NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-06-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

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This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at kresge.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. After days of news about cuts to the United States Agency for International Development, staffers learned that less than 300 people would be exempt from being placed on administrative leave by Friday.

That's according to NPR's Jen McLaughlin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved less than half of the requested exemptions for near agency-wide administrative leave program that will be in effect for the United States Agency for International Development on Friday. That's according to internal emails shared with NPR by multiple sources on the condition of anonymity fearing further reprisal from the Trump administration. The news comes as staffers around the world report disruptions to life-saving work on health care, poverty, digital sovereignty, and human rights, among other issues.

Bureaus in Washington and overseas will be cut drastically. Only 12 people will still be actively working in the Africa Bureau, while the Middle East team will only have 21. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News. As President Donald Trump and his advisors chief among the Milan must continue to take actions to virtually do away with or severely downsize federal government. The question of the power of the purse looms large. While Republicans hold a majority in Congress that have largely been going along with moves

by Trump and Musk, MPR's Deidre Walsh says that could change. There are some places where you could see some cracks in what's really been a really unified Republican Party in Washington deferring to Trump. Federal agencies are going to run out of money on March 14th. Republicans wanna put their own stamp on a spending bill so they can protect programs they've helped get for their constituents, things like transportation money or water projects. It's unclear what Trump or Musk are gonna demand in that spending bill, but Musk has already shown when he inserts himself, he can really influence the process.

MPR's Deidre Walsh, there have already been challenges in the courts as well, with some initiatives placed on hold while arguments continue. In Southern California, LA Dodgers star Shohei Otani's former interpreter has been sentenced to 57 months or nearly five years in prison. Ibe Mizuhara pleaded guilty last year to bank fraud and false tax charges. Member station LAist McKenna Sievertsen is more. A federal investigation found that Mizuhara took advantage of his friendship with Otani by secretly stealing nearly $17 million from the Dodgers MVP.

Mizuhara used that money to place bets and cover his gambling debts with an illegal bookmaker in Orange County. Both prosecutors and Major League Baseball have called Ohtani a victim of fraud. Mizuhara is required to pay nearly $17 million in restitution to Ohtani and about $1 million to the IRS, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He's set to surrender for his prison sentence next month, almost exactly a year since the scandal first shocked the sports world. For NPR News, I'm McKenna Sievertsen in Los Angeles. On Wall Street, the Dow closed down 125 points today.

You're listening to NPR. One of the last remaining U.S. industrial conglomerates, Giant Honeywells, says it is planning to split itself into three companies. Companies saying today plans to separate its automation and aerospace technology business from its industrial conglomerate. That would follow similar moves by General Electric and Alcoa, which have also split off their businesses.

New research based on studying dense crowds at a festival in Poblona, Spain has led to a better understanding of how potentially dangerous crowds behave. Here's Regina Barber reports on what they learned. That's the sound of the first day of the San Fermín Festival in Pamplona, Spain. At noon, around 5,000 people gather in the town square and wave red handkerchiefs. After filming this crowd from rooftops,

researchers modeled the movement and it behaved like a fluid. In the past, crowd movements were thought to be chaotic. But Denis Bartolot and his team broke down the physics of these fluctuations. They found that dense crowds followed recurring predictable patterns. Because these spontaneous motions are periodic in time, they are very easy to detect. And they are very easy to detect very early on, before they become dangerous. These results could help authorities monitor if a crowd starts exhibiting this periodic behavior and possibly save lives. Regina Barber, NPR News.

The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage came down slightly this week, the third straight week of easing. According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, rates for a 30-year loan fell to 6.89 percent, down from 6.95 percent last week. A year ago at this time, rates were just over 6.6 percent. Class of 2015, your mortgage fell to just over 6 percent. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.