NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-07-2025 5PM EST

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

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This is Ira Glass with This American Life, each week on our show. We choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast, chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us. This American Life. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump met today at the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the two announcing that Japanese Nippon Steel would be making an investment in U.S. Steel, though details

were sketchy. More from NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Nippon had attempted to purchase U.S. Steel, but the Biden administration blocked the purchase. Trump had likewise opposed the deal. Standing alongside Ishiba at the White House, President Trump said he didn't like the idea of an iconic company being sold. It was the greatest company in the world for 15 years, many years ago, 80 years ago. And we didn't want to see that leave, and it wouldn't actually leave, but the concept, psychologically, not good. The White House did not give details on what the investment might look like, but Trump

said he'd be meeting with the head of Nippon Steel next week. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News, The White House. The Justice Department is agreeing not to make public, for now, the names of FBI agents who are involved in the Capitol riot cases. It comes in response to two lawsuits filed by FBI personnel to try to protect agents' identities from being released to the public. More from MPR's Ryan Lucas. The FBI Agents Association and two groups of anonymous FBI employees filed suit after

the Justice Department demanded a list of all FBI personnel involved in investigating January 6 cases. The department says the names are necessary as part of an internal review. The lawsuit says agents fear the lists will be used to fire people on retaliatory grounds. They are also concerned that the names could be made public, opening up agents and their families to possible threats from the 1,500 January 6 defendants that Trump pardoned. Now, according to a new court filing, the government will not make the list public, directly or indirectly, without two days prior notice, while the lawsuits move forward.

Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is slated to visit Guantanamo Bay today. As NPR's Samantha Bastille explains, the visit comes as the Trump administration is expanding facilities to detain migrants who are in the country without legal status. Kristi Noem has spent the first few weeks on the job zigzagging across the country to highlight the Trump administration's efforts to clamp down on migration. She started with a trip to New York, then headed down to Texas. Now she'll be making the flight out to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The trip comes after Trump signed an executive order to work towards holding as many as 30,000 people at the naval base there. So far, there have been two planes carrying people to the base. Still, the administration knows it's likely to face legal challenges and the huge logistical challenge of expanding the facilities there. Ximena Bustillo and PR News, Washington. The U.S. economy was still adding jobs last month. The Labor Department says employers created 143,000 non-farm payroll jobs in January. Still, that's down from the previous month's numbers.

It is a solid pace of growth, however. Still, stocks were treated at week's end on Wall Street. The Dow fell 444 points. This is NPR. New York State says it is ordering a shutdown of all live bird markets in the state, including markets in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island. The closure comes after seven cases of avian flu were detected at the markets. New York Governor Kathy Hochul today said there is no immediate threat to public health.

New York State has not had any cases of avian flu in humans. Surgeons in Boston say they've transplanted another genetically modified pig kidney into another patient. NPR's Rob Stein has details on the latest experimental use of animal organs to help human health. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston say they transplanted the kidney into 66-year-old Tim Andrews of Concord, New Hampshire on January 25th, and so far the kidney developed by a

company called eGenesis is working well. This marks the fourth time a patient has received a pig kidney that's been genetically modified to work in a person. Two of the previous patients died within weeks of their operations and Alabama grandmother who got a pig kidney in New York in November is also doing well. Doctors hope genetically modified pig organs will help solve the organ shortage. Rob Stein, NPR News. A violin made in 1714 by legendary luthier Antonio Stradivarius has sold at auction, though it fetched slightly less than expected, selling for $11.3 million at an auction in New York.

Sotheby's had estimated the Jacques Amas Stradivarius from what is considered the golden era of production would sell for between $12 and $18 million. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. Donald Trump is starting his second term as president. million.