NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-05-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. In a major policy shift, a Hamas official tells NPR the U.S. has held direct talks with the Palestinian militant group in recent months. The White House has confirmed the talks saying they are ongoing. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports it is the first known time the U.S. has engaged directly with a group since designated as a terrorist organization. The talks began as early as January and were over the release of several American-Israeli dual citizens taken hostage in the October 7th, 2023 attacks on southern Israel, according to a Hamas

official who spoke to NPR on the condition of anonymity as he's not authorized to speak to the media. The official did not specify if the talks, which were originally reported by Axios, were with members from the Biden administration or President Trump's administration. Both were present at talks for a ceasefire that took effect in January before Trump took office. The U.S. designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 1997. It has been long-standing U.S. policy to not negotiate with groups it designates as terrorists. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. For laid-off federal workers facing uncertainty, volunteers in Philadelphia put together a

job-hunting workshop. Andrew Staltzer has more. LinkedIn basics and resume tips. AI-assisted cover letters. It was a crash course for two dozen laid-off federal workers in the basement of a South Philly library. There's a lot of competition. Rahi Patel was one day away from finishing her probationary period at the Food and Drug Administration when she received a termination notice. We're

competing with like recent graduates. It's gonna definitely be you know that Neovat's race. Workshop organizer Charlie Ellison has seen hundreds of Philly area feds lose their jobs and wanted to do something to help. It's really tragic to see our neighbors getting cut from positions they've done for a very long time that they have a lot of experience in. Both workshops were full and there are already talks about holding more. For MPR News, I'm Andrew Stelzer in Philadelphia. The blockbuster obesity drug Wagovi will now be available to customers online for $499

a month, but to get the discount, patients can't use their health insurance. Here's MPR's Sidney Lupkin. Novo Nordisk is joining its competitor Eli Lilly and offering its obesity drug direct to consumers at a discount. Lilly started offering vials of its weight loss drug ZepBound online last summer. The direct to consumer model is fairly new to the pharmaceutical industry. But it wouldn't work for every medicine, says Dr. Ben Roem, a health policy researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Remember Americans are already paying thousands of dollars per year on health care. So to say like well there is this medicine available

but you have to pay for it out of pocket. It really serves a very small percentage of the population. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two in five American adults is obese. Sidney Lepkin, NPR News. You're listening to NPR. Mayors from four major U.S. cities are on Capitol Hill today appearing before members of Congress. The mayor's all Democrats, saying the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers are exaggerating the rates of crime committed by immigrants and attacking so-called sanctuary

cities, simply to score political points. Mayors of Michelle Wu of Boston, Brendan Johnston of Chicago, Mike Johnston of Denver, and Eric Adams of New York appeared today before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Butterflies are declining rapidly across the U.S. That's according to research published today in the Journal of Science. It finds butterfly abundance fell by 22 percent between 2000 and 2020. Barbara Moran with member station WBUR reports on why butterflies in some regions are harder hit than others. The study looked at nearly 80,000 butterfly surveys across the contiguous United States. Butterfly declines were most severe in the southwest, where increasing heat driven by

climate change is a likely factor. Elizabeth Cron is an ecology professor at the University of California, Davis, and one of the study authors. In the southwest, one of the biggest changes is increasing drought, and it is hurting the plants that they need, as well as potentially stressing the butterflies. Other factors harming butterflies are pesticide use and habitat loss. For NPR News, I'm Barbara Moran in Boston. Powerful storms that tore through parts of Mississippi overnight killed three people there. Roofs also were torn from buildings in Boston. Powerful storms that tore through parts of Mississippi overnight killed three people there. Roofs also were torn from buildings in Oklahoma.

Forecasters say in the West a Pacific storm is expected to bring widespread rain and heavy snow across the mountains in California and some other areas. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.