NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-06-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartines. I work on a news show. And yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day. But you just can't ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. So that is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Ukraine and its allies have condemned President Trump's decision to suspend all U.S. military aid to Kiev. Trump has also halted the sharing of U.S. intelligence with Ukraine.

But Russia is praising the actions. Ukrainian politicians say the U.S. is helping the Kremlin. This follows a fiery disagreement last week between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik says the developments are painful. We hope that we'll have some insight from our allies about what could be done to fix the relations. But the question is, what's the end game?

Because there is one question that we have not heard an answer to. How do we make sure that Russia would not attack us again? Everybody's asking what Ukraine is ready to see, but the answer about the security guarantees is simply not there. She spoke to the BBC. Meanwhile, European leaders are holding an emergency summit today in Brussels. They're also alarmed over the change in U.S. policy toward Ukraine and toward the European continent.

President Trump is expected to issue an executive action calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education. NPR's Corey Turner reports the order could be issued as early as today. A draft of the executive action obtained by NPR calls on Secretary McMahon to act to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law to begin unwinding the Education Department. NPR reported the action's existence a month ago, but it was held until after McMahon's Senate confirmation. On Monday, after that vote, McMahon said in a message to department staff that helping her close the department was, quote, an opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public

service. The department's primary role in K-12 education is enforcing civil rights laws and sending money to help schools educate low-income students and children with disabilities. Corey Turner, NPR News. Stocks opened lower this morning as investors tried to sort out the Trump administration's trade policy. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled about 480 points in early trading. Stocks briefly rallied in the previous session after President Trump agreed to a limited

reprieve on tariffs that took effect a day earlier, but the break is only for autos and it's only for one month. Everything else coming into the U.S. from Mexico or Canada is now subject to steep import taxes and the White House is threatening to add more tariffs in the coming weeks. The U.S. trade deficit rose to a record high in January as importers raced to bring in products before the tariffs took effect. Imports jumped more than $36 billion during the month, while exports rose only slightly. New claims for unemployment benefits fell last week after a big jump the week before. Widespread layoffs in the federal government have not yet shown up in the data.

Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, the Dow is now down about 420 points. This is NPR. NPR has learned that the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to slash its workforce by about 80,000 jobs. An internal VA memo is setting the staffing-level goal to what it was in 2019. This effort is led by the cost-cutting entity DOGE. The federal agency grew after Congress passed a law expanding health care and benefits to millions of veterans sickened by toxic exposures. Many VA staffers

were then hired to assist veterans. California officials are expanding an environmental project to 64 cities. The initiative uses cars that can detect pollution. For member station KALW, Crystal Rahim reports this project launched in Oakland. The program is a partnership between the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project and Aclima, an air quality monitoring company based in California's Silicon Valley. The initiative differs from previous projects because it uses cars equipped with pollution-detecting sensors which are able to track air quality data throughout neighborhoods.

Data collected in West Oakland through a pilot program showed that the proximity to port sites and heavily trafficked areas were found to alter resident air quality significantly. According to project data, diesel particulate matter in West Oakland went down by a third, and cancer risks were reduced by more than half. For NPR News, I'm Crystal Raheem in Oakland, California. A tropical cyclone is starting to lash the east coast of Australia. The effects of tropical cyclone Alfred are expected to last into the weekend. It's NPR.