NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-28-2025 3AM 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. The Pentagon is giving military services 30 days to find and remove transgender service members and those diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

The order was issued Thursday in a memo expanding an executive order that President Trump signed in January. Six transgender service members are challenging the directive. A federal judge in San Francisco says the Trump administration's mass firings of probationary government workers is illegal and should be stopped. Labor unions and civic groups challenged the firings, prompting the Office of Personnel Management to argue in court that it only asked the agencies to review whether probationary employees were needed. As NPR's Andrea Shueve reports, the ruling by U.S.

District Judge William Alsop partially halts some of the dismissals. You ordered a partial halt to the firings, and this is where the issue of jurisdiction comes in. The government argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to even hear these complaints, that the plaintiffs needed to channel their complaints through the independent agencies that are set up to handle personnel actions within the federal government. And the judge agreed that this was the case for the unions who had sued, but not for those civic groups like the veterans group and the small business group. He said those groups had shown they were suffering harm from these firings. NPR's Andrea Shue. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is also laying

off employees. Hundreds of probationary staff workers there began receiving layoff notices Thursday. More than 1,300 people, or about 10 percent of NOAA's workforce, are expected to be let go, including weather forecasters. Two sibling influencers facing human trafficking allegations in Romania returned to Florida on Thursday. As NPR's Greg Allen reports, Florida's governor says the pair are not welcome in his state. The online influencers were held for two years in Romania where they were investigated and

charged with human trafficking. Andrew and Tristan Tate are outspoken supporters of President Trump. The Financial Times newspaper has reported U.S. officials asked Romania to lift their travel restrictions. The two men flew in a private jet to Fort Lauderdale. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he only learned of their release and plans to come to Florida through the media. Florida is not a place where you're welcome with that type of conduct in the air. And I don't know how it came to this.

We were not involved. We were not notified. DeSantis says the state's attorney general is looking at what jurisdiction Florida may have over any of the charges. Greg Allen, NPR News Miami. Trump President Trump says 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada take effect next Tuesday. Trump says fentanyl and other illegal drugs are being smuggled into the U.S. at high rates, although federal data shows almost no illicit drugs entering from Canada. In a post on his social media site, the president also announced that 10 percent tariffs on

Chinese goods and services will be doubled next week. This is NPR. Mexico has sent nearly 30 drug cartel leaders to the U.S. for prosecution, including Rafael Carl Quintero, who's wanted for the 1985 murder of a drug enforcement agent. The move comes as the Mexican government tries to head off new tariffs. The Iowa legislature has voted to end civil rights protections for transgender residents. The bill defines gender as the anatomy of a person at birth. It now goes to Governor Kim Reynolds, who is expected to sign it.

A militant Kurdish group is calling on followers to disarm, following 40 years of conflict with Turkey. And, Piers, Gina Raff has the story. Abdullah Ocalan has been in a Turkish prison for years, but he still holds huge influence in the Kurdish world. In a statement relayed through pro-Kurdish politicians in Turkey who met him in prison, he said it was time to lay down arms. Ocalan said Turkish moves to improve Kurdish rights meant that armed resistance by the PKK was no longer necessary. There is no alternative to democracy, he wrote.

The U.S. and the European Union consider the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a terrorist organization. Turkey conducts major military operations in Iraq and Syria against the group and its affiliates. Jane Araf and PR News, Damascus. U.S. futures are virtually unchanged in after hours trading on Wall Street following Thursday's losses. On Asia Pacific market shares are lower, down 2.8% in Tokyo and down 3% in Hong Kong. This is NPR News. James Baldwin was an activist, an orator, a style icon. But on NPR's

Book of the Day, we'll dissect the thing he was most known for, his writing. That last clause kind of reads like a horror story, right? There's something deeply, deeply ominous about the way that that opening paragraph closes. Celebrate Black History Month with us as we examine some of his best works on NPR's Book of the Day podcast.