Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
I'm at backlash from both Democrats and Republicans, the Trump administration, it's backing
“off plans for an early $1.8 billion fund for people who feel they've been victimized”
by unfair prosecution by the government. The Justice Department says it will abide by a federal judge's temporary order to not proceed with any steps to create or fund the program as a lawsuit against it plays out. NPR Zelena Moore reports this comes as Republicans look forward to the midterm elections. This has caused a lot of headaches for the White House.
We don't see Republicans break with the president very often, but this is an issue where there has been some rare pushback within the party. Even after the DOJ statement yesterday about, you know, abiding by the court's decision, we saw multiple Senate Republicans push for the White House to just end the fund. A federal judge embossed it is hearing arguments today over President Trump's executive
order restricting voting by mail. NPR's Hanzi Lowang reports the post office has proposed rules that would carry out parts of the order.
“President Trump's order from March calls for the U.S. Postal Service, which is independent”
of a president's administration, to come up with lists of eligible voters and only deliver mail-in ballots of people on those lists. In response, U.S.P.S. has proposed using information from state election officials to create voter lists while making no changes to how it delivers ballots in the mail. We should note U.S.P.S. is a financial support of NPR.
Almost two dozen Democratic-led states and voting rights groups are arguing in a federal court embossed in that Trump's directives violate the Constitution, which gives power to state legislatures and Congress, not the president to set federal election rules. Last month in similar lawsuits based in Washington, D.C., a judge found it was too early for an emergency ruling that would block parts of an order that the Trump administration
has not carried out yet. Democrats are now appealing that judge's decision. On Zilulong, NPR News. It's primary day in six states today, including California, where a race to replace termed out Governor Gavin News and takes place.
“Remember, station KQED in San Francisco, Scotchay, for his more.”
California hasn't had a governor's race like this one in decades, an unpredictable horse race, with several lead changes, the implosion of a leading candidate after sexual assault allegations, and a slew of relatively unknown options. Once discounted, Havier Bessera, former HHS Secretary and California Attorney General, has jumped to the front of the pack after Congressmen Eric Swallwell dropped out, not far behind,
Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, he's neck and neck with billionaire investor
and political activist Tom Stire, who's dropped more than $200 million in counting.
A few months ago, panic Democrats feared they could be locked out of a November runoff by this top two primary system, but now poll show it's at least possible the top two finishers will both beat Democrats. For NPR News, I'm Scotchay for in San Francisco. And you're listening to NPR News in Washington.
The company behind the hugely popular AI model, Claude, has started the ball rolling on an IPO, and Thropic says it filed a draft registration for the stock listing with the securities and exchange commission, and here's John Ruich has more. Anthropics brief announcements says the timing of the proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors, but analysts expect Anthropics mega
IPO to come later this year, along with two other blockbuster listings. Elon Musk's SpaceX and open AI, maker of chatGPT. Last week, Anthropics announced that after a fresh round of fundraising, the company's valuation
stood at $965 billion, that makes it bigger than OpenAI.
The potential trio of tech IPOs comes at a time of great hype and concern about artificial intelligence. AI linked stocks have been soaring, but poll show there's growing public concern about AI, and the effect it'll have on society. John Ruich and PR News.
Serena Williams is heading back to global competitive tennis in the HSBC championships in London next month, the 44-year-old will play under a wild card entry in the doubles bracket. It's her first match since the 2022 U.S. Open. Williams, a 23-time grand slam singles champ, hasn't said yet if she'll return to a full-time tennis schedule, but the HSBC championships held on the grass courts of the Queen's Club
is seen as a warm-up for Wimbledon, which takes place in late June. I'm Janine Herbst and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. So the next time someone says, "Did you see that? You can say, yeah, obviously, follow NPR's pop culture happy hour wherever you get your
