NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-16-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

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J.D. 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. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on a trip to the Middle East where he met today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Hamas has to be eradicated. Hamas released three Israeli hostages yesterday and Israel released more than 300 Palestinian

prisoners and detainees. It's part of the first phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement that almost collapsed this week and it's ending soon. In Piers Hadil, Al Shalchi has more. The first phase actually expires at the beginning of March. An Israeli official who's familiar with the talks but he couldn't speak publicly about them told NPR that neither side has actually sat down to talk about what phase two would look like and those negotiations were supposed to start a week ago. The official also said that Israel is planning to press for more hostages to be released this week. There are 73 hostages held by Hamas and Gaza right now,

and Israel believes almost half are dead already. And here's Hadil al-Shulchi reporting. The nation's governors are gathering in Washington this week. This amid lawsuits launched by several states over the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the federal government and its workforce. And Piers Diba-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 the IRS 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 current tax season were told they would not be allowed to accept a retirement offer until after the taxpayer filing deadline.

Heavy rains are causing flooding in much of Kentucky, including areas ravaged by a once-in-a-century flood in 2022. John McGrary of Member Station WEKY reports. There's little rest for weary first responders in much of Kentucky this weekend. In the southeastern county of Floyd, emergency management director Brian White says there have been a lot of rescues but no reported injuries or deaths. Some mayors have issued declarations evacuating some localized towns and stuff and we got like a law enforcement out helping mitigate the process and all this and that to get

people up to higher ground that'll leave their residents in some danger right now. White says several trees and power lines are down too. For NPR News, I'm John McGarry in Versailles, Kentucky. And the storms have left at least eight people dead in Kentucky. This is NPR. Protests are set to take place in several major cities across the country tomorrow on the President's Day holiday. The demonstrations are being organized by the 50-501 movement, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one movement. And there are a response to what organizers describe as the anti-democratic

and illegal actions of the Trump administration. This is the second nationwide protest by the group. It follows a series of executive orders signed by President Trump, including actions led by his advisor, Elon Musk, which have been criticized for their aims to diminish the role of the federal government. A sustainable aviation fuel company in Montana will soon receive the first installment of a nearly $1.7 billion loan from the federal government to increase production. This comes after weeks of delay stemming from the administration's spending freeze. Montana Public Radio's Ellis Julin has more. Montana Renewables was selected

to receive a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Biden administration's funding of clean energy development. The actual disbursement of the loan faced an uncertain future after President Trump took office and issued executive orders freezing all dollars associated with Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Montana Renewables is the first company to receive payment of an energy department loan since a federal funding freeze happened late last month. The company will soon receive the first payment for half the loan, $782 million.

The money will expand the company's production of alternative jet fuel derived from a combination of animal fats and vegetable oils. For NPR News, I'm Ellis Ju Lin in Missoula, Montana. And I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone. The NYU Langone Health app gives you access to your electronic health record. Keep track of your visits, lab results, and images all in one place. Better health starts with a better health system.