"Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.
A federal judge is temporarily blocking the Trump administration's nearly $1.8 billion fund
“for people who claim they were targets of politicized prosecutions and appears Ryan Lucas”
reports." In a two-page order, US District Judge Lee and a brink of mubbars, the Justice Department from taking any further action to create the so-called anti-weaponization fund, including transferring money to the fund, considering any claims or making any payments out of it. This temporary pause is necessary the judge says, in order to give the court time for
a full briefing from both sides, on the legal arguments before any funds are irreversibly paid out. The fund was created as part of a settlement agreement between the Justice Department and President Trump, who in return dropped his lawsuit against the IRS over his late tax returns. The fund has faced intense backlash from Democrats, as well as many Republicans.
Ryan Lucas and PR News, Washington. And another federal judge has ruled that President Trump's name should not have been added to the Kennedy Center. He's also temporarily halting a plan two-year closure of the arts complex, in response
“Trump says he's backing away from his proposed renovation and returning control of the”
institution to Congress and PR's Anassassia Silcus, as more. In his ruling, US District Court Judge Christopher Cooper writes, quote, "The Kennedy Center's Organic Statute makes crystal clear that the center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the board's unilateral say so."
Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name and only Congress can change it. Judge Cooper also ruled that the center could not wind down its programming and close for two years of renovations, at least for now. He wrote that the board did not have sufficient details to make an informed decision about the closure.
All of the current board's voting members were selected by Trump. The Kennedy Center told MPR it plans to appeal the decision, Anassassia Silcus and PR News. The rate of US foreclosures rose to its highest level in six years in March, according to a real estate data company, Cotality, and Pierre Steven Bassaha says that's the first
increase in the rate in over a year. Out of all the active mortgages in the US, nearly half a percent of them are in foreclosure. Wargaged delinquencies were also a 3 percented march from a year earlier. It's a flashing warning sign that consumers are under stress. Molly Bassal is Cotality's principal economist.
But while this is the first foreclosure increase in a while, it is still just a small increase. We're not looking at any kind of like for closure wave or for closure shock here, like we did during the financial crisis. Bassal says the increase was shallow but widespread.
More than 75 percent of Metro's across the country saw an increase in their foreclosure
rate. Bassaha NPR News major US stock indexes closed higher today, your listening to NPR News from Washington. A court in Kenya has suspended a US plan to establish a quarantine facility for Americans exposed to a rare Ebola virus.
The decision came after backlash from medical workers and activists. The US intended to send, affected, and exposed individuals to Kenya instead of flying them home, the high court and Nairobi halted any agreements until petitions are heard next week. The Kenya Law Society challenged the facility, citing public health risks and lack of public
participation.
“More than two years after a cargership collided with Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge,”
the families of six construction workers who were killed have settled their claims with the vessel's owner and operator, Wambui Kamal, a member of the station WIPR reports. The settlement resolves all claims brought by the families and survivor Julio Survantis, who was rescued from the river in March 2024. Legal teams say it's terms are confidential.
This announcement comes just days before a federal civil trial begins on June 1st. That court case will decide if the companies behind the Dali can cap their total liability
at $44 million for the remaining plaintiffs.
The trial will move forward for local governments and small businesses still seeking damages. For NPR News, I'm Wambui Kamal, in Baltimore. Mexico's president Claudia Sheenbaum has given away her ticket to the World Cup opening match. The first female president in Mexico's history donated her ticket to Yolette Servante's
Quakeua, a young indigenous woman from Vera Cruz. She was chosen for her ballhandling skills in a contest. Sheenbaum also gave tickets to three other matches to other amateur athletes. This is NPR News. Each story you hear on planet money starts with a question.
What happens if we refund tariffs? Why are grocery so expensive? NPR, we stand for your right to be curious because the forces shaping our world can be hard to see. Follow NPR's planet money wherever you get your podcasts and start seeing how the economy
