NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-29-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

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Conductor Robert Franz says a good melody captures our attention. And then it moves you through time. Music is architecture in time. If you engage in the moment with what you're listening to, you do lose a sense of the time around you. How we experience time. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Lawyers from Harvard University and the Trump administration are in federal court today in Boston. NPR's Alyssa Nadd-Warney reports it's over the administration's attempt to ban the university

from enrolling international students. According to court filings, Harvard's lawyers argue that Trump administration officials have a vendetta against the university, signaling it out and violating its First Amendment rights. It included social media posts from the president as evidence. The Trump administration has argued that Harvard has violated civil rights, including allowing anti-Semitism and race discrimination on campus and in admissions. Therefore stripping the school of the ability to issue visas to international students is warranted. The university's president, Alan Garber,

has acknowledged issues with antisemitism, but says the school is working to address it. Alyson Adwerney, NPR News. A family in Southern California is facing deportation. They had legally entered the US to obtain medical care for their young daughter. From member station KVPR, Joshua Yeager reports, doctors say the child could die within days of leaving the U.S.

Four-year-old Sophia, a pseudonym given by the family's attorneys to protect her identity, suffers from short bowel syndrome. The disease requires her to wear an adult-sized backpack that delivers nutrients intravenously, 14 hours a day. Through an interpreter, Sofia's mother Daisy Vargas says the life-saving treatment is only available in the U.S. If we return back to our country, she would be at the hospital day and night. Vargas crossed the Mexican border on humanitarian parole, approved under the Biden administration. But attorneys for the family say immigration authorities revoked the parole in April without

giving a reason, and that Vargas was informed by the CBP Home app, which they say is a familiar pattern since President Trump's return to office. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Yeager in Bakersfield, California. A group of young people is suing the Trump administration for prioritizing the use of fossil fuels, saying this drives up planet-warming emissions. Montana Public Radio's Ellis Julin reports from Missoula the suit was filed today in federal court in Montana. The plaintiffs are 22 young people from across the country, including seven of the youth

plaintiffs in Montana's climate case. The state Supreme Court ruled in their favor last year. They're now suing over a suite of President Trump's policies, including executive orders to promote fossil fuel projects. Trump says the US needs to boost domestic energy production and limit industry regulations. Eva Lighthizer is the lead plaintiff and one of the 16 that sued the state of Montana. We as young people are inheriting this future that is very uncertain and it is quite scary for us.

And we are doing the best that we can to protect and preserve a safe future for ourselves. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block the Trump policies and reinstate climate change monitoring across government sites. For NPR News, I'm Ellis Zhu-Lin in Missoula. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration has moved to dismantle climate change research as federal cost cutting makes it harder to predict the weather. And here's Michael Copley reports some scientists are now pushing back by making direct appeals

to the public. Climate scientists and meteorologists have kicked off a 100-hour livestream to talk about their work and why it's important. It comes weeks after the White House dismissed scientists working on a flagship climate report and as the National Weather Service grapples with a critical staffing shortage. Andrew Williams is a climate scientist at Princeton University who's co-hosting the livestream. He says that thanks to taxpayers, the U.S. has achieved a miracle when it comes to climate

and weather forecasting. But as we heard in recent weeks, funding cuts have put this miracle at risk. The Weather and Climate Livestream is billed as a series of nonpartisan talks. It runs through Sunday. Michael Copley, NPR News. The U.S. court of international trade has overturned nearly all of President Trump's global tariffs. The judges say that only Congress has the exclusive authority to regulate trade and

impose tariffs. The Trump administration says it's appealing the decision. The celebrated dissident and author from Kenya Nguge Watiango has died at the age of 87. He wrote plays, novels, and memoirs about the devastating effects of colonialism in Kenya, as well as problems with elites. His 1964 debut novel, Weep Not, Child, discussed brothers who must confront the Kenyan rebellion against British rule. Ngugi was often discussed as a potential Nobel laureate, but he was never awarded the Literature Prize. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.

Politics is a lot these days. I'm Cora Vekulman, NPR News in Washington.