NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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Our long national nightmare is over. Beyonce has finally won the Grammy for Album of the Year. How and why did it take so long for Beyonce to win the top prize at Music's Biggest Night? We're talking about her big wins and breaking down the Grammys for Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Rhone, and Sabrina Carpenter. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is scheduled to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House today.

NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports the meeting comes at a crucial time for the ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu was invited to the White House by Trump, the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he began his second term. The two leaders have much to discuss, like the Abraham Accords and the normalization of relations with Saudi Arabia and how to deal with Iran. But most immediately is Gaza, as talks of the next phase of the fragile ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas begin this week, with the U.S. acting as a key mediator. Trump has also recently floated the very controversial idea of relocating Palestinians from Gaza

to neighboring Egypt or Jordan, something Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan all reject. Netanyahu and Trump are expected to hold a press conference later this evening after they meet. Kat Lonsdorf, MPR News, Tel Aviv. The government efficiency cost-cutting team led by tech billionaire Elon Musk is facing continued backlash for gaining access to a federal payment system at the Treasury Department. Natasha Sarin was the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at Treasury during the Biden administration. She says she can't think of a legitimate reason

why Musk has access to the system. What you're talking about here is that Elon Musk and Doge can be in charge of deciding what programs they want to keep paying out and what Social Security beneficiaries should keep getting their benefits. Two federal government employee unions and the Alliance for Retired Americans

have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and Doge. The suit claims that they are illegally accessing the personal information of government workers and taxpayers. Stocks on Wall Street opened mixed this morning after President Biden, President Trump, dialed back the opening salvo in his trade war. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow slipped 12 points in early trading. Investors breathed a sigh of relief after Trump agreed to suspend 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for at least a month. The move came after the two countries made face-saving concessions to strengthen border security.

The Trump administration followed through, however, with a smaller 10 percent tax on imports from China, which took effect just after midnight. China is pushing back by taxing U.S. exports of coal, crude oil and natural gas, and by launching a new antitrust investigation of Google. Stock in Pepsi lost a little fizz after the soft drink and snack giant reported disappointing quarterly sales. Pepsi's repeated price hikes have prompted some shoppers to switch to cheaper store brand chips and soda pop. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

Stocks are trading mixed on Wall Street at this hour. The Dow is down five points. The Nasdaq composite up 162. The S&P up 21 points. This is NPR. Recent wildfires in Los Angeles County have left thousands of farm workers laboring in unhealthy air pollution and PR's Nate Perez reports these workers have limited protections to help with smoke inhalation. Smoke from the Hughes fire in late January quickly spread to Ventura County where thousands of farm workers picked strawberries, citrus, and other produce. Nonprofits scramble to get around 21,000 N95 respirators to people in the fields. Elizabeth Strader with the United Farm Workers says, workers are concerned about their health,

but have no choice but to work. And there are long-term effects. We know that it damages the heart. We know that it damages their lungs. Employers in California are legally required to provide N95 respirators to workers when the air quality index reaches 150. Oregon and Washington are the only other states that also have this requirement. Nate Perez, NPR News. The University of California system is being sued for alleged racial discrimination, a group called Students Against Racial Discrimination is accusing nine of the university's campuses of favoring

Black and Latino applicants over what it calls better qualified white and Asian American applicants. In a statement, the university said its undergraduate admissions applications collect data on students' race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only and that they are not used for emission. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 5 points, the NASDAQ up 177. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.