NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-05-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

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President Trump is back in Washington, pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. We know from the past that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against the status quo. NPR is covering it all with Trump's Terms, a podcast where we curate stories about the 47th president with a focus on how he is upending the way Washington works. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR. One of them is 18-year-old Carlos. He's from Venezuela but came to the US in November legally through a Biden era program. He was arrested by federal immigration agents while

at his home in Texas last week. That's Juan, Carlos' dad. He says his son is a young man who is just opening his eyes to the world. NPR could not find any criminal record for Carlos in Texas, the only state he's lived in. We are using only first names because the family where he's speaking out will jeopardize Carlos' case. Juan is asking President Trump for mercy for his son. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Cedar Park, Texas. The House held a hearing today to discuss the state of education in the U.S., the meeting coming just days after reports of President Trump's plans to shrink and potentially dismantle

the Department of Education. NPR's Janet Woo Jung-Li, more. The hearing covered a range of work that the Education Department oversees. But lawmakers couldn't avoid the elephant in the room. Here's Republican Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina. I very much support President Donald Trump for his courage to promote local elected school boards with the elimination of the duplicative, wasteful, interfering federal Department of Education.

And Virginia Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott. We will not go along with programs to dismantle our education system. Lawmakers also aired some shared concerns over the recent results of the nation's report card. Janet Wu-Jong Lee, NPR News. Employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development are scrambling after the Trump administration pulled many off the job. USAID, who sold the agency's entire direct hire workforce, about 3,000 people, being

put on indefinite administrative leave. Overseas staff have been told to return to the U.S. within 30 days. People familiar with the matter say it's likely to have major effects on humanitarian assistance programs, including in Somalia, Bangladesh, and South Sudan. At a ceremony at the White House today, Pam Bondi was sworn in as the new attorney general. Here's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office for Bondi, who had her mother and husband by her side. Bondi then thanked President Trump for entrusting her to lead the Justice Department.

The ceremony comes less than 24 hours after the Senate voted to confirm Bondi, former Florida Attorney General and Trump loyalist. She takes over at a turbulent time for the Justice Department. The Trump administration has made sweeping personnel moves there, pushing out senior career officials at the department and the FBI, in many cases after questioning their loyalty and ability to faithfully implement Trump's agenda. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, at the Justice Department.

The Dow rose 317 points. This is NPR. Federal health officials have found a variant of bird flu circulating in dairy cattle that has not been seen before in the animals. That announcement coming today from the United States Department of Agriculture based on samples collected from cattle in Nevada, more from NPR's Will Stone. This variant of H5N1 bird flu has been circulating in wild birds. Finding it now in dairy cattle indicates the virus has spilled over yet again from wild birds into cattle. It's not clear how long it's been circulating there, but it opens up new and concerning questions. Michael Warby at the University of Arizona says the variant may be different enough from the previous one that pre-existing immunity in cattle will not be protective.

And this variant is the same one that led to severe disease in a Canadian teenager and a death in Louisiana. We don't know if this new variant, if for every person who gets infected with this one, maybe more will land in the hospital. Warby says it will take time for scientists to figure all of this out. Will Stone, NPR News. Scientists using satellite trackers say they are finding out more about the whereabouts of young sea turtles during a crucial part of their lives. For decades, researchers have

been uncertain about where the turtles are during their so-called lost years. That's a time span of roughly one to ten years. New research finds the fledgling turtles move between continental shelf waters in the open ocean and are swimming rather than just drifting with ocean currents. Crude low futures prices fell sharply today as rising U.S. stockpiles coupled with worries over a new U.S.-China trade war concerned traders oil was down more than 2% to settle at $71.03 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.