NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-18-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

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Following the news out of Washington, D.C. can be overwhelming. I'm Scott Detrow and NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms, stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. Each episode is short, usually around five minutes or so. We keep it calm and factual. We help you follow what matters and we leave out what doesn't. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR. Shea Stevens Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea

Stevens. A federal judge says that Elon Musk and his government cost-cutting entity Doge likely violated the Constitution by dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. NPR's Fatma Tanis has more. More than two dozen current or recently fired employees of USAID sued Elon Musk and Doge, challenging the accelerated shutdown of the agency. In a 68-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered Doge to reinstate email access to current agency employees and block them from taking any actions relating to the agency without the approval of a duly appointed USAID officer. The judge said the actions to shut down USAID and permanently close its headquarters and

that it, quote, deprived Congress of their constitutional authority over an agency created by Congress. Fatma Tanis, NPR News. The Democratic Party's base is expressing frustration after their congressional leadership failed to block a Republican spending bill. NPR's Domenico Montanaro looks at the battle within the Democratic Party.

Democrats are really struggling to find their way out of the political wilderness and how to oppose President Trump. Most immediately, the party has to figure out how to be united ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Remember, those elections are lower turnout affairs than presidential elections, and activism really matters.

So Democrats can't alienate their base if they want to have any hope of taking back the House. And then, of course, there's 2028, and that's just going to be a really open contest with lots of candidates ranging from far left to moderate progressives vying to be the person who can make the argument about the vision going forward that best represents democratic big D values. Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. A lot of recent medical research has focused on why some groups become sicker than others. As NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, many researchers worry that the Trump administration

may limit that work. Health disparity is among hundreds of terms federal agencies are reportedly scrubbing from websites and flagging for review in documents. For many researchers reliant on federal funding, that's raising concern. Dr. Fola May studies disease patterns at UCLA and worries the term disparity is misunderstood. We have to recognize that disparities are affecting everyone, not just racial ethnic minorities. I'll give an example.

White individuals that live in rural areas of the United States are less likely to get a screening test. The National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs, both federal research funders, did not respond to requests seeking comment. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. Thousands of previously classified documents on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have now been released. The documents are posted on the website, archives.gov.

This is NPR. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams have safely returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule. The pair spent nine months aboard the International Space Station during a trip that was initially planned to last only a few days. This after the Boeing Starliner capsule used to launch them into orbit last June, developed mechanical problems, and had to be returned to Earth without them. A plane crash in Honduras today killed 12 people, including folk musician Aurelio Martinez.

He was 55 years old. Martinez was a respected proponent of a tradition that dates back to the 17th century along the Caribbean coast of Central America. And Fioras Felix Contreras has this remembrance. The Garifuna culture of Central America is a mix of West African indigenous and other cultures and Aurelio Martinez was considered the most recognized cultural ambassador for that tradition. He grew up in a remote area of northern Honduras, moved to the provincial capital of La Ceiba

to study music, then launched his career alongside musician Andi Palacios of Belize, performing and promoting Garifuno culture. In 2005, he took a break from music to become the first Afro-Honduran elected to the country's National Congress. His return to music included international tours, songwriting workshops for Garifuna youth, and even an appearance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert Series in 2015. Felix Contreras, NPR News. U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street

following today's losses, Asia-Pacific markets are mixed. This is NPR News. There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, markets are mixed. This is NPR News.