NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-15-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

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Planet Money is there. From California's most expensive fires ever. That was my home home. Yeah. I grew up there. It's ashes. To the potentially largest deportation in U.S. history. They're going to come to the businesses. They're going to come to the restaurants. They're going to come here. Planet Money. We go to the places at the center of the story. The Planet Money podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the time has come for Europe to create its own United Armed Forces. Three years of full-scale war have proven that we already have the foundation for a united European military force. And now, as we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security, we must build the armed forces of Europe. Zalinski speaking today at the annual Munich Security Conference, saying the idea is not to replace NATO, but to make Europe's contribution on par with the United States.

He also warned of danger if President Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin before meeting with him, saying Putin wants Trump standing in Moscow's Red Square as a prompt in his own performance. Three more hostages have been released by Hamas. After another public display, the hostages were released to the Red Cross today in the Gaza city of Kanyunas. They include the American-Israeli Segei Dekelhan.

In exchange, Israel has begun releasing more than 350 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development among the federal workers bracing for what could be major layoffs, NPR Center for London reports. HUD's union president said three officials confirmed the overall target for layoffs was 50 percent and some areas could lose up to 75 percent of staff. One employee who learned of the plan in a meeting said colleagues were visibly upset. The union leader said he worries about the economic ripple effect, both on those who

may be let go and the people they serve. HUD declined comment, but Housing Secretary Scott Turner has announced his own task force to review spending and target waste and fraud. On Friday, Elon Musk said on X that his Doge team had recovered nearly $2 billion of HUD money he said had been misplaced. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. Mexico's president says that if the U.S. designates Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, her country will expand legal action against U.S. gunmakers. A foreign terrorist designation would put the cartels in the same category as groups like

Al Qaeda and Boko Haram. Nina Kravinsky of member station KGZZ has more. President Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations in an executive order shortly after taking office. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in her regular morning press conference that if the U.S. goes through with that designation, she plans to expand an existing lawsuit in U.S. courts against gun manufacturers. Shane Baum says more than 70 percent of the guns used by cartels come from the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments about whether the lawsuit against

gun makers should go forward early next month. For NPR News, I'm Nina Kruwinski in Hermosillo, Mexico. And this is NPR News. In Kansas City, the mother of a black honor student who rang an 86-year-old white man's doorbell by mistake and was struck in the head and armed by gunfire, says she reluctantly accepts the plea deal in the case. We are not fully appeased with it, but it's something that we have to take right now because we are sick of this dragging on." Clea Nagby speaking after Andrew Lester pleaded

guilty to second-degree assault in a deal with prosecutors in the shooting of her 16 year old son Ralph Yarrow. Yarrow turned up on Lester's doorstep by mistake to pick up his twin siblings. He's now a freshman at Texas A&M, a member of the ROTC and the school's marching band. National Weather Service warning of the potential for flash flooding this weekend with the greatest risk in parts of northwestern Tennessee and western Kentucky, where Karen Zahra reports for Member Station WUKY. The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch that covers the entire state of

Kentucky, prompting Governor Andy Beshear to issue a preemptive state of emergency. We hope it continues to move northward and misses most of Kentucky, but we have to prepare for significant rain. The Kentucky Emergency Operations Center and units of the Kentucky National Guard have been activated. Beshear has also activated the state's price gouging laws, which makes it illegal for businesses to raise prices on necessary goods and supplies during an emergency. For NPR News, I'm Karen Zarr in Lexington.

And I'm Triale Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.