NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-24-2026 12AM EDT

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Charles Snyder. New York City Mayor Zaramamani is seeking to reassure the traveling public following Sunday night's crash at New York's the Gordia Airport. As we continue to learn information, we will share it with you. And in the meantime, let us keep those who died in our thoughts and continue to hope for a quick recovery for those who were injured. The crash between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck that had been given the green light to cross a runway, killed two pilots. and send scores to the hospital. The accident has revived concerns over air traffic control staffing, but NTSB chair Jennifer Homandy told reporters at LaGuardia on Monday that it's too soon to discuss that. The Senate has confirmed Oklahoma Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullen to be President Trump's next Homeland Security Secretary. The 54 to 45 vote was mostly along party lines, with mostly Democrats opposed. Mullen takes over at DHS after the firing of Christy Nome. The department is also

been without funding for more than a month as Democrats square off at the White House over immigration enforcement. Those armed federal immigration officers in tactical gear began deploying to some of the busiest U.S. airports Monday. President Trump ordered the deployment to support TSA officers during the DHS shutdown. Amanda Andrews with Georgia Public Broadcasting reports. Atlanta travelers are being advised to arrive four hours ahead of their flights at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Lines have been stretching into the parking lot as TSA officers continue to work without pay. George Borick is a TSA union leader. He says ICE can't do what security screening agents do.

They're not trained to our level. They don't know what we do on a day-to-day basis. And an officer that becomes a TSA agent spends weeks and months trying to get to get certified. The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down since February 14th. PR News. I'm Amanda Andrews in Atlanta. Six months after President Trump sent a multi-agency task force to fight crime in Memphis, White House officials visited the city Monday to tout its success. From member station WK&O, Christopher Blank, reports that overall crime in Memphis is down about 43 percent compared to a year ago. The Trump administration surged thousands of federal personnel in September from more than 30 agencies,

including the National Guard. You have now developed a reputation as a city that's coming back stronger than any city in the country because of what's happened with crime. Local officials and Democrats have warily praised the extra resources, but they've criticized the administration's emphasis on immigration arrests and the visibility of National Guard troops. The president announced that these troops and other guardspeople deployed in U.S. cities will now receive the same military benefits as active-duty troops.

For NPR news, I'm Christopher Blank in Memphis. This is NPR. According to a report published Tuesday, the number of abortions in the United States was the same in 2025 compared to the year before. MPR Selena Simmons-Duffin explains that there's one major reason why that's true despite abortion bans in 13 states. A new report from the Guttmacher Institute finds there were 1,126,000 abortions. Abortions provided by clinicians in 2025. That's pretty much unchanged from 2024. Isaac Meadow Zimitt is one of the report's authors.

There were shifts, though, in where those abortions were occurring. The biggest shift was that there were more abortions in states with abortion bans. That's because the Food and Drug Administration allows abortion medication to be prescribed through telemedicine and sent through the mail. Abortion opponents are trying to end the practice through court challenges and new laws. Selina Simmons-Depin and PR News. Now to California where a civil jury has found Bill Cosby liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972. Following a nearly two-week trial, jurors in Santa Monica awarded the woman millions in damages.

Cosby's lawyers say they plan to appeal. The Supreme Court's conservative majority appears skeptical of state laws that allow the counting of late-ariving mail ballots. The court heard arguments Monday in a case from Mississippi that could also affect voters in 13 other states and the District of Columbia. More forgiving deadlines from military and overseas votes in an additional 15 states could also be impacted. The ruling is expected by late June. I'm Giles Snyder. NPR News.