NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-24-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

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When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need to ask themselves certain questions. What is the thing that keeps you up at night? What's the thing you can't stop thinking about? As songwriters, we are repurposing human tropes and a new viewpoint with new words, with new music. The people and technology behind the soundtracks of our lives. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington today to meet President Trump. Macron is expected to plead with Trump to continue U.S. support for Ukraine. This comes as Ukraine observes the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he would leave office in exchange for NATO membership for his country. NPR's Joanna Kokissis reports. Speaking to Ukrainian and international media, Zelensky said NATO membership remains the strongest and cheapest way to guarantee Ukraine's security against more Russian attacks. He says he would leave office in exchange for Ukraine's quick entry into the security alliance. If there is peace for Ukraine I'm ready to

leave my position he says. I focus on Ukraine's security right now not in 20 years. Both Russia and the Trump administration oppose NATO membership for Ukraine. Meanwhile Zelensky also said his team is still working with the US on a deal to exchange hundreds of billions of dollars in critical raw materials for security guarantees. Zelensky says the deal must be fair to Ukrainians. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Cave. President Trump's senior envoy, Steve Witkoff, says he believes Israel and Hamas will take

the next step in the ceasefire for Gaza. We have to get an extension of phase one, and so I'll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that. And we're hopeful that we have the proper time to finish off, to begin phase two and finish it off and get more hostages released and move the discussion forward. He spoke on Sunday to CNN.

There's been widespread confusion over the weekend among federal government employees. They got an email demanding that they submit a summary of their work from last week. Doge leader Elon Musk says a failure to respond by midnight tonight will be taken as a resignation. And Pierce Emily Feng has this report. The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, sent a government-wide email request to federal workers on Saturday. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has spearheaded much of the drastic cuts to the federal workforce, wrote on X, the social media platform he owns, that failure

to respond was tantamount to resigning. But the OPM itself said earlier this month that responses to such mass emails are voluntary. And the U.S.'s largest union representing federal government employees criticized OPM for allowing, quote, the unelected and unhinged Elon Musk to dictate the office's actions. Some government agencies, like the Defense Department, have already told their employees they do not need to comply with the OPM's request for a summary of their last week. Emily Fang, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, stock futures are higher.

This is NPR. President Trump has named conservative radio host Dan Bongino as the deputy director of the FBI. Bongino has worked as a secret service agent and as a police officer. This position does not require Senate confirmation. The Trump political ally will have control of sensitive FBI investigations. Seven former commissioners of the IRS

have published a joint opinion piece in the New York Times today. The bipartisan group sharply criticizes President Trump's decision to cut nearly 7,000 IRS workers in the middle of tax season. They say these cuts will only shift the burden from people who shirk paying taxes to honest people who do pay them.

Jury selection starts today for the man accused of killing seven and injuring dozens of others more than two years ago in a Chicago suburb. From member station WBEZ, Anna Savchenko reports, it happened at a July 4th parade. Robert Cremo III is facing more than 100 felony counts, including murder, for allegedly shooting at parade goers from a rooftop in 2022. All 48 of the living victims will be allowed to watch the trial, though many of them will be called as witnesses. But the mass shooting affected far more people than those who will appear in court, like survivor Adam Sherman, who's hoping for a guilty verdict. Kora Vakulman, NPR News from Washington.