NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-20-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

NPR News: 03-20-2025 11AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, on Korova Coleman, Gaza's Health Ministry says more than 500 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since Israel broke a ceasefire deal with Hamas on Tuesday. The Health Ministry says more than 200 of the dead are children. This comes as Israeli ground troops expanded the war by re-entering part of northern Gaza. NPR's Anas Baba visited a hospital in the north and has this report. Israel's military says it struck Hamas infrastructure and weapons sight in the area of Beit Lahya in northern Gaza.

Families there say it was their homes and their children asleep in the night that were struck by Israeli warplanes without warning. The floors of the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahya are covered in blood and bodies wrapped in shrouds. The hospital morgue says 75 people died here overnight and into the morning from the airstrikes, including entire families. We were just sitting at home. Oh Allah, we only have you, says Yusuf Abu Halima. He says Israeli airstrikes just hit before dawn, killing his brother, sister, and other relatives. Anas Babo, NPR News, Gaza City. President Trump is expected to sign an executive action today,

calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. NPR's Corey Turner reports this has been foreseen since February, when the White House revealed its intentions. The anticipated signing comes a week after sweeping layoffs at the Education Department. Between early retirement buyouts, the firing of newer hires, and last week's big reduction in force, the department will soon be down to roughly half the size it was when Trump took office. The White House insisted in a fact sheet to NPR that the executive action would not cut

key federal funding streams That help schools serve low-income students kids with disabilities and rural communities But last week's purge included the entire legal staff at the department responsible for making sure that funding Is spent according to law and reaches the children who needed most Corey churner NPR news a freeze on government-issued payment cards is threatening water safety testing and other projects at the U.S. Interior Department. NPR's Shannon Bond reports employees warn

this is affecting their work. Government pay card spending has been capped at a dollar to comply with an executive order signed by President Trump last month. That affects millions of cards federal employees use in their work every day. A federal maintenance worker in the southern US can't make payments for water safety testing. Employees at the US Geological Survey can't buy equipment to repair stream gauges that

monitor water flow. They have to rely on the single person in each region authorized to make payments. The spending freeze comes as interior employees are bracing for job cuts of up to 40 percent. Shannon Bond, NPR News. On Wall Street, stocks are significantly higher. The Dow is up more than 230 points. The Nasdaq is up almost 90 points. This is NPR. A jury in North Dakota has determined environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions

of dollars in a lawsuit. It'll go to a company that built the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. The company says Greenpeace led protests against the pipeline that cost the company money and damaged its reputation. The federal DC Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a computer scientist's bid to copyright a piece of art. It was made by artificial intelligence. NPR's Bobby Allen reports the plaintiff plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Federal Appeals Court wrote, This case presents a question made salient by recent advances in artificial intelligence. Can a non-human machine be an author under the Copyright Act of 1976? Its answer, no. And that's because the 49-year-old law says only a work made by a human can be copyrighted. The Missouri computer scientist Stephen Thayer says he guided his AI to create an image called

a recent entrance to paradise, and the AI deserves to own it. The Copyright Office has granted copyright to work assisted by AI, but Thayer says the AI itself should be an author. The federal appeals court rejected this. Thayer says he is appealing. Bobbi Allen, NPR News. Food and Beverage Corporation, Nestle USA, is recalling some of its frozen meals.

They're made by stovers and lean cuisine. The company says that a few batches could be contaminated by what it calls wood-like material. There has been a report that one person had a potential choking incident. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News from Washington.