NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-01-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: March 2, 2025

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Bella DiPaolo is glad if you're happily married, but she is perfectly happy being single. I would love to have someone who took care of my car or someone who cleaned up the dishes after dinner. But then I'd want them to leave. From yourself to your dog to your spouse are significant others. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Ukrainians are rallying around their president Volodymyr Zelensky after he was publicly berated in the White House yesterday by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance. NPR's Juranica Kisses reports from Kyiv.

Ukrainians made TikTok videos and posted to social media to show their support for Zelensky. One prominent politician, Mustafa Nayem, wrote on social media that the Trump administration hates Zelensky and Ukraine and sees Ukrainians as quote barriers to backroom deals. At the Kiev food market, soldier Denis Sokolov says Zelensky wants what's best for Ukraine. The main difference is that Ukraine won't make a peace, but Trump won't make a deal. That's a huge difference in our politics, in our vision, to how we want to end the war. Making peace versus making a deal, he says, are two different goals. Joanna Kekises, NPR News, CAVE.

Federal employees have been receiving a second email this weekend that instructs them to outline what they did over the past week. This latest batch of emails are being sent even as the legality of the request is being challenged in federal court. NPR's Amy Helt has more on that story. The email from the Office of Personnel Management asks workers to describe five accomplishments from the past week and says to expect to do the same every week going forward. The White House says about half of federal workers, roughly a million people, did not

respond to the initial request sent the week before. Musk first said failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. OPM later said responses were voluntary. But workers say they are afraid their responses could be used as justification to fire them. The Trump administration has already fired thousands of workers, making good on a campaign pledge to dismantle government bureaucracy. Labor unions and other groups have sued, alleging the moves violate federal law. Amy Held and PR News. Former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo said today that he's running for the

mayor of New York city. Cuomo resigned from the governor's office in 2021 following a sexual harassment scandal. He addressed that in a video announcing his campaign. Did I always do everything right in my years of government service? Of course not. Would I do some things differently knowing what I know now? Certainly. Did I make mistakes? Some painfully? Definitely. And I believe I learned from them and that I am a better person for it. And I hope to show you that every day. Cuomo will be one in a large field of challengers in the Democratic primary that's taking place later this year in New York that includes incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.

He's facing his own scandal over federal corruption charges. I'm Dale Willman and you're listening to NPR News. A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's firing of the leader of an independent federal ethics agency was unlawful. The Office of Special Counsel investigates and prosecutes violations of what are called prohibited personnel practices, including retaliation against whistleblowers. The ruling said the special counsel can only be removed for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, and the judge said the dismissal letter gave no reasons for the

firing. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated during a national cheerleading championship in downtown Dallas today following a fight in the stands. Pablo Arroz-Pena with Member Station KERA reports. Dallas police reported multiple injuries after crowds of people poured out of the convention center in the city's downtown. The rush happened after a fight between two people caused a loud noise in the arena. Marcus Tucker is a parent whose daughter was competing in the championship. A huge crowd just floated around the corner and started screaming run, run, run, run, run, and we'd

started running. Despite initial concerns of a shooting, police clarified that no shots were fired. I'm Pablo Arauspeña in Dallas. The last surviving member of the glam and proto-punk band, the New York Dows, has died. David Johansson was 75 years old and had recently said he'd been fighting stage four cancer. The New York Dalles were forerunners of punk. Their style, which included teased hair, women's clothes, and lots and lots of makeup, also inspired the glam movement. In the 80s, using the identity buster Poindexter, he also had a hit with the song Hot Hot Hot. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.

When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need to ask I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.