NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-29-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

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Know that fizzy feeling you get when you read something really good, watch the movie everyone's been talking about, or catch the show that the internet can't get over? At the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we chase that feeling four times a week. We'll serve you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, and more. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between,

catch the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. In an unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court has limited what information agencies have to consider when they're reviewing the environmental impacts of big infrastructure projects. In the opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court ruling the National Environmental Policy Act, or N NEPA makes it harder and more expensive to build things in the U.S. And here's Michael Copley reports.

The high court says federal agencies don't have to address environmental impacts that aren't immediately connected to the project under review. In this case, the production and refining of oil that could result from a new railroad line connecting oil fields in Utah to the national rail network. Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed, writing in a concurring opinion that the Surface Transportation Board wouldn't have had authority to stop the rail project

based on the potential environmental impacts of the oil industry. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said court should also give substantial deference to agencies when deciding whether an environmental analysis complies with NEPA. Michael Copley, NPR News. President Donald Trump's repeatedly blocked and unblocked global tariffs are for now unblocked.

That's after the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today moved to allow the Trump administration to continue collecting tariffs while it appeals another decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade. That body ruled yesterday Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked a 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency to put in place higher taxes on products from overseas, taxes that are likely to be passed on to consumers. The UN and Gaza's Health Ministry say more than 400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since May 22nd. There are many more people trapped under the rubble of airstrikes in Gaza that are still unaccounted for,

appears Ibrahim Chawi reports. The head of ambulance services in northern Gaza, Fadis Afana, says a three-story home was bombed overnight by Israel with around 20 people from one family inside. He says most remain trapped under the rubble with no way to reach them, but that they did reach a critically wounded girl who lost both legs. Hospital officials say another Israeli attack on a home in central Gaza killed at least 20 people. They say six more people from another family were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City. Meanwhile, people are also facing extreme hunger as Israel tries to take control of

food distribution in Gaza after months of blockade. Three UN warehouses were overrun by hungry crowds. The World Food Program says some people died at its warehouse in the chaos of trying to reach bags of flour. Eyal Batraoui, NPR News, Dubai. The number of Americans filing first-time jobless claims took a bump up last week, though for the most part, even with some global economic uncertainties, employers are holding on to their workers. Labor Department says for the week ending May 24th, applications rose by 14,000 to a

seasonally adjusted 240,000. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits are widely seen as a proxy for the broader economy. On Wall Street, the Dow is up 117 points. This is NPR. New research is showing how a brief event may lead to a lasting emotion in the brain. NPR's John Hamilton has more on the study in the journal Science. Scientists studied people and mice experiencing something annoying.

Puffs of air delivered to the cornea. Each puff caused a brief spike of activity in the brain circuits that process sensory input. That spike was followed by sustained activity in other circuits, including those involved in emotion. Dr. Carl Dyseroth of Stanford University says the team had a hunch. If you remove this sustained phase, you block the emotional response as well. So they ran the experiment again, but this time used a drug to prevent that sustained activity.

People no longer found the puffs annoying, and mice stopped squinting to protect their eyes. That suggests it takes a lingering signal in the brain to cause an emotional response. John Hamilton, NPR News. The pay gap between the nation's CEOs and average workers has been rising for decades, and that trend is showing no signs of slowing. According to an annual survey by the Associated Press, Pay-for-Chief execs at S&P 500 companies rose by nearly 10 percent last year. Much of that was driven by Wall Street since increasingly

CEO pay packages include stock options and performance bonuses. The CEO of Taser Maker Axon Enterprises had the biggest payday, valued at roughly $164 million. Based on the survey, around half the companies would take the average worker 192 years to equal CEO pay at those firms for just one year. Oil fell 90 cents a barrel today to $60.94 barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.