NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. President Donald Trump Friday fired Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr. Brown was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. NPR's Tom Bowman says the reaction to the decision was one of surprise and bewilderments. 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 Hegset 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. That's NPR's Tom Bowman. Trump is nominated Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Dan Cain to succeed Brown as the nation's highest ranking military officer. Under the Trump administration, NPR has learned that FEMA is backtracking on its work on building safety by withdrawing its recommendations for stronger building codes. NPR's Lauren Summer has more. For 25 years, FEMA has studied disasters, looking at how homes and buildings fared. Then they've made recommendations about how building codes could be improved to prevent some of that damage. Those codes are updated at the International Code Council, which takes feedback from stakeholders.

Local and state governments can then adopt the codes, which set the standards for home construction. FEMA had already submitted its recommendations, but now is withdrawing its name from them. That's according to sources involved with the work, but who want to remain anonymous over concerns about reprisals. Republican lawmakers have criticized building codes as being too burdensome. Studies show they've already saved billions of dollars in damage. Lauren Summer, NPR News. The federal judge who has been overseeing the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams has decided not to rule immediately on the Justice Department's request to drop that prosecution. Instead, the judge has appointed an outside attorney to present an independent perspective.

MPR's Ryan Lucas explains. U.S. District Judge Dale Ho has appointed Paul Clement as a so-called friend of the court to help consider the Justice Department's unopposed motion to drop the case. Clement served as Solicitor General during the George W. Bush administration. Judge Ho's decision comes days after the Justice Department formally requested to dismiss the Adams case. The department says the request isn't based on the strength of the case. Instead, it says the prosecution hinders Adams' ability to help the Trump administration with

immigration enforcement. The interim U.S. attorney in Manhattan and at least six other senior Justice Department attorneys resigned in protest. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Sinn Fein's leaders say they will not attend a traditional St. Patrick's Day event next month at the White House. They say the move is in protest against President Trump's stance on Gaza.

Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill says she's taking a stance against the threat of a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. The tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who reigned anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago has been unearthed and as NPR's Ayah Batraoui reports, it's being hailed as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent years. Egypt's Antiquities Council says the discovery of King Thutmose II's tomb is the first to be unearthed since that of King Tutankhamun's in 1922 over a century ago. It's believed to be the last lost tomb of the kings of the 18th dynasty in Egypt.

While the tomb's main passage was discovered two and a half years ago, recent excavation work revealed parts of alabaster vessels inside with inscriptions bearing the king's name along with that of his main royal wife, Queen Hatshepsut. King Thutmose II's tomb was found about a mile and a half from the famed Valley of the Kings in Luxor and moved to its unusual location by the ancient Egyptians after floods. The team of Egyptian and British archaeologists say fragments of the burial chamber's plaster show blue inscriptions and yellow sky stars, as well as excerpts from religious scripture specific to the tombs of pharaohs. A. Abel Traoui, MPN News.

It's been 49 years since former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner placed a ban on players wearing beards. Now the ban is finally gone. Steinbrenner's son Hal now controls the team. He says it was time to move away from what he has described as the familiar comfort of that very old policy. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.