NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-15-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

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Hey, I'm Scott Schaefer. And I'm Marisa Lagos. We host Political Breakdown. With the 2024 election over and President Trump in the White House, there's going to be a lot to keep up with this year. Political Breakdown has got you covered. We'll bring smart analysis, a wide range of voices, and even some laughs. Join us for Political Breakdown every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from KQED, part of the

NPR Network. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Arlington National Cemetery has begun wiping from its website sections about prominent Black, Hispanic, and female veterans. The change is in line with President Trump's directive to remove information about diversity, equity, and inclusion from the federal government. NPR's Ayanna Archie has more.

A U.S. official told NPR, the removal of links and sections about these groups from the Arlington Cemetery website has been dubbed a, quote, digital content refresh by top Pentagon officials. Articles, photos, and videos seen as promoting the EI will be removed under the new approach. That includes biographies of General Colin Powell, the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the 8666 Postal Corps, the first corps comprised only of black women to work overseas during World War I. Their stories are no longer prominent on the website, but can still be found using the

search function. Ayanna Archie, NPR News. The Republican-led Senate, with help from 10 Democrats, passed a stopgap bill to prevent a government shutdown on Friday. The vote happened with just hours to spare. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing backlash from Democrats for his role in the vote. House Democrats who largely voted against the partisan bill because of federal program cuts rebuked Leader Schumer for reversing course on plans to oppose Republicans.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries asked by reporters if it's time for new Senate leadership, responded by saying, next question. We are not afraid of a government funding showdown. And we will win that showdown because we stand on the side of the American people. Schumer argued that a shutdown would be devastating and could lead to more dismantling of the federal government. But other Democrats said it was a lost moment of party leverage. Claudia Rizalves, NPR News, The Capital.

Stocks rallied on Friday, offering some relief from what's been a painful week on Wall Street, but as NPR's Rafael Nam reports, sentiment is still fragile and investors are still fearful about troughs tariffs. It was a welcome day of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 675 points. Bananalysts are reluctant to make too much of the gains. Stocks still posted heavy losses for the week, with the Dow down about 3%. The main reason is fear about President Trump's tariffs. This week the US implemented a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports

that led Canada and the European Union to announce retaliatory measures. Investors are really concerned that a trade war will hit the U.S. economy badly. A measure of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan has fallen to its lowest since 2022. Rafael Nam, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez says humanitarian aid cuts by the U.S. and other countries are a crime.

The UN's World Food Program has said it may need to cut food rations for more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by half starting in April because of those cuts. Gutierrez also expressed concern over a boost of defense spending by Western nations. The mayor of Miami Beach is threatening to shut down a small independent movie theater that's been screening the film, No Other Land. As NPR's Mandelit Del Barco reports, the documentary spotlights Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.

Oh Cinema South Beach has had sold out screenings of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land. Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham chronicled Israeli military forces continually destroying a community on the West Bank. This is what's happening in my village now. Soldiers are everywhere. Miami Beach Mayor Stephen Miner calls the film, quote, a one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people. He's threatened to cut off city grant money to the nonprofit theater and to terminate its lease. That's alarming to filmmaker Kareem Tapch,

co-founder and chair of the board of O Cinema. The threats of closing a cinema down because some people do not like the films we show certainly sounds like censorship to me. He says O Cinema will continue screening the film while Miami Beach officials consider shuttering the theater. Mandelit Del Barco, NPR News. And again stocks rallied on Wall Street Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose two and a half percent. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.

On Throughlight from NPR News.