NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-07-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered, NPR's music podcast. Think of it like a music discovery show, a well-deserved escape with friends, and yeah, some serious music insight. I'm going to keep it real. I have no idea what this story is about. Hear new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

Even as he has paused plans, 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, President Trump is railing against what he has called tremendously high Canadian tariffs on dairy and lumber products coming into the country from the U.S. Speaking in the Oval Office today, he said he plans to potentially retaliate. Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products. 250 percent, nobody ever talks about that. 250 percent tariff, which is taking advantage of our farmers, so that's not going to happen anymore.

The President's latest remarks add to the trade pressure against the Canadian government, which Trump has accused of failing to stop the flow of the deadly drug fentanyl across the northern border. Despite little evidence, such trafficking is actually occurring. Much of the $1.6 trillion in trade between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico already crosses borders duty-free. Today, the Trump administration said

it's cutting roughly $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, citing claims of anti-Semitism on campus, embarrassed Janet Woo-Jung Lee reports. The administration announced the cancellation of federal contracts and grants, citing the school's, quote, continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students. Columbia University is one of the 10 schools that's under investigation, following President Trump's executive order on additional measures to combat anti-Semitism. Columbia University spokesperson Samantha Slater responded in a statement saying,

quote, we are reviewing the announcement from the federal agency and pledge to work with the federal government to restore Columbia's federal funding. The announcement also notes that this is the first action of more cancellations to come. Janet Wujong-Lee and PR News. At this hour, South Carolina is expected to execute 67-year-old Brad Sigman by firing squad, a method that has never been used in the state and has not been used in the U.S. in 15 years. South Carolina Public Radio's Mayan Schacter is more. Brad Sigman was convicted in 2002 of the beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend's parents. He chose to be shot to death over the other options for execution, lethal injection, and

electrocution. His attorney said he faced an impossible choice among barbaric methods. According to prison protocol, he will give his final statement and be strapped into a chair. A hood will be placed over his head and an aim point on his heart. There are three members of the firing squad. All will hold rifles with live ammunition. At 67, Sigmund will be the oldest inmate put to death in South Carolina. For NPR News, I'm Mayon Schechter in Columbia, South Carolina. The government says employers added a solid 151,000 non-farm payroll jobs

last month. The unemployment rate, which is calculated using different numbers, was up slightly to 4.1 percent. Jobs market largely holding up even with still relatively high interest rates. Stocks gained ground to end the week today, but were down for the entire week. This is NPR. A classified smaller military version of the space shuttle has returned to Earth after spending 434 days aloft.

Pre-down touchdown in California only announced after the fact. The X-37B space plane blasted into orbit in December of 2023 with only military experiments and no human pilot on board. It's the seventh flight of the military shuttle. Dolly Parton's late husband, Carl Dean, died this week. He inspired some of her biggest songs, including one that came out this morning. Here's Elizabeth Gomez-Sarmiento as more.

Carl Dean was not a big country music fan, but he stood by the side of one of country's most enduring voices until his death on Monday. His wife, Dolly Parton, released this song in his memory. If you hadn't been there, where would I be? Parton met Dean when she was 18 years old, and he was at the heart of this 1973 hit. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Jolene was about a bank teller who paid Dean a little too much attention. But Parton told NPR the song was a lighthearted joke.

As she wrote on Instagram, Dean was the star of her life story. Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News. The architect behind New York City's popular Highline project has died. Richard Scaffidio was among the first in the architecture world to win a MacArthur Foundation Jeanness grant. He died yesterday. His firm Diller Scaffidio plus Renfro was founded by Scaffidio and his wife Elizabeth Diller and has brought an avant-garde sensibility to projects around the world. Richard Scaffidio was 89. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.