NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-03-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

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Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip-on tie. I wore Heelys, size 11. Matt was a medical clown. The whole of a medical clown is to reintroduce the sense of play and joy and hope and light into a space that doesn't normally inhabit. Ideas about navigating uncertainty. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Some Democratic members of Congress are speaking out against the Trump administration's efforts

to halt nearly all of the work of the U.S. agency for international development. As NPR's Hansi Leong reports, Trump officials are pushing the limits of executive power at the agency. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. Hansi LeLong reports Trump officials are pushing the limits of executive power at the agency. USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA in terms of their cut off of the HIV and AIDS preemption. It's a killer in terms of the anti-malarial education. Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota, says USAID's work affects families in refugee camps like the ones she grew up in. It is the essential programs that USAID provided

that kept my family and I fit and safe. Some USAID supporters say they expect lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's authority to terminate an independent government agency. Hansi Leung in Pure News, Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's now acting head of USAID. Two Democratic senators have vowed to block

State Department nominees in protest. For the moment, proposed 25% tariffs against Canada, much like those proposed against Mexico, are essentially on hold. That's after the Trump administration reached deals with the country's leaders aimed at reinforcing borders to stem the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl into the U.S. But NPR's Brian Mann found many of the White House statements about fentanyl are either false or greatly exaggerated. President Trump says drug deaths claim up to 300,000 lives in the US every year, and

White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt on Friday said tariffs are directly linked to fentanyl from Canada, China and Mexico that caused tens of millions of American deaths. Both numbers are hugely inflated. Fentanyl deaths occur in the tens of thousands, and fatal overdoses were dropping fast before these trade wars were announced. Also, law enforcement experts agree Canada plays no meaningful role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis. More than 21,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the U.S. southern border last year, only

50 pounds at the Canadian border. Brian Mann, NPR News. Recovery crews are removing wreckage from the Potomac River five days after a mid-air collision over Washington. More from Joel Rose. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the effort to remove the wreckage from the Potomac River five days after a mid-air collision over Washington, more from Joel Rose. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the effort to remove the wreckage of the plane and helicopter from the river. Colonel Francis Para is the commander of the Corps of Engineers Baltimore District.

Para says the recovery of the remaining victims takes precedence over everything else. Should any remains be found during our process, an automatic work stoppage happens. So reuniting those lost in the tragic incident is really what keeps us all going. Federal investigators are still trying to understand why the Blackhawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet that was attempting to land. It was the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. in more than two decades. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR. People are constantly coming up with ideas about what might be going on in other people's heads, and as NPR's Neil Greenfield-Boyce explains, a new study suggests

the same thing is done by apes. Luke Townrow is a researcher at Johns Hopkins University. He did a recent study that involved sitting face to face with bonobos that watched as another person hid a treat under one of three cups. Townrow would give the ape the treat, but only if he, Townrow, knew where it was. Sometimes Townrow got to see the treat being hidden, but other times his view was blocked. So the idea here is that if bonobos could recognize when I did and didn't know something, they would tailor their communication

so they would point more often and more quickly when I did not know where the food was hidden compared to when I did. And that's exactly what we found. When he didn't know, they helped him out by pointing. The results appear in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Nell Greenfield-Boyice, NPR News.

Americans have been seeing steady increases in home values in many parts of the country, but some of that is expected to be tempered by climate change. That's according to a new study from the climate research company First Street, which estimates high insurance costs and homeowners avoiding some riskier neighborhoods could eventually lead to nearly one and a half5 trillion drop in home values. So far any sign of price declines, at least on a national level though, has been hard to find where some parts of the country, including California, have already seen sharply higher insurance costs.

Oil prices closed up 63 cents a barrel. This is NPR. It's a new year, and according to Pew, 79% of resolutions are about one thing, health. But there are so many fads around how to keep ourselves healthy. On It's Been A Minute, I'm helping you understand why some of today's biggest wellness trends are, well, trending. Like why is there protein in everything? Join me as we uncover what's healthy and what's not on the It's Been A Minute podcast

from NPR.