NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-08-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: March 8, 2025

NPR News: 03-08-2025 4PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Amartinez. 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. feeling stressed out. Listen to the up-first podcast from NPR. Noor Ram Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. The attorneys general of Washington, D.C., in 19 states, are suing more than 20 federal agencies over the firings of probationary employees. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports.

Andrea Hsu The Democratic attorneys general argue that federal agencies falsely told probationary employees they were being fired because of their performance. In fact, the states argue the agencies were trying to shrink their headcount, but they failed to follow proper procedures for doing so. Federal law requires agencies to notify states when laying off 50 or more people so that states can jump into action and try to prevent instability throughout the economic region.

States are required to reach out to those losing their jobs and provide support with the goal of reducing their reliance on public assistance. The states have asked federal court to reinstate the workers. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. In a separate lawsuit, a coalition of groups representing union workers and retirees filed an emergency motion last night asking a federal court not to allow the unit led by billionaire Elon Musk access to sensitive Social Security information. Stocks on Wall Street rallied yesterday, but as NPR's Scott Horsley reports, that didn't

erase the market's big losses for the week. There was a sort of feedback loop this week between the White House and Wall Street. Stocks tumbled when President Trump imposed tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, then rallied when there were signs those tariffs might be relaxed. A day later, the White House suspended most of the tariffs for at least a month, but by that time, investors had grown weary of the fickle policymaking, so no more rally. And the president insists there are more import taxes to come. On Friday, the Labor Department reported a modest uptick in job growth last month, but

the report shows only a fraction of the federal workers whose jobs have been cut by Elon Musk and the Doge team. For the week, the Dow fell 2-1⁄3 percent, the S&P 500 index dropped more than 3 percent, and the NASDAQ tumbled nearly 3-1⁄2 percent. Scott Horsley in NPR News, Washington. In Syria, human rights groups say hundreds of people, many of them civilians, have been killed in revenge attacks in recent days. The new Syrian government has flooded the region with fighters to try to restore order.

NPR's Jane Arraff has more. The killings targeted Alawite communities, the same religious minority to which deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belonged. The new government has been fighting loyalists of the old regime on the Mediterranean coast, and the killings began there after government forces were killed in clashes. Syria has no army or even police force since the fall of the regime, and other fighters that the government now blames for the killings, rushed in after the ambush. Syrian President Ahmed Ashara has tried to reassure minorities that government will protect them. This is the biggest challenge to central

government rule since he took power. Jane Araf, NPR News, Damascus. This is NPR News in Washington. Today is International Women's Day, observed around the world to honor women's achievements and to call for gender equality. Thousands of women protested in cities across Turkey, demanding the government do more to protect women from violence. Utah is one of eight states and the only reliably read state that conducts elections mostly by mail. The legislature approved a bill yesterday that would make significant changes to the vote by mail system and sent it to the governor's desk.

Sage Miller with Member Station KUER reports. Right now, all of Utah's 1.7 million active registered voters are automatically sent a ballot in the mail. They can return it the same way. But that's likely going to change. Most Republican lawmakers voted to have voters opt in to vote by mail every eight years. If they don't, they will have to vote in person. They will also have to add the last four digits of a valid ID to the ballot as a voter ID measure. Supporters say the revisions improve election security and integrity.

Critics argue elections will actually become less secure because it's easier to memorize the last four digits of an ID number than it is to forge a signature. Republican Governor Spencer Cox is expected to sign the bill. For NPR News, I'm Sage Miller in Salt Lake City. Congress must act by midnight Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown. House Republicans today released the text of a stopgap measure that would pay for government programs through September 30th. President Trump urged all Republicans to support the bill. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.