NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-28-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: May 29, 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. Listen to the Consider This Podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump says he expects to know soon if Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the war in Ukraine. NPR's Greg Meier reports Trump has been increasingly critical of the Russian leader in recent days.

President Trump says he still believes a ceasefire is possible in the Russia-Ukraine war, but he wants a clear answer from Putin within the next two weeks. We're going to find out whether or not he's tapping us along or not and if he is we'll respond a little bit differently. Trump has criticized Putin for a series of heavy airstrikes on Ukraine in recent days. The US president is threatening additional sanctions but has not taken any action. Ukraine says Russia is stalling for time with no intention of agreeing to a truce. Russia meanwhile is calling for a new round of ceasefire talks next week in Turkey. Greg Myre, MPR News, Washington.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man who's also served as a top advisor to President Trump, is saying tonight his time with the administration is over. Musk, who spearheaded efforts to cut costs through overhauling the federal government to be his doge group in a post on social media saying, quote, as my scheduled time as a special government employee comes to an end, I'd like to thank President at-real Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. Whilst departure was confirmed by a White House official, it comes just a day after he criticized the administration budget for not doing enough to reduce the deficit.

Native American voters in North Dakota are asking a federal appeals court to review a decision critics say has made it more difficult to enforce protections against racial discrimination in elections in seven states. As NPR's Hansi LeWong reports, the case is a step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court, where a decision could weaken the Federal Voting Rights Act across the country. For decades, private individuals and groups have brought most of the lawsuits focused on enforcing the Voting Rights Act, Section 2, which has protections for ensuring voters of color have an opportunity equal to white voters in electing their preferred candidates in places where voting is racially

polarized. But this month, a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a part of the federal code under Section 1983 does not allow private individuals and groups to sue because those private individuals and groups are not explicitly named in the words of the Voting Rights Act. That ruling applies to seven mainly Midwestern states including Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Now Native American voters in North Dakota,

led by the Turtle Mountain Band of Triple Y Indians, are asking all eight circuit judges to review the ruling, setting up a potential appeal to the Supreme Court. Hansi LeWong, NPR News. Vice President JD Vance continues to push the cryptocurrency industry. Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, Vance urged crypto execs and others

to keep up the pressure on Congress to pass pro-crypto legislation back by the White House. President Trump addressed the same conference last year, vowing to make the US, quote, the crypto capital of the planet. On Wall Street, the Dow fell 244 points. This is NPR. On the heels of his move to have the government no longer recommend

COVID-19 booster shots for pregnant women and healthy children, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now appears poised to go after peer-reviewed medical journals. Speaking on a recent podcast, R.F.K. Jr Junior said he may bar government scientists from publishing and leading medical journals, instead proposing the creation of in-house publications by his agency, Kennedy accusing the journals like The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, and JAMA without evidence of being under the control of pharmaceutical companies. The first Broadway revival of the musical chess opens in the fall. Reporter Jeff London says the show, with a score by ABBA's songwriters and Tim Rice will

feature some well-known stars. The Cold War story about American and Soviet chess grandmasters who fall in love with the same woman will star Tony winner Aaron Tveit, Emmy nominee Lea Michele, and Broadway vet Nicholas Christopher. While the original production was a hit in London, it flopped on Broadway in 1988. Still, the 1984 concept album, with songs by Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Anderson and Tim Rice,

is filled with popular hits. The Broadway revival will be directed by Michael Mayer, who previously worked with Lea Michelle on Spring Awakening and Funny Girl. No theater or dates were announced. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. Good old futures prices moved higher today, oil up 95 cents a barrel to 61.84 a barrel. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.