NPR News: 05-02-2026 7AM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. A legal fight over access to the abortion pill Mifepristone is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Friday, the Fifth Circuit sided with Louisiana, blocking prescriptions through telehealth appointments. Mary Ziegler is an expert in the legal history of abortion at UC Davis. She says the decision is sending shockwaves through both medicine and politics.
This is the most consequential, potentially, in some ways, ruling we've had since Dobbs from a lower court. And that's going to require every politician to weigh in. And it doesn't really leave the Trump administration the option of doing nothing anymore.
The ruling means patients nationwide for now must receive the medication in person. Abortion pills by mail have become a key access point, even in states with bans. Spirit Airlines is going out of business, canceling all flights and shutting down immediately. The budget carrier had been struggling for years, squeezed by higher fuel prices, tougher competition, and a failed push for a $500 million federal bailout. NPR's Joel Rose reports.
Spirit Airlines faced mounting financial pressure because of the war in Iran, which sent the price of jet fuel soaring. But its problems ran much deeper than that. Spirit was a pioneer among ultra-low-cost carriers, keeping its fares down by stripping away amenities the travelers had previously taken for granted and then charging extra for them. But the airline faced increased competition from its larger rivals, which adopted their own basic economy fares. The Florida-based airline has filed for bankruptcy twice since 2024. Spirit has been seeking a $500 million federal bailout, but those talks failed to yield a deal, leaving the airline no choice but to stop flying and prepare to liquidate its assets.
Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
The governor of Alabama is calling for a special legislative session in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that weakened the Voting Rights Act. Andrew Gelderman from member station WBHM reports the decision has emboldened Republicans to push for ways to gain seats in Congress.
A federal court ruling in 2023 created a near-majority black district in Alabama, which elected Alabama's second Democratic representative a year later. The state is under a court order to use that congressional map until 2030, but an appeal pending before the Supreme Court argues the map is an illegal racial gerrymander, a claim similar to the one in the case decided by the Supreme Court this week. If the high court rules the current map is illegal, Alabama would go back to the previous congressional map. Alabama's Republican Governor Kay Ivey called a special legislative session to start Monday in preparation for a possible ruling. She wants lawmakers to plan for special primary elections if the court allows the state to use the old map.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Gelderman in Birmingham, Alabama.
This is NPR News. The president of Bard College has announced his retirement following the fallout over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew Waite with member station WAMC reports that Leon Botstein led the private college in New York's Hudson Valley for 50 years.
The longtime leader is stepping down after a report found he maintained an ongoing relationship with Epstein despite knowing he was a convicted sex offender. The college's board of trustees commissioned the law firm WilmerHale after Botstein's name appeared thousands of times in the U.S. Department of Justice's Epstein Library. While the law firm did not find Botstein acted illegally, it said Botstein's contacts with Epstein between 2012 and 2019 included 25 visits to Epstein's townhouse and a two-day visit to Epstein's island. In his announcement, Botstein touted his efforts to grow the school's endowment to $1 billion, while the WilmerHale report quotes Botstein's view as being I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Waite.
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