NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-31-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

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Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The White House is pulling its nomination for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. If here's Franco Ordoña's reports, the move comes just days before the Senate was set to vote on his nomination. The White House did not explain why Isaacman's nomination was polled, but spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement that quote, it's essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump's America First agenda. Isaacman, a pilot who flies his own fighter jet, has a close relationship with the billionaire

Elon Musk, who this week left his post as a senior advisor to the president. The Senate was set to vote on Isaacman's nomination next week. Huston said the president will name a replacement soon. She said the new administrator will, quote, help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump's bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars. Franco Ordonez, NPR News. The State Department says it's going to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students if they have connections to the Chinese Communist Party or if they study in what Secretary of

State Marco Rubio calls critical fields. And here's Emily Fang has more on how that could affect some 270,000 Chinese students in the U.S. The announcement sent more waves of anxiety through China where Tomo Ross Child, who runs a consulting company that helps Chinese students apply for American universities, says many families are beside themselves. Many of them are losing their mind. There is intense competition and veneration for an American education in China.

China is the second biggest source of foreign students to the U.S. Most study in science and technology fields when they get to the U.S. And data from the U.S. National Science Foundation finds more than 80 percent of these students then stay and work in the U.S. after graduation. Emily Fang and Peer News. The National Hurricane Center is reminding people to stay prepared ahead of this year's hurricane season that starts tomorrow. Julia Cooper of Member Station WLRN has more. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a 60 percent chance of above-normal

activity this season. National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan says that's been a trend over time. We've been in a very active period more or less for about the last 30 years in the Atlantic, but it's really important to remind everybody in hurricane-prone areas that it doesn't really matter what the seasonal forecast says. There are risks of impacts every year. Officials stress the importance of knowing if you live in an evacuation zone in coastal and flood-prone areas. They also say it's important to know where to find trusted sources of information like local meteorologists and emergency management officials. For NPR News, I'm Julia Cooper in Miami.

And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Five Kansas women are suing the state over a law that invalidates end-of-life directives during pregnancy. This amid growing scrutiny over life support requirements for pregnant patients. Rose Conlin of member station KMUW has more. 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. Rose Conlin 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. The United Nations nuclear watchdog says Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched

to near weapons-grade levels. And the International Atomic Energy Agency is calling on Tehran to quickly change course and comply with the agency's probe. Today's report from the agency comes at a sensitive time, as Tehran and Washington have been holding several rounds of talks over a possible nuclear deal the U.S. is trying to reach. Iran has long been enriching uranium to 60 percent or near weapons-grade levels, but maintains that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

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