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Episode Date: February 12, 2025

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Technologist Pau Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it. Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. An American held in Russia for three and a half years was greeted by President Trump last night after returning to the United States. 63-year-old Mark Fogle says he's the luckiest man in the world and calls Trump a hero. Fogle also expressed gratitude to Russia's leader.

President Putin was very generous and statesmanlike in granting me a pardon. Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being arrested at a Russian airport in August 2021 for possession of medical marijuana. The Trump administration says his release was negotiated as part of an unspecified exchange. President Trump and billionaire aide Elon Musk are defending their efforts to enact sweeping changes to the federal government. As NPR's Elena Moore reports, Musk leads the White House's Department of Government Efficiency or DOJ, which focuses on slashing federal spending.

Musk said Trump had a mandate from the public to do this work. The people voted for major government reform and that's what people are going to get. They're going to get what they voted for. Trump declared that the Doge effort has already found billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. When asked about some of the legal challenges the administration is facing over the effort, Trump said he would comply with court rulings and then appeal. After taking questions, Trump signed an executive order further breaking down how government agencies will work with DOJ to reduce

the size of the federal workforce. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. The Treasury Department says it mistakenly gave a member of Elon Musk's team direct access to the federal payment system. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the administration says it was an oversight that has since been fixed. The Treasury Department's payment systems managed the flow of $5 trillion worth of government spending. And a member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency was able to not just

view transactions, but also had the ability to alter payments. The revelation, which came out in a recent court filing, contradicts previous statements from the Trump administration that Doge members had read-only access to Treasury systems. The Musk associate who had the special access, Mark Alas, is a 25-year-old former SpaceX engineer. Alas resigned shortly after it was revealed that he had a history of racist posts on X. Musk and President Trump have called for Les to return, but he hasn't done so. Bobby Allen, NPR News.

The FBI says it's discovered about 2,400 records involving the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The information is being sent to the National Archives for declassification, in keeping with an executive order issued by Trump last month. Kennedy's assassination in November 1963 was blamed on 24-year Lee Harvey Oswald, who was gunned down two days later. Trump has promised to declassify all remaining files on the assassinations of JFK, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. This is NPR. Rice leader Martin Luther King Jr. This is NPR. California-based Tri-Union Seafoods is voluntarily recalling canned tuna sold at major grocery

stores across the nation. The Food and Drug Administration says the alert is being issued because the tuna may cause botulism, a rare bacterial infection that can cause paralysis. The recalled tuna was sold under the brand names HEB, Trader Joe's, Van Camps, and Genova brands. Conservative political strategist, Steve Bannon, has pleaded guilty to defrauding donors to a private effort to build a wall along the southern border. Bannon gets to avoid more time in jail

if he stays away from heading a charity or raising money for a nonprofit in New York. He was released from prison last fall after serving a four-year sentence for contempt of Congress. An estimated 127.7 million viewers watched Sunday's Super Bowl. That would be a record according to TV ratings company Nielsen. NPR's Eric Deggans has details.

The game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs may have been a blowout for the Eagles and it was witnessed in record fashion on Fox's Super Bowl broadcast, which attracted 4 million more viewers than last year to become the most watched single networked telecast in U.S. TV history. The peak average audience hit 137.7 million viewers at about 8pm, with viewership counted across Fox and NFL digital platforms and out-of-home viewing like bars, according to Nielsen. Overall, about 83% of households watching TV were tuned to the Super Bowl. This is NPR News. Planet Money is there. From California's most expensive fires ever. That was my home, home. Yeah.

Grew up there. It's ashes. To the potentially largest deportation in U.S. history. They're going to come to the businesses. They're going to come to the restaurants. They're going to come here. Planet Money. We go to the places at the center of the story.

The Planet Money podcast from NPR.