NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-03-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

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Norah Ramnick Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Norah Ram. Some U.S. Department of Education employees have an important decision to make today. It's their final chance to accept as much as $25,000 to leave the agency. NPR's Janet Ujung Lee reports. Janet Ujung Lee The so-called voluntary separation incentive payment offer letter sent by the Department on Friday states that this is a one-time offer in advance of a very significant reduction in force

for the US Department of Education. It includes conditions, including one that says people who accept the money can't work for the federal government for the next five years unless they pay back that incentive. Employees who have worked for the department for at least three years are eligible to accept the offer by end of day today. Janet Woojong Lee, NPR News. Ukrainians are now pinning their hopes on Europe after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky's testy encounter with President Trump at the White House.

NPR's Joanna Kokissis reports from Kyiv. Alina Dvorska's father, a soldier, went missing six months ago while defending Eastern Ukraine against an advancing Russian army. She says it seems the Trump administration wants to negotiate and end a Russia's war on Ukraine as if it's a quick business deal, not a plan for lasting peace. I honestly have no idea what will happen next, she says. I hope we will survive and endure. I hope we reestablish some kind of relationship with America.

And I hope we will get what we want, lasting peace. European leaders have rallied around Zelensky and held a summit with him in London this weekend with many countries promising stronger support for Ukraine. Joanna Kekesis, NPR News, Kiev. President Trump criticized Zelensky today for suggesting that the end of the war with Russia is still likely very, very far away. On his Truth Social platform, Trump said that was the worst statement that Zelensky could have made, and America will not, quote, put up with it for much longer.

In South Carolina, the governor has declared a state of emergency after weekend wildfires scorched more than 4,000 acres across the state. South Carolina Public Radio's Victoria Henson has more in the story. Drivers in the beachside community of Myrtle Beach had to navigate heavy smoke during their morning commute as officials warn wildfires

there are only 30 percent contained. An emergency shelter is reopening just in case. Residents in several neighborhoods forced to evacuate Saturday have to flee again. Officials say more than 400 firefighters have been battling the flames, at times using planes to drop water. No injuries or structural damage has been reported. There's no word on what sparked the fires, fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds.

Rain is expected Wednesday. For NPR News, I'm Victoria Hanson in South Carolina. This is NPR News in Washington. A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty this morning to a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago in 2022. Seven people were killed and more than 40 were wounded. Opening statements in his trial were to begin today.

The judge has set April 23rd for sentencing. He could be sentenced to life in prison. Bear responsibility for your actions. That's what police in England are telling two suspects charged with stealing a Paddington Bear statue from his creator's hometown. NPR's Lauren Frere reports. Paddington Bear was created in the 1950s by children's author Michael Bond. He died in 2017, and a statue of Paddington was unveiled in Bond's hometown of Newbury, England.

But over the weekend, someone sliced it in half and stole Paddington, leaving behind his signature blue coat on a bench, which mourners have turned into a shrine piled with jars of marmalade, Paddington's favorite treat. After a man or, rather, bear hunt, police say they have recovered Paddington and charged two 22-year-old men with criminal damage. Police say the beloved bear is now, quote, heading to Newbury police station for a much needed marmalade sandwich. Lauren Fraher, NPR News, London.

An aging ocean liner has completed the first leg of its final voyage. The SS United States arrived in Mobile, Alabama early this morning. It will be cleaned and prepared and then head to Florida, where it will be sunk off the Gulf Coast to become the world's largest artificial reef. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.