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Episode Date: April 3, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. Integrity, good engine, good control. We show the same. It feels great up here. Astronauts on the Artemis II mission have been circling Earth for the last day, but now they've blasted their main engine for six minutes, leaving Earth's orbit in the pivotal move that puts their Orion capsule on the way to the moon. It's the first time any human has been on the trajectory in more than a half a century, and it includes risks like cosmic radiation beyond the protection of Earth's magnetic

field. The trip to the moon will take roughly four days. FEMA lost hundreds of workers in February. NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports new data shows a trend of job cuts at the agency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, lost 356 workers in February, according to the Federal Government's Office of Personnel Management. In all, FEMA has lost more than 2,500 employees since last September. Trump administration officials have repeatedly called for FEMA to be drastically cut and moved to eliminate FEMA jobs, including in offices that directly help survivors of hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security. At his Senate confirmation hearing, new DHS secretary Mark Wayne Mullen argued that cuts can make

FEMA more efficient. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News. Today is the anniversary of what President Trump called Liberation Day when he ordered double-digit tariffs on just about every country in the world. He promised those tariffs would usher in a new golden age of stronger factories, lower prices, and a smaller trade deficit. But U.S. factories lost 89,000 jobs. Inflation is higher, and the trade deficit actually widened last year. The Supreme Court struck down Trump's use of an emergency power to levy tariffs. Businesses are looking for about $166 billion in refunds. The Pentagon and other defendants are appealing, a price of money. preliminary injunction against blacklisting the AI company Anthropic. NPR's John Ruich reports on the

dispute over how the military can use AI. Anthropic says it does not want its AI used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon says it's up to the military to decide how to use the technology, not the company. It labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk, and President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using its products. A federal judge in San Francisco last week ordered a preliminary injunction against the moves. She said the measures do not appear directed at the government's stated national security interests and instead looked like punishment. The Pentagon and other defendants argued in court that Anthropics actions rendered it untrustworthy.

John Rewich, NPR News. Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth has asked the top uniformed member of the Army, chief of staff of the Army General Randy George, to step down and immediately retire. That's according to an official not authorized to speak publicly. it's unclear who will replace George. Stocks overcame early losses today to close mixed. This is NPR news. The Trump administration has scaled back its plans to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the reduction will still be steep. Under the new plan, the Bureau's headcount will be reduced from 1,700 to 550 instead of 200. The plan faces opposition from the CFPB's employee union and likely requires a federal judge's approval. Midwives are suing over Georgia's laws governing their practice. They say the laws keep them from seeing patients and exacerbate gaps in maternity care.

Jess Maydor of Member Station, WABE, has more. Georgia has some of the nation's most restrictive midwifery laws, according to the American College of Nurse Midwives. Restrictions Atlanta Birth Center Director Tamara Tate says are unnecessary, including a mandate that certified nurse midwives work under a doctor's supervision. We could employ more midwives and serve more families. Instead, Georgia is choosing to leave skilled and committed workforce on the sidelines. Georgia has just three freestanding birth centers statewide.

The lawsuits filed in Fulton County Superior Court. The state attorney general hasn't commented on it. For NPR News, I'm Jess Mador in Atlanta. Dutch authorities have recovered a priceless ancient golden helmet from Romania stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands. Prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Koso-Fonneshed helmet during a press conference in the eastern Dutch city of Aston. The helmet considered a cultural icon of Romania

was on loan to the Drentz Museum when it was nabbed more than a year ago. This is NPR News.