NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-05-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: March 5, 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 Lakshmi Singh. U.S. automakers are breathing a sigh of relief after President Trump said he would give them a tariff's reprieve.

Wall Street investors are apparently relieved as well. The Dow is up 485 points or more than 1% at 43,006. The S&P and the NASDAQ are also closing up 1% to nearly 1.5%. And Piers Maria Aspin has more. President Trump is giving US car companies one more month without his new tariffs. He's imposed 25% taxes on goods imported from Mexico and Canada. But he told the big three automakers that they will be exempt until April 2nd.

The U.S. auto industry has been vocally opposed to Trump's tariffs. Car companies warn that they will create major disruptions to their North American supply chains, and analysts say the end result will be much higher prices for consumers. Shares of Ford, GM, and other car companies rose after plunging earlier this week. However, the reprieve is still only temporary. According to the White House, Trump also warned automakers that they would need to start moving production to the United States. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York.

Millions of federal workers are still weighing how to respond to a second email sent over the week and asking them to justify their jobs. NPR's Bobby Allen reports the messages are part of Elon Musk's push to root out dead or non-existent workers. Musk has now asked the federal workforce twice to list five bullet points about their accomplishments. He said ignoring it could lead to termination. To former Twitter employees, it sounds familiar. When Musk took over the social media company, he launched a payroll audit to see how many

fake people were on Twitter's payroll. Ian Brown worked at Twitter for nearly a decade. The wild sort of paranoia of just like woke zombies not doing stuff is just complete fantasy. Musk has called the messages a pulse check, suggesting without evidence that taxpayers are paying the salaries and benefits of phantom employees. Bobby Allen, NPR News. The administration has hit the pause button on sharing intelligence with Ukraine. NPR's Tom Bowman reports Kyiv's relied heavily on Washington for intel since Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago. From the start of the war the

US has provided Ukraine with key information about Russian troop locations, key targets that Russian troop locations, key targets that Ukraine can strike, especially targets deep inside Russia. I was told early in the war the U.S. had more information on Kremlin orders to its ground forces than even Russian low-level commanders. The U.S. would use its formidable intelligence infrastructure, you know, satellites and aircraft, to not only pick out targets, but intercept communications from Russian forces. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting.

The Dow has closed up 485 points or more than 1% to end the day at 43,006. The S&P and the NASDAQ also closed up more than 1%. This is NPR News. An independent federal agency has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to temporarily rehire more than 5,000 probationary employees fired since February 13, finding reasonable grounds to believe the agency acted illegally in terminating them. The makers of the popular weight loss drugs, Wigovia and Zepa, are offering the products at discounts for people without insurance or plans that don't cover the drugs. The Venour Disc,

which makes Wigovia, says it plans to drop its prices 23 percent. Last week, Eli Lilly also announced price cuts. A rising pop star has the new number one album in the country on this week's Billboard charts. NPR's Stephen Thompson reports she knocked out a couple of famously competing megastars. Last week, Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rivalry played out one more time, this time in the race to claim the number one album in the country. Drake won that battle. A week later, they're both looking up at a new number one album, So Close to What, by the Canadian pop singer

and dancer Tate McCray. It debuts at the top of this week's albums chart. Tate McCray also landed 11 songs on this week's Hot 100 singles chart, but there Kendrick Lamar is still on top. Luther, featuring SZA, is the number one song in the country for a second straight week. Stephen Thompson, NPR News. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the National Guard to assist in emergency storm preparations, as much as a foot of snow reported in parts of the state today. You're listening to NPR News.