NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-03-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

NPR News: 06-03-2025 6PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

World news is important, but it can feel far away. Not on the State of the World podcast. With journalists around the world, you'll hear firsthand the effects of US trade actions in Canada and China. And meet a Mexican street sweeper who became a pop star. We don't go around the world, we're already there. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR every weekday. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR every weekday. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The Trump administration has sent a letter to U.S. trading partners, giving them a Wednesday

deadline to make their best offers and negotiations over the steep tariffs Trump administration proposed in April. NPR's Tamara Keith reports the pause in the tariffs is set to run out next month. Facing market backlash, President Trump paused the bulk of the tariffs, saying that would allow time to negotiate bespoke deals with each trading partner. But well over halfway through the pause, the deals have been slow to come together. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt insists that will change soon. This letter was simply to remind these countries that the deadline is approaching and the president

expects good deals and we are on track for that, I will emphasize. She said administration officials are in active talks with key trading partners. The tariff pause is set to end on July 8th. Tamara Keith, NPR News. President Trump has sent a formal request to Congress asking it to claw back more than a billion dollars for public broadcasting that's already approved for the next two fiscal years. NPR's David Falkenfleck explains it's Trump's latest effort to strip federal support from NPR and PBS.

The money was just approved by the Republican-led Congress and Trump himself earlier this year. It predominantly goes to local stations, three- quarters of which is for television, a quarter for radio. Some of that returns to NPR and PBS in the form of fees to run national shows. Without federal funds, many stations would have to face tough choices for going that national programming, laying off journalists, or shutting down local shows. NPR and PBS are already suing the president over his attempt to order the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and local public media outlets to stop sending money to the networks. The president's new request to take back funds from public broadcasting

is part of a larger package that Congress must pass within 45 days for it to take effect. David Falkenfleck, NPR News. Facebook's parent company Metta is hungry for power as it develops artificial intelligence. As NPR's John Ruich reports, it's signed a deal to buy nuclear energy from the next two decades from an Illinois facility. Metta says nuclear power from Constellation Energy's Clinton Clean Energy Center will support its operations in the region starting in 2027. The facility is about halfway between St. Louis and Chicago. Metta says the agreement will help keep it up and running while providing the company with more than 1100 megawatts of emissions-free nuclear energy. The AI boom is creating unprecedented

demand for energy to run fast expanding data centers. AI consumes far more power than traditional internet uses like search and cloud storage, and tech companies have been scrambling to lock in sources of power. Meta says it's trying to spur the construction of new nuclear power plants in America and it's actively evaluating a short list of potential projects. John Rewich, NPR News. Stocks close higher moving back toward their record levels the Dow is up 214 points. This is NPR. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is calling for a much more comprehensive look at baby formula, dubbed Operation Stork Speed.

The administration says it's the first comprehensive look at infant formula since 1998 and could revamp the food source for millions of American babies. Three-quarters of U.S. infants consume formula in the first six months of life, 40 percent as their only source of nutrition. There are concerns about formula, including some instances of heavy metals and other potentially unsafe ingredients. Everything old is new again on Broadway. Today producers of musical Beetlejuice, which played twice on Broadway, announced it would be returning October

for 13 weeks Mamma Mia which played for 14 years on Broadway is returning in August for six months Jeff London reports. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice the musical based on the Tim Burton film is returning to Broadway for the third time. The national tour of the show currently playing in San Francisco will move to the Palace Theater this fall for a limited run. Mamma Mia! The ABBA musical, which has been playing continuously in London for 26 years, comes back to Broadway in August to play in its original home, the Winter Garden Theater.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. Boy, it was up 89 cents a barrel to $63.41 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.