NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-28-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts. Perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Presidents Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyi of Ukraine are meeting this hour at the White House for talks aimed at leading to an end to Russia's war with Ukraine. Both are expected to discuss at least the framework of an agreement that grants the U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals. For a second day, laid off USAID employees are returning to their former workspaces

to quickly collect their belongings and leave. It's all part of Doge Cuts. The Trump administration says they're needed to help return the U.S. to better financial health, but critics argue the way the administration's doing it is irresponsible and will cause long-term harm to the country. Yesterday, many employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were

notified they too have been fired. NPR's Alejandro Burunda reports. If you check the weather today, you interacted with the agency known as NOAA. NOAA is America's top ocean, weather, climate, and environmental science agency. That's Tim Gallaudet. He led NOAA under the first Trump administration. Galladet warned that deep cuts to the agency staff or budget could hamstring its ability to provide services many Americans rely on, like free weather forecasts or tidal predictions that help keep seafaring ships safe.

The fired staffers were so-called probationary employees. That means they were relatively new to the agency or had recently gotten a promotion. The Trump administration has asked all agencies to make further staff cuts and budget cuts in coming weeks. Alejandra Burunda, NPR News. A grassroots movement is calling for a nationwide economic blackout today. The People's Union USA is leading a social media launch movement urging people across the US to show their resistance to corporate greed by taking part in a 24-hour boycott in store and online of major retailers in favor of local and small businesses.

Concerns continue to mount over a measles outbreak after medical officials in Washington State publicly confirmed a new case yesterday. Kentucky and New Jersey have also reported new cases. None of the cases has been linked though to the outbreak in West Texas where an unvaccinated child died. Some school districts in Texas are below vaccination rate targets. Olivia Aldridge of Member Station KUT has more. Austin Independent School District is one of the largest in Texas. School officials say the overall measles vaccination rate is around 95 percent. The pandemic. Alena Bejarano heads up health services for the district. Although the measles outbreak hasn't reached Austin yet, she said the district is on guard. If something like this happens, we're always tracking it and trying to prevent it.

More than 120 people have been sickened in the West Texas outbreak so far. I'm Olivia Aldridge in Austin. It's NPR. A bomb blast in a religious seminary in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least five people, including a prominent cleric. Dozens of people were wounded. As NPR's Dia Hadid reports, a Pakistani official says that so far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast occurred in a seminary known for producing a generation of leaders of the Taliban, the Jamra Haqqaniya in the northwestern district of Nushera. A spokesman for the province, Muhammad Ali Saif, says a suicide bombing occurred during Friday prayers, a time when men and boys congregate in the Madrasa's mosque. Saif says the target appeared to be Maulana Hamid Al-Haqqani. He was a prominent cleric and former legislator. He was killed in the blast. Islamic State militants have targeted the Taliban and those affiliated to the group in the past. They accused them of not properly implementing Islamic law. The blast comes

as Pakistan holds its first international cricket event in decades. Dear Hadid and PR News, Andhya. Skype is shutting down after 20 years of connecting callers through the internet. Today Microsoft announced it's shifting its focus on Teams, which it has integrated with other Office apps to appeal to more corporate users. Once a key base for Skype, Microsoft outbid Google and Facebook to acquire Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The Associated Press reports that at the time,

the service had roughly 150 million monthly users. In recent years, that number had fallen to about 23 million. Microsoft says Skype's final call will be May 5th. It's NPR News. Planet Money is there. From California's most expensive fires ever. That was my home, mom. Yeah.

Grew up there. It's ashes. To the potentially largest deportation in U.S. history. They're going to come to the businesses. They're going to come to the restaurants. They're going to come here. Planet Money. We go to the places at the center of the story.

The Planet Money podcast from NPR.