NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-24-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

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Support for NPR in the following message come from the estate of Joan B. Kroc, whose bequest serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio and seeks to help NPR produce programming that meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression. Live from NPR News in Washington, DC, I'm Dale Willman. Lebanon's army is accusing Israel of escalating violence with dozens of airstrikes hitting across Lebanon this weekend. The country's health ministry says an additional person was killed Sunday after seven deaths a day earlier.

One of those killed was a child. MPR's Jawad Rizkallah reports from Damascus. An Israeli drone struck a car in a Lebanese border village, killing what the Israeli military said was a Hezbollah member. In another area of southern Lebanon, a man who'd village, killing what the Israeli military said was a Hezbollah member. In another area of southern Lebanon, a man who'd been cleaning dust from previous Israeli attacks tells NPR he rescued a farmer nearby who was critically injured by another Israeli drone strike.

Lebanon's army says Israeli ground troops also crossed the border fence and bulldozed Lebanese territory, in what it called a blatant violation of a ceasefire that was agreed in November. The army says it sent more troops to the area before Israeli forces withdrew. In a speech at a funeral Sunday, a Hezbollah lawmaker said the group is committed to that ceasefire and that the Lebanese government would manage the response to these attacks. Jawad Raschallah, NPR News, Damascus. In Gaza, meanwhile, the health ministry there says the number of Palestinians killed during

the war between Hamas and Israel has now passed 50,000. New Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least 26 people. Border czar Tom Homan says the Trump administration will not defy a judge's order that blocks the use of a law from the 1700s to deport people from the U.S. But he says they won't stop doing their job either. I don't care about that. Judges think as far as this case, we're going to continue to arrest public safety threats and national security threats.

We're going to continue to deport them from the United States. I understand this case is in litigation through the Alien Enemies Act, and we'll abide by the court order as litigated, but my quote was, despite what he thinks, we're going to keep targeting the worst of the worst, which we've been doing since day one in deporting from the United States. Homan was speaking on Sunday on ABC's This Week.

Investors are preparing for a key inflation report this week, just as President Trump is ready to unveil a new round of tariffs. And as NPR's Rafael Nam reports, tariffs are hitting good for the US, but investors don't believe a trade war is good for anybody. Nonetheless, President Trump is planning a new round of tariffs in April. The fear here is that tariffs will drive prices a lot higher. This week we'll get a new inflation report, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index. It matters because it's the Federal Reserve's favorite inflation gauge.

And it's not just Wall Street, consumers are also getting concerned about the economy. So investors this week will pay close attention to two consumer confidence reports from the University of Michigan and the Conference Board. Rafael Nam, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington, D.C. The entire state of Vermont has only 11 programs that offer daytime care for older adults, as well as respite for their caregivers. And as Vermont Public's nine Keck Reports program administrators warn, potential cuts to Medicaid could mean even fewer options.

Vermont has an estimated 70,000 unpaid family caregivers. 50-year-old Nikki Juvan is one of them. Her husband has had several strokes, and she says an adult day program he attends in Middlebury has been a lifesaver. It meant that I could go to work and continue to do my job knowing that he was being taken care of and also, you know, that he was being engaged with other people. Medicaid helps pay the cost, and JuVan worries that lawmakers in Washington will cut funding to these programs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

79 percent of older Americans who use adult-day programs rely on Medicaid funding. For NPR News, I'm Naina Kaak in Chittenden, Vermont. Walt Disney's live-action movie Snow White debuted in the number one spot this weekend in North American theaters. While it brought in $43 million in ticket sales, it also cost $250 million to produce. It's struggling in part because of several controversies, including the way the film handled the dwarves in the movie. Second place, meanwhile, was taken by Black Bag, which brought in $4.4

million, followed by Captain America, Brave New World, with $4.1 million in ticket sales. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News in Washington.