NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-26-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

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Imagine, if you will, a show from NPR that's not like NPR, a show that focuses not on the important but the stupid, which features stories about people smuggling animals in their pants and competent criminals in ridiculous science studies, and call it Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me Because the Good Names Were Taken. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Yes, that is what it is called wherever You Get Your Podcasts. Laxmelea Sing Live from NPR News, I'm Laxmelea Sing. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is traveling to the Indo-Pacific as he and other top security officials are under fire for texting about military attack plans in Yemen on the unsecured signal messaging app.

Before leaving Hawaii for Guam today, Hegseth told reporters absolutely nothing that was discussed was classified. There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information. You know who sees war plans? I see them. Every single day. I looked at them this morning. I looked at attack plans this morning. But a journalist was in on those plans. The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that what he saw but apparently should not have was classified material involving timing and weapons about the target, Houthi rebels. Mick Mulroy was a deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East during the first Trump administration. He says it breaches serious. They could have

easily with this information shot down our pilots and and we could have lost of Defense for the Middle East during the first Trump administration, he says, it breaches serious. They could have easily, with this information, shot down our pilots, and we could have lost some people in this. What we should be talking about is the attack on the Houthis and the escalation, which I think was the right thing to do. But because of what I would say is carelessness on the part of these individuals, we're talking about this because it is a significant breach of security.

Danielle Pletka Well, Roy, on NPR's Here and Now, officials say they are investigating how a journalist was included on the Signal group chat. NPR CEO Catherine Maher chairs the board of the Signal Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the message app. In a 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling requiring serial numbers and background checks for ghost guns. They're a type of weapon that comes as a kit and has to be assembled and as NPR's Elena Moore reports, is virtually impossible to trace. ghost guns get their name because traditionally they didn't have assigned serial numbers or

require background checks. But a Supreme Court ruling in 2022 changed that and said the guns were considered firearms. Kit sellers and distributors challenged that decision, arguing instead that kit parts can't be classified as weapons. However, the High Court stood by its earlier ruling. In a majority opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch, he wrote while the assembling process may take some time, its, quote, intended function as instrument of combat is obvious. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. Brazil's Supreme Court has voted to put former President Jair Bolsonaro and several close

allies on trial. They're accused of conspiring to stage a coup to overturn his 2022 election laws to President Lula de Silva. Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and claims he is being politically persecuted. Hundreds of supporters of Bolsonaro stormed the Capitol on January 8th, 2023, just one week after Lula took power and Bolsonaro denies any involvement in the Capitol riot. This is NPR News. The Department of Housing and Urban Development says it will start identifying migrants without legal status. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that in a new agreement, it'll share the data with the Department of Homeland Security.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner says no federal housing aid should benefit people without legal status. We have a housing affordability crisis in our country and so today we are ensuring that American taxpayer dollars are used to assist the American people. In fact immigrants with no legal status cannot get rental assistance but they are allowed to live with family members who can and that includes many US citizens especially children. This agreement does not change that, but advocates worry it will have a chilling effect. The first Trump administration

proposed banning housing aid for entire families if one person was not eligible, and many expect it to try again. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. As the weather warms up, gardeners' thoughts are now turning to plants, and NPR's Neda Ulvi reports on some new gardening techniques. Soil blocking is not brand new, but it is beginning to catch on.

We started growing onion seed in the soil blocks that are smaller than these ones. That's Christopher Hallett. He works at Growing Hope Urban Farm in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He's teaching other gardeners how to use a low-cost metal tool that compresses dirt, compost, and other ingredients into small, self-contained blocks. He's teaching other gardeners how to use a low-cost metal tool that compresses dirt, compost, and other ingredients into small, self-contained blocks. This cuts out plastic seedling containers, like the type sold at big box stores. Halit says seed blocking is also a way to avoid using peat pots, also not a sustainable

resource. Neto Ulupi, NPR News. It's NPR. When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Throughline podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Throughline, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Throughline podcast from NPR.