NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-07-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need to ask themselves certain questions. What is the thing that keeps you up at night? What's the thing you can't stop thinking about? As songwriters, we are repurposing human tropes and a new viewpoint with new words with new music. The people and technology behind the soundtracks of our lives. That's on the Ted Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman, President Trump has again expressed

doubt about helping defend European NATO allies. He says he may not defend them if they don't spend enough on their militaries. European Union leaders met in an emergency session yesterday in Brussels. They unanimously agreed to dramatically scale up their defense spending. However, Terry Schultz reports, Hungary refused to approve a joint statement supporting Ukraine. Terry Schultz, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The

New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York

Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New York Times, The New 800 billion more euros, 860 billion US dollars, to spend on their militaries. In a separate declaration on Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintained his tradition of opposing more support. Speaking after the meeting, Orbán expressed skepticism about the entire plan. We just got information about huge, huge sum of money which is impossible to generate from the given circumstance of the European economy.

We are not able to fund that. More details on how exactly the EU executive plans to do that will be presented at another summit later this month. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz in Brussels. President Trump says he is starting the process to shut down the Education Department, an agency funded by Congress. NPR has obtained a copy of Trump's draft executive action directing the agency to be closed. NPR's Corey Turner says some Education

Department employees have already been terminated. Hundreds of staff have been laid off or put on paid leave. The administration has also canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in education research grants. It's kind of ironic. This draft order complains that students have made little progress in reading or math over the years. And yet Trump's Department of Government Efficiency just cut programs focused specifically

on improving reading and math instruction. And here's Corey Turner reporting. The Trump administration is reopening a massive immigration detention center in South Texas. It's one of the largest detention centers in the U.S. with room for up to 2,400 parents and children. NPR's Jasmine Garst has more. Private prison contractor, Corp Civic Incorporated,

has reached an agreement with the U.S. government to reactivate the detention center. According to the company, annual revenue is expected to be $180 million. The practice of detaining parents and children was ended by the Biden administration. A court order bars the government from separating migrant families. Borders R. Tom Homan has indicated they will start detaining and deporting them together instead. Advocates have denounced the move as inhumane.

The announcement comes just days after President Trump reiterated his promise to conduct the largest mass deportation campaign in American history. Jasmine Garst, NPR News, New York. This is NPR. The Labor Department has released its latest monthly report on jobs. It says employers created 151,000 new jobs last month. That's not much different than January's report when wintry weather depressed outdoor work. The unemployment rate stayed about the same at 4.1 percent. Economists say the massive layoffs around the federal government are not reflected in this data that's expected to be seen in

coming reports. A new study of fast-moving stars suggests they were accelerated by a monster black hole that's been lurking unseen in a neighboring galaxy. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce explains. 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-Boice, NPR News. Daylight saving time begins this weekend for most of the US. Clocks will spring forward by one hour early Sunday morning.

The time change also means one less hour of sleep. Fire officials also recommend replace the batteries in your smoke detectors along with the time change. This is NPR. Neuroscientist Ethan Cross says you may think it's healthy to vent about what's bothering you, but... The problem is you often leave that conversation feeling really good about the person you just communicated with, but all the negative feelings are still there. Sometimes they're even more activated. Tools for managing our emotions. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.