NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

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On the Thru Line podcast, the myth linking autism and vaccines was decades in the making and was a major moment for vaccine hesitancy in America, tapping into fears involving the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government. No matter how many studies you do showing that this is not a problem, it's very hard to unring the bell. Listen to Thru Line from NPR, wherever you get your podcast. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. A federal judge has once again extended a pause on the Trump administration's plan to

put thousands of workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave. NPR's Hansi LeWong reports that the judge is expected to release another ruling on the controversial plan next week. For now, the Trump administration is still blocked from putting more than 2,000 USAID workers on leave. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is now set to decide whether that continues past February 21st. That uncertainty is wrecking havoc among many USAID employees, especially those stationed overseas, says Susan Reichle, a retired senior career officer for the agency. People are living in fear because it's not as though they

come home and they have a house to return to and their kids automatically go into a school. They have no idea what their future holds. In court, the Trump administration argues it's conducting a review of USAID's work to make sure it's aligned with Trump's foreign policy, but its challengers say the administration is overstepping its limited authority over an independent federal agency created by Congress. Hansi Lawong in Pure News, Washington. More than 1,000 federal workers received layoff notices Thursday, mostly in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Up to 100 employees at the Embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were also notified

that their jobs were being cut. Most of the CFPB workers appear to be recent hires. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been sworn in as Health and Human Services Secretary. Speaking on Fox News' Ingram Angle, Kennedy said the government needs a disruptor to make America healthy again. The one place that I would say that we need to really change policies is in the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches, because there the federal government in many cases is paying for it, and we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison.

Kennedy, who criticized public campaigns to inoculate people against communicable diseases, is promising that the government will not prevent anyone from being vaccinated. A plane load of deported migrants arrived in Panama from the United States Thursday as part of an agreement with the Trump administration. As NPR's Ada Peralta reports, the deportees are not from Panama. An Armenian president, Jose Raul Molino, says aino says a US military plane brought 119 deportees

who are citizens of a wide variety of Asian nations. Molino said they will be processed, then sent to a camp at the edges of the Darien jungle. We expect two more flights, he said, and 360 people total. It's not massive. Molino says the migrants are expected to be flown home, but it's unclear how that process will play out. And it's likely this program will face legal challenges because the U.S. is deporting migrants to a third country instead of home.

Eder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City. You're listening to NPR News. An interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has resigned. Danielle Sassoon and two Justice Department workers have left their jobs in protest of DOJ's order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Sassoon alleges DOJ cleared Adams in anticipation of something in return. But an attorney for the mayor says there was no quid pro quo. Most bird watchers are over 40, but younger people are increasingly taking up the hobby. Carrie Sheridan from member station WUSF reports

that the trend started during the pandemic when kids spent more time outdoors. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Survey, nearly a decade ago, only about 11% of teenagers said they watched wildlife away from home. And now it's up around 30%. That's Maya Thompson. She heads youth programs at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.

Woof, woof, woof, woof. Sophia Hackman is 15 and recently led an owl walk for the Sarasota chapter of the Florida Young Birders Club. You can never stop learning about new birds. The American Birding Association says young people's interest in birding is on the rise nationwide. For NPR News, I'm Carrie Sheridan in Sarasota.

NASA and the European Space Agency are monitoring an asteroid that was first detected in December. Scientists estimate that there's only a 2 percent chance that the space rock named 2024 YR4 will ever strike Earth. U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street. On Asia Pacific markets, shares are mixed up 3.6 percent in Hong Kong. This is NPR News.