NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-07-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Fewer than 300 of the thousands of workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development will be exempt from impending administrative leave. Details from NPR's Jenna McLaughlin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved less than half of the requested exemptions for a 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. A member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has resigned, this after the resurfacing of a now-deleted racist

post on social media. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the 25-year-old Doge staffer had access to the Treasury Department's payment systems. The White House has confirmed that Marco Alez has resigned as a top staffer on Musk's Doge team. Alez is a software engineer who had been given access to the Treasury Department's systems that process trillions of dollars of government payments every year. The Wall Street Journal uncovered deleted posts on X in which Alas said, normalize Indian hate and I just want

a eugenic immigration policy. Is that too much to ask among other hateful screeds? NPR has independently confirmed the posts. The Doge team has come under scrutiny by former government officials for just how much power they seem to be wielding from inside of the White House. That's included nearly dismantling the $40 billion U.S. agency for international development.

Bobby Allen, NPR News. The U.S. Senate has confirmed Russell Vogt as the new White House budget director. Vogt plans to use one of the most powerful positions in federal government to expand presidential power. The Boy Scouts of America is retiring the name of the 115-year-old organization as it reexamines the communities it serves. CEO and President Roger Crone says it is now called Scouting America. What the name change does is it really allows us to kind of rebrand and reset.

You know, having been in bankruptcy, 115-year-old organization, it's kind of nice to have some things that are new and fresh and different and really speak to the organization that we are today and that we want to be in the future. Crohn says Scouting America still has mostly male membership, although girls have been welcomed into the organization since 2018. The Boy Scouts emerged from bankruptcy in 2023, allowing it to continue operating while paying out sex abuse claims. This is NPR. President Trump has signed an executive order to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court whose jurisdiction it does not recognize.

Trump cites what he calls the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions. The move comes on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the White House. The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu last year over alleged war crimes. A former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Otani has been sentenced to 57 months in prison. Last year, Ipe Muzahari pleaded guilty to bank fraud and false tax return charges. From member station LAist McKenna Sievertson has the story. 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. Utah's legislature has voted to outlaw collective bargaining for public employees, including

teachers, police and firefighters. It's unclear if Governor Cox will sign the bill. This is NPR News.