NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-21-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

NPR News: 02-21-2025 10PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. President Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today, Air Force General C.Q. Brown Jr. and Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the chief of naval operations. In a social media post, Trump said he's nominating Lieutenant General Dan Cain as the new chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. MPR's Tom Bowman says it's a shake-up at the Pentagon. I've been covering the military fors of Staff. And here's Tom Bowman says, it's a shake up at the Pentagon. I've been covering the military for 27 years now. This is highly unusual that early into an administration,

you would remove the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also the chief of naval operations. Clearly, the Trump administration and Secretary Haig have long said, the military is woke, it's all about DEI. And it's clearly important to note that this is the second black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after Colin Powell, and Lisa Franchetti is the first woman to run the Navy. So it appears that what they're basically saying here is these folks got their jobs because of DEI. There's no question about that.

And here's Tom Bowman reporting. The shutoff of funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development continues to take a toll, forcing major layoffs at a D.C. think tank that monitors democracy overseas. And here's Frank Langford has more. Freedom House, which does an annual analysis of political freedom around the world, plans to lay off 76 people at its headquarters here by mid-April. The organization receives most of its funding from the federal government. Freedom House, along with the National Endowment for Democracy, is among a number of pro-democracy organizations that are laying off or furloughing workers because of the funding halt.

A federal district judge has twice ordered USAID to restart millions in payments to the organizations, but the Trump administration says it has the right to cancel contract grants one by one. Lawyers for the organizations have asked the judge to find the government in contempt of court, potentially setting the stage for a constitutional crisis. Danielle Pletka Here's Frank Lankford reporting. The Trump administration this week cut off funding to legal services for minors who entered the U.S. unaccompanied.

Now the Interior Department has rescinded its stop work order. Texas Public Radio's Paul Flev reports the order affected 26,000 children. The Acacia Center for Justice, the prime contract holder for the unaccompanied minors attorney, says it's been notified it can get back to work. Acacia Center CEO Shana Abert says it's a huge relief. I honestly burst into tears. I have two young kids. I have elementary school age boys and I've been up at night for the last 48 hours just thinking about kids, kids arriving in court without lawyers. The nonprofit program's contract is up for renewal at the end of next month, and Abert

says she won't speculate on what the Trump administration may do, but she said she hopes the groundswell of support she witnessed from the community and Congress sent a message. I'm Paul Flav in San Antonio. This is NPR News. The FDA says there's no longer a shortage of Wegovi and Ozempic. That means those compounding pharmacies that make similar weight loss and diabetes drugs will have to wind down production. In Piers, Yuki Noguchi has more.

The enormous popularity of the injectable drugs to control diabetes and excess weight meant Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegoie and Ozempic, could not manufacture enough to meet demand. In times of shortage, compounding pharmacies are permitted to make similar drugs. Consumers lined up to buy those substitutes. Now that the FDA declared the shortage resolved, the compounding companies must stop production within 60 to 90 days. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.

Top ranked chess player Magnus Carlsen is selling his controversial jeans for charity. The Norwegian chess grandmaster says he's auctioning off the Italian luxury brand jeans that started a dress code dispute at December's World Rapid and Blitz chess championships. He ultimately quit the New York competition after accepting a $200 fine while refusing to change his pants. The auction to benefit Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America ends March 1st so far as of this morning. The highest bidder was $8,200. Sales of existing homes fell 4.9% in January from the month before and the National Association of Realtors says there were 1.1 million homes for sale last month.

That's a 3.5 percent increase from December, but still supplies of homes for sale remains tight. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.