NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-30-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

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On NPR's Thru Line, witnesses were ending up dead. How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power. Find NPR's Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shaye Stevens. A federal appeals court has temporarily restored President Trump's ability to impose sweeping new tariffs. But as Wall Street tries to shrug off the latest tariff whiplash, NPR's Maria Aspin

reports that some economists say that the U.S. is at an increased risk for recession. Top executives at Goldman Sachs gathered to discuss the markets, the financial industry, and the broader economy. Speaking hours after a federal trade court blocked the tariffs, Goldman's chief economist, Jan Hatzias, said he's still worried about damage to the U.S. economy. Goldman currently predicts that the country has a 35% chance of tipping into a recession within the next year.

We don't think this court decision really makes a major difference. The president loves tariffs. Hatzia says he expects Trump to continue looking for ways to impose the tariffs. Hours later, an appeals court gave them a temporary green light again. Maria Aspin, NPR News, Dana Point, California. The U.S. Supreme Court has sharply narrowed the scope of a key environmental statute, making it easier to win approval for infrastructure projects. The tales from NPR's Nina Totenberg.

The National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA, enacted in 1970, sets up a regulatory regime under which the federal government seeks information from a wide array of agencies about what the impact would be for proposed infrastructure projects before they're built. Today, the Supreme Court took a major whack at the 55-year-old law, ruling for the first time that courts should defer to agency determinations as long as they fall within a broad zone of reasonableness. Writing for the court majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that the goal of the law is to inform how projects are built, not hamstring them.

Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced some major changes to the government's policy on vaccinations. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says COVID vaccines are no longer recommended for pregnant women and for healthy people under the age of 65. As NPR's Rob Stein reports, the new vaccine policy and the cancellation of a $766 million contract to develop a vaccine against bird flu are generating some concerns. These are just the latest steps that Kennedy has taken that affect vaccines,

especially the mRNA vaccines. So many public health experts worry that this is part of an overall strategy to just undermine public confidence and the use of the vaccines. They point to the measles outbreak that's currently underway strategy to just undermine public confidence and the use of the vaccines. They point to the measles outbreak that's currently underway and upticks in other childhood diseases like whooping cough as evidence of the impact we're already seeing. Rob Stein reporting. This is NPR.

President Trump is set to hold a rally later today in Pennsylvania to highlight an agreement between Japan-based Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. Nippon is pledging a $14 billion investment, although details of the agreement have not been disclosed. Bernard Carrick was once hailed as a hero for his role as a New York City police commissioner following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But as Bruce Convizor reports, Carrick also served time in federal prison. Bruce Convizor, New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Carrick became a household name in

the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. He and then Mayor Rudy Giuliani had rushed to the site of the attack only to be covered in dust when the first tower collapsed. During the 16 months he led the NYPD, crime in the city continued to drop, as it had under his two immediate predecessors. In 2004, President George W. Bush nominated Carrick to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The appointments sparked routine background checks, but they turned up dubious behavior. He eventually pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges, including tax fraud, and served three years in prison.

Bernard Kerik was 69. For NPR News, I'm Bruce Convyser in New York. The White House says Israel has accepted a new proposal calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. The proposal received a cool response from Hamas leaders who say they still have to study it. Hamas has also refused to release the remaining 58 hostages unless Israel frees more Palestinian prisoners and pulls out of

Gaza. U.S. futures are lower in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.