NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-09-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: March 9, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Congress is up against the clock to pass a spending bill to keep the government funded through September. NPR's Eric McDaniel reports, based on the text of the legislation released by the House yesterday, Republicans seem to believe they can pass it without support from Democrats. Overall, the stopgap measure doesn't make big changes to government funding. But the changes that are there are consequential. A little more money for the Pentagon, a little less money for non-defense programs.

Democrats are blasting the changes, and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has needed their support to pass previous funding bills. This time, he thinks, though, with President Trump's backing, he can ride his one-vote margin all the way to the finish line. But that, of course, is just half the story. The Senate has a de facto 60-vote threshold to pass legislation, and there are just 53 Republican senators. It remains to be seen whether Republican Majority Leader John Thune could get at least seven Dems on board and get this bill to the President's desk. Eric McDaniel and Peer News Washington. Organizers in Selma, Alabama are preparing to hold a reenactment of the events of Bloody

Sunday, 60 years after the original march. Kyle Gassett of Troy Public Radio reports the Trump administration's efforts to roll back DEI initiatives are causing concerns for some of the participants. In 1965, black protesters marching for the right to vote faced an uncertain future when they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They were met by Alabama state troopers who savagely beat them. Deidre Wilson of Montgomery says in 2025, movements to roll back the progress made by those original marchers could prompt future protests.

We just may have to start marching again. The younger generation may just have to start marching again and fighting for their rights again. We just don't know. Educators across the country have voiced concerns that new executive orders from President Trump could limit or forbid them from teaching historical events like the Bloody Sunday March. For NPR News, I'm Kyle Gassett in Selma, Alabama. France says it will give Ukraine an additional $200 million in military aid funded by the

interest from frozen Russian assets. The BBC's Warren Bull reports European countries are trying to make up for US cuts and military aid to Kiev. The French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the new money would provide artillery shells and glide bombs for French-made Mirage fighters. The French announcement comes after Ukraine confirmed the UK had given it a first tranche of funds worth about $1 billion, also taken from frozen Russian assets. Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian forces

since the U.S. cut aid and intelligence to Kyiv. That's the BBC's Warren Bull reporting. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Secret Service says it shot an armed man following a confrontation with officers just a few blocks away from the White House overnight. The incident is under investigation by police in Washington, D.C. There were no reported injuries to Secret Service officers. President Trump was not at the White House at the time.

Clearing land for dairy cows and cattle is the biggest driver of deforestation in the time. Clearing land for dairy cows and cattle is the biggest driver of deforestation in the Amazon. NPR's Julia Simon visited some farmers in Colombia who may have a solution. A herd of brown cows moves under trees drooping with moss and vines. In recent decades Carlos Hernando Molina and his family have turned their farm into the best hotel for a cow, he says. The farm practices silvopasture. That's the intentional integration of trees, grasses and livestock. Molina says after starting silvopasture they now have almost twice the number of cows per hectare. Researchers say to reduce the climate and deforestation impacts of cows, eating less beef and dairy is key, as is increasing the efficiency of raising cows.

Julia Simon, NPR News, Columbia. A powerful cyclone has left more than 300,000 customers without electricity along the eastern coast of Australia. Officials say one person was killed and a dozen troops responding to emergencies were injured. Southeast Queensland and New South Wales are among the hardest hit regions. This is NPR.