NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-05-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: February 5, 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, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Widespread uncertainty inside the Department of Justice as a new boss takes the helm. Pam Bondi has been sworn in as U.S. Attorney General. I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

And I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath in the Oval Office as President Trump looked on. Bondi later turned to Trump and pledged to make him and the country proud. Earlier, Trump praised Bondi and raised the subject of impartiality. I'm supposed to say she's going to be totally impartial with respect to Democrats, and I think she will be as impartial as a person can be. I'm not sure if there's a possibility of totally but she's going to be as total as you can get. Groups of FBI agents and other staff involved in

the January 6 investigations have filed a class-action suit to prevent the administration from publicly IDing them. They're going to come under the oversight of now the new AG Pam Bondi The administration is giving out resignation offers to some in the intelligence community and PRS Jenna McLaughlin reports It's the latest move by the incoming White House to shrink the size of the federal government raising concerns about potential impact National security employees at the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the office of the Director of National Intelligence received deferred resignation offers in recent days. That's according to sources who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity.

The move is part of an effort to realign the intelligence community with President Trump's agenda. A CIA spokesperson said Director John Ratcliffe is, quote, moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the administration's national security priorities. The offers were sent to all employees of the agencies, though sources caution there will likely be exceptions for highly sensitive or senior roles. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News. Schools have historically been off limits for immigration enforcement.

That changed when the president got rid of a decades-old policy that prevented agents from arresting migrants without legal status in sensitive places. NPR's Jasmine Garz has more. In the days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, as rumors of immigration raids in Chicago started to swirl, Roy, a second-grade public school teacher in the city, says he noticed a shift. Our attendance was pretty bad across the city, right? There were like 50 to 80 percent attendance. Half of his students are from immigrant families, some without legal status.

He requested NPR withhold his full name and the name of his school for fear of being targeted. Federal immigration agents can now enter a school as long as a judicial warrant is presented. The Trump administration has said it is not targeting schools. However, the prospect has sent shockwaves through some communities. Jasmine Garst, NPR News, Chicago. This is NPR. The National Women's Soccer League has agreed to a $5 million settlement over an abuse scandal that erupted in 2021 when players accused coaches of sexual coercion and other mistreatment. NPR's Becky Sullivan has details.

In 2021, the NWSL was roiled by a flood of abuse allegations about coaches who sexually harassed players or subjected them to racism and verbal abuse. League officials and head coaches resigned or were fired. Two major investigations won by the league and its players union and another by a former deputy US Attorney General substantiated the claims and concluded the problems were systemic across the league. Afterward, attorneys general from two states in the District of Columbia opened to their own inquiry. Now they've announced a settlement.

The league will set aside $5 million for victims and implement other reforms, including regular anonymous surveys of players that will be reported back to prosecutors. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. The Greek island of Santorini is still feeling shocks as authorities bolster their emergency plans in case the hundreds of tumblers in recent days mean a more powerful earthquake is coming. Today, officials said a Coast Guard vessel and a military landing craft are in the area in case an evacuation is needed. There have been no immediate reports of injuries or major damage from the aftershocks.

US stocks are mixed this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average up 222 points or roughly half a percent at 44,780. The S&P is up 12 and the Nasdaq is down 9 points. This is NPR News.