NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-27-2025 1PM 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. Lyle from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Trump administration is asking federal agencies to cancel their remaining federal contracts with Harvard University.

The administration accuses Harvard of anti-Semitism, which the school denies. NPR's Alyssa Nedd-Warney reports the contracts are estimated to be worth about $100 million. A letter from the U.S. General Services Administration dated Tuesday tells agencies to review current contracts with Harvard and terminate or find an alternative vendor. The letter asks agencies to submit a list of contracts they have terminated with the university by June 6. This is in addition to the more than $2 billion the administration has already frozen. Harvard has not yet responded to NPR's request for comment.

The school is suing the Trump administration to block the federal funding freeze. The university claims that the administration's moves are unlawful and that the cuts threaten academic freedom and First Amendment rights. Alyson Adwerney, NPR News. President Trump spent Memorial Day carrying out a presidential tradition. He paid tribute to deceased military service members with a wreath and a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. But as NPR's Medical Montaner reports, Trump's remarks on social media struck a very different tone. Memorial Day, first of all, is a day to remember

those who died during active duty in the military. It's not a day to tell people happy Memorial Day, but that's what Trump did three times on social media wishing a happy Memorial Day to quote, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country through warped radical left minds. And PR is Dominican Montaner reporting. Consumers seem to be expressing more confidence about the U.S. economic outlook after the administration suspended some of its most punishing tariffs. And PR's Scott Horsley reports this marks the first uptick in confidence in six months.

A new survey from the Nonprofit Conference Board shows a 14% jump in the group's confidence index. Survey respondents are feeling better about both the current economic situation and prospects for the future. About half the survey responses came in after the U.S. and China agreed to a temporary truce in their trade war. That also gave a boost to the stock market, which contributed to the stronger confidence numbers.

People are still jittery that the president's tariffs will lead to higher prices, although some spoke favorably about cheaper gasoline. Survey respondents are also nervous about the job market, despite the low unemployment rate. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. If you're planning to book a flight on Southwest, today's your last chance to do it without being charged for checked bags. The airline plans to start imposing fees on most passengers Wednesday, reportedly $35 for the first bag, $45 for the second. For decades, Southwest boasted a two-free bags policy that it said set it apart from its discount rivals.

That all ends tomorrow. It's NPR news. King Charles says this is a critical moment for Canada. Today, he marked the opening session of Canada's parliament with the throne speech. He was the first head of state in 48 years to do so since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. King Charles It is with a deep sense of pride and pleasure that my wife and I join you here today as we witness Canadians coming together in a renewed sense of national pride, unity, and hope. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says the British monarch's visit underscores the country's

sovereignty, a rebuke to President Trump's repeated declarations that Canada should be the 51st state. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is underway and on the bee's 100th anniversary, NPR's Ava Pukac has more. The first winning word of the inaugural Scripps National Spelling Bee was gladiolus. Only nine spellers competed that year. Now 100 years later, 243 spellers are competing across four days. As part of the Bee, the spellers participate in a vocabulary round, answering multiple

choice questions that scripts say are designed to advance the Bee's focus on word knowledge and literacy. The final round of this year's Bee is set for Thursday evening. If the competition goes long, it could feature a newer element of the competition, the spell-off. Each remaining speller gets 90 seconds to spell as many words as they can from a predetermined list of words, with the champion being the speller that spells the most words correctly. Ava Pugacz, NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.

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