NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-09-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

NPR News: 02-09-2025 10AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Want to know what it's like to play behind the tiny desk? If you've got the talent, we've got the desk. Unsigned artists, enter the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest for an opportunity to play your own Tiny Desk Concert. Our nationwide star search starts now, and the winner will play their own Tiny Desk Concert and a U.S. tour. To learn more, visit npr.org slash tiny desk contest.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder, Visit npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is defending Elon Musk's effort to make huge cuts in federal spending. It's interesting. You know, no one wants to defend the waste, fraud and abuse of the attack, the guy who's exposing all the waste, fraud and ridiculous things we're spending money on. And remember, the Constitution is clear.

Article 2, Section 1, very first sentence says, the executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America. Jordan, speaking on CNN today, as Musk's cost-cutting team goes about its work seemingly without congressional oversight, gaining access to multiple federal agencies. But the Trump administration is facing legal battles over the effort. One federal judge has temporarily blocked Musk's team from accessing sensitive records at the Treasury Department after a group of 19 attorneys general filed a lawsuit. Another federal judge has temporarily blocked efforts to dismantle USAID, handing a reprieve

to some 2,200 staffers who face being put on administrative leave this weekend. Authorities in Alaska have been working this weekend to recover the wreckage of a small commuter plane that crashed on Thursday. All 10 people on board were killed. Ben Townsend of member station KNOM has the latest from Nome. All 10 bodies aboard Bering Air Flight 445 were retrieved Saturday. Next of Kin have been notified and the bodies will be transported to Anchorage for autopsies. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy traveled to Alaska to oversee the investigation.

She says it's too early to speculate on the cause of the accident. What we want to do is get that wreckage so that we can examine it ourselves. Responders worked through the afternoon as bad weather approached to retrieve the wreckage. Sections of the aircraft were hoisted by helicopter to Nome, where the NTSB will conduct their investigation. For NPR News, I'm Ben Townsend in Nome. Following yesterday's hostages for prisoners, swap attention is turning to talks on a second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is sending delegation to

Qatar. The talks are being held in Doha with President Trump's remarks about the future of Gaza raising tensions. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is accusing the U.S. of fueling conflicts around the globe, including on the Korean Peninsula. Here's Anthony Kuhn reports. In a speech Saturday on the anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, Kim was quoted by state media as saying that the U.S.' deployment of nuclear-capable weapons to the Korean Peninsula, exercises simulating nuclear war, and U.S. military cooperation with South Korea and Japan are threatening the North and creating military imbalance in the region.

He also accused the U.S. of fueling conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and Gaza and heightening the risk of a new world war. On Friday, President Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to work for North Korea's complete denuclearization. Trump has said he would reach out to Kim, but Kim has not publicly responded. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. This is NPR. Voters in Ecuador are going to the polls today in a presidential election. Sixteen candidates are on the ballot, but the contest is shaping up to be a rematch of 2023 between President Daniel Noboa and leftist challenger Luis González.

In Kosovo, voters are casting ballots in a parliamentary election today. Rescuers in China are searching for more than two dozen people who remain missing following a landslide in the southwestern Sichuan province. Emergency officials have deployed hundreds of rescuers. State media say one body has been recovered and two people have been rescued so far. The Super Bowl kicks off later today between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City and their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, are hoping to become the first team to ever win three Super Bowls in a row. Here's NPR's Becky Sullivan with a preview. Mahomes and the Chiefs have become the NFL's newest dynasty. They've been to five of the last six Super Bowls, including today, and won three of them. Today

would be their fourth in all and their third consecutive. This year's Chiefs have thrived in close games. They've won all 12 where the margin of victory was within one score. The Eagles, though, are no pushover. Their acquisition of the star running back Saquon Barkley has turbocharged their offense. And when their quarterback, Jaylen Hurtz, is healthy, they haven't lost a game since September. President Trump is expected to be in attendance today at the Superdome in New Orleans, and

Kendrick Lamar will perform in the halftime show. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. attendance today at the Superdome in New Orleans and Kendrick Lamar will perform in the halftime show. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. J.D. B ______ Authorities in New Orleans have ramped up security ahead of tonight's Super Bowl. Thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement are being deployed following the deadly New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street.

I'm Jial Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.