NPR News: Posts

NPR News

Six months in, how Trump has changed the Education Department.

A sign marks the location of the U.S. Department of Education headquarters building on June 20, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Federal education policy has seen a lot of changes since President Trump's inauguration. For example, the Department of Education itself, which Trump has vowed to close.

But that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from also wielding the Department's power. Most recently, by withholding billions of dollars for K-12 schools.

The Trump administration has drastically changed the federal government's role in education. What does that mean for American classrooms?

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C_onsider This+_ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: J. David Ake)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump visits Federal Reserve and tussles with Jerome Powell in extraordinary moment

The Federal Reserve building is seen as it goes under construction on July 17, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

President Trump visited the Federal Reserve to inspect an ongoing renovation and disagreed with Powell about the final cost of the project in an extraordinary moment.

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump signs an executive order making it easier to remove homeless people from streets

A man who identifies as homeless reads a book under the shade of a tree during high 90-degree temperatures last month in Boulder, Colo.

The White House directive calls for prioritizing money for programs that require sobriety and treatment, and for cities that enforce homeless camping bans.

(Image credit: Mark Makela)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Questions about Epstein files follow lawmakers home

Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the U.S. Capitol on June 4.

It's just the start of a summer recess for Congress, but already House Republicans are being asked questions back home about the push to release records related to the late Jeffrey Epstein.

(Image credit: Tom Williams)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Supreme Court keeps a pause for now on a ruling that weakens the Voting Rights Act

A demonstrator holds an umbrella and a sign saying "STAND UP! PROTECT OUR VOTING RIGHTS" outside the U.S. Supreme Court in March in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has extended a pause, for now, on a lower court ruling that struck down a key tool for protecting minority voters under the Voting Rights Act in seven states.

(Image credit: Jemal Countess)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump's cuts to National Parks are real but many visitors aren't seeing them yet

Along Glacier National Park

DOGE cuts to the National Park Service spawned fears of widespread problems for park visitors during peak summer season, as parks continue to see record visit numbers. The cuts are real, but mostly invisible.

(Image credit: Kirk Siegler)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump administration scrutiny of academic institutions stretches beyond elite colleges

After pressuring elite universities, the Trump administration is now focusing on George Mason. Education reporter Katherine Mangan discusses why GMU's president says it's a backlash to DEI efforts.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan dies at 71

Hulk Hogan between matches during WrestleMania in Los Angeles in 2005.

According to the Clearwater Police and Fire departments, Terry Bollea died Thursday morning after a cardiac arrest.

(Image credit: Chris Carlson)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

DOJ to question Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. And, Trump unveils new AI order

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. A federal judge in Florida has denied a request to unseal grand jury transcripts from a separate Epstein case in Florida.

Columbia has agreed to pay over $200 million in a federal settlement. And, President Trump's new AI policies set requirements for companies wanting to do business with the federal government.

(Image credit: Stephanie Keith)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Aparna Nancherla is tapping into ancestral rage

undefined

Anxiety has always played a major role in Aparna Nancherla's comedy. She spoke with Rachel about growing into her rage and feeling godlike when she's alone.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Scientists are developing artificial blood that could save lives in emergencies

Scientists are working to develop an artificial blood that can be available for medics to use in an emergency when regular blood is not available.

A research team has successfully tested a blood substitute in animals, and human trials may not be far off. The powdered blood could help medics respond faster in a crisis.

(Image credit: Eli Meir Kaplan for NPR)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump's EPA now says greenhouses gases don't endanger people

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency building  in Washington, D.C.

The Trump administration wants to reverse a 2009 EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. The finding is the basis for much of the United States' climate change regulations.

(Image credit: Jose Luis Magana)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

What borrowers should know about student loan changes in the One Big Beautiful Bill

President Trump has signed off on an overhaul of the federal student loan system that will affect the lives of many of the United States

(Image credit: Moor Studio)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Cooking with kids is messy. This dad chef wants you to do it anyway

DaviDad, What's for Dinner?, makes a recipe called "stressed-out weekday pancakes" together with his daughter, Helena.'/>

Chef David Nayfeld has been cooking with his kid since she was 2. In a new book, Dad, What's for Dinner?, he shares easy ways to involve kids in meal prep, and a weeknight recipe for meatballs.

(Image credit: Eric Wolfinger)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

You can't outrun a bad diet. Food not lack of exercise fuels obesity, study finds

A new study shows people in countries with different obesity rates burn about the same number of calories.

One explanation for the rise in obesity in industrialized countries is that people burn fewer calories than people in countries were obesity is rare. A major study finds that's not the case.

