NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-15-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

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Hey, Sam Sanders here with KCRW personally inviting you to check out my new podcast. It's an entertainment show that tries to figure out what makes the culture tick and tell the stories behind creators we love. New episodes are out every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to The Sam Sanders Show, part of the NPR Podcast Network. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Forecasters are warning a dangerous weather moving into the deep south today after multiple tornadoes were reported in the Midwest. Robbie Myers is the emergency management director in Butler County, Missouri.

Robbie Myers We believe it was multiple tornadoes. And so it's, we have devastation in very many different parts of our county. Speaking to CNN, Myers confirmed a fatality in his county and said there is major damage in the community of Poplar Bluff. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says two people died in Ozark County and there are multiple injuries. Yesterday that storm system whipped up dust storms that led to deadly crashes in Texas and fan wildfires in several states. Today, the threat of tornadoes is moving east. President Trump's efforts to dismantle the Education Department is raising significant concerns about the potential impact on low-income families. MPR's Windsor Johnston

reports. The Department of Education has long provided essential funding to schools with high percentages of children from low-income families. Eliminating the department could put those funds in jeopardy. The DHS also oversees federal financial aid programs, including Pell grants, which help low-income students afford college. In response to the Trump administration's efforts, a coalition of 20 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia have filed legal challenges.

The lawsuits argue that only Congress has the authority to abolish a federal department and that such actions could harm students, especially kids from low-income backgrounds and children with disabilities. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Congress has avoided a government shutdown. The Senate passed a short-term spending bill that keeps the government operating for six months after 10 Senate Democrats voted to advance it, exposing divisions within the party over how best to counter President Trump's agenda. Canada is reconsidering the purchase of F-35 stealth fighters from the US.

Stan Karpanchuk reports Defense Minister Bill Blair says Ottawa is now actively looking at potential alternatives to the fighter. The comment came just hours after Blair was reappointed as defense minister under the government of new Prime Minister Mark Carney. Portugal also says it would no longer go ahead with the acquisition of the high-tech warplane. This comes as Canada is in the midst of a trade war with the Trump administration after Washington slapped punishing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. Many Canadians also support getting out of the $19 billion purchase.

Blair says Canada may accept the first group of F-35s already paid for, but also look at the Swedish-built Saab Gripen, which was considered before the F-35s. Sweden's proposal would allow the Gripen to be assembled in Canada. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpanchuk in Toronto. And from Washington, this is NPR News. The White House says that Hamas is making unreasonable demands and negotiations to extend a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hamas has said publicly that it is willing to release one American hostage still alive in Gaza, as well as the bodies of four other hostages. In a statement, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that Hamas is privately making impractical demands and that time is not on Hamas's side. The Serbian capital of Belgrade is preparing for a major student-led protest against the government of President Aleksandar Vucic today. Tens of thousands have turned up at similar rallies in three other major Serbian cities. The protests began late last year following the deaths of 15 people in the collapse of

a roof at a railway station protesters playing government corruption. NASA has taken a big step toward getting two astronauts home after a longer than expected mission aboard the International Space Station. In Peership, Rumpfriar reports. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off smoothly from its pad in Florida. On board are two NASA astronauts, a Japanese astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. They'll be part of the next crew at the station. Their launch clears astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams to come back to Earth. Wilmore and Williams arrived at the station last June aboard an experimental spacecraft built by Boeing, but problems with that spacecraft caused NASA to send it home empty and extended the stay of Wilmore and Williams from roughly a week to more than nine months.

Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. And this is NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. And this is NPR News.