Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.
The U.S. Supreme Court weakened a portion of the Voting Rights Act that protected
“minority majority congressional districts today, St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum”
reports on how the decision could have huge implications, especially in the South. The Court ruled 6-3 that a congressional map that gave Louisiana's second black majority district was unconstitutional. He grime as a Kansas city-based attorney who successfully argued that case to the high court. He says the decision lays the groundwork to either legally challenged minority majority
districts or for state legislatures to get rid of them. That's Jason Rosenbaum from St. Louis's Supreme Court's decision could make it easier for Southern states to convert democratic leaning congressional districts with majority black populations into wider, more Republican leaning seats. For MPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum in St. Louis.
Iran's National Real Currency has hit a record low of 1.8 million to the dollar as a shaky
ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel holds. Experts warn the fall of the real is likely to further fuel inflation. Many imported goods from food and medicine to electronics and raw materials are affected by the dollar rate.
“The war is now in a ceasefire, but a U.S. naval blockade has continued to increase pressure”
on Iran's already battered economy as NPR's Tom Bowman explains. The U.S. has prevented more than three dozen ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports and meanwhile Iran is harassing shipping, entering the strait of Hormuz and net narrow waterway leading to the Arabian Sea, of course. So as a result, the flow of oil tankers, other ships, has dropped to a trickle and that
shipping clock has led to higher prices on things like fertilizer or liquefied natural gas and oil. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting President Trump held a rare phone call today with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. NPR's Charles Mains reports Russia says the talks focused heavily on current global conflicts
in Europe in the Middle East. According to Kremlin adviser, Yuriushakov Putin weighed in on the U.S. and Israel's war against Russia's ally Iran, saying he supported Trump's recent decision to prolong a ceasefire with Tehran. Yet that Russian advice did not apply closer to home after Trump suggested a deal to end
the war in Ukraine was within reach.
“Putin insisted key it was prolonging the conflict by failing to accept Russian territorial”
demands. Putin did propose a temporary ceasefire when both Russia and Ukraine hold events commemorating the end of World War II in early May.
At Putin said Russian troops would ultimately achieve their objectives in Ukraine.
Putin has held since he ordered the full-scale invasion more than four years ago. Trump's Mains impure news. "The Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates on hold. There were some divisions amidst uncertainty created by the war with Iran. One foot fed board member voted to cut rates, three others voted to hold them.
It's NPR." Proponents of raw milk are pushing to make the un-pasturized product more widely available. More than three dozen bills supporting raw milk have been introduced in statehouses across the nation, momentum is growing, even as a new E. coli outbreak sickens U.S. children, health officials have long warned that raw milk can contain potentially deadly
germs. A London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita is coming to New York, starring Rachel Ziegler who played Maria in the remake of West Side Story, Jeff London reports. The production directed by Jamie Lloyd, who similarly reconceived Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, was a smash hit in London.
Rachel Ziegler picked up an Olivier for her portrayal of Eva Perone and sang "Don't cry for me Argentina outside on a theatre balcony," to passers by below with the audience watching on a big screen inside. That won't be happening in New York for practical and safety considerations. Lloyd promises he's excited to explore a new staging idea for Broadway, no date or theatre
has been announced. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London, in New York. A barge carrying a stranded humpback whale named Timmy has begun its journey toward the North Sea. The whale was spotted near Germany's Baltic Sea coast in March, far from its Atlantic Ocean
habitat. It repeatedly became stranded in shallow waters, now rescuers are using a flooded barge to move it, German officials described the operation as unprecedented and successful. This is NPR News. Every day NPR reports stories that keep you informed, without fear or favor.
That's the promise of a free press in a democracy.
It's in the first amendment.
I'm Tom Bowman and I cover the Pentagon for NPR. Stand up for independent news coverage today by donating early for public media giving days, coming up on May 1st and 2nd, give now at donate.npr.org.
