NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-04-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he wants to work with President Trump on ending Russia's war on Ukraine and forging a peace deal that will last. NPR's Joanna Kikisza reports from Kyiv. His remarks come as the Trump administration suspends military aid to Ukraine. In his nightly video address, Zelensky said he understands that Ukrainians are wondering what will happen to U.S. support. He said that American partnership is important for Ukraine. We want constructive cooperation and partnerships. And what happened in the

White House instead of our negotiations is regrettable. But we need to find the strength to move on, to respect each other, as we always respect America, Europe and all our partners and do everything together to bring peace closer. Zelensky said he still wants to sign a minerals and security agreement with the United States and said he wants to move quickly through peace negotiations for a strong final deal that will ensure lasting peace. Joanna Kekesis, NPR News, KF. The Trump administration's move to raise tariffs

on some imported goods has businesses bracing for change in manufacturing dependent Tupelo, Mississippi. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports it's also Trump country, so expectations are high. With one in five jobs in manufacturing, the question is whether higher tariffs will shake things up in Tupelo, says local business recruiter David Rumbarger with the Community Development Foundation.

You know, business likes a stable environment, so uncertainty does cause a little bit of pain. That has businesses like Hawkeye Industries, a sheet metal fabricator, bracing for higher prices. CEO Brian Hawkins thinks it will be worth the pain. As investment in new plant and equipment comes into the United States, which is what the intent is, I think we'll all be fine. And in the long run, we're going to be a lot better off. Hawkins says he has confidence in President Trump's plan. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Tupelo,

Mississippi. The nation's assumed financial watchdog has dropped its lawsuit against the payment platform Zelle as NPR's Laura Wamsley reports it's just the latest reversal of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau had filed its lawsuit in late December against Zelle's operator, as well as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, alleging they had failed to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the platform. Zelle and its parent banks are just the latest enforcement targets abandoned by

the CFPB, which is currently led by acting director Russell Vogt. Last week, the Bureau dropped cases against five companies, including Capital One and Rocket Homes. The CFPB has long been a bur under the saddle of Republicans and Wall Street, who say it overreaches with its regulation. The Bureau has been decimated in recent weeks, with its staff ordered to stop essentially all work, and some 150 employees fired.

The Bureau's D.C. headquarters has also been shuttered. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR. For a second straight year, former New York City mayor and entrepreneur Michael Bloomberg is topping the list of the country's biggest donors. In its annual ranking, the Chronicle of Philanthropy is singling out Bloomberg for giving a total of $3.7 billion to support arts, education, the environment, and public health.

Bloomberg last year gave a billion of that to Johns Hopkins University to make medical school free and to provide financial aid to nursing and public health students. Scientists at a Texas biotech company say they've taken another important step in their quest to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction. Here's NPR's Rob Stein. Scientists at Colossal Biosciences in Dallas say they've created what they call woolly mice. These are mice that have been genetically engineered to have traits that made woolly mammoths distinctive, like their long shaggy coat. The scientists say they plan to do the same thing with the mammoth's closest living relatives, Asian elephants, and hopefully someday release herds of these

mammoth-like elephants into the Arctic. Critics worry about unintended consequences of releasing mammoth-like elephants into the Arctic. Rob Stein, NPR News. The husband of country music legend Dolly Parton has died. That's according to a statement from Parton's publicist, who says the singer's husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died Monday in Nashville. Dean will be buried at a private ceremony with no cause of death announced. Partan met Dean outside the wishy-washy laundromat on the day she moved to the city at the age of 18. They were married two days later in May of 1966. Carl Dean was 82 years old.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.