NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-25-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

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These days, there's a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. Russia launched more than 350 missiles and drones on Ukraine overnight, killing 12 people

and injuring scores more. Ukrainian authorities say it was the largest single Russian aerial attack since the start of the war in 2022. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Maines has details. The Russian attack struck cities and towns across Ukraine with images posted online showing several houses and apartment buildings reduced to rubble. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians. Yet in a statement, Russia's Defense Ministry said it had carried out precision strikes against a

range of military targets. The ministry also accused Ukraine of sending waves of drones into Russian airspace for the third day in a row. All of this has unfolded as Moscow and Kiev made good on a pledge to free 1,000 prisoners from both sides, the lone substantive result from recent peace talks that saw Russia refuse to join Ukraine in agreeing to a U.S.-backed ceasefire. Charles Manz in PR News, Moscow. Health officials in Gaza say at least 23 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes last night into today.

Israel had ended a ceasefire and resumed its offensive in March, vowing to destroy Hamas and seize full control of Gaza. The fate of what President Trump calls his big, beautiful bill is now in the hands of the Senate. House Republicans narrowly passed the huge tax and spending bill early Thursday morning along party lines. Now NPR's Deidre Walsh reports senators are talking about making some major changes. They're gonna be changes and it's possible at the end of the day the sort of one thing that brings the Republican Party together extending these tax cuts could be sort of the one thing that ends up sort of being the easier thing to get done along with money for the border.

Medicaid cuts could be a problem for some Senate Republicans and there are other conservatives in the Senate who just dismiss the House bill as really not serious on slashing spending. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he wants to push the bill through by the 4th of July holiday. Today marks five years since the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The community is marking the anniversary with events honoring Floyd and the racial justice movement that has death-ignited. Matt Sempich of Minnesota Public Radio reports. The intersection where George Floyd was killed in 2020 soon became a gathering place for racial justice demonstrations and remains the site of a memorial.

Commemorative events at what is now called George Floyd Square include a religious service, gospel concert, and a candlelight vigil. The 46-year-old black man died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Floyd's killing led to court-ordered oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department by a state judge. Last week, the Trump administration moved to scuttle plants for a federal court

to provide additional oversight through a consent decree. For NPR News, I'm Matt Sepick in Minneapolis. This is NPR News in Washington. The Texas House of Representatives is expected to pass a bill today that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. It's expected to be challenged in court as violating the First Amendment to the Constitution. The measure specifies it must be the King James Bible version rather than those used by some other religions.

A similar law passed in Louisiana has been litigated in federal court. 350,000 people are expected today in Indianapolis for one of the world's biggest sporting events. The Indy 500 gets underway this afternoon. NPR's Amy Held reports, for the first time in nearly a decade, the grandstands are sold out. The green flag means go. 33 racers, 200 laps, 500 miles. Make 109 years of iconic auto racing history. Kyle Larson looking to secure his own pit stop in history.

After the checkered flag finish line, he's off to Charlotte, North Carolina via helicopter, not race car, for tonight's Coca-Cola 600, seeking to become just the fifth driver to pull double duty. Last year's bad weather thwarted those plans. This year's forecast looks good. The gates are already open for the sellout crowd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after days of pre-events, including Carb Day, a practice session named after carburetors, not the bread. Though the Weenie 500 Friday saw six wiener mobiles hauling buns. Fans are still hungry for the main event. Amy Held, NPR News.

In tennis, today is day one of the French Open. Raphael Nadal is being honored. It was 20 years ago today that he won his first French Open match. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.