NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-18-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

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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. our culture shapes it. That's on the It's Been A Minute podcast on NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Deborah Flint, is giving credit to first responders for the absence of fatalities stemming from Monday's crash of a Delta Airlines jet that flipped on its roof

while landing at Pearson International Airport. No airport CEO wants to have these type of press conferences, but this is exactly what our emergency, our operations, and our first responder partners are all practiced and trained for. And again, this outcome is in due part to their heroic work, and I thank them profusely. Officials say 18 passengers out of 80 people on board the flight were taken to hospitals. The NTSB is sending investigators to Toronto to assist their Canadian counterparts in the investigation. US military says it has killed a senior member of an al-Qaeda

affiliated group in northwest Syria in a statement. The military says the al-Qaeda affiliate member was killed in a precision airstrike. Ukraine will be watching Tuesday's developments in Saudi Arabia when top diplomats from the US and Russia are expected to meet for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. MP R. Stulianna Kikissus reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but he said only for an official visit with Saudi officials. Zelensky said there cannot be negotiations without Ukraine. Olexander Kraev, a political scientist in Kyiv, says Zelensky expects President Trump to make Ukraine an equal partner in talks to end the war.

In any other case, the negotiation will be a futile effort and Trump will be presented as a bad negotiator, weak politician and a bad diplomat basically. Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia is expected to visit Ukraine later this week. Joanna Kekisis, NPR News, Kyiv. A federal judge temporarily paused the Trump administration's plan to slash funding from the National Institutes of Health, but cities that rely on health research for the economies remain concerned. Stephen Visaha of the Gulf States newsroom reports that places with the most to lose

include red states that have long supported Trump. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of the top recipients of NIH funding. It's also the largest single employer in all of Alabama. The Trump administration's plan to cut billions of health research funding would include tens of millions that go to the state. Sanford University economist Sarah Helmets-McCarty says that could ripple across all parts of Alabama's economy. UAB and the biomedical research that happens there is an essential piece of our economy.

If it is disrupted, it will affect businesses, restaurants, real estate, all of it. UAB says life-saving research into things like cancer, Alzheimer's, and heart disease are in jeopardy. For NPR News, I'm Stephen Besaha in Birmingham. This is NPR News. Police in Maryland have arrested the apparent leader of a cult-like group known as the Zizians. Maryland State Police say 34-year-old Jack Lasota was arrested Sunday along with another member of the group.

Investigators say the Zizians are tied to the shooting death last month of a Border Patrol agent in Vermont and may be linked to five other deaths in three states. Urban sprawl may be creating deadlier conditions for pedestrians. Kelly Knoyer, member station WHQR, reports that pedestrian traffic fatalities are at a historic high. Pedestrian deaths in car crashes have been on the rise in the U.S. since 2009. A new study shows most of the increase comes from nighttime crashes on high-capacity roads. Stephen Heine is a research associate at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center and co-authored the study for AAA. He

says it's not just nighttime conditions that can be fatal, but the style of road itself. Stephen Heine, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, University of what you might see in more outside of city center, suburban areas. These roads typically have limited sidewalks, crosswalks, and streetlights.

Residents are often poorer and rely on public transit or walking and biking to get around. Meanwhile, pedestrian fatality rates in other industrialized countries continue to fall. For NPR News, I'm Kelly Knoyer. Sweden top team USA in tonight's foreign nations hockey face-off game in Boston but the victory has no bearing on Thursday night's final the US already assured of playing and the game will be a rematch against Canada which advanced with a victory over Finland. Canada lost to the US in Montreal over the weekend. I'm Jaihil Snyder, NPR News.