NPR News: 04-30-2026 7AM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The U.S. Supreme Court has essentially gutted a key part of the Voting Rights Act. The case was about the 2024 congressional map in Louisiana. The high court ruled it unconstitutionally drew a second congressional district based on race. because it benefited Black voters. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports some Republican-controlled states could try to eliminate some Democratic-led districts that were likely protected by the act.
That hasn't stopped Republicans in places like Louisiana, Georgia, and Tennessee from urging their state's maps to be redrawn as soon as possible. I should note, There's a request in for the Supreme Court to speed up certifying its ruling so that Louisiana can try to redistrict. Part of the bottom line here is that with the further weakened Voting Rights Act, the United States may be headed towards seeing the largest ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress.
NPR's Hansilo Wong reporting. The government agency that handles the country's immigration applications is facing additional delay. NPR's Meg Anderson reports... This comes as it changes the way it vets applicants.
The delays are the result of new security checks the agency has added to its immigration applications. That's according to USCIS spokesperson Zach Kaler. He tells NPR in a statement that the agency is gaining more access to federal criminal databases. Processing will continue, he says, and any delay, quote, should be brief and resolved shortly. The delays, though, come amid an ongoing halt to applications from people born in 39 countries, including Nigeria, Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela. That pause, which has lasted nearly five months, has affected hundreds of thousands of people who are trying to make decisions about where they'll go to school and where they can work. Meg Anderson, NPR News.
President Trump says he is considering reducing the number of U.S. troops in Germany. This comes after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized Washington for having a lack of strategy on Iran. Esme Nicholson reports from Berlin.
More than 36,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, which is home to most U.S. military installations in Europe and to one of the USA's largest overseas Air Force bases in Ramstein. President Trump, writing on Truth Social, said he will decide shortly whether to cut the number of active service personnel. The announcement follows comments earlier this week from Chancellor Merz suggesting the Trump administration was being outplayed in ceasefire negotiations with Iran. Mertz said, quote, an entire nation was being humiliated by the Iranian regime and that the US delegation had left Islamabad empty-handed. Mertz maintains relations with Washington are what he calls as good as ever, but the threat of a reduced US military presence in Europe is expected to cause concern.
You're listening to NPR. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says he's going to stay on with the Fed after his term as chair expires. He says he wants to safeguard the Fed's ability to operate without political pressure. This came as the Fed kept interest rates steady yesterday. It appears artificial intelligence is not better than alternatives when it comes to forecasting extreme weather events. NPR's Rebecca Herscher reports a new study finds AI misjudges extremely hot and extremely cold weather.
Researchers compared AI weather models to other forecasting models that use physics to see which was better at predicting extreme weather events. The authors, who are climate scientists in Germany and Switzerland, found that AI was not as accurate when it came to very hot weather, very cold weather, and wind storms. The study was published in the journal Science Advances. Previous studies and real-world tests have found that some AI models are extremely good at predicting normal, everyday weather. But the new study finds that doesn't extend to extreme weather events. The findings have implications for how weather agencies might apply AI technology to forecasting.
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