NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-06-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

NPR News: 03-06-2025 12AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts. Perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahleesai Kautel. The Trump administration published but then quickly removed a list of hundreds of federal properties it wants to sell. NPR's Shannon Bond reports real estate sales are the latest step in Trump's plans to slash the size and scope of government.

On Tuesday, the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, released a list of 443 properties targeted for sale. The agency said the buildings were deemed to quote not core to government operations. It said getting rid of them could save hundreds of millions of dollars in annual operating costs. The list included courthouses, historic buildings, and even the headquarters of the Departments of Justice and Agriculture in Washington, D.C. But later in the day, GSA deleted some of those buildings from the list, and now it has removed the list from its website entirely. Shannon Bond, NPR News. After the U.S. doubled its tariffs on Chinese products Tuesday,

Beijing quickly responded with higher import taxes on US soybeans. Rachel Kramer with Iowa Public Radio reports, this does not bring relief to soybean farmers in the Midwest. Roughly half of soybeans grown in the US are exported, and many of them go to China. Iowa State University Extension economist Chad

Hart says this makes the crop more vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs than some other commodities. But Hart says the economic damage depends largely on whether the tariffs are long-term or a temporary negotiating tool. The speed at which these tariffs go in means that they can also be taken away just as quickly. The American Soybean Association is urging the Trump administration to reconsider its tariffs and continue negotiations with trade partners. The association says soybean farmers are still recovering from the 2018 trade war with China. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Kramer in Des Moines.

Two NASA spacecrafts that were launched in 1977, Voyagers 1 and 2, are running low on electrical power, so NASA is turning off two science instruments on the twin spacecrafts to extend their missions. Blockbuster obesity drug Wigovie will now be available to customers online for $499 a month, but to get the discount, patients can't use their health insurance. More from NPR 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. This is NPR. A rising pop star has the new number one album in the country on this week's Billboard charts.

As NPR's Stephen Thompson reports, the female artist 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 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. In Kansas City, two men are now charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of three Kansas City Chiefs fans whose bodies were found more than a year ago last January. The medical examiner determined the three men died from a combined toxicity of fentanyl and cocaine.

The accused, Jordan Willis and Ivory Carson, are also charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. The local prosecutor told reporters, quote, This case is a tragic reminder of the dangers of street drugs, but make no mistake, the people who supply those drugs can and will be held accountable. You're listening to NPR News. I'm Dwahlai Saikoutal in New York City. When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need I'm Dua-Hli-Sai Kautel in New York City.