NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-22-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

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Oh, hey there. I'm Brittany Luce. And I don't know, maybe this is a little out of pocket to say, but I think you should listen to my podcast. It's called It's Been A Minute and I love it. And I think you will too. Over the past couple months, over 100,000 new listeners started tuning in. Find out why.

Listen to the It's Been A Minute podcast from NPR today. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. President Trump has revoked security clearances for more than a dozen political adversaries, including former officials from the Biden administration. NPR's Rebecca Rosman has more. Among those affected are former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In a memorandum, Trump said it was no longer in the national interest for them and around

a dozen others to access classified information. The move is widely seen as retaliation for Biden's decision to strip Trump of his clearance in 2021. While the withdrawals have drawn attention, their practical effects are minimal. Security clearances for former officials are typically revoked after they leave office, unless they're involved in national security matters. Many on the list haven't had active clearances in years. Rebecca Rossman, NPR News. U.S. stock markets had another volatile week full of tariff whiplash, but they inched into

positive territory by yesterday's end of trading. NPR's Maria Aspin reports the Dow closed up 1.2 percent for the week. Consumers, businesses, and investors are all facing mounting economic uncertainty. They're especially worried about the potential impact of President Trump's steep new tariffs against the country's largest trading partners. The on-again, off-again tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of goods. This week, the Federal Reserve cut its forecast for economic growth and raised its expectations for inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that tariffs are playing a role in that inflation. Clearly, some of it, a good part of it is coming from tariffs.

But the Fed also said that it's still on track to cut interest rates two times later this year. Meanwhile, Trump on Friday offered investors and consumers a glimmer of hope when he said there would be flexibility on his tariffs. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. In a case that could have far-reaching consequences, a British mother who took Facebook's parent company Meta to court has won the right to opt out of its targeted online advertising. Vicki Barker reports.

When Tanya O'Carroll became pregnant in 2017, Facebook knew even before her closest friends did, bombarding her with baby-related ads. Her unsuccessful attempts to turn the ads off led to a three-year legal battle which Metta finally settled on Friday, as O'Carroll told the BBC. Facebook, just on the eve of trial now, has agreed to do what I originally asked all along, which is cease using my personal data for direct marketing purposes, which in non-legal ease means I've essentially been able to turn off all that creepy invasive targeted ads on Facebook. O'Carroll had the backing of British regulators because British consumers, like their European

counterparts, have the legal right to object to targeted ads. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. This is NPR News. In London, flights resumed at Heathrow Airport today after being shut down yesterday. A fire at a nearby substation knocked out power to Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. The fire disrupted travel plans for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. After more than 16,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in the Los Angeles wildfires, one organization is attempting to fireproof history by preserving it online. Enter Dominique of Member Station KCRW has the story.

On a recent Sunday afternoon at the Hammer Museum in LA, two dozen volunteers gathered over laptops and cups of coffee for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon. They're writing new entries about the landmarks and community hubs lost in the wildfires. volunteers gathered over laptops and cups of coffee for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon. They're writing new entries about the landmarks and community hubs lost in the wildfires, adding citations, updating information, and uploading photos. We have the potential ourselves to preserve what we lost and make sure that what was destroyed in the fires isn't forgotten. That's Emery DeLessio, a facilitator with WikiLA who's helping train newcomers.

So far, more than 40 articles have been created or updated at editathons like this one, and they're already resonating. D'Alessio says those articles have racked up more than 200,000 views since their edits. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Dominic in Los Angeles. George Foreman has died. He was 76. He became the world heavyweight boxing champion in his 20s, but lost to Muhammad Ali in a match dubbed the Rumble in the Jungle. 20 years later,

he came back at 45 to become the oldest man to win the championship. Outside the ring, he was the face of the George Foreman Grill, which sold more than a million units. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington. Man, I mean, that might have been the only time I've really faced myself. I'm Jesse Thorn. On Bull's Eye, George Lopez on the time that he swung a bat at a piñata of George Lopez. You know, like, I wasn't supposed to hit it that many times that hard. Getting very real with George Lopez on Bull's Eye from MaximumFun.org and NPR.