NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-19-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

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Talking about race can get messy, we know. Yeah, whether it's who you date, where you live, what you eat, or who you call your friends. On Code Switch, we try to make sense of it with you. We're talking to new voices and bringing you new stories every week. About some of the biggest. Or just the chewiest questions of our time. So, come rock with us. Listen to Code Switch from the NPR Network. Come rock with us. Listen to Code Switch from the NPR Network.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is skeptical about the agreement between Presidents Trump and Putin during a phone call on Tuesday. As NPR's Eleanor Beersley reports, Putin agreed to stop targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure and urged Trump to halt foreign military and intelligence aid to Ukraine. Zelensky spoke in an online press conference after the Putin-Trump call. Sorry to repeat this, he said, but we need more details. It's a question of mechanisms and details.

Zelensky said he was worried about Putin's political will, saying he thought the Russian president wanted to continue the war. Despite his promise to stop targeting Ukraine's energy facilities, a substation was hit in the eastern Ukrainian town of Sloviansk, and NPR reporters heard drones being shot down over Kiev. European leaders said any ceasefire must be verifiable and Ukrainians must be at the negotiating table. France and Germany say they will continue sending military aid to Ukraine. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Kiev. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Chief Justice John Roberts is opposing calls for the impeachment of a federal judge

who ruled against President Trump's deportation plans. University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias says judicial impeachments for any reason are extremely rare. It's only been for high crimes and misdemeanors and usually it is something like bribery or some other clear criminal activity and no judge has ever been impeached, much less convicted by the Senate, for making decisions with which presidents

and members of the Senate and House disagree. Tobias as Chief Justice Roberts is likely trying to lower the rhetoric ahead of likely appeals of rulings on deportations and other cases. The crew of Boeing's Starliner test mission is back on Earth after spending nine months aboard the International Space Station, but Wilmore and Sonny Williams splashed down off the Tallahassee coast late Tuesday. Central Florida Public Media's Marion Summerall reports.

Wilmore and Williams returned on SpaceX's Dragon capsule with Crew-9. SpaceX launched Crew-9 in September with only two crew members instead of four, in preparation to bring Sunny Williams and Butch Willmore back home. All four returned together. Willmore and Williams were scheduled for an eight-day mission in June, but NASA returned the Starliner without them after technical issues with the Boeing spacecraft. Instead, they returned home in another commercial company's capsule. In total, Williams and Wilmore spent 286 days in space. For NPR News, I'm Marion Summerall in Orlando.

You're listening to NPR. The state of Louisiana has carried out its first execution in 15 years. State corrections officials used nitricin gas to end the life of convicted murderer Jesse Hoffman late Tuesday, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene. In Texas, the health department has confirmed 20 more cases of measles since last Friday. As Texas Public Radio's Gabriella Alcorta Solorio reports, there have been 279 confirmed U.S. cases of measles since the outbreak began in late January. Of the nearly 280 confirmed cases, two are in vaccinated people.

The rest of the patients are not or their status is unknown. Thirty-six have been hospitalized. Dr. Michael Chang, a Houston pediatric infectious disease specialist, spoke during a Children at Risk press conference last week on the misconceptions for measles treatment. I want to emphasize there's no antiviral treatment for measles and vitamin A is not an antiviral. So while vitamin A has shown some mortality and morbidity benefits in malnourished children, its role in healthy children is not clear. Chang added that Vitamin A in high dosages can lead to serious toxicity and the only

way to prevent measles is to be vaccinated. I'm Gabriela Alcorta Solorio in San Antonio. Organizers of the Vancouver International Auto Show have removed Tesla from the event, citing security concerns. Executive Director Eric Nichols says Tesla had been given multiple opportunities to voluntarily withdraw due to concerns for the safety of event workers, exhibitors and attendees. This is NPR News. Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils? This is NPR News.