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

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

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Support for NPR and the following message come from American Jewish World Service committed to the fight for human rights supporting advocates and grassroots organizations worldwide working towards democracy equity and justice at ajws.org Live from NPR News in Washington I'm Nora Rahm the death toll is rising after severe weather, including tornadoes, swept the central and southern U.S. overnight. Officials now say at least 14 people have died in Arkansas and Missouri. Mark Smith is the Wayne County coroner in Piedmont, Missouri.

He's distressed by the deaths and the damage that this is the worst he's seen in his career. Mark Smith, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, Attorney General, Piedmont, Missouri, I've got people dead everywhere, people injured, a lot of people without houses.

So, I mean, I'm a paramedic, I'm a firefighter, I'm a coroner, and it's hit me on all sides. Forecasters have issued a high-risk level firewaring of severe thunderstorms today in Texas and Oklahoma. Employees of the Voice of America showed up at work today to learn they've been locked out. President Trump last night ordered its parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, to eliminate all activities not required by law.

More than a thousand full-time workers at the Voice of America and radio and television marti were affected. The Senate has passed a short-term spending bill that avoids government shutdown and pays for government operations for six months. NPR's Elena Moore reports. Senate Republicans hold a majority in the chamber, but they needed Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster and get the measure to a final vote. For that procedural vote, a total of 10 Democrats sided with Republicans to advance the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was one of them and argued that allowing the GOP to pass their bill was a better move than shutting down the government. The CR bill is a bad bill. But as bad as the CR is, I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option. But that decision has caused rifts within the Democratic Party. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. The U.S. and Iraq say they've killed a senior leader of the militant group ISIS.

Both countries said it was an important step in the fight against the group. NPR's Jane Arraff has more from Damascus. The U.S. military said it launched an airstrike with help from Iraqi intelligence and security forces in the country's Al Anbar province. It's a remote part of Iraq where ISIS has been hiding out and regrouping since its territorial defeat in Syria six years ago. The military said the target was the group's deputy leader for global attacks, Abdullah Malik al-Rafai. The Iraqi government said Rafai also served as head of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The US military said the airstrike also killed another ISIS operative, whom it did not name. The US maintains bases in Iraq to fight ISIS, but has agreed with the Iraqi government to disband the coalition by the end of the year. Jane Araf, NPR News, Damascus. And you're listening to NPR News in Washington. This week marks five years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, but many patients have yet to find meaningful recovery from long COVID. NPR's Will Stone reports they're calling on the Trump

administration to make research on the condition a priority. Research on long COVID has settled on a handful of explanations for what could drive the illness, but that hasn't translated into major breakthroughs for those who need care. As many as 18 million adults are estimated to be living with long COVID in the U.S. Dr. Monica Verdusco Gutierrez treats long COVID patients at UT Health Science Center, San Antonio.

We need treatments, but you need clinical trials to get to treatments. There are now dozens of these trials testing drugs, but scientists say there need to be many more. Patient advocates say the federal government needs to make sure the millions of dollars set aside by Congress supports this type of long COVID research. Will Stone, NPR News. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's expelling the new ambassador from South Africa. He accuses Ibrahim Rasool of being anti-white, anti-American, and hating Donald Trump. Arlington National Cemetery is removing from its website

sections highlighting prominent Black, Hispanic, and women veterans. An official told NPR the removals were to comply with the directive to remove all articles that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. Among those removed were biographies of General Colin Powell, the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the 8666 Postal Corps, the first all-black female unit to be deployed overseas during World War II. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.

On the Embedded Podcast. No, no. It's called denying us freedom of speech. It's misinformation. Like so many Americans, my dad has gotten swept up in conspiracy theories. These are not conspiracy theories. These are reality. I spent the year following him down the rabbit hole, trying to get him back.

Listen to Alternate Realities on the embedded podcast from NPR, all episodes available now.