Can’t-miss interviews: Mohsen Mahdawi, Steve Bannon and Maura Healey on Harvard cuts
A lot happened this week, and NPR has you covered. Catch up on the big news and culture moments you might have missed.
Mohsen Mahdawi — the Columbia student arrested at his citizenship appointment — speaks
Speaking to NPR in his first media interview since his detention, lawful permanent U.S. resident Mohsen Mahdawi finds peace in meditation and hopes “America will fulfill its promise.”
Steve Bannon praises Trump’s strategy, wants DOGE’s receipts
NPR’s Steve Inskeep spoke with the Trump ally and sometime presidential adviser about the president’s agenda at home and abroad.
Trump’s Harvard funding cuts don’t put “America first,” says Massachusetts governor
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey argues President Trump’s funding cuts to Harvard University and other universities are detrimental to the economy.
Weird Al keeps dorkiness close to his heart
“Weird Al” Yankovic has no trouble tapping into his dorkiness. Perhaps that’s the secret to his decades-spanning appeal. On this week’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin, he talks about aging into his weirdness.
Ford Motor CEO “welcomes” Trump’s move to ease tariffs on automakers
President Trump is easing some of his tariffs on the U.S. auto industry. But what will the overall impact of these economic policies mean for the nation’s biggest carmakers? Ford Motor CEO weighs in.
GOP blocked Hegseth Signal probe because he is “indefensible,” says Rep. Adam Smith
House Republicans blocked a resolution that could have forced an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., says it’s because the GOP knows it can’t defend him.
Heritage Foundation president on Trump’s first 100 days
NPR’s Juana Summers talks with Kevin Roberts — president of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025 — about the Trump administration’s recent actions.
Ada Limón reflects on her tenure as the poet laureate
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reflects on her term and the urgency of connecting to nature through poetry.
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Impostor uses AI to impersonate Rubio and contact foreign and U.S. officials
The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence.
Supreme Court allows Trump to resume mass federal layoffs for now
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed to the court by President Biden, dissented.
Graphics: Where the Texas floods happened and how high the waters rose
One Guadalupe River gauge near Kerrville and Camp Mystic recorded a rise of more than 25 feet in two hours.
Haiti’s iconic Hotel Oloffson, long a cultural beacon, destroyed by gang violence
The Hotel Oloffson in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, long a haven for artists and writers, poets and presidents, a symbol of Haiti's troubled politics and its storied past, has been destroyed by gangs.
New books this week focus on Caitlin Clark, King Tut, and how ‘Democrats Lost America’
Plus: a new novel from Gary Shteyngart, a true story of a shipwreck, and a memoir from a wrongly incarcerated inmate who was exonerated after 28 years behind bars.
Shoes off at the airport? TSA appears to be giving the pesky rule the boot
For nearly twenty years, most air travelers in the U.S. have been required to remove their shoes when going through security. That requirement seems to be ending.