NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-10-2025 5PM EST

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

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At the Super Bowl halftime show, Kendrick Lamar indeed performed his smash diss track Not Like Us and brought out Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, and SZA. We're recapping the Super Bowl, including why we saw so many celebrities in commercials this year. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A federal judge in Rhode Island has found the Trump administration has continued to improperly freeze federal funds, despite a temporary restraining order issued late last

month blocking its efforts to freeze payments for grants and other federal programs. Judge John McConnell, Jr. issuing an order today in response to a lawsuit brought by 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge ordered the administration to immediately restore frozen funding and immediately end any federal funding pause that affects any of the 22 states that filed suit. That of the agency that protects federal whistleblowers from retaliation says he was illegally fired by President Trump on Friday. NPR's Stephen Fowler reports on a lawsuit filed today by special counsel Hampton Dellinger.

Dellinger was confirmed by the Senate last year to serve a five-year term. Federal law says the president can only fire the special counsel for, quote, inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. But Hampton Dellinger's lawsuit says none of those reasons were cited in a one-sentence email from Trump's personnel director that said simply his position was terminated effective immediately. His is among a string of dismissals appearing to flout laws that protect executive branch officials from politically motivated firings. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. The U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with its efforts to confirm Tulsi Gabbard

to be the next director of national intelligence. NPR's Kristen Wright reports Gabbard is one of President Trump's most divisive cabinet nominees. The former Hawaii Congresswoman's record on foreign policy has come under sharp scrutiny, even by Republicans, including her past defense of Edward Snowden, who revealed a secret government surveillance program and leaked classified documents. Some senators are also troubled by Gabbard's comments suggesting support for Russia, and her 2017 visit was Syria's now ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad.

She narrowly survived an Intelligence Committee vote, winning key Republican support to advance to the Senate floor today. MPR's Kristen Wright. Hamas now says it will delay the next planned release of Israeli hostages, setting violations by Israel in terms of the ceasefire agreement. Israel in turn accused Hamas of violating the terms of the deal. MPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv. The next scheduled release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and

detainees is supposed to be this Saturday, but Hamas has postponed it, quote, until further notice according to a statement on the group's Telegram channel. Israel's defense minister Israel Katz called the announcement, quote, a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and said that he had asked the Israeli military to prepare at the highest level of readiness for any possible scenario in Gaza. It comes as talks about the next phase of the increasingly fragile ceasefire deal had begun in Doha over the weekend and after President Trump doubled down on a plan to have the U.S. take over Gaza and re-

This is NPR. President Trump has announced today he plans to pardon former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. That's according to a person familiar with his plans, not authorized to speak publicly. Trump commuted the former governor's 14-year corruption sentence during his first term. Trump was expected to sign the pardon today. Blagojevich was convicted in 2011 on charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-P President Barack Obama's

old Senate seat. Fewer people in China are opting to get married. Last year, marriages fell by 20%. It was the biggest drop ever recorded. And Pierce Owen Tower reports the government is encouraging young people to marry and have children to slow down the country's shrinking population. Just over 6.1 million couples married last year, down from 7.68 million the year before, the lowest since 1980, figures from Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. Many young people say marriage and starting a family are too expensive. The high cost of childcare and education combined with a tough economy makes financial stability hard to achieve. For Chinese

authorities, reversing the decline in marriage and birth rates is critical. In the next decade, around 300 million people that's roughly the size of the U.S. population are expected to retire, putting more pressure on an aging population. Alvin Tsau, NPR News, Beijing. They cost more to make than they are worth and would have probably been piling up around in your house for years. The lowly penny, which for decades has been targeted for extinction. Now where President Trump has ordered the US to stop making pennies.

Still the penny does have its fans, some citing its usefulness for charity drives and a relative bargain compared to other currencies. This is NPR.