NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-03-2026 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

NPR News: 02-03-2026 8PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This year's Grammys featured historic wins for Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar, lavish performances, and occasional chaos. And it was a night of speeches that reflected this moment in America. Listen to a recap on pop culture happy hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump has signed into law a more than trillion dollar spending measure reopening the federal government after a brief partial shutdown. Congress only approved money for the Department of Homeland Security through next week as lawmakers

negotiate changes to immigration enforcement. NPR's Sam Greenglass reports. Congress has 10 days to find a consensus. Republicans and Democrats agree on a few fixes, but appear quite far apart on others. Here's Senate Majority Leader John Thune on the timeline. Which I had argued at the time was way too short to allow anything consequential to happen. But that being said, the Democrats insisted on it. So those discussions will get underway, but ultimately that's going to be a conversation between the president of the United States and the Democrats here in the Senate.

Even if DHS runs out of money next week, immigration and customs enforcement still is an extra $75 billion approved by Congress last summer to use over the next four years. Sam Greenglass, NPR News, Washington. South Carolina officials are reporting 29 new measles cases since last Friday as the nation's largest outbreak in decades continues to spread. NPR's Maria Godoy reports it's not the only state with an active outbreak. With 876 cases so far, South Carolina's measles outbreak is getting a lot of attention. But other states are also battling outbreaks of the extremely contagious disease. In North Carolina, officials are reporting 15 cases of measles

since December. Many of them are linked to the South Carolina outbreak, whose epicenter is in Spartanburg County, near the state border. Arizona has reported 24 cases this year alone, while officials in Utah say an outbreak that began last year has grown to more than 230 cases. Infectious disease experts say, as vaccination rates continue to decline, outbreaks of a disease that was once declared eliminated in the U.S. are starting to become the new normal. Maria Godoy, NPR News. President Trump is demanding $1 billion in damages from Harvard University. NPR's Alyssa NADWerni reports it's the latest update on a month's long. negotiation to reach a deal with the elite school and resolve the administration's claims of

anti-Semitism on campus. Trump's comments come from a post on truth social. Following reporting in the New York Times that a Harvard deal would not include cash demands. The White House has made several deals with elite universities in the last year. In a deal with Columbia University, the school agreed to pay more than $200 million to the federal government. In another deal with Brown University, the school agreed to pay $50 million to workforce development training in Rhode Island over the next 10 years. Harvard University has not commented on the ongoing negotiations. Alasana Adwarnie, NPR News. Air travelers in the U.S. without a real ID or another acceptable form of identification, now have to pay $45 and go through an alternate verification option called

confirm ID. This is NPR News. NASA's long-awaited moon shot with astronauts has been delayed until at least March because of leaking hydrogen fuel. Officials say the delay will allow the launch team to conduct another practice countdown before committing four astronauts to humanity's first moonshot in more than half a century. Arizona's Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, says she's cautiously optimistic that Western states are moving towards a deal on managing the Colorado River. From member station KJZZ, Alex Hager reports that's on the heels of a meeting in D.C. that brought together Western governors and federal water leaders.

The seven states can't agree on how to share the pain of cutbacks to a shrinking water supply. The rules for managing the river expire later this year. Hobbs says they probably won't meet a mid-February deadline for a new agreement, but they'll be on the right path by then. We were clearly at an impasse. I feel like we're at a place where we can start to move past that now. State leaders appear to be moving toward a short-term deal for the river. The feds cautioned against a five-year deal that would,

kick the can down the road, but Hobbs says a short deal could serve as a bridge to a longer-term agreement. For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Phoenix. Researchers at Washington State University and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are using collar cams to study a remote population of grizzly bears on Alaska's North Slope. Twelve bears have been equipped with cameras capturing their daily activities like playing, hunting, and foraging. The footage shows bears eating caribou carcasses, hunting calves, and later shifting to berries and vegetation. These Arctic Grizzlies are smaller than their salmon-fed counterparts

weighing up to 350 pounds. This is NPR News from Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for international people using money around the globe. You can send, spend, and receive in up to 40 currencies with only a few simple taps. Be smart, get Wise. Download the Wise app today or visit wise.com.

T's and Cs apply.