NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-27-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: May 27, 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 as 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, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration's attempting to cut off about $100 million worth of remaining federal contracts

with Harvard University, according to a senior administration official. It's a latest album in the administration's dispute with the Ivy League School, the oldest higher education institution in this country. NPR's Morning Edition spoke with Harvard University president Alan Garber about the legal battle against the administration's executive actions and funding cuts. Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift. The research funding is given to universities and

other research institutions to carry out work that the federal government designates as high priority work. It is work that they want done. Separately, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed suit this morning in federal court against the Trump White House over the president's executive order purportedly barring the use of congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and PBS. Federal health officials say the COVID vaccines are no longer being recommended for healthy pregnant women or children. Here's NPR's Rob Stein. The Department of Health and Human Services posted a video on X announcing the decision to remove healthy pregnant people and children from the list of those who should get routine vaccination against COVID. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was flanked by National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin McCary in announcing the decision.

I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule. The decision was made without the usual input from independent advisors. Rob Stein, NPR News. In England, local authorities say four people remain hospitalized after a minivan plowed into crowds of soccer fans for celebrating Liverpool's premier league championship. A man's been arrested but NPR's Fatima Al-Khassab reports the incident's not being treated as an act of terrorism. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the whole country stands with the city of Liverpool after a car rammed into crowds at Liverpool Football Club's victory parade.

Well scenes of joy turn to utter horror and devastation and my thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country are with all of those that are affected. More than two dozen people were injured, including several children. The Prime Minister said he is being kept updated with the police investigation. Police are questioning a 53-year-old white British man who is believed to be the driver of the car. Fatima Al-Khassab, NPR News, London. From Washington, this is NPR News. In San Diego, a nonprofit is connecting social workers with evacuees after a deadly jet plane crash there.

Dozens of military families were displaced from homes after the wreck in their neighborhood last week. A large fire caused a lot of damage on the ground. Number of people from many areas stepped up to help. Here's Tony Terevainen, CEO of the group's support of the enlisted project. Tony Terevainen, CEO of the group's support of the enlisted project. What we're able to do with those families is have our social workers work with each of those families and kind of help them start to put together a game plan to move forward.

Besides supplying, the group is connecting social workers with evacuees from the military housing neighborhood to help them navigate the tragedy. The cost of homeowners' insurance has been shooting up in states where big tornado outbreaks are becoming more common. But NPR's Michael Copley reports hail, not tornadoes, is the big concern for insurers in the middle of the country. Michael Copley, NPR News Anchor Insurers have been raising prices as the cost of extreme weather disasters grows.

When tornadoes tear through communities, the destruction's staggering. But the damage is pretty confined. Hail storms hit much larger areas, breaking windows, tearing off siding and damaging roofs. Industry analysts say hail accounts for up to 80% of insurance claims from severe thunderstorms each year. The good news is people can protect their homes from hail by investing in fortified roofs if they can afford it. Tornadoes are a different story. Insurance experts say there's only so much stronger roofs and tougher building codes can do in the face of big tornadoes.

Michael Copley, NPR News. US stocks trading higher with the Dow up 1.5%. Same with the S&P and the NASDAQ has climbed more than 2%. This is NPR. Hey, it's Sarah Gonzalez. The economy has been in the news a lot lately. It's kind of always in the news. percent. This is NPR.