it will arrest those responsible for it. It denies the vessel was severely damaged. However, the Associated Press reports that satellite imagery on the site shows the warship lying on its side, draped in blue covers, with parts of it submerged. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington. As NPR's Daily Economics podcast, the indicator has been asking businesses how tariffs are affecting their bottom line. I paid 800,000 today. You paid $800,000 in tariffs today.

Yes. Wow. And what that means for your bottom line. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.