NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-18-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

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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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President Trump is accusing Ukraine of starting the war in that country, which began in 2022 after a Russian invasion. The U.S. and Russia have begun talks on ending the conflict, as NPR's Danielle Kertslavin reports.

Danielle Kertslavin, NPR News Anchor American and Russian delegations met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Ukraine was not invited to those talks, nor were Ukrainian allies in Europe. At a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club, the president blamed Ukraine for the nearly three-year-long war. And I think I have the power to end this war. And I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. Trump made similar comments on the campaign trail.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country will not recognize any peace deal made without their participation. Danielle Kurtz-Sloven, NPR News. More than 10,000 federal workers, most of them on probationary status, have been fired. NPR's Andrea Shue reports on efforts to file a class action lawsuit to challenge those dismissals. Federal employees typically have to get through one or two years of probation before they have full civil service job protections. Still, attorneys say even without those protections,

they may still have a case. Many of the workers fired were told that their performance failed to demonstrate that their employment was in the public interest. David Branch is a longtime employment attorney in Washington DC. If you can prove that this statement is false you probably have a claim for infringement upon your good name and reputation under the Fifth Amendment. The Trump administration says the terminations are about cutting waste and making government more efficient. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed businessman Howard Lutnick as the new U.S. Commerce Secretary. Lutnick is a former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a New York-based financial services firm. New York Governor Kathy Hochul met with top political and civic leaders today to discuss the future of Mayor Eric Adams. Hochul says she may force Adams from office over a corruption scandal involving the Trump administration. As NPR's Brian Mann reports, the mayor could be ousted as soon as tomorrow. Mayor Adams was charged last year with federal bribery and corruption charges.

Last week, the Trump administration's DOJ agreed to suspend that criminal case. It was a move so controversial, seven DOJ attorneys resigned rather than go along with it. Critics say Adams leveraged the favor from Trump's team after agreeing to collaborate with the White House's crackdown on illegal immigration. After four of Adams' own top aides resigned this week, Governor Hockel began talks with officials

about whether to use her authority to remove Adams from office. It's unclear when she'll decide. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York. You're listening to NPR News. The head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., is the latest top prosecutor to resign. In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, Denise Chung says she was asked to step down

after refusing an order to freeze funding for a contract that had been awarded during the Biden administration. In Canada, investigators have taken the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Delta Airlines flight that crashed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. But they're still trying to find out what caused the regional jet to flip over as it landed on Monday. NPR's James Dubeck has more. Ken Webster of Canada's Transportation Safety Board said the plane's recording devices have been taken to a lab for analysis. But still, he said,

At this point it's far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be. No one was killed in the crash. Delta says 21 people were injured, but at last word, only two were still in the hospital. Emergency responders said they saw passengers with back sprains and head injuries, as well as nausea and vomiting from being exposed to fuel. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at the Toronto Airport because two runways have remained closed while investigators probe the wreckage. James Dubek, NPR News. The Vatican says Pope Francis is being treated for pneumonia in both lungs.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized since Friday and reportedly is in fair condition. Vatican officials say Francis was suffering with a respiratory infection when further lab testing revealed the need for more treatment. This is NPR News. Technologist Pau Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it.

Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.