NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

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My defining characteristic for him is love. I'm Jesse Thorne on Bullseye Kelsey Grammar on the thing that makes Frazier Frazier. That he loves so deeply that it almost harpoons him. Plus sideshow Bob, cheers, and so much more. On Bullseye for MaximumFun.org and NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Cash Patel as the new director of the FBI. Patel's controversial nomination was pushed over the line despite fierce opposition from

Democrats. NPR's Ryan Lucas has more. The Republican-led Senate confirmed Patel by a vote of 51 to 49 to lead the FBI, the nation's most powerful law enforcement agency. Two Republican senators, Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, joined all Senate Democrats in opposition. Patel is a former prosecutor and was a national security official in Trump's first term. He's also a Trump loyalist and fierce critic of the FBI. His Republican supporters say he will fix what they argue is the politicization of the

FBI against conservatives. Patel's critics, meanwhile, say he lacks the necessary experience and temperament to lead the Bureau and worry that he will use the FBI's vast powers to make good on his repeated threats to go after his and Trump's perceived enemies. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. A federal judge has rejected a request from five unions seeking an injunction to block mass layoffs at federal agencies.

U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper says the plaintiffs should have taken their complaint to the Federal Labor Relations Authority and not federal court. Senate Republicans are pulling in all-nighter to advance their budget resolution. As NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports, President Trump favors the House's approach to implementing his agenda. The Senate and the House are pursuing different strategies in helping the White House get more funding for the southern border and extend the 2017 tax cuts. The House wants to tackle the components in one big bill. The Senate thinks it's more expeditious to split it into two bills, one for now and one later this year.

The Senate is undertaking what's known as a votorama, where lawmakers bring amendments often aimed at making members of the other party take challenging votes. It will likely last through the evening and early morning hours of Friday and represents an early phase of a long road ahead. Barbara Sprunt and Peer News, the Capital. A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that more than a third of the U.S. population lives in drought-stricken areas. NPR's Michael Copley reports that for many areas with unusually dry conditions, the situation may last into spring. The latest data from NOAA shows drought or abnormally dry conditions across most of the

country's lower 48 states. Droughts especially severe in the southwest, from southern Nevada and California through Arizona and New Mexico and into west Texas. There are also pockets of extreme drought in parts of the Great Plains, including Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. NOAA says the Southwest is likely to see below normal precipitation through May. Dryer conditions this spring could extend up into Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Michael Copley, NPR News. U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR.

The U.S. envoy to Ukraine canceled a planned press conference with President Zelensky amid rising tensions. The decision came after retired General Keith Kellogg met with Zelensky in Kiev. The Ukrainian leader called the gathering productive and says his nation is ready for strong and effective investment and security agreements with the U.S. Three buses exploded in a parking lot in the Israeli city of Bat Yam near Tel Aviv Thursday. Explosives were found in two other parked buses but did not go off. Authorities say there are no reports of any injuries from the blasts and no group has

claimed responsibility for the incident. Some researchers say that lab mice may try to revive unconscious mice when they see them. NPR's Jonathan Lambit reports some researchers suspect it may be a form of empathy. Jonathan Lambit Researchers who anesthetize mice have noticed that other mice sometimes behave strangely towards unconscious individuals. New research published in the journal Science describes this behavior in detail. When presented with an unconscious cage mate, mice exhibit behaviors that start with sniffing

and grooming and progress to biting and even tongue pulling. Mice are especially attentive when they know the unconscious mouse. The poking and prodding actually seems to help the knocked out mice regain consciousness faster, the study found. These behaviors were activated by oxytocin circuits in the brain, which have been shown to underlie helping behaviors in other species. The researchers say it could be an instinctual behavior that might have evolved because of its beneficial effects to social groups.

Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. On Asia Pacific, market shares are mixed up nearly 3% in Hong Kong. This is in... 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.