NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-08-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 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 Janene Herbst. Russell Vogt, an architect of Project 2025 and the new director of the Office of Management and Budget, is now also leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And here's Laurel Wamsley has more. Senior executives at CFPB, the Federal Consumer Finance Watchdog, were informed Friday night that Vought was taking the helm as acting director. He replaces Treasury Secretary Scott Bascent, who led the Bureau for about a week.

Meanwhile, members of Elon Musk's government efficiency team have gained access to computer systems at CFPB, including human resources, procurement, and finance. They now also control the Bureau's website and have deleted its social media accounts. The bureau would on its face appear to be an unlikely target for cost cutting, given its return on investment. CFPB's budget for 2025 is $823 million. Since its launch in 2011, the bureau has returned more than $20 billion to consumers. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington. The Palestinian militant group Hamas today released three Israeli hostages, part of that dollars to consumers. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington. LORRAINE CINK, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS,

NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NEWS, NPR NE Rabi or Levi and Ohad Ben Ami looked thin and haggard. The men were led onto a stage where they gave statements to the crowd, flanked by heavily armed gunmen. Hamas took advantage of the handover to mount an elaborate ceremony as in past hostage releases.

Flags and banners celebrated Palestinian nationhood and condemned Israel. The mere fact that it went ahead is a signal that last month's ceasefire in Gaza is holding. Hamas has condemned a proposal by President Trump to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza to make way for post-war reconstruction. Jerome Sokolowski, NPR News, Tel Aviv. In Alaska, search crews are trying to retrieve the bodies of all 10 people on board the Bering Airplane that was found crashed this week on an ice flow in the Bering Sea before expected high winds and snow set in.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Humendy. We're in the initial stages really focused first and foremost on the victims, which is what should be the focus right now. The plane was traveling from Unalakleet to Nome Thursday when it disappeared. It was found the next day by the Coast Guard after an extensive search. There's no word on the cause. The National Institutes of Health is capping a certain kind of funding for medical research at universities, medical schools, research hospitals, and other scientific institutions. Because of the latest step in the Trump administration, that limits funding for indirect costs to

15 percent of grants far below what institutions have been getting. The change applies to both current and future grants, alarming academics who say it puts their universities and medical centers in peril. The NIH spent more than $35 billion in fiscal year 2023. You're listening to NPR News. A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the Caribbean today around 130 miles southwest of the Cayman Islands. That triggered a tsunami advisory for several islands nearby, but there are no alerts for the mainland U.S. The U.S. Geological Survey says it hit about halfway between

the Cayman Islands and Honduras. Telehealth companies are selling cheaper versions of name brand obesity drugs, but there could be problems. And pure Sydney Lepkin reports. Sydney Lepkin, PURC News Anchor Customers who bought obesity drugs online from a company called Zappi Health are confused after learning the pharmacy that filled their prescription didn't have the proper license to do so. The site offered compounded drugs, which aren't generics, but are made by specialized pharmacies that are allowed to essentially make copies during drug shortages. But one

of the pharmacies filling prescriptions for Zappi, Usha Pharmacy, didn't have a sterile compounding license in Florida where it was based. Scott Bruner is CEO of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding. I would not take a drug that has been dispensed to that patient from a pharmacy that has been found to be in violation of its state license law. In a statement online, Zappi says it has cut ties with USHA. Sydney Lepkin and PR News. The National Weather Service says a strong storm system will bring moderate to heavy snowfall across parts of the upper Great Lakes and northeast this weekend, lead forecaster

Bob Orovik. The one good thing with this storm, it is moving pretty quickly. So it's not going to be a prolonged winter weather event. Looks like the snow will definitely be coming to an end earlier in the day on Sunday, after which the weather will be fairly tranquil for a few days. A second storm from the plains to the mid-Atlantic is forecast Tuesday. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News. This message comes from NYU Langone. The NYU Langone Health App gives you access I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News.