NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-08-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: June 8, 2025

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The news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you can't just ignore it when big, even world-changing events are happening. That's where the Up First podcast comes in. Every morning and under 15 minutes, we take the news and pick three essential stories so you can keep up without getting stressed out. Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. About 300 National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles this morning, the first of 2,000 troops mobilized by President Trump.

He acted after two days of protests against raids by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More protests are expected today. Steve Futterman reports from downtown Los Angeles. In front of me right now are members of the National Guard. These are some of the first troops deployed here in Southern California, maybe around two dozen members of the Guard here. They are all armed.

They're all in riot gear. They are standing in front of one of the downtown federal buildings. Now this is a complex which includes many buildings including the downtown courthouse, including the Metropolitan Detention Center. And last night this is where some of the most violent confrontations took place. There's graffiti almost on every building, at least the lower sections of these buildings, criticizing, attacking President Trump, attacking ICE. Right now, the situation is calm. We will see if that

lasts throughout the day. Steve Futterman reporting. The huge tax cut and spending bill now before Congress includes several measures on immigration enforcement. It would raise fees or impose new ones for various immigration-related services. It also includes $ or impose new ones for various immigration related services. It also includes $46.5 billion for the construction of a border wall. The bill cleared the House along party lines and is now before the Senate, which is expected to make changes before sending it back to House. Democratic Congresswoman Julie Johnson of Texas says more money should be spent on immigration, but not on a wall.

You know, what we need to do is spend more to have effective processing to be able to have people get a timely application so that people are waiting five years for an appointment, stuff like that. But the wall is just a ridiculous spend of money. Johnson was interviewed today on ABC. Wall Street will be closely watching a U.S. inflation update this week to see how President Trump's tariffs are affecting consumer prices. NPR's Maria Aspin reports.

Maria Aspin, NPR News Anchor The Labor Department's monthly Consumer Price Index, or CPI, tracks the prices people pay for goods and services. It's a key measure of inflation and something the Federal Reserve watches as it decides whether to change interest rates or hold them steady. But now, some economists are worried that the government has lost its ability to track this data and get the full picture about Americans' costs of living. The Labor Department said last week

that it's cut back on price checks nationwide because it doesn't have enough employees to do this work anymore. The U.S. government has been under a hiring freeze since President Trump took office, and it said on Friday that at least 59,000 federal workers have lost their jobs since then. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. This is NPR News. Health officials in Gaza say at least six Palestinians were killed today while trying

to reach food distribution sites backed by Israel and the U.S. They say in the past two weeks, more than 100 people have been killed trying to obtain food at those sites. The Israeli military says its troops fired warning shots as suspects were approaching them. Scientists are meeting in Nice, France this weekend ahead of United Nations Ocean Summit this week. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports.

Scientists say the ocean is sick. Jeff Ardan is with the Nature Conservancy in Mombasa, Kenya. Jeff Ardan, Mombasa, Kenya, Director, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, National Ocean Research Center, Basa, Kenya. Fishing is still the number one impact in the ocean but we have new threats, climate change. Which has increased the frequency of monster storms and is causing the seas to rise, possibly threatening a billion people in

coastal cities like Nice by 2050. There's also overfishing and pollution, especially plastics. We have enough science to make informed decisions. There is more than enough for global leaders next week to make the right decisions. That's Deva Amon, a marine scientist with the University of California Santa Barbara. She says scientists will make their suggestions. Global leaders just need to listen. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, NIS. The Lambeth Country Show is going on this weekend in a park in London. The annual event includes food,

music, lifestyle competitions, and a vegetable sculpture contest. This year, there's a Donald Trump carved out of a butternut squash and several Cardinals made of corn selecting a pope. That entry is titled Corn Clave. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington. NPR News On the Planet Money Podcast, you've seen them, those labels that say Made in NPR News in Washington.