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Ukraine Info Freeze, Tariff Break for Cars, & Goals for Good - Thursday, March 6, 2025
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The news to know for Thursday, March 6, 2025! We’re talking about the White House cutting off Ukraine—not just from weapons, but information now, too. Also, a partial truce in America’s growing trade war and why one industry won’t have to...
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Today is Thursday, March 6th. We're talking about the White House cutting off Ukraine not just from weapons, but information now too. Also, a partial truce in America's growing trade war, why one industry won't have to worry about tariffs for now. Plus why shoppers are boycotting Target, where you'll start having to show an ID to download an app, and how a star hockey player is working for a record and a good cause at the same time. Those stories and even more news to know next. Welcome, welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in around 10 minutes. Fast, fair, fun and on the go. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. You ready? Let's do this. The Trump administration apparently was not done pressuring Ukraine after cutting off US Military aid. The White House announced it would also stop sharing intelligence with that Ukraine no longer gets information helping the Ukrainian military zero in on Russian targets. It also means Ukraine does not get advance warning before Russia's drone and missile strikes that are still happening against both military and civilian targets every day. White House officials say the military aid and information freezes could be short lived, just so long as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cooperates with President Trump's plan to end Russia's invasion. The exact details of that plan have not been laid out, but for now, Ukrainian President Zelensky has said he's open to peace talks as long as any deal comes with security guarantees like ongoing support from Western allies. Meanwhile, the European Union is holding an emergency meeting today as it tries to figure out how to go it alone in defending Ukraine. All 27 EU countries will be there, as well as Ukrainian President Zelensky. Already, some European leaders have called for more defense spending and even the possibility of sending their own troops in to help the Ukrainian military. French President Emmanuel Macron explained in a primetime address that if Russia were to find success in Ukraine, there's nothing to say the Russian government wouldn't keep invading other countries, and the US Might not be a reliable partner at that point. France and Britain are also reportedly working on a peace plan of their own, so stay tuned. The IRS and Veterans affairs seem to be the latest targets for mass cuts. The AP says the IRS is now drafting plans to slash its workforce of 90,000 people by up to half. In other words, 45,000Americans could be pushed out through firings, resignations and buyouts, and that's on top of about 7,000 IRS employees who were already laid off last month. Meanwhile, an internal Memo shows the VA is planning to lay off as many as 83,000 workers. The VA Chief of Staff said cuts will be sweeping and no part of the department would be spared. Already, at least 100,000 government workers have lost their jobs since President Trump took office, and the White House has told all federal agencies to reduce staffing even more in an effort to cut down on what Trump's cost cutting team, Doge, considers to be government waste. But Doge has also made some mistakes and and thousands of workers who lost their jobs have since been asked to come back. Most recently, close to 6,000 employees at the USDA were rehired, as well as other workers from the Energy Department, National Park Service and cdc. For now, though, it's not clear if they're going to be spared from future cuts. The U.S. supreme Court is starting to get in the middle of President Trump's efforts to wipe out foreign aid. In a 5 to 4 vote, justices agreed, with a lower court saying the Trump administration will have to pay USAID contractors for work that's already been completed, despite efforts to end some of those contracts. That amounts to roughly $2 billion. And in a hearing today, a judge will talk about a timeline to restart the payments. All that said, Trump's effort to remake the federal government still has a long road ahead. More than 100 other lawsuits have been filed, and many of them are expected to reach the Supreme Court eventually. Just one day into President Trump's new trade policy with Canada and Mexico, he started making adjustments. Trump decided the new 25% tariffs will not apply to American carmakers, at least not for the first month. The decision came after the president had a call with executives from gm, Ford and Stellantis. They told him tariffs would effectively erase all of their profits and impact American jobs. So the White House granted the temporary exception with the hope that in the next month car companies will move all production to the U.S. and with that, the stock market rallied. It's also possible. Tariffs don't stay at 25% for the rest of Canadian and Mexican products. The Trump administration says things will change if Canada and Mexico do more to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the US and talks are still underway. We have more news for you still coming up, but first a quick break to thank our sponsor Quints. I admit that I love a little luxury now and then, but it doesn't mean I can always afford it. Then again, Quince lets me indulge in luxury items while still getting them at an affordable Quince has everything from high quality everyday essentials like 100% Mongolian cashmere sweaters from $50 to Italian leather handbags and 14 karat gold jewelry and more. I'm wearing my latest purchase all the time recently. It's a super soft, cozy and stylish wool quarter zip pullover sweater that I can dress up or down. And no matter what I get from Quint, one of the best things is that all the Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They're able to do that by partnering directly with top factories and cutting out the cost of the middleman passing those savings onto you. Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices too, so give yourself the luxury you deserve with quince. Go to quince.comnewsworthy for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N C-E.comnewsworthy to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.comnewsworthy now back to the news. Utah became the first state in the US to say people should have to prove they're of age before downloading apps. State lawmakers passed a bill saying as much yesterday, and now it's headed to the governor's desk. Specifically, it says app stores will have to get age information as soon as the person makes an account, so they may start asking for a form of id like a driver's license, passport or credit card. The whole idea is to keep children from seeing content that's not appropriate for them. And tech giants like Meta, Snap and X are all for it, saying it makes sense for app stores to shoulder the responsibility. So ages only have to be confirmed once, not within each individual app. But app store giants like Apple and Google, not so much, they argue. Parents already have the option to set age appropriate parameters for app downloads, and they don't want to ask users to hand over sensitive data by uploading something like a driver's license and if they don't even want to use an age restricted app. Tech policy groups agree and say the bill could put all users privacy at risk. Either way, this bill is expected to become law in May, barring any legal challenges. Similar measures are already being considered in at least eight other states. A hearing on Capitol Hill got pretty heated with Republican members of Congress confronting Democratic mayors on immigration. They grilled leaders from so called sanctuary cities, New York, Chicago, Denver and Boston. The Republicans argued the officials have not been cooperating with an immigration crackdown, making them partly responsible when migrants commit violent crimes. They pointed to specific suspects, asking each mayor if they would have handed them over to federal immigration agents. The mayors responded to say they would turn over any suspect if there was a warrant. They also made it clear their policies don't say local officials cannot cooperate with federal agents, just that they don't have to and they believe that's all the law requires of them. The mayors also talked about crime rates that have been going down in their cities and accused lawmakers of being the ones not doing their jobs since they haven't agreed on immigration reform. Even without action in Congress, President Trump has threatened to cut off these so called sanctuary cities. The mayors acknowledged that would be devastating. All in all, the hearing lasted six hours. A symbol of social justice in Washington, D.C. is about to be replaced. If you've been to the nation's Capitol in the last few years, you probably saw it. We're talking about the large yellow Black Lives Matter mural just one block from the White House. It first went up in 2020 and the area started being referred to as Black Lives Matter Plaza. Well, that's about to change. This week, a Republican congressman introduced a bill that tells the city to repaint and rename the plaza or else lose transportation funding. Soon after, Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser put out a statement to say, quote, we can't afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference. And she said the mural would be repainted as part of a citywide project celebrating America's 250th birthday next year. More changes are expected. Some shoppers have decided to avoid Target for the next six weeks. They're part of a boycott in response to the company rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion, AKA DEI policies earlier this year. The so called Target fast movement is happening during Lent, which started yesterday. More than 100,000 people have reportedly signed up, with civil rights and church leaders leading the effort. So far, Target is not commenting on this boycott, but a spokesperson for the company has told CNN it's still committed to inclusivity. Of course, Target is just one of several companies alongside the federal government who's been rolling back DEI programs recently. A professional hockey player is on the verge of making NHL history, and as he does, he's turning his quest for greatness into into an act of generosity. Washington Capital star Alex ovechkin has scored 885 goals so far in his career, meaning he's just nine goals away from breaking hockey legend Wayne Gretzky's record before the end of this regular season. And now Ovechkin is promising to donate money for each goal he scores from now through the rest of his career toward childhood cancer research. So when he scores his 886th goal, he'll give $886. When he scores his 887th goal, he'll give $887 and so on. It's all part of a partnership with Hockey Fights Cancer and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. The capital's owner is also matching Ovechkin's donations, and Ovechkin is asking fans to join him as well by donating $8 in honor of his uniform number or any amount they'd like. If you're interested in donating, we've added a link to today's episode notes well, that's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Thing to Know Thursday. But first a quick break for our sponsor, Wild Grain. Wild Grain is the first bake from frozen subscription box for artisanal breads, pastries and pastas. Wildgrain's boxes are fully customizable to your tastes and dietary restrictions, from their classic variety box to their recently launched gluten free box and plant based box which is 100% vegan. Best of all, they take the hassle out of baking since all items bake from frozen in just 25 minutes or less with no mess or cleanup. Having warm flaky croissants to wake up to with a cup of coffee is such a delight. I especially love having these in the freezer for whenever we have out of town guests. I can just pop them in the oven and voila. Not to mention Wild Grain's amazing hand cut fresh pastas that make dinner time feel fancy, yet keeps it so quick and easy. Are you ready to bring all your favorite carbs right to your doorstep? Be sure to check out Wild Grain so you can begin building your own box of artisanal breads, pastas and pastries. For a limited time, Wild Grain is offering our listeners $30 off their first box, plus free croissants in every box when you go to wildgrain.comnewsworthy to start your subscription. You heard me. Free croissants in every box and $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com newsworthy. That's wildgrain.com newsworthy or use the promo code newsworthy at checkout. Now back to thing to know Thursday the toy industry is getting a big boost from adults. A new report from market research company Circana found adults spent more than one and a half billion dollars on toys for themselves in the last three months of last year, putting them ahead of purchases made for toddlers in 2024. In fact, one researcher told Business Insider, plush toys are tracking with the growth of Legos, a leading brand in the toy industry. Plushies like Jelly Cats and Squishmallows are especially popular among gen zers and millennials. And the trend doesn't end here. Another report by Grandview Research found the global market for stuffed animals and plush toys is expected to grow every year until 2030. Experts think there are a handful of reasons why adults are latching onto toys like plushies. For starters, research has shown they improve our mood and mental health. It's also just become more acceptable to be a kid at heart. People on social media seem to love to show off their plushie collections or take people along on trips to places like the Jelly Cat Diner in New York City. Well, thank you so much for listening today and make making us part of your daily routine. We'll catch you up on more news to know tomorrow. Until then, have a great day.