(Image credit: PCH-Vector)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

State Dept. cuts China experts as administration says countering Beijing top priority

President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen during an Oval Office meeting at the White House on July 16.

The State Department has shuttered the team involved in South China Sea security, getting rid of top experts on the subject at a time when the administration says security in the region is a priority.

(Image credit: Alex Brandon)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Israel bans beach access in Gaza

Once a rare refuge in war-torn Gaza, the beach offered relief and a glimpse of freedom. Now, even the sea is off-limits — as Israel bans access to the coast, warning it could cost lives.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Appeals court upholds block against Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump speaks during an AI summit at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on Wednesday.

The ruling keeps a block on the Trump administration from denying citizenship to children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.

(Image credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Thai and Cambodian soldiers fire at each other in disputed border area

In this July, 2025, photo released by the Royal Thai Army, Thai soldiers inspect a border area in Ubon Ratchathani† province where the Royal Thai Army said two anti-personnel landmines were found.

Thai and Cambodian soldiers fired at each other in contested border area Thursday after the nations downgraded their diplomatic relations in a rapidly escalating dispute.

(Image credit: Royal Thai Army)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Frustrated by NIMBYs, states are trying to force cities to build affordable housing

Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, under renovation.  Utah is among a growing number of states pressing cities to build more affordable housing.

Utah's leaders worry skyrocketing home prices are keeping young people from creating wealth. It's among a growing number of states — red and blue — passing laws to promote more affordable places.

(Image credit: Adele Heidenreich)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Six months of 'shock and awe' on immigration enforcement

US President President Donald Trump (L), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (2nd-R), and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (2nd-L) tour a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," Florida earlier this month

Since returning to office, President Trump has moved swiftly to upend decades of federal policy—from education to healthcare to vaccines...but nowhere more aggressively than immigration.

Congress just passed tens of billions in funding for immigration enforcement...It's the largest domestic enforcement funding in U.S. history, fueling Trump's mass deportation campaign of migrants living in the U.S. illegally.

President Trump campaigned for office promising the largest deportation in history.

Six months into his second term, how has immigration enforcement changed.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C_onsider This+_ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

(Image credit: DREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

OK, is Martin Van Buren responsible for the tiny word that punches above its weight?

Martin Van Buren served as U.S. president from 1837 to 1841. Some would say he was not much more than an OK president.

From Buenos Aires to Bangkok, Montreal to Moscow, nearly every taxi driver in the world understands "OK." It's a gift from American English that's spread across the globe in less than 200 years.

(Image credit: National Archives/Getty Images)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump's new AI policies keep culture war focus on tech companies

President Trump answering questions at the White House on July 11, 2025.

A new executive order instructs tech companies to address what the White House sees as "woke AI." Receiving future federal contracts could hinge on whether AI firms respond.

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Supreme Court allows Trump to fire 3 Democrats on consumer safety panel

The Supreme Court

The decision further limits a 90-year-old high-court precedent that was aimed at protecting the independence of certain regulatory agencies.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Tesla profits slide 16%, despite Elon Musk's pivot back to his companies

A 2023 Model X sports-utility vehicle sits outside a Tesla dealership Sunday, June 18, 2023, in Englewood, Colo.

The earnings report follows a 13.5% drop in sales this quarter, compared to the same period a year ago.

(Image credit: David Zalubowski)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

The Etan Patz case changed how America responds to missing kids

People walk past a street shrine to Etan Patz in 2012.

Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared while walking to a school bus stop in 1979. The publicity of the case led to a societal shift and greater coordination among law enforcement.

(Image credit: Emmanuel Dunand)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Congress is in August recess, but the Epstein controversy keeps bubbling

House Speaker Mike Johnson departs after speaking to reporters outside the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on July 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

As Democrats push to release Epstein-related files, a former Justice Department official says the public may never see the full details.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

A carbohydrate revolution is fueling cyclists in the Tour de France

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Tim Podlogar, who researches exercise metabolism, about how elite cyclists consume thousands of calories each day to compete in the Tour de France.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Nations must act on climate change or could be held responsible, top U.N. court rules

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu

The International Court of Justice ruled that nations have an obligation to act on climate change under international laws protecting the environment and human rights.

(Image credit: Peter Dejong)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Judge denies release of Jeffrey Epstein transcripts in Florida

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffery Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. A federal judge in Florida has denied a request to unseal grand jury transcripts from a separate Epstein case in Florida.

President Trump had called for the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein. Two judges in New York also are weighing requests from the Justice Department to unseal grand jury transcripts.

(Image credit: Stephanie Keith)

Continue Reading…