Author: rpnadmin

President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nations around the world during an event in the Rose Garden on April 2, 2025. A slim majority of the GOP-led Senate voted this week to roll back Trump’s use of emergency powers to set tariffs on Canada, Brazil and other countries. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images In a series of three votes this week, a slim majority of the GOP-led Senate delivered a rare, bipartisan rebuke of President Trump’s use of emergency powers to set tariffs on Canada, Brazil and other countries. The last…

Politics / October 30, 2025 The House speaker admits that his legislative chamber no longer matters. That’s the outcome of a series of deliberate leadership decisions to ensure its powerlessness. Ad Policy Speaker of the House Mike Johnson talks on the 28th day of the federal government shutdown at the Capitol.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) “It doesn’t matter what we do in the House,” GOP Speaker Mike Johnson announced in a press conference this week. While it’s tempting to give the MAGA leader grudging points for candor, that churlish admission speaks volumes about a once-robust legislative branch now relegated to…

“Can you describe rent prices in New York?” “High.” “Expensive.” ”Out of control.” ”The rent here is absolutely crazy.” “Very, very unaffordable. Two verys — yeah very, very expensive.” Median asking rent in New York City is up more than 7 percent in just the last year. It’s now about $4,000 per month. That’s made the cost of housing a key issue in the mayor’s race, with the top candidates each proposing changes to a core New York City housing policy: rent stabilization. Nearly half of the apartments in New York are currently rent stabilized, which means that their rent…

Protestors gathered outside Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in February after President Trump’s executive order to stop federal funding for hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to children. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images Access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth will be dramatically restricted by the Trump administration under new proposals by the Department of Health and Human Services. NPR has obtained the draft text of a proposed rule that would prohibit federal Medicaid reimbursement for medical care provided to transgender patients younger than age 18. It also prohibits reimbursement through the Children’s…

Politics / October 30, 2025 The Times of London failed to meet even the basic standards journalism. We should demand better from our media. The Times of London failed to meet even basic journalistic standards. We should demand better from the media. Ad Policy Bill de Blasio(John Minchillo / AP) Just before 5 pm on Tuesday, I saw a text from a New York Post reporter asking for comment on my interview with the Murdoch-owned Times of London about Zohran Mamdani. The problem was: I had never given an interview to The Times. Yet here was a screenshot of the…

The Jefferson Memorial and US Capitol are seen alongside the Tidal Basin in an aerial photograph taken on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, DC, on October 22, 2024. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images The White House has fired six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings. The seven member commission is made up of experts in architecture, art, urban and landscape design. Since its creation in…

Politics / October 29, 2025 Are we just going to sit around and pretend that the president isn’t having a lot of… questionable moments these days? Ad Policy President Donald Trump speaks to members of the military aboard the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier docked at an American naval base, in Yokosuka, Tuesday, October 28, 2025.(Mark Schiefelbein / AP) Something is rotten in the state of Donald Trump’s mind. “No kidding,” you say. “Tell us something we don’t know.” But I’m not talking about the bigotry and gleeful cruelty that have animated the president’s second sweep through the halls…

A screengrab from Grokipedia shows its article about Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that Grokipedia is challenging. Grokipedia/ Screenshot by NPR hide caption toggle caption Grokipedia/ Screenshot by NPR Elon Musk’s Grokipedia encyclopedia is now online, challenging volunteer-edited Wikipedia with a new tool that incorporates Grok, the large language model chatbot developed by Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. Musk is positioning Grokipedia as an alternative to Wikipedia, which he called “Wokepedia” in an X post last December. Musk has lofty ambitions for the new encyclopedia: His stated goal is to create “an open source, comprehensive collection of all knowledge.” Critics and…

Politics / StudentNation / October 29, 2025 After the state’s ban on gay marriage was lifted in 2014, advocates took a breath. But more than a decade later, with Obergefell now at risk, there’s still more work to be done. Ad Policy The Portland Pride Parade and Festival in June 2019.(Diego Diaz / Getty) This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation.…

Mary Ann Edwards takes stock of inventory at the Llano Food Pantry in central Texas on October 23, 2025. She said the pantry has seen increased need because of rising costs of goods over the last year. With SNAP benefits set to halt barring Congressional intervention, she expects to see “a bunch of new people coming in.” Barbara Sprunt/NPR hide caption toggle caption Barbara Sprunt/NPR Chris Jones and Mary Ann Edwards have been volunteering at the Llano Food Pantry in central Texas for several years. It’s a tight-knit group, where food recipients gather early to chat outside, and community members…