NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, several senior federal prosecutors have quit after they refused to drop a federal corruption case against New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams. The acting U.S. attorney, Danielle Sassoon, is one of those who resigned. NPR's Carrie Johnson says Sassoon recently attended a meeting with lawyers for Mayor Adams and a senior Justice Department official. The defense lawyers for Adams said he would help DOJ with its tough immigration enforcement campaign if they drop criminal charges against him.

Sassoon wrote, that sounded an awful lot like an unlawful quid pro quo. And the DOJ leader in the meeting admonished one of her team members for taking notes and wanted those notes after the meeting ended. Eric Adams committed crimes, she wrote, and there's no good faith way to walk away from that case. NPR's Carrie Johnson reporting. NPR has learned that the Trump administration has started firing thousands of workers at agencies across the federal government.

NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports some of those workers were responsible for sensitive nuclear secrets. Around 300 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were expected to lose their jobs, according to a source within the agency who was not authorized to speak to the press. Those jobs include overseeing the nation's stockpile of thousands of nuclear weapons, reducing the global threat from weapons of mass destruction, and spearheading the government's emergency response to nuclear accidents. The terminations affect employees that have only been with the agency for a year or two. Many other agencies, including the Department of Education and the Small Business Administration, are reporting similar firings.

Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington. Americans are deeply divided about President Trump's sweeping crackdown on immigration. And Pierre's Joel Rose reports that's one finding of a new NPR Ipsos poll. The poll shows growing approval for tougher restrictions on immigration. 44 percent of poll respondents say they support President Trump's call for mass deportation of all immigrants living in the country without legal status. But at the same time, many of the president's hardline policies are unpopular with big parts of the public.

That includes detaining migrants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, pushing to end birthright citizenship for all children born in the U.S., and allowing immigration authorities to make arrests in schools and churches. Each of those proposals is broadly unpopular with Democrats and many independents, even as they have been welcomed by most Republicans. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Vice President Vance is scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Russia's war in Ukraine is a top item at the conference after President Trump talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. Ukrainian and European leaders say no peace talks about Ukraine can be held without Kyiv's participation. You're listening to NPR News. Ukraine's president says Russia launched a drone with a high-powered warhead toward the closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant today. The bomb hit the plant's protective shell and exploded.

Ukraine says so far no increases have been detected in radiation levels. Russia denies that it fired the drone. In 1986, a Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded. That sent clouds of radiation across parts of the former Soviet Union and Europe. It was later encased in a huge concrete and steel covering. This is a huge week for chocolate with Valentine's Day gift exchanges featuring candy and chocolate. This year chocolate prices are rising and as Alina Seljuk reports that's because the global supply of cocoa has been coming up short.

Cocoa prices first broke the all-time record around Valentine's Day last year. Since then, they've doubled. That's because the global supply of cocoa has declined for three years now. Most of the world's cocoa beans come from West Africa, and farmers there have dealt with abnormal weather and changing climate patterns that have been hard on their trees. David Branch is an analyst at Wells Fargo. The deficit ended up the highest deficit in 60 years. The shortage of cocoa has left many chocolate makers in a crunch. Big brands including Nestle, Hershey and Mondelez, which makes Cadbury and Milka, have all raised prices already. Branch forecasts prices will

likely keep rising over this year. Alina Seluch, NPR News. Crafts supply store Joanne says it is going to close about 500 stores across the country. Joanne is heading into its second bankruptcy in less than a year. Stores will close in nearly every state. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News, from Washington.