NPR News: 04-27-2026 8AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump is praising the actions of law enforcement following the White House Correspondents Association dinner Saturday night. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, there were shots fired outside the ballroom where the event was taking place. There were several tense minutes as the president, vice president and members of the cabinet were quickly evacuated from the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, while more than 2,000 other guests in the packed room took cover. It turns out the gunfire was actually one floor above the ballroom. Law enforcement officials say the alleged assailant ran through a security checkpoint trying to reach the stairs down to the ballroom before being subdued. The annual dinner has long been held at the Washington Hilton, which has unique security features to protect presidents. They were added after President Reagan was shot outside of the hotel in 1981. Tamara Keith, NPR News. NPR has learned the shooting suspect is 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, California. He's to be arraigned today in federal court in Washington, D.C. NPR Ryan Lucas says authorities are building a case against him Investigators are continuing to interview witnesses and people who knew Alan They be building a profile They be trying to trace his actions his footsteps so to speak, in the weeks, days, and of course, hours leading up to what happened on Saturday night. So far, officials say they believe Alan acted alone. They don't see any sort of foreign involvement, foreign nexus here. Now, Justice Department officials have said that Alan will face charges as of now. The initial ones are expected to be assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon and using a firearm in a crime of violence. They also expect to add more down the line. NPR's Ryan Lucas reporting. The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today about geofencing. This is a relatively new law enforcement technique that lets police tap into giant tech databases. They're trying to learn who was near the scene of a crime and may have been involved. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports. Geofencing allows police and prosecutors to draw a virtual fence around a large geographic area where a crime was committed. After that, the government seeks a warrant requiring a tech company, in this case Google, to search its data to identify any of its millions of users who were within the geofence line at the time of the crime In the last analysis the question facing the justices today is whether that technique is ingenious Orwellian or both and ultimately whether it constitutional Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. The Justice Department says it is dropping a probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. That satisfies a demand from North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis. Tillis says he will now support President Trump's nominee to be the next Fed chair, Kevin Warsh. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Strait of Hormuz remains blocked by both Iran and the U.S. The Trump administration says it is blockading Iranian ports. Iran's foreign minister is in Moscow today for talks with Russian leaders. Stock shares in a Chinese oil refinery fell today after the U.S. Treasury Department placed economic sanctions on it for doing business with Iran. Reporter Sharice Pham has more. Hung Lee petrochemical stock plunged 10 percent, the daily limit imposed by the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The fall comes after the U.S. sanctioned the Chinese oil refinery on Friday. It accused Hung Lee of being one of Iran largest customers of oil purchasing billions of dollars worth of Iranian petroleum Hung Lee denies the allegations The company said in a statement on Sunday that it has never engaged in any trade with Iran, adding that all crude oil suppliers have pledged and guaranteed that the origin of the crude oil supply complies with U.S. sanctions. China is a big buyer of Iranian oil, accounting for roughly 90 percent of Iran's exported oil, according to the U.S. government. For NPR News, I'm Charisse Pham in Hong Kong. Wildfires continue to burn out of control in parts of southern Georgia and northern Florida. Officials in Florida say a volunteer firefighter died last week after he experienced a medical issue while responding to a brush fire. Tornadoes over the weekend killed two people near Dallas, Texas. Forecasters warn more tornadoes could happen today. They're watching an area from Illinois to Tennessee. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News from Washington.