NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-28-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

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Donald Trump is back in the White House and making a lot of moves very quickly. Keep track of everything going on in Washington with the NPR Politics Podcast. Every day we break down the latest news and explain why it matters to you. The NPR Politics Podcast. Listen every day. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. A federal judge in San Francisco says the Trump administration's mass firings of probationary government workers is illegal and should be stopped.

As NPR's Andrea Shue reports, the judge also ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind some of its directives on employee dismissals. Several labor unions and civic organizations sued the Trump administration, saying its Office of Personnel Management had violated the law by ordering agencies to fire probationary employees en masse. In court, the government argued that it was merely an ask, not an order. U.S. District Judge William Alsop rejected that argument, noting that the firings happened suddenly and across so much of the government. Because of standing issues, he issued only partial relief to those agencies whose firings affect the civic groups that joined the lawsuit. They include the VA, the Small Business Administration, the National Park Service, the National Science Foundation, and others. He scheduled another hearing in two weeks. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

National Guard troops may carry out immigration enforcement at the Texas border. That's under an agreement between the state and the Trump administration. From member station KTEP, Angela Kachurga reports that the first group of Guard members were deputized in El Paso on Thursday. The ceremony happened near a section of border fence. Sixty members of the Texas National Guard raised their right hand and were deputized by interim Chief Patrol agent Walter Slosar. So help me God. Congratulations. I appreciate everything you're doing for this nation. Thank you. And with that they were granted the authority to apprehend and detain people on the border under the supervision of U.S. Border Patrol. Up to now, Texas National Guard troops were limited to observing and assisting federal

agents. I'm Angela Cochergan, El Paso. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard is opposing a British proposal demanding backdoor access to Apple's encrypted cloud storage systems. In a letter to Congress, Gabbard says the move raises concerns about foreign pressure on a U.S.-based company. In response, Apple pulled its data protection tool for British cloud users. Ontario premier Doug Ford has won reelection to a third term. Dan Karpenschuk reports on Ford's decisive victory in a snap winter election held just

days before Canada faces new US tariffs. Ford called this election saying he needed a strong mandate to fight the tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump which could devastate Ontario's economy including a potential loss of half a million jobs. Ford has been one of the main voices fighting not just for Ontario but Canada as well. Ford says with this win he will still be Premier in four years when Trump leaves office. The New Democrats will remain the official opposition. Dan Karpenchuk reporting from Toronto. You're listening to NPR. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has dropped several lawsuits that it filed during

the Biden administration. In one case, CFPB accused Capital One of failing to pay more than $2 billion in interest to customers allegedly duped into believing they would get higher rates. The agency also accused Rocket Mortgage of paying kickbacks to real estate brokers who steered home buyers to its own company. Others no longer being sued by CFPB include Vanderbilt Mortgage, Heights Financial Holding, and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Association. China is defending its live wire military drills off Taiwan's southern coasts this week. As NPR's Emily Fang reports, the drills and a warning are raising some concerns of

greater Chinese military intimidation. A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson warned this week Taiwan was hastening its own destruction. China claims Taiwan is its own territory and has repeatedly threatened to invade the tiny democratic island, though this week's threat is much more explicit than China's usual rhetoric. The Chinese military drills this week started a day after Taiwan's Coast Guard intercepted a ship with eight Chinese sailors on it, part of an investigation into whether the ship was involved in the sudden severing of an undersea communications cable in Taiwan. Taiwan said the Chinese drills caused a quote, high degree of danger to commercial flights

and vessels in the area. Emily Fang, NPR News. On Wall Street stocks close lower, U.S. futures are mostly flat and after hours trading, Asia-Pacific markets are lower. This is NPR News. Hey, it's Amartines. I work on a news show. And yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day.

But you just can't ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. That is when the Up First Podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the Up First Podcast from NPR.