NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-05-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: April 5, 2025

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This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right. They offer premium wireless plans for less and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage. See for yourself at mintmobile.com slash switch. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. The Internal Revenue Service is cutting more jobs ahead of the April 15th tax filing deadline, and Piers Shannon Bond reports. The IRS notified employees by email on Friday that mass reductions are coming across offices and job categories. The goal, it said, is to, quote, increase the efficiency and effectiveness

of the IRS. The cuts come during the agency's busiest time of year, with the tax deadline looming, and will roll out in phases. The IRS's Office of Civil Rights and Compliance is the first affected, the email said. The agency is cutting 75% of jobs in that office and says it will transfer remaining staff to another department. The IRS didn't say how many jobs it plans to eliminate in total. It already cut more than 6,000 positions in February. Shannon Bond, NPR News. eliminate in total. It already cut more than 6,000 positions in February.

Shannon Bond, NPR News. As stocks plummeted on Wall Street Friday, President Trump was golfing at his resort in Florida. Before heading to the links Friday morning, he posted on social media that this is a great time to get rich. By the close of the day, the S&P 500 had plummeted 6 percent while the Dow was down 5.5 percent. The The Nasdaq meanwhile entered bear territory it has dropped more than 20 percent since its last record high. President Trump has abruptly fired the director of the National Security Agency Tim Haw. Officials say senior military leaders were informed of that action on Thursday. NPR's Greg Myrie. The NSA chief is a general or an

admiral and presidents typically inherit an NSA director as was the case here and there's no fixed term for the job but they usually serve three four years then a president may appoint a successor but Hawk was in the post just over a year and there was no sense that his job was in jeopardy and in addition his deputy Wendy Noble a civilian was also dismissed. That's NPR's Greg Meyry. The White House and the Pentagon have not said why that action was taken. Hall had a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber operations.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to return a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador by mistake. That decision is guaranteed to set up another high-stakes clash between the White House and the courts. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports. U.S. District Judge Paula Zinis called the deportation of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia an illegal act. The man had been living in the U.S. legally and had a work permit when he was arrested and deported last month, despite having been granted deportation protection by an immigration judge in 2019. The Justice Department admits that Abrego Garcia was deported because of an administrative

error, but DOJ lawyers argued that he is a member of the criminal gang MS-13 and that the judge lacks the authority to order his return since Abrego Garcia is now in El Salvador. But Judge Zinis did not agree. She ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia to the US by 11.59 pm on Monday, April 7th. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News. cases in 22 states. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number includes 481 cases in Texas alone. MPR's Maria Godoy has more. Texas health officials on Friday said the state had confirmed 59 new measles cases in the last three days alone. Officials say 56 people have now been hospitalized with measles. That's up from 42 earlier this week. The vast majority of cases

in Texas are in kids and teens under 18 who were unvaccinated. Meanwhile, health officials in New Mexico reported the state now has a total of 54 measles cases. The CDC says there have been six measles outbreaks in the U.S. so far this year. The country has now reported more than double the number of measles cases this year as it saw in all of 2024. Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases known to mankind. Public health officials say the best defense is vaccination. Maria Godoy, NPR News. Officials in Ukraine say a Russian missile strike on a city in the central part of the country has killed at least 14 people.

Six of the dead were children. More than 50 other people have been injured. They described the attack as an assault against civilians. The missile struck a playground next to residential buildings. Ukraine's president blamed the latest in Russia's daily strikes on Russia's unwillingness to end the war. Again it was another terrible day on Wall Street. The Dow closed down 2,231 points. The NASDAQ closed down 962 points. The S&P 500 down 322 points. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right.

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