NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-12-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

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Hey, it's Rachel Martin from Wildcard. This Valentine's Day, NPR wants to show our love for listeners like you by giving away a free year of NPR+, and $100 worth of NPR merch to one lucky winner. Enter for a chance to win at npr.org slash valentine. No purchase necessary. Entry page and a link to the official rules can be found at npr.org slash valentine. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. An American prisoner held in Russia is back in the United States after serving time on drug charges. 63-year-old Mark Fogle was welcomed home last night by President Trump. Earlier, 95-year-old Malfeen Fogle called her

son's release a beautiful shocker. I actually felt just dizzy for a while until I got my composure. And then I talked to him and he said he was at the Moscow airport and he was waiting to get on a plane. And it was just the most wonderful news we could have had. Fogel had been held in Russia since his arrest in August 2021 for possession of medical marijuana. National security adviser Mike Walke says his release was negotiated as part of an exchange, but he did not indicate whether the U.S.

had freed anyone in return. Lawmakers joined federal workers and labor advocates in a rally outside of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday. As NPR's Andrea Hsu reports, they accused the Trump administration of politicizing civil service. Federal employees have been hit with a lot in the several weeks since President Trump was sworn in.

The administration has put people on leave, shuttered offices, halted a lot of work, and encouraged more than two million workers to resign. Gay Henson is an employee of the Tennessee Valley Authority and secretary treasurer of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. It's not well thought out, it's not well planned. They should do a study or something and figure out what needs to be cut and do it in a respectful way. This is just very disrespectful to American workers who have given their lives to the service of the country.

President Trump has said he got elected to make the government smaller and more efficient and that's what he's doing. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Linda McMahon is scheduled for a confirmation hearing later today on her nomination to become Secretary of Education. NPR's Janaki Mehta reports that McMahon may be best known as a long-time leader of World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. — McMahon's business acumen may have translated to her last job in the federal government as head of the Small Business Administration during Trump's first term. Now, if she's confirmed, she will be tasked with leading the Department of Education and working towards shutting it down. On Monday, the Trump

administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, slashed research contracts at the Education Department. It's what some see as the beginnings of dismantling the agency. If a recent contentious House hearing on education is any indication, McMahon may be questioned on how she will execute Trump's plan to close a department, what her role would be in improving dismal student achievement, and her views on expanding school choice, an idea she supports. Janaki Mehta, NPR News. NPR News.

U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. For the second time in just over a month, a wintry mix is blanketing parts of the nation's mid-Atlantic region. National Weather Service forecasters say similar conditions are predicted for parts of the northeast and from the central plains to Michigan and northwestern Ohio through Thursday. The Palestinian Authority leadership says it will stop paying stipends to Palestinian prisoners convicted of attacking Israelis. The U.S. has long demanded this reform, as

NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR For years, the Palestinian government gave monthly stipends to prisoners in Israeli jails. The longer the jail sentence, the higher the payment. U.S. administrations long called on the Palestinians to stop this practice, arguing it rewarded and incentivized violence. Palestinian leadership refused for years, saying it was a national duty to give the support. Now, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

has changed the system and will only offer welfare payments according to families' financial need, a method proposed by the first Trump administration. At the same time, Palestinian leaders say Israel has agreed to give tens of millions of dollars to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. It was tax revenue Israel collected on the Palestinians' behalf and withheld for many months. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. In a correction to a story reported earlier, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered

the renaming of Fort Liberty in North Carolina. The new name will be Fort Roland L. Bragg, honoring a recipient of the Silver Star. The base was originally named after a Confederate general until 2023, when a newly created commission changed the name of nine Army installations. This is NPR News. If you love NPR News.