NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartinez. I work on a news show. And yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day. But you just can't ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. So that is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. The Trump administration has unveiled a new savings tracker released by the Doge cost-cutting effort. It's been overseen by billionaire Elon Musk. NPR Stephen Fowler reports the Doge savings

estimates are overstated by billions of dollars. The top line number claimed by Doge is $55 billion, but an initial quote wall of receipts posted Monday only has data to support 16 billion of that amount saved by canceling government contracts. An NPR analysis of that data finds that math doesn't add up. Half of these supposed savings come from a typo

and a majority of these contracts listed haven't actually been canceled yet. In all, just 2 billion in potential savings can be verified, mainly from cuts related to education and foreign aid. Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Washington. Groups that receive U.S. foreign aid are seeking a contempt of court ruling against the State Department and some officials who run the U.S. Agency for International Development. This comes after President Trump froze foreign aid distribution.

NPR's Frank Langford explains a judge had previously ordered the Trump administration to release the foreign aid. The groups want the judge to enforce an order he made last week telling the Trump administration to reopen the flow of money to thousands of programs around the globe. The groups say the sudden cutoff of funding has caused layoffs and devastated their organizations. They added that USAID's refusal to reopen the taps was a, quote, brazen act of defiance. However, USAID argues that it has the right to cancel most of its foreign aid contracts. It says it's reviewing them, looking for waste and fraud, and to ensure they're aligned

with Trump's goals. The agency says it has already terminated nearly 500 contracts, including some that focused on DEI, as well as, quote, democracy promotion. Frank Lankford, NPR News. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has released new agency guidance. The agency will no longer recognize transgender people.

Kennedy says there are only two sexes, male and female. This does not align with some medical groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, that recognizes trans youth whose gender identity does not match their assigned sex. Israel has received the bodies of four Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza. They include an Israeli woman and her two young sons. The fourth is that of an older man. This comes ahead of Hamas's release of six living hostages this Saturday. In exchange, Israel is to free more than 600 Palestinians from Israeli jails.

NPR's Kat Lonsdorf says this concludes the release of hostages in the first part of the ceasefire agreement. This first phase of the deal ends on March 2nd and so far talks for the next phase haven't started yet. They were supposed to start weeks ago. So we're really just waiting to see what happens with that. You know, meanwhile, there still will be dozens of Israeli hostages in Gaza. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. It's NPR. hostages in Gaza. NPR's Kath Lonsdorf. It's NPR. Dangerous cold weather persists in the U.S. from the Canadian border down to southern Texas. It's 22 degrees below zero in parts of North Dakota when chill readings make it feel like nearly 40 below. Security is tighter

in New Orleans for this year's Mardi Gras celebration. It follows the New Year's Day attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured dozens more. As the Gulf States newsrooms Drew Hawkins reports, this means higher costs for parade organizers, especially for smaller independent crews. The city of New Orleans covers the security costs for larger, more traditional parades. But independent walking crews that march through different neighborhoods pay for it themselves through membership fees. These are regular norlinians, you know, they're school teachers, they might be retired. Yvonne Garrett is captain of Crew DeVu, a local walking parade. She says

their extra security costs should be covered by the city. One walking parade, the Intergalactic crew of Chewbacca's, says they got a bill that was more than twice what they paid last year. City officials haven't said how much extra they're paying for security this Mardi Gras to make sure people can stay safe. For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans. Former Democratic U.S. Senator from Oklahoma and Governor David Boren has died at the age of 83, according to his family. He'd had a long illness. Boren has died at the age of 83. According to his family, he'd had a long illness. Boren served several terms in the Oklahoma State House before becoming

a U.S. Senator. There, he served as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. After leaving Congress, Boren was president of Oklahoma's largest public university, retiring in 2018. This is NPR. Whatever your job is, wherever you're from, NPR is a resource for all Americans. Our mission is to create a more informed public. We do that by providing free access to independent, rigorous journalism that's accountable to the public.

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