NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-16-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

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President Trump has spent the first few months of his term testing the limits of presidential power. He's tried to upend decades of established trade policy and foreign policy, and taken over powers long ceded to Congress. NPR's podcast, Trump's Terms, curates the network's coverage of the Trump administration. It helps you follow the latest and understand what it means. Trump's Terms. Listen in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump says Iran has sent messages it wants to de-escalate the conflict with Israel,

but the Israeli ambassador to the UN calls Iran a, quote, master of deception. Here's NPR's Michelle Keldman. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danone, doesn't see any room for dialogue at the moment. He says Israel has, in his words, pushed back Iran's nuclear program in recent days, and it will continue to do that. Danon says this is not a short operation.

It's not similar to what we did in the 80s in Iraq, when we had to attack one reactor, or in 2005 when we took care of the reactor in Syria, it's a much more challenging operation and it takes time. The Israeli ambassador is defending a strike on Iranian state television, saying Israel will target anyone cooperating with the Iranian military. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. All 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories have now approved a new $7.4 billion bankruptcy settlement with Purdue Pharma. The company is the maker of Oxycontin, a pain medicine that helped fuel the U.S. opioid

crisis. NPR's Brian Mann has details. This deal is different from a bankruptcy plan overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court last year in that it doesn't force people to give up individual lawsuits against members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma. According to the company, the Sacklers are expected to contribute billions of dollars to the settlement. New York Attorney General Letitia James said this deal will hold the Sackler family accountable for what she described as their leading role in fueling the epidemic of opioid addiction.

The Sacklers deny any wrongdoing. This deal is expected to be approved by a U.S. bankruptcy court and would add to more than $50 billion in opioid settlements already agreed to by corporations that made and sold addictive opioid pain medications. Brian Mann, NPR News. Economists are projecting higher prices and slower economic growth this year as a result of President Trump's tariffs. NPR's Scott Horsley reports on a new survey from the National Association for Business

Economics. Inflation reports released last week showed little fallout from the president's trade war, but private forecasters don't expect that to last. More than 90 percent of the business economists surveyed say they expect tariffs to result in higher inflation this year. On average, they expect prices to climb about 3.4 percent. Annual inflation last month was a relatively tame 2.4 percent. Forecasters are also projecting slower GDP growth and slightly higher unemployment. On average, they think the economy will grow about 1.3 percent this year, down from 1.9 percent they were projecting before the president ordered worldwide tariffs in

early April. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. Despite heightened tensions and military action between Israel and Iran, stocks moved higher on Wall Street today that doused up 317 points. This is NPR. The death toll has now risen to six in West Virginia, where flood waters in the state's panhandle have caused damage in communities there. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey says in addition to the six people killed, two remain missing. Officials say as much as 4 inches of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio counties over a 40-minute period.

It's estimated at least 60 homes, 24 businesses, and 30 roads were damaged by flooding in the state. Federal regulators are reviewing plans to bring back a shuttered nuclear power plant in Michigan. As Dustin Dwyer with Michigan Public reports, it could become the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to come back online after being decommissioned. The Palisades nuclear plant sits on the shore of Lake Michigan.

The plant stopped operating in 2022, but the company that bought Palisades to decommissioned. The Palisades nuclear plant sits on the shore of Lake Michigan. The plant stopped operating in 2022, but the company that bought Palisades to decommission it says it now plans to reopen the plant by the end of this year. Steve Scheipe is one of hundreds of people working to make that happen. He said at first he didn't believe the plan to reopen was real. Once I was convinced, you know, I told him to sign me up, so I wanted to be part of it. Some local residents are opposed to the plan, saying the aging plant is too big of a risk. For NPR News, I'm Dustin Dwyer in Grand Rapids. A couple of European satellites using precise formation flying have been able to create

the first ever artificial solar eclipses to allow for additional scientific research. European Space Agency says the satellite pair launched late last year have been able to create 10 mini solar eclipses so far and will be able to presumably generate many more over the next two years. European Space Agency released pictures of the satellite created eclipses today. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. The best kind of celebrity interview is one where you find out that the person I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.