NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have 48 hours to explain what they accomplished in their jobs over the last week or risk being fired. NPR's Emma Bowman reports the move comes amid a massive effort led by tech billionaire Elon Musk to slash the federal workforce. Musk gave notice about the apparent ultimatum hours before it was sent out. Writing on X, he said, quote, failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. The emails were sent by the Office of Personnel Management and ask workers to reply with a summary

of their work by the end of Monday. It's unclear what legal weight the threat carries. Many federal workers have job protections that protect them from being fired without cause. Musk is leading the Doge team, a project to slash federal spending that's behind the recent mass firings of government workers. It's a familiar tactic for Musk. The billionaire pulled a similar move at Tesla and after he bought Twitter, where he mandated weekly reports from his employees on productivity. Emma Bowman, NPR News. Pope Francis remains hospitalized and critical condition after suffering a respiratory crisis

today. The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized for more than a week. NPR's Ruth Sherlock is at St. Peter's Square, where the mood is somber. Here at St. Peter's Square, just after the news breaks that Pope Francis is in a critical condition in hospital, I find a group of young teenagers standing in a circle praying in a quiet murmur. They're praying for the Pope's health, they say, but also for his salvation, for a direct ascent to heaven should he pass away. The group's leader, Don Marco, tells me if he had to summarize Francis's papacy it would be in one word, mercy. He says this Pope tried to break down the trappings of the Vatican, the idea of the

Vatican as a wealthy, powerful empire, and bring it back to simpler Christian roots. Ruth Sherlock and Pia News. President Trump used a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference today to take aim at Ukraine. Speaking to CPAC attendees, Trump said he wants something in return from Ukraine for the billions of dollars the U.S. spent helping the country defend itself against Russia. Europe gave it in the form of a loan. They get their money back.

We gave it in the form of nothing. So I want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. And I'm going to try and get the war settled, and I'm going to try and get all that death ended. LESLIE KENDRICK, HOST, RUSSIA'S NEWSCASTERS, RUSSIA'S NEWSCASTERS, RUSSIA'S NEWSCASTERS AND THE CURRENT NEWSCASTERS. RUSSIAN STATE MEDIA SAY PREPARATIONS ARE UNDERWAY FOR A FACE-TO-FACE MEETING BETWEEN TRUMP AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN.

THIS IS NPR. AN OUTBREAK OF COLORA HAS KILLED NEARLY 60 PEOPLE AND and sickened about 1,300 others in Sudan. Health officials say the outbreak in the city of Kosti was traced back to contaminated drinking water. The city's water plants stopped working after it was attacked by a paramilitary group. Major League Baseball is testing out a new automated challenge system in spring training. Pitchers, catchers, and batters may challenge an umpire's calls.

NPR's Becky Sullivan reports the review was powered by an automated strike zone. On Thursday, during a spring game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs, an ordinary fastball in the first inning became history when Cubs pitcher Cody Petit tapped his head after the umpire called a ball. That triggered the major league's first ever ABS challenge, as it's called. The Jumbotron showed the computerized replay of the pitch and that it was, in fact, a strike after where the Dodgers' Max Muncie had good humor about getting the short end of the historic challenge. It was a pitch that I definitely thought was a strike.

He balled it and I look out and the pitcher was, seemed very excited to challenge that one. And when he challenged it, I knew it was going to get overturned. And I went, oh man, I'm going to be the first one on this. That's great. The soonest the challenge system could appear in the regular season is 2026. Becky Sullivan in PR News, Phoenix.

The first and only museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci in the United States is set to open later this year in Colorado. The new facility will feature life-size machine replicas based on da Vinci sketches and interactive displays. This is NPR News.