NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-24-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

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These days, there's so much news, it can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. The Consider This podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A federal appeals court is weighing the Trump administration's request to remove a pause on its ability to use an 18th century wartime law to deport certain migrants. Today's hearing DC Circuit Court Judge Patricia Millett suggested due process

was lacking. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act than has happened here. The men were accused of being members of a Venezuelan gang. We get more from NPR's Amanda Bastille. President Trump's administration is appealing a lower court's order over the Alien Enemies Act. Trump invoked this rarely used authority to quickly deport people suspected of posing a threat to the U.S.

Immigrant rights groups convinced a district court judge to temporarily pause the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans suspected of being Tren de Agua gang members. The groups say people didn't get due process before they were deported. Government lawyers told an appeals court that the pause on the law interferes with presidential power. The appeals court in D.C. could rule in the matter this week. Jimena Bustillo, NPR News. An incident in which a journalist was included on a text chain containing details about a Trump administration plan for military strikes

in Yemen has security officials on edge. Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in an interview with NPR says at first he thought the text sent via secure messaging app with a detailed timeline of the strike were a hoax. I'm very curious about this, so I watch it unfold in a very kind of credible way. I'm flummoxed by this because, and I guess this is a failure of imagination on my part, I did not think that the CIA and the Defense Department and the Secretary of Defense would invite the editor of the Atlantic into a chat about bombing Yemen.

National Security Council says the text chain appears to be authentic. President Trump today did not have any knowledge of the lapse, which took place March 15. The Social Security Administration is undergoing transformations that are raising concerns among beneficiaries and advocates. NPR's Winsor Johnston reports the changes of the backdrop

for a hearing tomorrow, which will feature testimony from President Trump's pick to lead the agency. Social Security recipients say they're worried about the Trump administration's decision to grant Elon Musk and his government efficiency team extensive access to the agency's databases. The White House says the move is part of an effort to identify and eliminate fraud within the agency.

In the meantime, Frank Bisignano, the CEO of a private tech firm, will go before the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. He was tapped by President Trump to be the next commissioner of Social Security. Opponents of his nomination cite his lack of prior government experience. Supporters argue that his business, Acumen, could be beneficial in addressing Social Security's financial challenges. 97 points today. You're listening to NPR. Fire crews in North and South Carolina continue to battle wildfires, summon rugged terrain there, which is complicating efforts to get the blazes under control. Millions of trees

that were knocked down due to Hurricane Helene last fall have dried out and they're contributing fuel to the fires. Burn bands are in effect in both states due to dry conditions. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings has donated $50 million to his alma mater Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. His main public radio's Caitlin Budion reports the college will use the gift to launch a new initiative to research the risks and consequences of artificial intelligence. The Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity will bring together faculty from a variety of disciplines to investigate the implications of the technology. University President Safa Zaki says because technology is progressing so quickly, conversations

about how to best use AI need to start now. And that suggests that we have limited time to act and to prepare and to respond in the ways that the liberal arts tends to do. The donation is the largest gift Bowdoin has received in its 231 year history. Reed Hastings graduated in 1983 and was first encouraged to study AI by Bowdoin professor Steve Fisk. For NPR News, I'm Caitlin Badaian. After more than a month Pope Francis has left the hospital. Francis was hospitalized in February in Rome for treatment for double pneumonia.

Upon his departure, Rome's Germelli Hospital, making his first public appearance Sunday, Francis' doctors say they expect he'll need two months of rest to allow his body to heal. 88-year-old Pope returned to a small building at the Vatican. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. When you take a shower or get ready in the morning, how many products are you using? I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.