NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-15-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

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JANINE HURST. 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 HURST. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today called for the creation of a European army. He told the annual Munich Security Conference that the continent can no longer be sure of US protection. And here's Rob Schmitz has more. He essentially said that we can no longer count on America to help defend Europe. And he added that according to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to move Russian troops to Belarus this coming summer. He warned that this could be the start of an eventual attack on bordering EU member states. And here's Rob Schmitz.

Many military experts at the conference, though, said they didn't think it was realistic and that it would take too long to form. A federal judge has blocked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from laying off any more employees for now. Earlier this week, more than 100 workers were fired. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., also says the agency can't delete or remove any CFPB data, nor can it transfer money from its reserve funds unless it's for operational reasons. Earlier, Acting Director Russell Vogt ordered staff to halt all work and he closed the agency's headquarters for a week.

This is part of Elon Musk and President Trump's plans to drastically slash the federal workforce. Meanwhile, a group of Western senators is asking Trump to exempt seasonal federal firefighters from the current federal hiring freeze. CAP radio's Manola Sakaita has more. The senators describe putting a pause on hiring federal seasonal firefighters as, quote, simply irresponsible and dangerous. California Senator Alex Padilla signed the letter. Time is of the essence. We cannot wait for the summer months to get here. We cannot wait for the fires to begin to begin the recruitment or the training process.

Padilla says the need is also immediate as fires are occurring more frequently outside of what was once considered California's fire season, like the massive wildfires that broke out recently in the Los Angeles area. For NPR News, I'm Enola Sakaita in Sacramento. The board of OpenAI says it turned down Elon Musk's more than $97 billion offer to buy the company. And Pierce Bobby Allen reports the bid comes amid Musk's ongoing lawsuit against the chat GPT maker. The board of OpenAI says it has unanimously rejected Musk's unsolicited proposal to take over the company. In a statement, chairman Brett Taylor says OpenAI is not for sale, calling Musk's offer an attempt to undercut

one of his competitors. At the same time, Musk's lawyers are advancing a lawsuit against OpenAI, seeking to stop the chat GPT maker from converting from a non-profit into a for-profit operation. OpenAI received some of its first funding from Musk, and the billionaire White House official says OpenAI is violating its founding principles as a research lab. But OpenAI has published emails from Musk when the company started showing him supporting the idea of converting to a for-profit business. Bobbi Allen, NPR News.

This is NPR News from Washington. In the confusion and anger among federal workers over the Trump administration's sweeping efforts to slash the size of government, Catholic Charities of Dallas has laid off dozens of employees with its refugee resettlement program. The cuts come after Trump signed an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Priscilla Rice of Member Station KERA has more. The nonprofit reported 63 layoffs to the Texas Workforce Commission this week. They represent employees who work to resettle refugees in the area. Everything from providing

housing and health care to getting children enrolled in schools and picking up new arrivals from the airport. Attorney and civil rights activist Eric Cedillo says the cuts will have long term effects. With respect to refugees, it can be a situation that is incredibly daunting, overwhelming, and you've really got nobody to help them if you pull these monies all at once. In the Houston area, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston, Houston laid off 120 employees, about a quarter of its staff. For NPR News, I'm Priscilla Rice in Dallas. Doctors say Pope Francis spent a restful night at the hospital, ate breakfast today, and received the Eucharist. And they say they've modified the treatment for his respiratory tract infection and say

tests show some improvement. This after the 88-year-old was admitted to the hospital after a week-long bout of bronchitis. The Vatican canceled his audiences through Monday at least. When Francis was a young man, he had part of one lung removed and has battled other health problems since then. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from 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