NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-19-2025 7PM EST

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump escalated his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today, calling him a dictator on social media. It comes one day after Trump falsely suggested Ukraine is to blame for the war it's currently fighting against Russia. NPR's Lexi Shapidle reports. A group of Republican senators are reiterating their support for Ukraine, including North Carolina's Tom Tillis,

who was in Ukraine just days ago to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion. He says he's concerned about anything that suggests a moral equivalency between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He's a very bad person, needs to be stopped. He's gonna metastasize across Europe if we don't. Democrats, meanwhile, slammed Trump for his comments, saying he's parroting Russian propaganda.

Lexi Schepittle, NPR News, The Capital. President Trump has signed an executive order that would give him greater power over independent regulatory agencies, think FCC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FDIC. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports some legal experts are calling the move the latest attempt by Trump to expand the powers of the presidency. The executive order would essentially put independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission under the purview of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, says these are government entities

that Congress set up to be protected from White House control. The history, and it goes back to 1880, for agencies to have some breathing room, in other words to make decisions that the president couldn't necessarily dictate. The order would require independent agencies to make changes to their budgets that fall in line with the Trump administration's priorities. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Inflation watchdogs will be keeping a close eye on President Trump's new tariff moves. NPR's Scott Horstley reports minutes from the most recent Fed meetings show those tariffs

could put more upward pressure on prices. Fed policymakers expect inflation will continue to cool towards their 2 percent target, but the path could be bumpy and President Trump's plans to impose higher taxes on imports could make it harder to bring prices under control. Business contacts in a number of Fed districts say they'll try to pass the cost of any tariffs on to consumers. And a couple of Fed policymakers warn it may be hard to distinguish one-time price hikes caused by tariffs for more persistent inflationary pressures. The minutes are from the January meeting where the central bank held interest rates steady. Fed policymakers generally want to see

more progress on inflation before they order any additional interest rate cuts. Scott Horsley in Peer News, Washington. For the first time in roughly 10 years China was not the US'sS.'s largest trading partner last year. That distinction going to Germany as U.S. exports to China declined due to heightened tensions between the two global powers. Trade with China fell by 3.1 percent. The Dow was up 71 points today.

This is NPR. Two people are dead following a mid-air collision involving two small planes in the skies above southern Arizona. The National Transportation Safety Board says it's investigating the collision of the planes near an airport on the outskirts of Tucson. It's the second fatal aircraft incident in that state in roughly a week. Last week, a pilot on a private jet owned by Motley Cruiser, Vince Neil, was killed when the plane veered off a runway.

This week's billboard charts are out and Kendrick Lamar is reaping the benefits of a Super Bowl spotlight. NPR's Stephen Thompson has the report. Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us is the number one song in the country after more than six months away, they not like us Zooming from number 15 to number 1 on the strength of the rapper's recent Super Bowl halftime show. The chart surge extends well beyond that one Grammy-winning hit. Lamar has the week's top three songs as well as number five. Over on the albums chart, Kendrick Lamar's album GNX returns to number 1 while two of his older albums

Damn and Good Kid Mad City return to the top ten for the first time in years. Stephen Thompson, NPR News. After efforts to save it faltered the SS United States is now on a trip of destiny once the world's fastest ocean liner the 1,000-foot vessel that had been birthed in Philadelphia is being towed to Mobile Alabama where we'll undergo preparation for a less than glamorous final voyage. Plans call for the ship to be scuttled off Florida's Gulf Coast where it's hoped it will become the world's largest artificial reef. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.