NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-25-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

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Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it, and it all comes really fast. But on All Songs Considered, NPR's music recommendation podcast, we'll handpick what we think is the greatest music happening right now and give you your next great listen. So kick back, settle in, get those eardrums wide open, and get your dose of new music from All Songs Considered, only from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. In New York City, a 28-year-old American man is under arrest, charged with planning a fire bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Israel and threatening the lives of President Trump

and other Americans on social media. Israel deported Joseph Neumeyer from Colorado yesterday and he appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom today. He's being held without bond. Prosecutors say the dual citizen of U.S. and Germany started making disturbing posts on social media in late March. This comes at an uneasy time for embassy officials in the U.S. and Israel after two Israeli embassy employees were killed last week outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. The alleged gunman, Elias Rodriguez, is charged with first-degree murder and the FBI says he told them he did it for Palestine.

President Trump's slashing of the federal workforce is on pause at more than 20 agencies. A federal judge has ruled that Trump must have the cooperation of Congress before undertaking a sweeping overhaul of the government. And here's Andrea Hsu has more. US District Judge Susan Ilston has ordered the Trump administration to stop issuing new reorganization plans and new layoff notices for now. She wrote that with the kinds of dramatic staff reductions that were afoot, agencies would not be able to do what Congress had directed them to do.

She said while the president may set policy priorities for the executive branch, he cannot initiate any large-scale reorganization without partnering with Congress, and agencies may not make changes that intentionally or negligently flout the tasks Congress has assigned them. The Trump administration has appealed her decision and has also asked the Supreme Court to intervene. Andrea Hsu and PR News. The Republican-led Texas State House of Representatives passed a law today requiring the 10 commandments be displayed in all public school classrooms in the state. Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider says the measure is all but certain to lead to a First Amendment court challenge.

Republican State Representative Candi Noble sponsored the measure in the House. The displaying of the Ten Commandments in our Texas classrooms will bring back this historic tradition of recognizing America's foundational heritage in both our educational and judicial systems and remind students of the importance of this cornerstone of American and Texas law. During debate, several Democrats said roughly a third of Texans are neither Christian nor Jewish and do not consider the Ten Commandments foundational to their belief systems. Following a final concurrence by the State Senate, the bill will go to Governor Greg

Abbott, who is expected to sign it. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston. And this Texas law is similar to ones in Louisiana and Arkansas. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. King Charles will open Canada's Parliament Tuesday, becoming only the second monarch in Canada's history to do so. His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, was the first to participate in the historic ritual in 1977. Charles heads to the country tomorrow at the invitation of Prime Minister Mark Carney. And the two-day visit

is meant to underscore Canada's sovereignty after President Trump repeatedly said he wanted to make the country the 51st state of the United States. Britain and Canada are constitutional monarchies and Charles is king of both. Hollywood is setting records this weekend and for once, they don't come with an asterisk. And here's Bob Mondello has more. The film industry has gotten used to adding the words since the start of the pandemic whenever new records are cited. Not this weekend.

Ancient Cobra Bubbles. We have a blue dog to catch. Lilo and Stitch is expected to earn a four-day total of $180 million in North America, easily the most ever taken in over a Memorial Day weekend, Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning will earn close to $80 million, the best opening ever for a Mission Impossible movie. Together, they'll power a weekend total for all movies in North America of more than $320 million, the highest Memorial Day total ever. And combined with international totals, the phenomenon that I'm probably alone in calling Stitchin' Impassalilo will approach a four-day total worldwide of half a billion

dollars. Bob Mandelo, NPR News. And in third place at the box office, Final Destination Bloodlines with an estimated $19 million. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington. Know that fizzy feeling you get when you read something really good, watch the movie everyone's I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.