NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-22-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts. Perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump is defending his administration's use of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law, to deport more than 100 accused Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador.

Because we want to get criminals out of our country, number one, and I don't know when it was signed because I didn't sign it. Other people handled it. But Marco Rubio has done a great job, and he wanted them out, and we go along with that. Although Trump says he did not sign the proclamation, the document appears in the federal register with his signature on it. Trump spoke to reporters yesterday after a federal judge expressed skepticism about the Trump administration's arguments. Federal Judge James Boesberg pledged to get to the bottom

of whether the administration defied his order that temporary block deportation flights under the law. Justice Department opening a criminal investigation into what it says is a leak of classified intelligence related to that Venezuelan gang at the heart of the disputed deportation flights, as NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch announced the criminal investigation into what he calls, quote, the selective leak of inaccurate but nevertheless classified information from U.S. intelligence agencies about Tren de Aragua.

He says the department will not tolerate what he calls politically motivated efforts by the deep state to undercut Trump's agenda by leaking false information to the New York Times. The department does not specify what reporting in the Times prompted the investigation, but the newspaper reported this week that a U.S. intelligence assessment had concluded that Tren de Aragua is not directed by Venezuela's government, a conclusion that contradicts President Trump's assertions. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. New York's Columbia University is implementing policy changes a week after the Trump administration cut federal funding to the school until its demands were met. The White House pulled $400 million in funding over allegations that the school tolerated

anti-Semitism on campus. Columbia has now agreed to implement a ban on protests and academic buildings, among other measures. Heathrow Airport has announced it has reopened for flights following a fire at a nearby electrical substation that closed Europe's busiest airport and caused global travel chaos. Willem Marx reports the first few flights arrived this morning. An airport spokesperson confirmed Heathrow was, quote, open and fully operational this morning while airlines raced to get stranded

passengers whose flights were diverted or cancelled through to their final destinations. The airport added hundreds of additional staff to help 10,000 additional passengers travel through Heathrow from around the world. But travellers are still being asked to check their flight status as several routes early Saturday had already been cancelled. The shutdown had initially prompted the counter-terrorism force at London's Metropolitan Police Force to conduct an investigation. However, suspicious causes for the fire have been ruled out, leaving UK lawmakers and ministers concerned about the resilience of Britain's critical infrastructure.

For NPR News, I'm Villamarks in London. And from Washington, this is NPR News. State health officials in Texas say they expect the measles outbreak in the western part of the state to continue for several more months. The number of cases continues to rise with 309 cases in Texas and another 42 in neighboring New Mexico. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 18 states have now reported measles infections. After more than 16,000 structures were damaged or destroyed in Los Angeles wildfires, one organization

is taking on a less traditional form of disaster relief, fireproofing history by preserving it online. Andrea Dominic of member station KCRW has that 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, 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.

DeLessio says those articles have racked up more than 200,000 views since their edits. For NPR News, I'm Andrea Dominic in Los Angeles. Tributes are being paid today to boxing legend George Foreman. Tennis great Billie Jean King says Foreman was a good friend and a great champion. And basketball's Magic Johnson says he was a knockout artist in the ring. Foreman died yesterday at age 76. This is NPR News. On the Embedded Podcast. No, no. It's called Did Nianas Speed Him a Speech? yesterday at age 76. This is NPR News.