NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-15-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

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Bella DiPaolo is glad if you're happily married, but she is perfectly happy being single. I would love to have someone who took care of my car or someone who cleaned up the dishes after dinner. But then I'd want them to leave. From yourself to your dog to your spouse are significant others. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dale Willman. Vice President J.D. Vance is attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend. In a speech, he offered a blistering critique of European politics, and he said the biggest threat to the continent comes from within.

It's a threat he described as censorship of right-wing views. The European response was quick, as NPR's Rob Schmitz tells us You know one speaker who I think summed up Europe's reaction to all this pretty well was from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier I've covered him for years and he usually gives pretty tame speeches But today he just blasted the new Trump administration in a scathing speech He called on Europeans to not be paralyzed by Trump's flood of executive orders and announcements. And he said this new US administration holds a totally different viewpoint from Europe's.

NPR's Rob Schmitz, a federal judge in Washington, DC, has temporarily ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not to lay off more employees. As NPR's Rafael Nam reports, the agency had terminated more than 100 workers this week. The order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court in Washington is a major reprieve to staff at the agency, which had been bracing for mass layoffs. Judge Jackson also said the agency cannot delete data held by the CFPB, and she ruled that the agency cannot transfer money from its reserve funds unless it's for operational reasons.

A union representing CFPB employees had filed a lawsuit after the agency had ordered staff to stop all work. It also filed another suit saying the Trump administration had accessed its information, violating the Privacy Act. Congress created the CFPB in the wake of the 2008 meltdown that was triggered by subprime lending abuses and lax financial regulation. Rafal Nam, NPR News. Investigators are focusing on the possible malfunction of a key piece of equipment in last month's mid-air collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet.

The crash near Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, D.C. killed 67 people. David Schaper has more in that story. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy confirms that the Blackhawk helicopter was flying higher than it should have been when it crashed into the American Airlines regional jet. Its altitude was 278 feet. But I want to caution that does not mean that's what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit.

We are seeing conflicting information in the data. Amadi says it also appears that the helicopter crew did not fully hear a critical radio transmission from air traffic control telling them to pass behind the regional jet and that night vision goggles may have made it difficult to see the plane. The investigation continues. For NPR News, I'm David Schaper. And you're listening to NPR News. New York State Police have charged five people with murder and the killing of a man who police

say died following repeated acts of violence and torture for more than a month. 24-year-old Sam Nordquist, who was a transgender man originally from Minnesota, was reported missing on February 9th. One police official said no human being should have to endure what Sam did. The investigation is still open. The Northern Lights are forecast to appear in the night sky for some Americans this Valentine's Day weekend, but scientists say sky gazers should not get too excited. And Pierre Chandelier-Stuster has more on why and who might see the spectacle.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center says an aurora may be seen in skies in northern states such as Michigan and even Maine. But the chances of seeing it will be slim. That's because the geomagnetic storm that causes northern lights will be weak. Space scientist Rob Steenberg says this, in competition from the moon, will make an aurora harder to see. Because it's a more minor storm, you're not expecting things to be as vivid, particularly with the nearly full moon sitting out there. For a chance to see the aurora, NASA says folks should find the darkest spot away from city lights. Astronomers also say to take a

picture of the sky with a cell phone and adjust the focus. Chandelis Duster, NPR News. Russia has arrested another U.S. citizen just days after a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Moscow that the Trump administration called a diplomatic thaw. Russian police say the 28-year-old American had attempted to smuggle a significant amount of drugs into that country. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of the charges. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News in New York City.