NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-08-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

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Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip-on tie. I wore heelies, size 11. Matt was a medical clown. The whole of a medical clown is to reintroduce the sense of play and joy and hope and light into a space that doesn't normally inhabit. Ideas about navigating uncertainty. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Speaking at an event with Republican lawmakers at Mar-a-Lago last night, President Trump

remarked on USAID, the agency for international development that he and Elon Musk are trying to dismantle. You know, he went into this group of people and you see what they've been spending money on the the horrible USAID the horrible things that they're spending money on it's it's got to be kicked back. Trump spoke hours after a federal judge granted what he called a very limited restraining order that gave some 2200 agency staffers a reprieve from being placed on administrative leave last night.

A different federal judge has blocked Elon Musk's cost-cutting team from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records. The judge issued the order overnight. After 19 Democratic attorneys general filed suit alleging access to Treasury's central payment system by Musk must team is a violation of federal law. A Maryland county that's home to tens of thousands of federal workers is getting proactive about assisting residents who may soon be without work.

Emily Hofstetter of member station WYPR reports on the announcement as the Trump administration looks to downsize the federal workforce. Emily Hofstetter Howard County executive Calvin Ball says the county is reallocating funds into its existing aid programs to accommodate federal workers who could soon be unemployed. That includes expanded foreclosure prevention assistance, food assistance, and a career fair with free headshots and resume help. We are the ones who see firsthand the challenges our neighbors face. Therefore, it is our responsibility

to respond with empathy, support, and action. Ball says Howard County has between 40 and 50,000 federal workers. Nearly 6% of Maryland residents are employed by the federal government. For NPR News, I'm Emily Hofstadter in Baltimore. Nat. And in Boston, a federal judge has heard arguments over President Trump's executive

order to end birthright citizenship. The case, brought by more than a dozen state attorneys general, comes after federal judges in Seattle and Maryland block the order. From Member Station WBUR, Andrea Perdoma Hernandez reports. Andrea Perdoma Hernandez The Trump administration is arguing that the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship for people born on U.S. soil, has been misinterpreted. The administration is looking to narrow the scope to exclude children born to non-citizens.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell says it's important to get a national ruling on the matter. In this particular case, this one is substantial. It involves 19 AGs coming together on this birthright issue to make sure that we not only get relief in one state, but we get relief across the country. Federal judges in other cases have called the order unconstitutional. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Perdomo-Hernandez in Boston.

And you're listening to NPR News. Israel is releasing dozens of Palestinians and the latest prisoners And you're listening to MPR News. Israel is releasing dozens of Palestinians and the latest prisoners for a hostages swap as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas. A bus carrying Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah today after Hamas released three Israeli civilians that it's been holding since the October 7th attack. Hamas released the men in a ceremony in Gaza with armed Hamas fighters. Today's swap was the fifth since the ceasefire went into effect. European far-right and populist

parties gathering in Madrid this weekend under the banner Make Europe Great Again. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the groups have seen how effective that language has been in the U.S. Eleanor Beardsley The Madrid Summit will bring together many of Europe's far-right stars like France's Marine Le Pen and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban. They'll join representatives of Spain's far-right Vox party, which is holding the event. They're all part of a newly organized far-right opposition party in the European Parliament called Patriots. Patriots was founded after the far-right made inroads in last June the European Parliament called Patriots. Patriots was founded after the far right made inroads in last June's European Parliament elections. Gone is the rhetoric of

leaving the EU. These populist right-wing parties mean to come together to influence European institutions from within. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia disconnected from the Russian power grid today. They plan to join the European Union's grid tomorrow when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will speak at a ceremony to mark the switch. Plans for the three countries to disconnect from the Russian grid gained momentum following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. This is NPR. Wanna know what it's like to play behind the tiny desk? If you've got the talent, we've got the desk.

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