NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-08-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

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President Trump is back in Washington, pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. We know from the past that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against the status quo. NPR is covering it all with Trump's Terms, a podcast where we curate stories about the 47th president with a focus on how he is upending the way Washington works. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. A federal judge in New York is blocking Elon Musk's cost cutting unit from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records.

As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, it's the latest legal setback for Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. The judge's order follows a lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general. 19 state law enforcers argued Trump had illegally granted Elon Musk and the Doge team permission to Americans bank account data, posing privacy and security risks. But Trump officials said Musk's aides only have read only access, meaning they couldn't stop some of the trillions of dollars of annual government payments. It's the latest legal hurdle for Doge, which has taken over critical systems at at least half a dozen federal agencies with a slash-and-burn mandate to drive down costs and radically cut civil servants.

Musk and his top lieutenants are operating as special government employees. President Trump says Musk and his team are under the supervision of the White House. Bobby Allen, NPR News. The Panamanian government is accusing the U.S. of spreading false claims that U.S. Navy ships can traverse the Panama Canal for free. As NPR's Rolando Arrieta reports, the country's president calls those claims intolerable. President Jose Raul Molino said in a news conference Thursday he was surprised by the State Department's message on the social media platform X.

I want to make it very clear to the country, Mulino says, my absolute rejection to the State Department's statement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met with Mulino during a multi-day trip to several Central American countries this week, says he's not confused about Panama. We had conversations. I felt there were strong first steps. We have expectations. We made clear in those conversations.

Panama's government said Friday a call between Molino and Trump had been postponed due to an unexpected change to Trump's agenda. Rolando Arrieta, NPR News. Egg prices have soared this year, but the price of chicken wings has, well, remained grounded. And as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, that's good news for football fans who the National Chicken Council says are expected to eat nearly one and a half billion wings this Super Bowl weekend. Avian flu has battered the nation's egg-laying chickens but the virus has taken a smaller toll on birds raised

for meat. The USDA says chicken wing prices during this year's NFL playoff season have been slightly below their five-year average. Guacamole on the other hand has jumped in price this year but food economist Michael Swanson of Wells Fargo says football fans can find savings elsewhere as they shop for Super Bowl snacks. Overall, grocery prices are up less than 2 percent from a year ago, while average wages have risen about twice as fast. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Heavy snowfall has begun across parts of the Upper Great Lakes.

The National Weather Service says the storm will bring heavy snowfall before intensifying overnight and moving into the northeast U.S. Over the next 24 hours, parts of upstate New York and New England could see as much as a foot of snow and hazardous driving conditions are expected throughout the region. You're listening to NPR News. More than 200,000 people gathered in Munich, Germany on Saturday to protest against far-right extremism. The Anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party is currently in second place, leading

up to elections in two weeks. Thousands more people also demonstrated in other cities across Germany. The party first entered parliament in 2017. The Canadian government has stripped Buffy St. Marie of one of that country's highest honors. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports. The news was shared by an official Canadian government publication just over a month after Canada's Governor-General Mary Simon signed off on it. The Governor-General's office says it does not comment on the specifics of terminations. St Marie received the Order of

Canada in 1997 for her services to Indigenous Canadians, but a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation investigation in 2023 shed doubt on her claims of Indigenous ancestry. The reporting revealed evidence she was born Beverly Jean Santamaria of white parents. St Marie defended herself on social media at the time. My growing up mom who was proud to be part Mi'kmaq told me many things, including that I was adopted and that I was native. Representatives for St. Marie did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. American skier Breezy Johnson won the gold in the Women's Downhill Alpine Skiing World

Championships that are underway right now in Austria. She finished 0.15 seconds ahead Here Breezy Johnson won the gold in the Women's Downhill Alpine Skiing World Championships that are underway right now in Austria. She finished.15 seconds ahead of Mirjam Puschner of Austria. Teammate Lindsey Vonn finished in 15th, almost two seconds off the lead. Johnson has just returned from a 14-month ban for three violations of anti-doping rules. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. Valentine's Day is on theman, NPR News.