NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-15-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. President Trump filed a presidential action this weekend that invokes a law passed in 1798. The action targets members of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gag, but the order was quickly put on hold as NPR's Jimena Bustillo reports. A federal judge blocked the administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport anyone. The order came down just hours after Trump issued an action

that would expedite removal of all Venezuelan citizens, 14 and older, found to be members of the gang. The block came from a preemptive lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, asking for the court to first stop the government from deporting five men for two weeks. They later asked the judge to issue a broader block. The wartime authority allows for people to be deported without going through immigration

courts. Immigration advocates fear that invoking this also opens the door for targeting and deportations of other individuals regardless of their status or criminal records. Jimena Bustillo, NPR News. More than 30 people are now dead from a major storm system moving across the central US at this hour. In Missouri, tornado struck Friday night and into today today Sam Page is the St. Louis County executive. We had a tremendous amount of devastation in St. Louis County even we still have 45,000 homes without power. We've have over a half a million reports of property damage and people are scrambling to just try and

catalog all of the damage. Page says his main concern is that someone won't notice a downed power line and be injured. High winds and dry conditions meanwhile have increased the risk of wildfires in parts of the region, including Oklahoma, where almost 300 homes have been destroyed. Canadian department store Hudson's Bay says unless it can find a viable path forward, it will begin liquidating its entire business. Dan Karpenchuk reports that the CEO of North America's oldest retail company says the trade war sparked by President Trump has worsened existing problems.

After more than 350 years, Hudson's Bay Company may shut down, affecting dozens of stores in the U.S. and Canada and costing thousands of jobs. The company says efforts to find financing have not been successful, and Canada and costing thousands of jobs. The company says efforts to find financing have not been successful and it now faces full liquidation. That could come as early as next week, pending a court appearance on Monday. The company owes about $950 million to landlords, suppliers and other partners and has faced lower sales in recent years, mainly because of shifts in consumer spending away from walk-in business. Hudson's Bay CEO Liz Rodbell also blames trade tensions with the U.S. that she says have

created market uncertainty. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpanchuk in Toronto. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen say a series of airstrikes hit the capital city on Saturday night and the Houthis say at least 18 civilians were killed. In a social media post, President Trump says he ordered those strikes and issued a warning to Iran as well. Among the reasons for the strike the administration cited Houthi attacks on shipping in the Middle East. You're listening to NPR News. President Trump signed an order Saturday that will decimate the staff of the

Voice of America and other US-funded media organizations. The VOA was founded in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda during World War II by offering accurate and unbiased news to Europe. Its role has expanded over the years to include broadcasts around the world. The organization's director says virtually the entire 1,300 person staff has now been put on leave. A new report from NASA scientists shows that ocean temperatures rose increasingly faster than expected last year. As NPR's Lauren Summer reports, sea levels are rising as the climate gets hotter. Hotter temperatures are melting huge amounts of ice that's stored in

glaciers and ice sheets. That water is causing sea levels to rise, which have already gone up four inches since 1993. But last year the oceans rose even more than expected. That's because sea levels also rise when oceans get warmer because warmer water expands. Last year ocean temperatures were the hottest ever recorded and drove most of the sea level rise. NASA scientists say the pace of sea level rise is increasing year by year. That threatens hundreds of millions of people who live in coastal cities. Lauren Sommer, NPR News. Washington Capitol star Alex Ovechkin is drawing closer to beating

Wayne Gresky's long-held NHL record for most career goals. He scored a goal in the third period as the Capitals beat the San Jose Sharks 5-1. It was his 887th career goal and he's now just eight away from breaking the all-time leader. The 39-year-old Russian has 34 goals so far this season. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.