NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-26-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. The Trump administration is downplaying the seriousness of the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic being added to a messaging app group text about plans for U.S. military strikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen earlier this month. Speaking to Fox host Laura Ingraham last night, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said he takes full responsibility for the incident, acknowledging he built the group on the app. NPR's Deepa Sivaram has more. The National Security Council is investigating how Jeffrey Goldberg got looped in. President Trump is defending Waltz and says he does not need to apologize. The president also

says as far as he understands, there was no classified information shared in the encrypted messaging app Signal. If it was up to me, everybody would be sitting in a room together. The room would have solid lead walls and a lead ceiling and a lead floor. But, you know, life doesn't always let you do that. The president did not specify if he would ban the use of Signal

for his administration officials. Catherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, also chairs the board of the Signal Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the messaging app. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News, The White House. Goldberg says he received the text on March 15th, about two hours before the U.S. carried out airstrikes against the Houthis. A Senate panel has voted to advance President Trump's nominee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid to the full Senate. As NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports, former TV talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz cleared the Senate Finance Committee on a party-line vote of 14 to 13.

Dr. Mehmet Oz's hearing earlier this month was cordial. Oz was poised and bantered easily with senators, but that friendliness did not translate into votes from Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee. Ahead of the vote, Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington summarized Democrats' objections. He was unwilling to commit to opposing a cut to Medicaid. The math is clear. The proposal from the House budget

would require massive cuts to Medicaid. Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a physician, defended his party's plans, saying Medicaid had gotten too big and too expensive and was unsustainable. We're here to save it. We want to strengthen Medicaid for the most vulnerable. Oz's nomination will next be voted on by the full Senate in the coming days or weeks. Selena Simmons-Stefan and PR News, Washington. Today marks one year since large sections of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed into the Patapsco River after a cargo ship hit a bridge support.

The collapse killed six maintenance workers who were on the Key Bridge at the time. Later this morning, Maryland's Governor Wes Moore and members of the state's congressional delegation will hold a ceremony to remember those who died and to honor first responders. The Dolly hit the bridge support after losing power and the ship's propulsion. This is NPR News from Washington. Crews in the Carolinas continue to battle multiple wildfires being fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds. They've led to states of emergency and prompted evacuations. Three fires in western North Carolina have burned thousands of acres, as Gerard Albert III with Blue Ridge Public Radio reports.

The three fires have been burning since last week in rural parts of the Appalachian Mountains. So far the fires have destroyed several houses and forced hundreds to evacuate. High winds this week have added to the adverse conditions. E.J. Dweiggans is a spokesman for the North Carolina Forest Service. We're seeing pretty extreme wind conditions, which means we're also going to see some pretty extreme fire behavior out on the fire line. When that occurs, you can see fire tornadoes, some pretty extreme fire behavior out there.

Right now it's way too windy to have any of our aircraft resources come in. And so we're really hoping this wind will die down. The two biggest fires, Dwegan says, are at 0% containment. For NPR News, I'm Gerard Albert III in Asheville. The fires in South Carolina include ones burning northwest of the Greenville-Spartanburg area. Firefighters in South Korea have been battling wildfires in the country's south for nearly a week. At least two dozen people have been killed and more than 200 homes and other structures

have been destroyed by the flames. More than 25,000 people have been forced to evacuate there. Officials say much of a seventh century Buddhist temple has been destroyed. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News, in Washington.