NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-30-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: May 31, 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 Donald Trump traveled to Pittsburgh today where he announced plans to push up tariffs

on foreign steel to 50%. Speaking to a crowded U.S. steel facility, Trump also said an investment in Japan's Nippon steel in the storied steelmaker will be good for workers. But NPR's Franco Ordonia says some details of the arrangement remain unclear. I mean, the details are still quite murky. And there are real questions about if it is different. I mean, Trump, though, insisted that the company would remain under US control.

But when you talk to industry analysts about these things, those who are following all the different moves, I mean, they say this may not be that different than what was originally proposed, you know, the selling of U.S. steel, but they say Trump is calling it a partnership to avoid sounding like he switched his position. Returning to Washington tonight, Trump said Nippon will invest $17 billion in U.S. steel. Trump said the steel tariffs will take effect next week. Lawyers for Google and the Justice Department met at a federal court in Washington, D.C. today over the Google search engine monopoly remedy trial.

Two sides presenting very different options for which penalties should be levied against Google. MPR's Jacqueline Diaz was in court. The Justice Department presented arguments to U.S. District Judge Ahmet Mehta as to why he should follow their tough penalty proposals for the tech giant. The DOJ is looking for Google to sell off its popular Chrome browser and to license

its search data to other companies. But Google's lead attorney says that would just be giving Google competitors a handout. Google for its part has agreed to stop making exclusive search engine agreements with device makers like Apple, among other things. MEDA is expected to issue his decision on penalties in August, and Google says it plans to appeal. So this legal saga is far from over. Jacqueline Diaz, NPR News. Five Kansas women are suing the state over a law that invalidates end-of-life directives

during pregnancy. As Rose Conlon of Member station WNUW reports, the lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny over life support requirements for pregnant patients. Kansas allows adults to decline life support measures if they're incapacitated and terminally ill, but those directives are automatically invalid during pregnancy. That violates pregnant women's right to personal autonomy and equal protection under the state constitution, says attorney Jess Pesley with the advocacy group Compassion and Choices.

The ultimate question this case asks is whether people lose their constitutional rights when they become pregnant. Over 30 states have some form of pregnancy exclusion in laws around advance directives. The lawsuit comes as concern grows over a brain-dead pregnant Georgia woman who's been kept on life support for three months and counting due to state abortion laws. For NPR News, I'm Rose Conlin in Wichita. Wall Street wrapped up its best month since 2023 in a quiet day of trading. The Dow was up 54 points, the NASDAQ fell 62. This is NPR. Rising flood waters in Nigeria have now claimed the lives of at least 111 people. Officials there say the flooding caused by pre-dawn rains hit a market town where farmers from northern Nigeria meet with traders from the south to sell their produce.

It's not clear how much rain fell, but communities in northern Nigeria have been experiencing dry conditions, and excessive rains resulted in flash floods. Searchers say they expect the death toll there to go higher. Loretta Switt, the actor known for playing Margaret Hotlips Houlihan in the long running TV show, MASH, has died. According to a statement from her publicist,

she died Friday, just after midnight, at her home in New York. She was 87 years old, and viewers Andrew Limbong has this appreciation. Compared to some of the jokier doctors on the sitcom, Margaret Houlihan was no-nonsense, dedicated to serving in the U.S. Army as the best nurse in the Korean War.

My father was a colonel and my mother was a nurse and I was conceived on maneuvers. The Army's in my blood. Nash ran for 11 seasons and through that time, Loretta Switt and the writers gave the character more depth as she pushed back against higher-ups, trying to take advantage of her. I'm not a pushover anymore. Get yourself another clay pigeon.

You're gonna hate yourself in the morning. Get out of my tent, General. Besides the show's star, Ellen Alda, Switt was the only other actor to appear in the show's pilot and its history-making finale, picking up two best-supporting actress Emmys in the process. Andrew Limbong, NPR News. Critical futures prices continue to bounce around amid uncertainty over the direction of oil industry cartel OPEC when it comes to setting production levels for July. Oil fell 15 cents a barrel to 60.79 a barrel. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

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