NPR News: 04-01-2026 5PM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.

A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical about the Trump administration's

effort to limit birthright citizenship, including some nominated by President Trump, but the

outcome remains far from certain.

NPR's Carrie Johnson reports on the landmark arguments.

President Trump issued an executive order on day one that would end citizenship to babies

born to people who are in the country illegally or here to work or visit on a temporary basis.

If the Supreme Court agrees that order could affect 250,000 babies, born in the U.S. each

year, and potentially be used to help revoke the citizenship of many others born earlier.

Trump attended for the solicitor general's arguments, but left as attorney Cecilia Wong

made her case for people challenging his order.

Wong told the justices to agree with the president, would radically rewrite the Constitution

and upend more than 150 years of settled law.

A decision is expected near the end of the Supreme Court term this summer.

Carrie Johnson and NPR News.

Republican leaders in Congress say they have a plan to fund the Department of Homeland

Security after a month-long funding lapse, but it's not immediately clear what comes next.

NPR's Eric McDaniel has more.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune

jointly announced their funding plan.

They say it includes customs and border protection and immigration and customs enforcement,

also known as CBP and ICE.

Democrats have been blocking funding for immigration enforcement in a push for reforms,

such as body-worn cameras and a ban on masks.

After federal officers killed two American citizens in Minnesota,

the GOP leaders say they'll use a budget process known as reconciliation to avoid the need

for Democratic support in the Senate, which typically has a 60 vote threshold to pass this kind of

legislation. If successful, their plan would fund DHS for three years, past the end of Trump's

time in the White House. Eric McDaniel and P.R. News, Washington.

NASA has filled its moon rocket gas tank for humanity's first lunar trip in more than a half

century. The 32-story rocket is due to blast off with four astronauts this evening from Florida's

Kennedy Space Center, dangerous hydrogen leaks delayed the launch earlier this year,

but as NPR's Nell Greenfield voice reports, no significant leaks have been detected this time.

The countdown is going really smoothly. There haven't been any of the problems that have been

in issue for NASA in the past, so we've been watching the fueling very carefully. We haven't

seen any of those hydrogen leaks that have been pesky. So everything is looking really good.

It's very smooth, and the weather is also looking very cooperative, and it's starting to feel real.

Everybody's like milling around. The press center is really crowded, and so I would say there's

an air of hopeful anticipation. NPR's Nell Greenfield voice reporting. The national average for a

gallon of regular gasoline is four dollars and six cents. That's over a dollar more per gallon

than before the Iran War. The average in California is five dollars and 89 cents. US stocks largely

rose today as hopes grew that the war with Iran could end soon. This is NPR news.

Hydrologists have measured Colorado's driest winter of snow moisture on record. That means

water shortfalls are likely across western states. It's even worse than what ranchers considered

the bad drought years of 2002, 1981, in 1977. At this time, snowpack usually is at its peak

in the Colorado Rockies. The most visited museum in the world last year was once again the Louvre

in Paris. It's been a top museum destination for decades, as NPR's Net at Ulibi reports.

Officials at the Louvre these days complain about over-attendance, but that does not stop them

from making slick promotional YouTube videos about its exquisite restorations of old master paintings.

It's a project that is clearly...

Other most popular museums include the Vatican Museum at No. 2 and the National Museum of Korea

in Seoul at No. 3. Major art museums in East Asia have seen a notable spike in attendance,

including in Shanghai and Hong Kong. But in the US, museum attendance is shake here. For example,

wildfires and government shutdowns last year adversely affected attendance at many museums in

Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Net at Ulibi and PR News.

The last gargoyle has been returned to its perch during a two-year restoration of a Kentucky

Cathedral modeled after Notre Dame in Paris. The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption sits across

the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The rehab project repaired deteriorated stone, metal, and glass.

It included 32 recreated terracotta gargoyles along with repairs of deteriorated finials,

arches, and windows. This is NPR News from Washington.