NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-19-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

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Shortwave thinks of science as an invisible force, showing up in your everyday life, powering the food you eat, the medicine you use, the tech in your pocket. Science is approachable because it's already part of your life. Come explore these connections on the Shortwave podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he plans to talk with President Trump today by phone. This comes after Trump spoke yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader says his country will agree to stop targeting Ukrainian energy facilities for 30 days. But Ukrainian officials say Russia is still firing drones at them, even hitting two hospitals overnight. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley says that the conversation between Trump and Putin has gotten Europe's attention. This is deeply shaking the continent. There's a view that Putin is stalling so he can continue the war and that he's playing with Trump who Europeans believe is naive, has no experience with Putin and wants a peace deal so badly he'll do anything.

The former French ambassador to the U.S. went on French TV last night, Gérard Arrault, and he said, Putin is just signing on to the peace deal not to annoy Trump, but he's testing the waters to see how far he can go. He says it's Putin's dream for Russia to be treated as a superpower, dealing one-on-one with the American president over the heads of the Europeans. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reporting. A federal judge has given the Justice Department until midday today to provide more details about deportation flights over the weekend.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg had told the Trump administration not to use a rarely used wartime power to deport the migrants from Venezuela. He even told the administration to turn the planes around. But that didn't happen. The Justice Department answered some questions about the flights yesterday, but Judge Boasberg says he wants more details today. President Trump told Fox's Laura Ingraham last night that some judges should be impeached. We have very bad judges, and these are judges that shouldn't be allowed.

I think at a certain point, you have to start looking at, what do you do when you have a rogue judge? The Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, issued a rare statement yesterday. He says that for more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreements over a judicial decision.

Roberts says the appeals process is the place for that. President Trump is seeking to fire two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the move could prove to be a key test of Trump's powers over independent government agencies. The two commissioners, Al Robodoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, have promised to fight their dismissal in court. They say, under current law, they can only be removed for cause. Bedoya accuses the president of trying to turn the FTC, which enforces antitrust law, into a lapdog for his rich golfing buddies.

If you take away the independence of this agency, the only people it will help is the powerful. The only people it will help is the powerful. The only people it will help are billionaires. The FTC's Republican chairman, Andrew Ferguson, says he has no doubt about the president's constitutional authority to fire commissioners. Ferguson says the commission will continue its work to protect consumers and police anti-competitive behavior.

NPR's Scott Horsley. This is NPR. Authorities in Turkey have arrested the mayor of one of its largest cities, Istanbul. Mayor Akrem Emamoglu was detained along with 80 other people. This comes just a few days before the mayor was expected to win his party's nomination to run for president of Turkey. He's one of the chief rivals to Turkey's current president. Turkish media is now claiming the mayor has been running a huge conspiracy involving corruption and bribery. NASA astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth after spending more than nine months in space. They splashed down off the coast of Florida yesterday.

From Central Florida public media, Marion Sumerall has more. 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 Williams and 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.

There are Blizzard warnings posted from Eastern Colorado to eastern Minnesota this morning. Forecasters say heavy snow will spread over the central plains today. So will powerful winds. The National Weather Service says that in some areas, visibility could fall to near zero. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News from Washington. A lot happens in Washington every day, from the White House to Capitol Hill and everywhere in between. News from Washington.