NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-02-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

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This is Ira Glass with This American Life, each week on our show. We choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast, chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us, This American Life. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Police in Boulder, Colorado say six people were injured after a man used a flame thrower

in a crowd walking along a pedestrian mall on Sunday. Some of those hurt are in serious condition. From member station KUNC Emma Vande Nynndy says the FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. Local FBI officials identified the male suspect as 45-year-old Mohammed Sabri Salman. He yelled, free Palestine, during a march in support of releasing Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Boulder Police Chief Steven Redfern says he's urging the community to come together. A lot of people are upset and questioning how this happened and why.

All I know is Boulder has recovered before from acts of violence and we will again recover. Officials say the victims range from 67 to 88 years old. Two were airlifted to a burn unit in Denver. For NPR News, I'm Emma Vanden Heide in Denver. The Senate returns to Washington Monday to deal with demands from President Trump that they support his massive spending bill. The House has passed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but some GOP senators say the current bill won't pass the upper body.

NPR's Luke Garrett has more. A handful of Republican spending hawks in the Senate are casting doubt on a bill that would enact President Trump's domestic agenda of cutting taxes, increasing border spending, and scaling back safety net programs. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told Fox News he supports Trump, but this bill fails to rein in U.S. spending. My loyalty is to the American people, to my kids and grandkids. We cannot continue to mortgage their future.

And Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky told CBS News the bill is too expensive to pass. I think there are four of us at this point and I would be very surprised if the bill at least is not modified in a good direction. If the Senate makes changes, the bill would have to pass the House again before reaching Trump's desk. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. A big question lately for Wall Street investors has been just how much President Trump's on-and-off-again tariffs will end up affecting the U.S. economy. As NPR's Rafael Nam reports, we may get some clues finally when we get the latest unemployment report this week.

The White House has long claimed that tariffs will provide an economic boost to the country. But most economists and investors in Wall Street have been very skeptical. Instead, they worry that tariffs will hurt an economy that has been remarkably solid. One key area of concern is the labor market. The big worry is that businesses will struggle and will then need to cut costs and shed workers. The White House has also been slashing the number of federal employees, which also raises concerns about the broader labor market. It's why investors are so keen to see the latest employment data for May coming out

on Friday. Rafael Nam, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. A Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday destroyed 41 Russian planes. Ukrainian officials say the attack took more than a year to plan and involved drones inside Russia that were launched from containers moved around by trucks. Russia's military says the attacks also started fires on several military bases. At the same time, Russian forces were attacking Ukraine with missiles and drones just hours before peace talks were to begin in Turkey. Disposable

vapes are now banned in the United Kingdom, NPR's Lauren Fraer reports from London. This ban is part of an effort to curb youth vaping and cut down on electronic waste. Data show a quarter of 11-15 year olds in the UK have tried vaping and one in 10 vape often. But some reusable vapes are almost identical to disposable ones. And so Hazel Cheeseman, head of an anti-tobacco charity, tells the BBC that this ban might just encourage youth to switch types of vapes rather than quit. Teenagers weren't drawn to these products because you could throw them away after. They were drawn to them because they were brightly coloured and they were really, really available.

And she says those things are still true for reusable vapes, which remain legal. The UK government is separately weighing legislation to phase out cigarettes altogether and extend smoking bans to more outdoor settings. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. Treasury Secretary Scott Bissett says President Trump will speak soon with China's president. He says they'll work on ironing out trade issues as well as a dispute over critical minerals. On Friday, Trump accused China of violating an agreement with the U.S. to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for those minerals.

The White House, however, later said that no date for a conversation has been set. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. Support for NPR News.