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--:-- Leila Fadel: President Trump is trying to shut down the Department of Education. We're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs.
--:-- A Martinez: How will the move impact rural and low-income students?
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Aimee Martinez, that's Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Leila Fadel: A judge wants answers from the Trump administration on why it deported more than 200 Venezuelan migrants after a court order said stop.
--:-- A Martinez: What will the government say when they're forced to explain?
--:-- Leila Fadel: And a new report found that if Maryland had done needed assessments on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, it could have prevented its collapse last year.
--:-- A Martinez: These bridge owners need to be looking at recent vessel traffic. Things have changed over time.
--:-- Leila Fadel: What can other places learn from this disaster?
--:-- Leila Fadel: Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
--:-- Leila Fadel: This message comes from BetterHelp. It's only human to ask others for advice, like turning to your barista, hairdresser, or a taxi driver for life advice.
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--:-- Leila Fadel: Instead, get guidance from a licensed therapist online with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR for 10% off your first month.
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--:-- A Martinez: And each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.
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--:-- A Martinez: Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Must be 21 or older to purchase.
--:-- Leila Fadel: President Trump is using his executive power to try and shut down the U.S. Department of Education.
--:-- A Martinez: We're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it's a common sense thing to do.
--:-- A Martinez: It's not popular, though, with a majority of Americans. That's according to a recent NPR-PBS News Marist poll.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The administration has promised that certain federal education grants, including for low-income and rural schools, would be preserved.
--:-- A Martinez: But by this evening, many of the workers who help get that money to those schools will be out of a job.
--:-- Leila Fadel: NPR education reporter Janaki Mehta has been following the story and joins us now.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Hey, Layla.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So Janaki, let's start with the executive action President Trump signed yesterday that aims to eliminate the education department.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: And we expected this, but can the president just eliminate the Department of Education?
--:-- Layla Fadel: No, that actually requires an act of Congress.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: The action essentially tells the Secretary of Education to take all steps towards eliminating the department to the maximum extent possible under the law.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And like I said, it does require Congress. But we've already seen the Trump administration move towards that goal by cutting the department workforce nearly in half.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Many of the department's employees are going to have their last day today before being put on administrative leave.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So even without an act of Congress, the steps begin now.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Now, and your reporting has found that nearly the entire staff of the education department's data agency is being laid off.
--:-- Layla Fadel: What exactly does that agency do?
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Yeah, so the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, has been the central source of data about education in the U.S. for more than 150 years.
--:-- Layla Fadel: At the start of this year, more than 100 people were working there, and after today, just three NCES staff will remain.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: That's according to multiple employees at NCES and an internal email we reviewed.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And nearly all the data experts responsible for determining whether schools qualify for certain federal grants will soon be out of jobs.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: So this data agency being eliminated what does it mean for schools?
--:-- Layla Fadel: Part of what NCES works on are known as formula grants for schools things like Title I which goes to low schools and also funding for rural schools through the Rural Education Achievement Program
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Those are just two examples, but if there aren't data people crunching these numbers, employees tell us it's going to be really hard for schools to get that money.
--:-- Layla Fadel: I talked to Amy Price-Azano, who leads the Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech, and she said, it's important to remember the students on the other side of this money.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: When we talk about percents and all of this, we forget that that's a real kid.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And so how will those kids have everything that they need to be successful in school, to be safe in school?
--:-- Janaki Mehta: And I should say we did reach out to the Ed Department for comment on all of this, and they did not reply.
--:-- Layla Fadel: What kind of things do schools use that money for?
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Yeah, so formula grants are actually really flexible.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Once states and districts get these grants from the Ed Department, they primarily get to choose what to do with it.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Like Title I or rural school grants could be used to pay school staff salaries, transportation costs, technology, really the nuts and bolts of what makes a school a school.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And that's part of why programs like Title I or these rural school grants are such bipartisan golden children.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: They let local leaders do what best serves the unique needs of their students.
--:-- Layla Fadel: So how soon will schools feel the pain of this data being gone?
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Yeah, I've spoken to employees at NCES who have worked on both grants for rural schools and on Title I, and they all tell me they're pretty confident districts will get the money they expect for the next school year, but they're really worried about what's going to happen after that.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Like, if business was as usual, NCES staff would be hard at work right now gathering the data for the 2026-27 school year, and that is going to be a lot harder with just three employees.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: And I should add, Leila, NCS doesn't work alone when it comes to Title I. It works closely with the U.S. Census Bureau, but we learned earlier this week that the Trump administration is starting to shrink that agency too.
--:-- Layla Fadel: And that could certainly further complicate the distribution of Title I funding.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: And PR education reporter Janaki Mehta.
--:-- Layla Fadel: Thank you, Janaki.
--:-- Janaki Mehta: Thank you.
