NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-06-2025 5PM EST

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. President Trump is walking back 25 percent tariffs on some goods from Canada and Mexico for four weeks. He signed executive orders at the White House this afternoon pausing the tariffs on goods that are covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Trump says this action though isn't related to recent market downturns, which he blames on what he calls globalist companies, calling the tariff market shocks a quote, little short-term interruption. I'm not even looking at the market because long term, the United States will be very

strong with what's happening here. Now, these are countries and companies, foreign companies that have been ripping us off and no president did anything about it until I came along. Trump also says both countries could avert the 25 percent tariff beyond April 2nd if they show they've made more progress curbing fentanyl trafficking. This is the second one-month postponement that Trump has made since first unveiling the import taxes early last month. The head of a federal office that protects whistleblowers says he's ending a legal battle

to keep his job. And Pierce Carey Johnson reports the move comes a day after a federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration to remove him. Hampton Dellinger says he strongly disagrees with the decision that allows Trump to sideline him while the dispute moves through the court system, but that he will accept and abide by it because that's what Americans do. Dellinger says it could take months for the legal fight to play out in the courts and all the while the office of special counsel would be run by someone quote, totally beholden to President Trump. That office helps

investigate whistleblower claims and protect them from retaliation. This year Dellinger's also been investigating the firings of federal workers who'd been on probationary status. Kari Johnson, NPR News, Washington. The mayor of Washington, D.C., says she plans to remove the Black Lives Matter mural painted on a street near the White House amid pressure from the administration. And Piers Windsor-Johnston reports the mural was painted in 2020 during protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. The mural served as a symbol of defiance against President Trump during his first term in office. Now, facing threats from Trump in his second term and pressure from congressional Republicans,

Mayor Muriel Bowser is stressing the need to focus on more pressing issues. We have bigger fish to fry than fights over what has been very important to us but now our focus is on making sure our residents and our economy survives. A Republican in the House has introduced a bill threatening to withhold certain federal transportation funds from DC if the city doesn't rename the plaza. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Wall Street sharply lower by the bell, the Dow down 427, NASDAQ down 483. This is NPR News.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled that President Trump didn't have the authority to fire a National Labor Relations board member. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found Trump's removal of Gwen Wilcox in January was illegal because presidents don't have the power to remove labor board members except in cases of neglect of duty or malfeasance. She ordered Wilcox return to her seat on the board to finish out her term, which expires in 2028. With her return, the NLRB once again has a quorum and can resume its work adjudicating labor disputes

between workers and employers and issuing decisions. A new study of fast moving stars suggested that they were accelerated by a monster black hole that's been lurking unseen in the galaxy next door. And Piers Nell Greenfield-Boys reports the hunt is on to find it. If two stars are orbiting each other and the pair ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, one star can get hurled away at ridiculously fast speeds, millions of miles per hour. Astronomers recently studied 21 of these speedy stars. While some were accelerated by the black hole at the center of our own Milky Way, as expected,

others originated in a neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. Researchers reported these results to the Astrophysical Journal, and they can now use X-ray and radio telescopes to search inside this galaxy for the telltale signs of an invisible black hole. Nell Greenfield, NPR News.

And I'm Janene Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.