Harvard University tax-exempt status; Drug prices : NPR

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Today’s top stories

President Trump signed an executive action yesterday aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for Americans. A White House official said the move would include “delivering lower prices to seniors” and building on Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices.

• 🎧 The drug price savings are baked into the Biden administration law that gave Medicare negotiating power, NPR’s Sydney Lupkin tells Up First. The executive action asks the health secretary and Congress to fix what the administration sees as a flaw in the law. Currently, prescription pills like some cancer drugs are eligible for negotiation sooner than more complex biotech drugs like the rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira. Lupkin says the proposal would level the playing field, but require a change in the law. The action also tells officials to look for ways to increase transparency into how pharmacy benefit managers, who handle drug coverage for health insurance, are compensated.

Trump threatened yesterday to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status. This statement comes a day after the administration’s decision to cut over $2 billion in federal funding and grants to the school. The funding freeze was prompted by the president of Harvard’s refusal to comply with government demands, including making changes to hiring and admissions policies and getting rid of DEI programs.

• 🎧 NPR’s Elissa Nadworny says college leaders tell her they’re worried the Trump administration will move beyond cutting research grants. The tax exemption threat confirm their fears. But Trump doesn’t have the complete authority to revoke a college’s tax status, Nadworny explains. He can use the International Revenue Service to do it in rare circumstances. A bill in Congress would give the president and Treasury secretary control over colleges’ tax exemptions. The White House continues to claim that these actions toward universities are meant to root out antisemitism on campus.

Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the Trump administration to provide more details on whether it has done enough to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return. He is the Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month. Abrego Garcia’s family has sued the government to bring him back to the U.S. The case has become one of the highest-profile lawsuits against Trump’s efforts to increase deportations.

• 🎧 In a hearing yesterday, Xinis granted Abrego Garcia’s lawyers’ request for the government team to undergo a process called expedited discovery. This means government officials from Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the state will be deposed under oath. The judge gave both sides two weeks to complete the process. NPR’s Ximena Bustillo says the takeaway from yesterday’s hearing is that another judge is growing frustrated with the administration’s answers on what it’s doing in response to court orders.

The Trump administration has drafted a memo to Congress outlining its plans to eliminate nearly all federal funding for public media, which includes NPR and PBS, according to a White House official who spoke to NPR. The memo, which the administration plans to send to Congress on April 28, will initiate a 45-day period in which the House and Senate can either approve the rescission or allow the money to be restored.

Today’s listen

A woman looks at books in a library in 2024.

Magali Cohen/AFP via Getty Images

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Magali Cohen/AFP via Getty Images

Prose To The People, a book celebrating Black bookstores, just hit the shelves. It profiles over 50 bookshops that have shaped the country’s literary landscape. The collection has been described as a road trip companion for Black history buffs and bookstore fanatics. Katie Mitchell, the book’s editor, explains that she sees these bookstores as being transformative, akin to Black colleges. But, she notes that they have often been understudied. Mitchell hopes readers will be inspired to visit these bookstores whenever they find themselves in the respective cities. From Raleigh, N.C., to Portland, Ore., listen to several featured bookstore owners tell the stories of their shops. Click here to read the full transcript.

Picture show

Les Reines du Foot (FRA) vs Vuka Soweto (SA)

Samantha Reinders for NPR

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Samantha Reinders for NPR

You don’t have to be a grandma to join the Grannies International Football Tournament; you just have to be under 50 years old. GIFT believes you are never too old to play soccer, and most women playing in GIFT are receiving the adoration they never dreamed of on the field. Of the participating teams — from rural Kenya to suburban France — many players grew up in worlds where soccer was for boys. As adults, they often swallowed their ambitions to make space for those who depend on them. Now, you can see it on their faces while competing: They are making up for lost time.

3 things to know before you go

This is the first confirmed live observation of the colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in its natural habitat. The team on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor captured footage of the nearly one foot squid at a depth of 1,968 feet, using their remotely operated vehicle “SuBastian” on March 9, during an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life.

ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

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ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

1. For the first time in 100 years since its discovery, a colossal squid has been filmed in its natural habitat. It was spotted nearly 2,000 feet below the surface in the South Atlantic Ocean.
2. How safe is American chicken? Trump wants European countries to start buying U.S. chicken, but Europeans have been skeptical over American poultry, calling it “chlorinated chicken.”
3. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is asking the federal government to ban people from using SNAP benefits to buy candy and unhealthy drinks in her state. (via Little Rock Public Radio)

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.