NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-25-2026 9AM EST

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump celebrated economic progress in his state of the union speech last night, but as NPR Scott Horsley reports, many aren't buying his sales pitch. President Trump talked as if there had been an economic turnaround on his watch, but official statistics tell a different story. Economic growth was slower during Trump's first year back in office than it was during the final year of the Biden administration. Job growth was much slower, and inflation has mostly moved sideways, with Trump's own tariffs contributing to higher prices of some imports. The president highlighted some things that have gotten cheaper, notably eggs and gasoline, but the overall cost of living continues to climb. That's weighing on the president's approval rating in the latest NPR PBS News Maris poll, six in ten Americans say the country's worse off now than it was a year ago.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Virginia's governor, Abigail Spanberger, delivered the Democratic response, offering a sharply different take on the health of the country's economy from President Trump's. Spanberger says American families are struggling under his policies. As I campaigned for governor last year, I traveled to every corner of Virginia, and I heard the same pressing concern everywhere. Costs are too high in housing, health care, energy, and child care. And I know these same conversations are being had all across this country. And in a speech from historic Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia,

she says Trump is pitting Americans against each other, and she also attacked immigration officer tactics calling Trump reckless. Paramount is raising its offer for Warner Brothers Discovery, which rejected a rival bid from Netflix. And peers David Fokinflick has more. Warner owns HBO, HBO Warner Bros. studios, the DC Comics franchises, and cable channels including CNN and Discovery. Netflix won over Warner with a bid for the TV and movie studios, the streaming platforms

and intellectual property, but not the cable channels, and a deal worth $83 billion. Paramount Chief David Ellison started the ball rolling by making a series of unsolicited bids for Warner. He now promises to pay $31 per share, a dollar more than his last offer. The previous deal included debt and was valued at about $108 billion. dollars. Ellison has made other concessions too. Warner's not yet decided that Paramount deal is preferable, but if it does, Netflix will have four days to make a counteroffer. A shareholder vote is planned for March. David Fulkenflick and PR News.

German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz is meeting Chinese leaders pressing for fairer trade rules and more help in ending the war in Ukraine. Mertz says global crises, including the war in Ukraine, can't be settled without Beijing. European governments say China hasn't pushed Russia hard enough to end its war, but Beijing says it's staying impartial in the conflict. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A Senate committee will consider President Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management this morning. The Mountain West News Bureau's Hannah Merzbach reports, some veterans want senators to vote no on the nomination of Steve Pierce.

In 2012, Pierce of former New Mexico congressmen and Vietnam War pilot said most public land shouldn't be under federal government control. That doesn't land well with Janessa Goldbeck, who leads the Vet Voice Foundation. The BLM website says one in five agency employees or veterans. So when Steve Pierce says we do not even need most of this land, he's not just talking about acreage. He's talking about eliminating veterans' jobs. Some environmental groups have highlighted Pierce's ties to the oil and gas industry. Meanwhile, energy and ranching organizations have said he's qualified for the job.

For NPR News, I'm Hannah Mersbach in Jackson, Wyoming. In the Northeast, people are still digging out from the massive winter storm that dumped up to two feet of snow in places. This as the area deals with power outages and flight delays. In Massachusetts, more than 160,000 people are still without power, and crews from around the country are helping restore electricity there. Hundreds of flights have been canceled, more than 8,000 delayed. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service says another storm is expected to move into. to the northeast late tonight.

But forecasters say this one's a fast-moving storm and it will only drop around an inch of snow. US futures contracts are trading higher at this hour. All three major indices are up about three-tenths of a percent. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR NewsNow Plus at plus.

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