NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-04-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

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NPR informs and connects communities around the country, providing reliable information in times of crisis. Federal funding helps us fulfill our mission to create a more informed public and ensures that public radio remains available to everyone. Learn more about safeguarding the future of public media. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Trump has paused U.S. military aid to Ukraine

while pressing for a peace deal to end Russia's war in that nation. A senior White House official says that Trump wants to review the aid to determine if it is contributing to a solution to the conflict. NPR's Tom Bowman explains what's at stake. We're talking about tens of billions of dollars again from late in the Biden administration, the latest tranche of aid that includes defensive missiles and munitions. Now, those missiles are key in preventing Russian missiles from, and drones from striking targets in Kiev and elsewhere.

And this war, let's face it, has been a stalemate for some time. Russia has been bloody, but so too has Ukraine. Neither side can win. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting. The CEO of TSMC, Taiwan's largest chipmaker, announced a $100 billion investment in the United States Monday during a White House visit with President Trump. Details from NPR's Os Macaulay. The president said this new investment will go toward creating five new fabrication facilities in Arizona,

which has become a hub for American chip making. It's a matter of economic security. It's also a matter of national security for us. Semiconductors are used in everything from cars to artificial intelligence. TSMC has now invested a total of roughly $165 billion in the United States. Trump's Commerce Secretary noted that the company had received a $6 billion grant from the CHIPS Act that spurred its plans to create factories under the Biden administration, whereas now the company is planning a larger investment with no U.S. financial assistance, just merely the president's threat to put tariffs on semiconductor imports.

Asma Khalid, NPR News, The White House. The Planned Parenthood Clinic in Columbia, Missouri resumed abortions on Monday for the first time since 2018. Rebecca Smith with member station KBIA has more on what this could mean for those living in the rural parts of Missouri. The return of abortion care to mid-Missouri comes after voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution last November, and a Missouri judge overturned additional licensing requirements for abortion providers in the state last month. Dr. Aman Al-Sayedin is the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which operates the clinic.

They say it's been surprising to see care restored in Missouri. Dr. Aman Al-Sayedin, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Missouri, I feel proud to say that I live in Missouri and we have voted to overturn or stop a total abortion ban, which I think is a really incredible thing. Dr. Al-Sayedin, Planned Parenthood Great Plains, Missouri, Prior to abortion care being to overturn or stop a total abortion ban, which I think is a really incredible thing. Prior to abortion care being restored, the nearest clinic for most mid-Missourians was at least a two-hour drive away. For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Smith in Columbia, Missouri.

U.S. futures are slightly higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. The Trump administration is expressing confidence that its new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China will boost US manufacturing and foreign investment. 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and additional 10% living on goods from China went into effect today. An Illinois man pleaded guilty to killing seven people and injuring dozens more at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. As WBEZ's Anna Soshenko reports, the suspect made the plea as opening statements were to

begin at his trial on Monday. Instead of both sides delivering opening remarks this morning, Robert Cremo III surprised the full courtroom by entering a guilty plea. Kremo's mom tried to stop him, but the judge told her to sit down. Prosecutors read the names of all the dead victims, and those are the 48 injured victims who lived. Kremo pleaded guilty to 21 charges of first-degree murder, three counts for each deceased victim, which carry a natural life sentence.

For NPR News, Amand Amanda Saffianca in Chicago. The Israeli government is backing what it calls a new U.S. ceasefire plan to replace the deal that expired on Saturday. The plan reportedly would require Hamas to release half of its remaining hostages in exchange for a ceasefire extension. The White House has not confirmed the existence of any such proposal. Authorities in southwest Germany have detained a man accused of ramming a car into a crowd in the city of Mannheim, killing two people and injuring 11 others. State Interior Minister Thomas

Strobel says the suspect did not appear to have an extremist background. This is NPR News.