NPR News: 05-27-2026 8PM EDT
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What are President Trump's latest statements on Iran negotiations?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump says Iran is negotiating on fumes and insists the midterm elections won't make him rush into a deal to end the war. He continues to say a deal is near. Over the weekend, he even declared that Tehran had largely negotiated a settlement, but the negotiations are clearly still in flux. Democrats are looking for a path to winning in rural areas, but the party's brand is in terrible shape in many of those places. At the same time, a new poll shows some rural voters angry about tariffs, high gas prices, and groceries. Some Democratic leaders are pushing the party to fight harder for what it's already supposed to stand for, as NPR's Mara Liason explains.
According to Dee Davis, the president of the Center for Rural Strategies, the group that commissioned this poll, Democrats have no one but themselves to blame for the hole they're in.
If they hadn't abandoned rural America and put the resources somewhere else, they might be in better shape right now.
Davis says Democrats believed they could win without rural votes.
I don't think it's worked out the way they expected.
For Davis, there's no downside to trying to woo rural voters. After all, college-educated urban voters also care about health care, gas prices, and jobs.
NPR's Mara Liason reporting, President Trump has proposed pausing the federal gas tax for six months. But NPR's Stephen Basaja reports those funds are used to protect drivers from another expense, bad roads.
Potholes cost drivers billions of dollars in repairs each year. Patrick Marshall knows what that's like after hitting a dip in New Orleans.
The entire wheel almost fell off the truck completely. It cost him $2,500. Absolutely, yeah. And, you know, it's a tough hit to take when it's an unexpected expense.
What the federal gas tax brings in is not enough to pay for all road repairs. But Rob Bott with LendingTree says anytime you cut highway maintenance funding... That you're running the risk of the roads getting worse and not better. State gas taxes are usually higher. Some states like Georgia have paused theirs. That means more savings for drivers, but less money for road repairs. Stephen Passaha, NPR News.
NPR laid off 10 journalists today, including some veteran reporters in an attempt to save money and reorganize the newsroom. NPR's David Folkenflik has the story.
In addition to the layoffs, NPR is also buying out at least 18 new staffers who voluntarily accepted offers to leave, according to three people with direct knowledge. The network says it intends to leave eight empty positions unfilled to add to the savings. The moves are part of NPR's plan to grapple with the economic consequences of Congress's vote last summer that eliminated federal subsidies for public media. While NPR relied directly on federal funds for about 1 percent of its budget's The cuts deeply hurt public radio stations that pay NPR for the radio flagship programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. David Folkenflik, NPR News.
How are Democrats strategizing to win rural voters?
This is NPR News. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is asking the U.S. for more air defense ammunition. It comes as Russian missile attacks escalate. Zelensky also warned that U.S. stockpiles are being drained due to the attacks and the Iran war. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers want to train bank staff to install jamming systems to help intercept Ukrainian drones. The U.K. intelligence reports that nearly 500,000 Russian troops have been killed since the conflict began. With the Tony Awards set to be handed out on June 7th, the theater trade organization says ticket sales are up, but the number of audience members is slightly down, as Jeff London reports.
From the perspective of box office grosses, it appears that Broadway has recovered from the pandemic. The 2025-26 season brought in $1.91 billion in ticket sales, the most ever, and 90.8% of available seats were filled, with over 14.5 million people. But that represented slightly fewer audience members than the previous season.
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