NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-19-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Trump administration officials who are now running the U.S. Agency for International Development have not restarted all payments to thousands of programs around the globe despite a federal court order. NPR's Frank Langford reports USAID says it's allowed to cancel most of its contracts. Last week, a federal judge ordered USAID to reopen the flow of money to programs around the world. He said it was causing irreparable harm. Late Tuesday night, USAID responded that it has broad authority to cancel contracts and grants

based on the terms of those agreements, and that it's reviewing each contract for evidence of waste and fraud and to ensure they're aligned with President Trump's goals. In a court filing, USAID said it had already terminated nearly 500 contracts, including some because they focused on, quote, regime change, civic society, or democracy promotion. USAID said it has spared more than 20 contracts worth more than $250 million. The judge has yet to respond to USAID's filing. Frank Langford, NPR News, Washington. Fight back! Stand up! Fight back!

More protests against mass firings and funding cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services. At the Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, some dismissals are being reversed for employees who are involved in the government's response to the nationwide bird flu outbreak. The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 58 cases with more than a dozen hospitalizations. In neighboring eastern New Mexico, eight more people have contracted the measles, even though people can get vaccinated against the highly contagious illness. A spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Health, Robert Knott, describes what officials are doing to address all the cases in Lee County. Robert Knott, Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D.,

Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., contact between any of the cases in New Mexico and in Texas. The Palestinian militant group Hamas says it will return the bodies of four Israeli hostages tomorrow but as NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports the news is little comfort for

some of the families. Hamas said that among the four bodies returned on Thursday would be the Bebas family, a mother and two young boys who were nine months old and four years old when they were kidnapped on October 7th, 2023. Hamas said that they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, but Israeli officials have yet to confirm their deaths. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Bebas family described the last few hours as quote turmoil, saying that their journey to healing would not begin until they receive definitive confirmation. Hamas also said that six living hostages would be released on Saturday that's double the number originally agreed upon. Hadeel Alshalchi NPR News.

It's NPR. A federal judge is weighing the Justice Department's motion to drop its corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Today's hearing ended without a ruling. Adams denies the charges against him or that he agreed to collaborate with the Trump administration's crackdown on migrants in New York City without legal status in exchange for getting the case against him dropped. The DOJ's push to drop the case prompted more than a half dozen prosecutors to resign in protest recently. This June, the Tony Awards, Broadway's highest honors, will have a new host, Cynthia Erivo. The British actress has been a constant presence during the Hollywood awards season. Erivo's up for an Oscar for her performance in Wicked.

But as Jeff London reports, the stage is in Arivo's blood. After playing many theater roles in London, Cynthia Arivo burst on the Broadway scene in 2015 as Sealy in the Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple. Gonna hold my head up, gonna put my soul... She won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical that season. And on June 8th, this year, she'll serve as host for the 78th Annual Tony Awards. It's been quite a year for Arevo. She's been nominated for several awards for Wicked, and it was just announced that

she'll be appearing as the title character in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl in August. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. US stocks have ended the day moderately higher. The Dow closed up 71 points. This is NPR News.