NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-20-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

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On the embedded podcast. No, no. It's called denying a 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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. NPR has learned that President Trump will sign an executive action today. It will direct the new Secretary of Education to be enclosing the U.S. Department of Education. Trump says he wants to return education directly to the states. Kentucky's Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman is a former educator. She says closing the federal education agency will ultimately harm students. If the U.S. Department of Education is dismantled, the states who will suffer the most are places like Kentucky. And the people who stand to lose the most are our most vulnerable.

The Trump administration has already ordered the layoffs of nearly half of the Education Department staff. Tomorrow is the last day in the office for many federal agency workers. Two Democratic commissioners fired from the Federal Trade Commission are planning to sue. They say that President Trump has improperly dismissed them from the independent government agency. It is responsible for enforcing consumer protection laws and watching actions by corporations. The White House says President Trump has the absolute authority to fire the FTC commissioners.

Alvaro Bedoya is one of the fired FTC commissioners. He fears the remaining Republican commissioners can yank pending lawsuits against corporations that were originally filed to protect consumers. Any one of these actions could be withdrawn by the folks who the president says are currently at the commission. And here's the thing, even if they oppose that, it doesn't matter. In a world where the president can fire anyone at any time, if they have a choice, they can either obey or if they say no, what will happen to

them is what has just happened to me. He spoke to NPR's Morning Edition. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed overnight in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes. Israel has broken the ceasefire with Hamas in the enclave and resumed military action. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports Israel has also partially limited movements for Gaza residents who want to travel from the northern part of the enclave to the southern part. Israel has sent troops back to the Netzerim corridor, a large strip of land

that divides Gaza's north and south. Early in the war, Israel had blocked that corridor, closing passage for Palestinians. But recently passage reopened and troops left as part of the ceasefire. Now, once again, Israel has partially limited movement. Israeli airstrikes are also ongoing, killing at least 70 Palestinians yesterday and dozens more overnight, according to health officials there.

Israel says this new offensive is meant to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a new ceasefire deal, different from the one both parties agreed to in January. this new offensive is meant to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a new ceasefire deal, different from the one both parties agreed to in January. The militant group says it is committed to the previous deal and that talks with mediators are ongoing. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. On Wall Street, in pre-market, trading Dow futures are down by more than 130 points. You're listening to NPR. Officials from the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia are supposed to meet in Saudi Arabia in coming

days. They're supposed to go over a ceasefire agreement. But Russia is still attacking Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is still trying to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to go beyond the partial ceasefire Russia agreed upon to stop attacking power plants. More Americans are taking prescriptions for ADHD than previously and more than ever before are misusing the medicines.

And Biers Katia Riddle reports that's according to a new study from JAMA Psychiatry. During the pandemic, many adults started taking stimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The researchers who conducted this study looked at how people are using these drugs in light of this new demand. They underscored that most people do use stimulants safely and effectively and emphasized that it's important to keep them widely available. However, they did also find that more than 25% of adults with a prescription reported misuse. That means taking too much of a drug or too often or any other ways their doctor did not prescribe.

This kind of behavior is correlated with substance use disorder of other kinds that can be quite dangerous. The researchers called for careful monitoring of people using these drugs. Katie Rettl, NPR News. California highway officials say that a major entrance to Yosemite National Park is closed. Heavy rain triggered a rock slide and the highway is thickly covered with debris. California officials don't know when they'll be able to clear the road. Yosemite National Park is more than 100 miles east of San Francisco.

I'm Korva Kuhlman, NPR News.