NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-06-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts, perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily paused the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer to millions of federal employees. NPR's Andrea, she reports the decision means federal workers no longer face a deadline today to decide whether to stay or go.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole paused the resignation offer until Monday, granting a request from unions representing federal employees. O'Toole said the court had just received a brief from the government and gave the unions until Friday to respond. He also ordered the government to notify employees of this change by the end of today and scheduled another hearing for Monday afternoon when he will hear the merits of the case. The labor unions are arguing that the deferred resignation offer is arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful. Already, tens of thousands of federal workers have accepted the administration's offer to resign now and keep their pay and

benefits through the end of September. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. On Truth Social Today, President Trump doubled down on proposals. The Gaza Strip be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. From Ramallah, NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports, Trump has also alluded to an upcoming announcement about the Israeli-occupied West Bank. After Trump was elected last November, several far-right Israeli ministers commented that this might now be the time for Israel to move on West Bank annexation. You know, I should point out that all of this would be illegal under international law. But Trump also appointed key people in his administration who have said that they would support Israeli annexation. So given Trump's

Gaza statements and his planned announcement about the West Bank in the future, all of this has people here pretty nervous. NPR's Kat Lohnsdorf, the American Gaming Association says nearly one and a half billion dollars in legal bets are expected to be placed during Sunday's Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports with the game just days away, health experts are warning about the dangers of problem gambling. Danielle Coetius is a sports gambling counselor from Oak Park, Michigan.

He says the use of betting on smartphones and iPads makes it easier for people to get hooked. They had this constant dopamine on tap on their phones where they could just tap into it whenever they wanted to. I'm all for having a kind of mindful regimen in general to how you use your phone, you know, putting your phone in the drawer or leaving it in the car at certain points in the day

just to kind of manage those urges. A survey by Lending Tree shows more than four in 10 Super Bowl watchers say they plan to bet 100 bucks or more on Sunday's game. The study also showed that men are more than twice as likely as women to place wagers. Windsor-Johnston NPR News. The Justice Department suing Illinois Cook County and the city of Chicago for allegedly standing in the way of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. From Washington, this is NPR News.

This is NPR News. A California utility company says its equipment likely started a wildfire in Los Angeles the same day two other major fires erupted in the area January. Today Southern California Edison admitted to playing a role in the Hearst fire possibly that blaze did not destroy any structures or result in deaths. However the two larger ones the Palisades and Eaton fires, caused widespread destruction of homes and other structures and claimed at least 29 lives. NASA's orbiting space telescope, which seeks to shed light on the mysteries of our universe, has landed a bullseye. NPR's EMIHELD reports astronomers are investigating the discovery of what they call a gargantuan galaxy.

It's two and a half times the size of our Milky Way. Never before has a telescope detected so many rings in a galaxy. This cosmic bullseye has nine star-filled rings, with what looks like an arrow, really a smaller blue dwarf galaxy piercing the heart. It traveled like a dart, NASA says, some 50 million years ago, leaving what looks like a ripple, linked by a trail of gas. Our universe has billions of galaxies, huge groups of stars, and other matter glued together by gravity, thought to form and grow by collisions and mergers. What is really rare is for one galaxy to dive through the center of another. And the rings around this bullseye boost a long-established theory, NASA says. They appear to have moved outward almost exactly as models predicted.

Amy Held, NPR News. US stocks trading lower this hour. The Dow is down 227 points. It's NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast Dow is down 227 points. It's NPR News.