NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

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NPR covers the stories that shape our world. Whether you're here for news or culture or good conversation, we're proud to be here for you. Federal funding helps keep the public radio network strong and available to all for about a dollar and sixty cents per person each year. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org to learn more about safeguarding public media's future. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Vice President JD Vance told European leaders gathered at the Munich Security Conference that their biggest security threat

was not from Russia or China, but from their own suppression of free speech inside Europe. NPR's Rob Schmitz has more from Munich. After a week of top U.S. officials making comments about negotiations with Russia to end its war in Ukraine, European leaders were expecting Vance to lay out the Trump administration's vision about the future of Ukraine. Instead, Vance delivered a lecture on how European leaders should listen more to supporters of far-right and populist political parties, and by not doing so, said Vance, they're failing to live up to their democratic ideals. Vance also warned the audience about out-of-control migration. Vance received only tepid applause throughout his 20-minute speech.

Rob Schmitz, then Peer News, Munich. Some members of Congress are voicing support for a top New York prosecutor who quit in protest over concerns about politics infecting the Department of Justice. The acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, resigned after a top Justice Department official ordered her and other prosecutors to drop their bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Five additional lawyers also quit. Sassoon had raised concerns about quid pro quo. Well, on Fox and Friends Today, Mayor Adams

flatly denied that claim. Think about my attorney, Alex Spira, one of the top trial attorneys in the country. Imagine him going inside saying that the only way Mayor Adams is going to assist in immigration, which I was calling for since 2022, is if you drop the charges. That's quid pro quo. That's a crime. It took her three weeks to report in front of her a criminal action. Come on, this is silly. Mayor Adams on Fox. Spending on cars and at stores declined in January. The key economic measure of retail sales fell nine tenths of a percent last month, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department. And Piers Alina Seljuk reports

it's often the case in January after big splurge for the holidays. Januaries often a spending hangover and this time December data was actually revised to show higher holiday spending than previously reported. Plus, January was freezing with snowstorms. Spending on autos and auto parts fell roughly 3% compared to December. People spent less on furniture and clothes, and online shopping dipped almost 2%. But comparing this January to last January, spending increased almost across the board. Sales at restaurants and bars are up 5.4 percent. Sales of autos and parts are up more than 6 percent from a year ago. Only two categories declined. That's sales at department stores

and at hobby slash sports slash musical and bookstores. Alina Seluch, NPR News, Washington. The Dow is down more than 100 points. This is NPR News. The Department of Veterans Affairs has dismissed more than a thousand employees as part of the Trump administration's cost-cutting measures across the federal government. The VA has long struggled to hire enough health professionals in a competitive labor market. Democrat Richard Blumenthal, ranking member on the Senate's Veteran Affairs Committee, says President Trump and Elon Musk's cost-cutting measures will hurt VA care. VA Secretary Doug Collins says the cuts will not hurt veterans despite staff shortages and a backlog of disability

claims. Thousands of Philadelphia Eagles fans are lining the sidewalks along the team's championship parade route. Nick Kariecki of member station WHYY was in South Philly for the start of the celebrations. Hours before the players' buses were scheduled to go by, fans gathered along Broad Street in South Philadelphia. Xavier Campbell arrived at 6.30 in the morning for his first-ever Eagles parade. I'm excited to see the team and all the stuff they have going along with the parade, like the float, all the buses. The team's second-ever Super Bowl came with a blowout win

over the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs which some Byrds fans like Mark Worley found more comfortable. This one was even better because we blow them out you can relax during a game enjoy yourself by halftime and say we've won another Super Bowl. After the buses reach the rocky steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art ceremonies and speeches will begin. For NPR News, I'm Nick Kariuki. Pope Francis is in the hospital for bronchitis. The Vatican's press office says initial tests showed a respiratory tract infection. It describes the Pope's clinical condition as fair with a slight fever.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.