NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-16-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

NPR News: 02-16-2025 6PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's been a lot of attention on loneliness lately. 16% of Americans report feeling lonely all or most of the time. The former Surgeon General even declared a loneliness epidemic. On It's Been a Minute, we're launching a new series called All the Lonely People, diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives and how our culture shapes it. That's on the It's Been a Minute podcast on NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herpst. Talks aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine are set to get underway this week in Saudi Arabia. President Trump says Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will be involved

without elaborating. And he says all parties want peace in Ukraine, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. I think he wants to end it and they want to end it fast. Both of them. And Zelensky wants to end it too. Trump speaking to reporters at an airport in Palm Beach today says he's talked to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who's on his first trip to the Middle East as the nation's top diplomat and will head to Saudi Arabia this week. The nation's governors are gathering in Washington this week amid lawsuits launched by several states over the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the federal government and its

workforce. And Piers Deepa Shivaram has more. Thousands of government employees, including probationary workers or recent hires, are getting laid off as billionaire Elon Musk tries to cut government spending with his unit, the Department of Government Efficiency. Speaking alongside Musk, President Trump says Doge has found billions of dollars in waste and fraud, but didn't provide evidence for where those numbers are coming from. The website for Doge says receipts for quote savings are coming over the weekend, but haven't been posted. 14

states sued Trump and Musk for Musk's quote unchecked power over the government and its workforce. The White House for its part says that Musk is complying with federal laws. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. And those layoffs include the IRS which says it will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season. That's according to the Associated Press. Earlier IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told they will not be allowed to accept a retirement offer until after the taxpayer filing deadline. Heavy rain in the southeast overnight led to flooding and high water rescues and at least nine deaths in two states are blamed on the storm. Meanwhile, Southern California is cleaning up after its own heavy rain last week, and

here's Amy Held has more. Rain over burn scars led to mudslides trapping cars in the Los Angeles area. The fire department responded and a member had his vehicle swept off the road and into the ocean by debris flow, according to a spokesman. Mud has even seeped into homes, including Jill Forders near Pasadena. Oh my God, this is so much worse than I ever could have imagined. That same system moved eastward, says forecaster Bob Orvac. We developed and was responsible for all the heavy rain that occurred across parts of Arkansas,

Tennessee, Kentucky. Kentucky's governor says historic flooding closed hundreds of roads. By Sunday, winds were picking up all along the East Coast, bringing the risk of outages. And in the northern plains, Arctic air is bringing life-threatening cold into the negative 30s. Amy Held, NPR News. Wall Street will be closed tomorrow in observance of the President's Day holiday. You're listening to NPR News.

Opposition lawmakers in Argentina are threatening to impeach the country's president over his endorsements of what appears to have been a cryptocurrency scam. The far-right libertarian leader promoted, then pulled, his endorsement of a crypto coin, which took a stunning crash just hours after being launched. And P Pierce Carey-Kahn has more. Friday night, President Javier Millet posted on X an endorsement of a new crypto coin called Libra. The currency launched just hours before the president's post promised to strengthen the Argentine economy.

Under an hour of Millet's promotion, the coin rose to nearly $5 in value. However, soon it plunged to under a dollar. Saturday, Millay deleted the tweet, denied relation to the coin, and blamed critics for attacking him. Observers say the coin launch is a so-called rug pull where developers attract investors then bolt. Millay's crypto move echoes similar steps by President Trump, a close ally. Days before his inauguration, Trump released a namesake coin which has since plummeted in value. Carrie Cahn, NPR News.

The Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary celebration takes place tonight with sketches, songs, and special guests as the show celebrates its landmark anniversary. The pop culture juggernaut has launched the careers of generations of comedians, from Steve Martin to Eddie Murphy and Tina Fey to Kate McKinnon. There's no word on what sketches will be performed or which of the musical stars in attendance will end up performing.

I'm Janene Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.