NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-27-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The Trump administration has decided to cut nearly all of USAID's foreign assistance grants effectively gutting the agency. NPR's Fatma Tanis reports. The State Department says it's decided to terminate more than 90 percent of the agency's grants, quote, as part of the America First agenda. Only 500 will be continued. The State Department says the programs that USAID is keeping includes food and life-saving assistance for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

But NPR has heard from aid groups that life-saving humanitarian programs, including ones that provide HIV medications and polio vaccinations, have been terminated. It seems that some of those termination notices have gone out in haste because some groups received them twice. But USAID officials and aid groups are worried that cuts to USAID's programs will lead to loss of life. In Sudan alone, where there's widespread hunger,

more than 1,000 kitchens supported by USAID have closed. Fatma Tanis, NPR News. The Pentagon is ordering the removal of trans service members as early as next month in accordance with an executive order signed by President Trump in January. NPR's Scott Newman reports Attorneys General in at least 21 states say they'll try to block the military from implementing the policy. The policy memo says that service members and recruits who have been diagnosed with, treated for, or showed symptoms of gender dysphoria are to be separated from the military.

A similar policy was put in place during the first Trump presidency, but it was subsequently reversed during the Biden administration. The move follows a Trump White House executive order reinstating the policy issued a month ago. The latest Pentagon memo also says that the Department of Defense only recognizes two sexes, male and female. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington. The Trump administration plans to reopen a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.

NPR's Joel Rose reports the privately operated facility will greatly expand the immigration detention capacity in the New York area. Immigration authorities say the thousand bed facility, known as Delaney Hall, will be the first new detention center to open during President Trump's second term. The facility, which is just a short drive from Manhattan, had previously operated as a detention center until 2017. Its reopening will dramatically increase the amount of detention capacity in the Northeast for U.S. immigration and customs enforcement.

Limited detention space has been one of the obstacles facing the White House as it tries to ramp up immigration enforcement. The GEO Group, which owns the privately operated detention center, predicts it could generate as much as a billion dollars in revenue over the 15-year contract with ICE. Joel Rose, NPR News. Well, the spring home buying scene is only starting to get underway, not an auspicious start. The National Association of Realtors says its pending home sales index fell 4.6 percent last month, hitting an all-time low. You're listening to NPR.

Mardi Gras celebrations are underway in New Orleans. This year more parades are banning plastic beads in an effort to cut down on waste. Matt Bloom with member station WWNO has the story. At least two major Mardi Gras parades have stopped using plastic beads because they can end up in landfills or clog the city's drainage system. Instead they're throwing more useful things like jambalaya seasoning. It's delicious. Sivia Hebert is on the sidewalk with her husband, Tommy, and daughter Lucy.

The family's keeping an eye out for chocolate-covered moon pies. And I got a cookie. What kind? I like a marshmallow cookie. There's only one kind, it's moon pie. Mardi Gras typically produces more than two million pounds of waste, but organizers hope

the VEDE bans can start to help cut down on that. For NPR News, I'm Matt Bloom in New Orleans. The case of an African elephant named Ellie wended its way to Mexico's highest court, and for the first time ever, the country's high court is ruled in favor of an animal. Mexico's Supreme Court ordering a zoo in Mexico City to make sure there is a constant improvement of her health and physical condition. Advocates for the former circus elephant had argued she suffered from depression as well as illnesses and is in a small enclosure where she's been since 2012.

The decision of Mexico's high court upholds a lower court decision last year. Critical futures prices moved higher today as supply worries re-emerged after the Trump administration pulled a license for Chevron to operate in Venezuela. Oil was up $1.73 a barrel to $70.35 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.