NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-04-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: June 4, 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

Giles Snyder. The Trump administration has formally asked Congress to cancel billions of dollars in foreign aid funding. Here's more from NPR's Fatma Tanis. The White House Office of Management and Budget said in a memo to Congress that the request reflects the administration's need to quote cut wasteful foreign assistance. The cuts outlined in the memo include millions in funding for HIV-AIDS and other global health programs, 135 million in funding for the World Health Organization, millions in contributions to the United Nations, and cuts to other programs related to women and gender issues.

The process is called a rescission request and it would codify the slashes the administration already made to the United States Agency for International Development earlier this year as it dismantled the aid agency. Congress has 45 days to pass the request, which would only require a simple majority. Fatma Tanis, NPR News. The White House's rescission request also includes an attempt to claw back more than one billion dollars for public radio and television. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pledging to put the rescission to a vote next week. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the wife and five

children of Mohammed Sabri Salman, the man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators in Boulder, are in federal custody. Now Mohammed's despicable actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law but we're also investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack. If they had any knowledge of it or if they provided support to it. The White House says Sullivan's family members could be quickly deported. He is an Egyptian national. Authorities say he overstayed a tourist visa and an expired work permit. He faces federal hate crime

and state attempted murder charges. The State Department defending a new private aid operation in Gaza that the United Nations is calling a death trap. The Gaza Health Ministry says 27 Palestinians were killed Tuesday trying to reach the distribution centers, the third fatal incident in as many days as MPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. The Israeli military has acknowledged that it fired warning shots near the aid distribution centers and says it is investigating reports of Palestinian deaths.

UN spokesman Stefan De Jarek says the new aid distribution is putting civilians at risk. It is unacceptable. Civilians are risking and in several instances losing their lives just trying to get food. At the State Department, spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has managed to deliver 7 million meals in the past week. She calls it a creative solution and says it will be quote refined as it goes on. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is backed by the U.S. and it says its distribution centers will be closed for 24 hours beginning Wednesday. This is NPR news. Authorities in Arkansas have

released a photo rendering of convicted murderer and former small-town police chief Grant Hardin. Hardin is known as the devil in the Ozarks. The rendering shows what he may look like ten days after he escaped from the Calico Rock prison. President Trump making good on his announcement last week to double the tariff on foreign steel and aluminum. The White House says he signed an executive order Tuesday evening setting the tariff rate at 50 percent and to take effect Wednesday. Wednesday is also the deadline the Trump administration set for U.S. trading partners to submit proposals that could help them avoid what the President called his liberation day tariffs. They are set to take effect next month. In a year of tariff turmoil

and some shoppers tightening their budgets, one company stands apart from many retailers because it's forecasting a better year ahead. That company is Dollar General, the largest dollar store chain in the U.S. MPR's Alina Seljuk explains. Historically dollar stores thrive during tough economic times as more people look for cheaper places to shop. At Dollar General so far this year, sales in the latest quarter rose 2.4% from last year, leading to a higher sales forecast for the rest of the year. Executives say shoppers are trading down from more expensive stores.

They're seeing more lower-income and middle-income shoppers are trading down from more expensive stores, they're seeing more lower-income and middle-income shoppers. In company surveys, two-thirds of Dollar General shoppers say they expect to cut back spending this year even on necessities. Dollar General officials say they hope to mitigate tariff costs but might have to raise prices as a last resort. Alina Seluk, NPR News. This is NPR News.