NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-12-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

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Technologist Paul 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 Jack Spear. Belarus has released three prisoners, an American who has not been named, a human rights activist and a journalist who worked for a U.S. funded station. NPR's Michelle Kalman reports about a third person freed under a deal

negotiated by the Trump administration. After more than three years in prison in Belarus, journalist Andrei Kuznetchik had an emotional reunion with his wife and two young children in neighboring Lithuania. That's according to the president of Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Stephen Capus, who was there. Capus says the journalist was unjustly held for doing his job, reporting in Minsk, when RFERL was allowed to operate there. Now we've been designated as an extremist organization and Andrei is one of the first people to pay the price.

Kappa says he was told that the U.S. did not release anyone in exchange and that U.S. officials are determined to get other political prisoners out of Belarus, including RFERL reporter Ehar Losik, Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. The House Oversight Committee created a compliment. The Elon Musk-led entity known as DOJ held its first hearing today. NPR's Stephen Fowler reports the focus was on fraudulent payments and Musk. The DOJ subcommittee, chaired by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, focused at times on hundreds of billions in fraud, waste, and abuse estimated to come from major federal

programs each year. Most improper payments in recent years were issued through five programs, Medicare, Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, and the paycheck protection program. But there were also plenty of partisan fireworks on display with arguments over the outsized role Musk and his Doge effort have in recent attempts to gut some government agencies and slash federal spending. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. The family members of three Venezuelan immigrants sent to Guantanamo Bay have filed suit against

the Trump administration, legal challenge seeking to push the government to allow attorneys to access detainees, impures Sergio Martinez-Baltron reports. The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs say the Trump administration is thwarting access to counsel for immigrants in detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They also say the government is holding the immigrants in comunicado, without access to attorneys, family or the outside world. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the families and four immigrant rights groups,

says it wants to ensure immigrants can meet with lawyers. The Trump administration has said it's sending to Guantanamo the worst criminals. They are in maximum security there. However, some of those being sent to the barracks facility reportedly include migrants who do not have criminal records. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin. A mixed close on Wall Street today. The Dow fell 225 points. The Nasdaq was up six points. The S&P dropped 16 points. This is NPR. President Trump has announced he'll officially chair the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. As NPR's Netulbi reports, Trump said on social media platform True Social, he was voted in by the board. Until recently, that board was an even mix of Republicans and Democrats.

But last week, the president purged the board of its 18 Democratic members. In a statement, the Kennedy Center said there was nothing in its stature preventing such actions. It seems the president's displeasure with the nation's premier cultural center is, according to a social media, based on a couple of drag performances the Kennedy Center hosted last year. The president has, his own admission never attended the Kennedy Center. During his last administration, he skipped the Kennedy Center Honors, which fed several entertainers who have been critical of his policies. Neda Ulipi, NPR News. Nat. Maybe you should be buying that special someone a carton of eggs for Valentine's Day.

They are starting to fit the bill of being both scarce and pricey, though probably not in the same league as flowers or jewelry. With the release of new consumer inflation numbers though, it was revealed the average price of a dozen eggs in the U.S. has now risen to just under $5, eclipsing the old record high set back in 2023. And that's just an average. A dozen eggs can cost as much as $10 in some places. Organic and cage-free eggs are even more expensive. Crude oil futures prices gave up some of their recent gains as markets try to gauge how a possible end to hostilities between Russia and Ukraine could affect prices. Oil dropped nearly $2 a barrel today to $71.37 a barrel in New York.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.