NPR News: 04-29-2026 5PM EDT

A humpback whale named Timmy, stranded far from its Atlantic habitat in Germany's Baltic Sea, is now being moved toward the North Sea on a flooded barge in what German officials call an unprecedented rescue operation. That unusual story closes an NPR News Now episode dominated by the escalating political and financial costs of the Iran War, a major partisan redistricting fight in Florida, and new data on how AI and political anxiety are reshaping the American workplace.

The $25 Billion War and a Heated Pentagon Hearing

The Pentagon has disclosed that the Iran War has cost $25 billion so far. This figure emerged during a contentious Capitol Hill hearing where Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testified under oath for the first time since the conflict began. The most pointed exchange came from Democratic Representative Adam Smith, who pressed Hegseth on a glaring contradiction in the administration's rationale. Smith noted that President Trump had previously claimed to have "obliterated" Iran's nuclear weapons program last year, yet ordered a new war just sixty days ago, citing an "imminent threat" from those same nuclear facilities.