NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-05-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The public feud between President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk is escalating fast. Musk has been slamming Trump and the Republicans' big spending bill that squeaked by the House and is now in the Senate, calling on his supporters to kill the bill. In just the past few hours, he says Trump wouldn't be in office and Republicans wouldn't control both chambers of Congress without his help and that Trump's tariffs will cause a recession this year. Musk also says on X that Trump is in the Jeffrey Epstein files and that's the reason they haven't

been made public. Epstein is the convicted sex trafficker who killed himself in a New York jail. Trump meanwhile says he's disappointed in Musk and is threatening cuts to his businesses. The New York Times reports that last year Musk's companies were promised three billion dollars across nearly 100 different contracts with 17 federal agencies. Empire Stephen Fowler has more. The world's richest man is using the social media site he owns to blast the president's massive spending proposal that would increase the federal deficit. The world's most powerful man has an even bigger megaphone, the Oval Office.

He's posting on his social media site that the easiest way to save money would be to terminate federal contracts with Musk's companies. Tesla stock took a nosedive shortly after Trump's post, and Musk's criticism adds a more vocal obstacle to passage of what Trump and his allies call the big, beautiful bill. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. Meanwhile Musk just posted that in light of Trump's comments on canceling government contracts for his companies, SpaceX will immediately start decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft. The man behind Sunday's violent attack on Jewish people in Boulder, Colorado is being formally charged today.

attack on Jewish people in Boulder, Colorado, is being formally charged today. Three victims are still hospitalized. Mike Lyle of Member Station KUNC reports the attacker is facing a federal hate crime charge and multiple counts of attempted murder. 45-year-old Mohammed Sabri Salomon threw Molotov cocktails at a group peacefully demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. 15 people and one dog were injured. Three victims are still hospitalized. Solomon told investigators he planned the attack for a year because he wanted to kill Zionists.

Michael Doherty is the Boulder County DA. He announced the state charges earlier this week. This community has experienced too many tragedies, but each time I've seen this great community respond with strength, resilience, and support for one another. Solomon faces nearly 400 years in prison on state charges. He's scheduled to appear in federal court in Denver on Friday. For NPR News, I'm Mike Lyle in Greeley, Colorado.

A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that Catholic charities can opt out of participating in state unemployment compensation program in Wisconsin, reversing a state Supreme Court decision. This could lead to a major exodus from Wisconsin's system and from similar programs in 46 other states. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The show's Mobland and PBS's We Want the Funk are among the program's NPR TV critic Eric Deggans recommends fans catch up on before the summer kicks into high gear. Here's a look at this year's TV shows to watch right now.

In the streaming age, great TV shows are like classic texts sitting on a digital bookshelf, like Netflix's Adolescents, with first-time actor Owen Cooper as a volatile kid accused of murdering a classmate. For comedy, there's Netflix's White House-set murder mystery The Residence, or Apple TV Plus' movie industry satire The Studio. In drama, the Star Wars spinoff Andor on Disney Plus also entertains. Eric Deggans, NPR News. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have reached a new high for modern record-keeping.

Scientists at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii consider the global benchmark for monitoring CO2 concentrations, say that for the the first time those concentrations exceeded 430 parts per million and it's steadily increased since the Industrial Revolution as humans burning of fossil fuels releases the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere which in turn acts like a blanket that warms the lower atmosphere leading to more extreme heatwaves droughts flooding and wildfires. Levels peak every year in many northwestern, northern hemisphere before plants absorb CO2 during the summer growing season. Wall Street Lower by the closing bell, the Dow down 108 points.

I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.