NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-25-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

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Politics is a lot these days. I'm Sarah McCammon, a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast, and I'll be the first to tell you what happens in Washington definitely demands some decoding. That's why our show makes politics as easy as possible to wrap your head around. Join us as we make politics make sense on the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from MPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. House Speaker Mike Johnson is defending President Trump's tax and spending bill that passed along party lines early Thursday morning, and he's urging the Senate not to make too many changes to it. I met with the Senate Republicans, all my colleagues over there, last week on Tuesday at their weekly luncheon, and I encouraged them to do their work, of course, as we all anticipate, but

to make as few modifications to this package as possible because remembering that we've got to pass it one more time to ratify their changes in the House. And I have a very delicate balance here, a very delicate equilibrium that we've reached over a long period of time, and it's best not to meddle with it too much. Johnson speaking today on CNN's State of the Union as the Senate prepares to rewrite the bill more to its liking. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said the Senate will have its imprint on the measure. Today marks five years since a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, sparking

protests worldwide. NPR's Meg Anderson reports that community members are divided on what should happen to the street corner where he died. This intersection is still partially blocked off, marked by murals and protest messages. For people like Marquise Bowie, it feels like an open wound. We're only going somewhere to kind of feel sad about a black man getting killed. I don't see that being a good thing. He says nearby businesses have suffered since Floyd's murder.

For people like Janelle Austin, the intersection is a sacred memorial site. As we choose to never forget what happened, it helps us understand how to move forward. She says returning to business as usual is not an option. The mayor has sided with the former, the city council with the latter. That means for the foreseeable future, this intersection will stay as it is. Meg Anderson, NPR News. To Texas where the Republican-led state house is expected to give a bill that would require the Ten Commandments be displayed in public school classrooms.

A final vote today is expected to pass and Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign it. A federal court found a similar Louisiana law unconstitutional. It's on hold pending an appeals court review. Russia has launched one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine so far. President Zelensky calling for more pressure on Moscow, saying the silence of the United States and others only encourages Vladimir Putin. The BBC's Sasha Schlifter reports.

Sasha Schlifter, BBC News It was a second straight night of relentless bombardment. Nearly 400 drones and missiles were launched across Ukraine. More than a dozen people were killed, including three children. A clearly angry and exasperated President Zelensky wrote, the world may be taking a weekend off, but the war continues. America's silence, he said, the silence of the rest of the world only encourages Putin. And without really strong pressure on the Russian leadership,

this brutality cannot be stopped. This is NPR news. The Iranian dissident film director Jafar Panahis says he plans to return to Iran after winning the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, a palm door. He accepted the prize last night for his revenge thriller, It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his time in prison. French authorities meanwhile investigating a fire at a substation near Cannes as a potential arson attack that fire led to a major power outage yesterday. Voters in Venezuela going to the polls today, they're electing governors and a new congress, but as John Otis reports,

it's unclear whether many Venezuelans will turn out. Up for grabs are 285 seats to the National Assembly and 24 state houses. They include a controversial new position, Governor of Ezequibo. That's an oil-rich region of neighboring Guyana that Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro has threatened to annex. The opposition is divided over what to do. Its leader, María Corina Machado, points to evidence that Maduro stole last year's presidential election and claims voting today would legitimize his power grab.

In a video posted on X, she said, this isn't an election, it's a farce. That's why on Sunday I'm asking you to stay home. But other opposition politicians say boycotting the election could backfire by giving Maduro even more power. For NPR News, I'm John Otis. Today is the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. The field includes eight former race winners, including Joseph Newgarden, who is seeking to become the first to win three straight times.

I'm Joel Snyder, NPR News. Conductor Robert Fron says a good melody captures our attention. And then it moves you through time. Music is architecture in time. If you engage in the moment with what you're listening to, you do lose a sense of the time around you. How we experience time. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR.