NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-15-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

NPR News: 02-15-2025 8PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

JANINE HARPST Donald Trump is back in the White House and making a lot of moves very quickly. Keep track of everything going on in Washington with the NPR Politics Podcast. Every day we break down the latest news and explain why it matters to you. The NPR Politics Podcast. Listen every day. JANINE HARPST Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Harpst.

Hamas released three Israeli hostages today who were held in Gaza for more than 15 months, including a U.S. Israeli citizen. And Israel released more than 300 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, all as part of the fragile ceasefire deal that nearly collapsed this week. And Pierce Hadil Al-Shalchi has more. There are 369 of them. Thirty were serving life sentences, convicted for attacks that killed Israelis. There's also quite a prominent member in this group. His name is Ahmed Barghouti, who was a senior aide to the man

considered the leader of the Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, of course, known as the Second Intifada. Ahmed Barghouti was in Israeli prison for more than 22 years. He was convicted for coordinating attacks that killed Israelis during the second intifada. And Piers Hadil El-Shalchi reporting. It's the sixth exchange so far in this six-week ceasefire deal, but officials say neither side has started negotiating

the second phase, where Hamas was supposed to release all hostages. Those talks were supposed to have started a week ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is losing about 10 percent of its workforce as the Trump administration moves ahead with plans to shrink the nation's federal workforce. Jess Madore of Member Station WABE has more. The Atlanta-based CDC is losing nearly 1,300 people with jobs classified as probationary. That includes newer hires and longtime staffers who've recently moved to new positions internally

at the CDC. Affected workers are slated to get four weeks of paid administrative leave, according to an employee requesting anonymity because they're not authorized to speak for the agency. The layoffs are fueling fear across the public health community and among Democrats in Congress who say the cuts at CDC will leave the U.S. more vulnerable to disease outbreaks. For NPR News, I'm Jess Madore in Atlanta. Clinics in Missouri will start offering abortion services after a Missouri judge granted a request to overturn licensing requirements for clinics that provide the procedure.

St. Louis Public Radio's Sarah Fentman has more. Missourians in November voted to enshrine the right to access an abortion in the state's constitution. After that, a Kansas City judge halted a near total abortion ban that had been in place since 2022. But that order still left some restrictions in place, including a rule that providers give all patients pelvic exams. Clinicians in Missouri said some requirements were so strict, they still couldn't offer abortions. The judge's temporary order reversed her earlier decision and put a hold on the restrictions, saying they were discriminatory. Clinics in Missouri say they plan to begin offering abortions within days.

For NPR News, I'm Sarah Fenton in St. Louis. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Amazon workers in North Carolina voted against unionizing as the retail giant once again prevailed in its fight against labor organizing. Around 4,300 workers at a warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, that's a suburb of Raleigh, were eligible to cast a vote, ballots over the past week on whether to join the grassroots union called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment or CAUSE. Workers voted

nearly three to one against unionizing. Organizers at the warehouse wanted starting pay of $30 an hour compared to the current pay of $18 to $24 an hour. The union also wanted longer lunch breaks and increased vacation hours. It's not clear if they will challenge the outcome of the vote. President Trump this week became the latest U.S. president to say he wants to kill the penny. And Piers Maria Aspin has more.

There are some 240 billion pennies in circulation, but most of them are just sitting around not being used. That means the U.S. Mint keeps on making more of them and losing tens of millions. It costs almost four cents to make each new one-cent coin. President Trump says he's ordered his Treasury Secretary to stop making pennies. And unlike most of Trump's recent executive actions, this one is getting bipartisan support. Philip Deal is a Democrat who ran the mint in the 90s. He's been calling for the end of the penny since then. All for it and long overdue.

Some other countries have already stopped producing their pennies. For example, Canada phased out its one cent coin more than a decade ago. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. And I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington. On the Throughline 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 through line from NPR wherever you get your podcast