--:-- Leila Fadel: At a hearing today, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg will try to get answers from the Department of Justice about Venezuelan migrants deported to El Salvador.
--:-- A Martinez: President Trump has called for Boasberg to be impeached after he stopped the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to immediately deport the Venezuelans suspected of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But planes still left the U.S., carrying over 200 people to El Salvador.
--:-- A Martinez: Now the judge wants the government to prove that they did not ignore his order.
--:-- Leila Fadel: NPR's immigration policy reporter Ximena Bustillo has been following all this and joins me now.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Hi, Ximena.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Good morning.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Ximena, let's just take a step back here and break down why there's been such a reaction to Trump using this power to deport these men.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Well, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: And this is a presidential power that has only been previously used during times of war.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It allows the government to deport people without going through the regular immigration process, which can take years.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Now, two groups, the ACLU and Democracy Forward, caught wind that he was going to do this and preemptively sued last weekend.
--:-- Leila Fadel: They argued that the administration should not use the act to deport five Venezuelan men that they represent.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: They later broadened their request to apply to anyone potentially covered by the Alien Enemies Act under Trump's invocation.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The judge agreed to pause deportation under the act for two weeks.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: But while this was all playing out in court, three planes left the U.S. carrying over 100 people the White House says were deported under the act.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Trump administration is alleging that these members are Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: But in court filings earlier this week, immigration officials also said that Many of those removed under the act do not have criminal records in the United States.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And as noted, they were taken to El Salvador.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: OK, so the judge tried to stop these deportations or pause them for two weeks. There were some new filings in the case yesterday.
--:-- Leila Fadel: What did they show?
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Yesterday, the DOJ had to file additional details about the flights.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But Boasberg says that they quote again evaded its obligations
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: He said that Trump cabinet secretaries are deciding whether to refuse to provide evidence
--:-- Leila Fadel: The executive branch has the power to not give judges information they want if officials say it will harm national security or foreign relations
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: But Boesberg says the government filings are, quote, woefully insufficient because they're still deliberating whether to invoke this so-called state secrets privilege.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And what is the judge trying to learn now?
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: He's trying to understand if the administration disobeyed his orders, which did call for planes to be turned around.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Trump officials have underscored that they did not disobey orders.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Still, they've doubled down on their criticism of the original order and have even called to impeach Bozburg.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And what does Bozburg want the government to do now?
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: What are the next steps?
--:-- Leila Fadel: He's asking the government today to explain any of its discussions about invoking this privilege of state secrets, and they must make a final decision by March 25th.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: A Justice Department spokesperson said the department sees the questions from Bozberg as, quote, inappropriate judicial overreach.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And more of this might be discussed in a hearing this afternoon.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Now, this is one case of many around President Trump's actions.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Just zoom out a little bit. What has this week shown us about the legal challenges the Trump administration is facing?
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: This case is not the only one that has attracted strong words from judges.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And ultimately, the Trump administration is using laws that have not been tested for decades and stretching that executive power.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Many of those questions are ending up in courts across the country, including with results that may not favor Trump's interpretation.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We can expect more of these challenges to work their way up the judicial system and even end up in the Supreme Court.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: All right.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Thanks, Ximena.
--:-- Ximena Bustillo: Thank you.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And PR's Ximena Bustillo.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Maryland failed to conduct crucial assessments of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which could have prevented its collapse last year.
--:-- A Martinez: That's according to a new report by the National Transportation Safety Board on the collapse of the bridge following a collision with a cargo ship.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And the board says there are other bridges at risk.
--:-- A Martinez: Scott Mazzioni from member station WIPR joins me to talk about this.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: Good morning, Scott.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So what could Maryland have done to better prepare itself for this kind of disaster?
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: Well, there's quite a few things that a certain industry standard says they could have done.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Those industry standards were started in the early 1990s, and Maryland just really didn't conduct the assessments that they were supposed to in terms of what those industry standards set.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: That's according to the NTSB.
--:-- Leila Fadel: They say that lack of oversight could have been a big factor in the collision.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: The NTSB also noted that it conducted its own survey and found the bridge was 30 times over that risk threshold that was set by those industry standards.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And also, just as a reminder, a cargo ship named the Dali rammed into the Key Bridge this time last year in March, causing its collapse and also the death of six people.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: What sort of things do these assessments entail?
--:-- Leila Fadel: They look at things like vessel traffic, vessel transit speeds, loading characteristics, a lot of those sorts of attributes.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: And over the years, ships have gotten bigger and bigger, and the bridges have gotten older, which means they need to adapt by putting things up like dolphins, which are these sort of concrete barriers that keep ships from actually getting to the bridge and ramming into them.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So these industry standards have asked these bridge owners to take these extra precautions to avoid collapse.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homidy noted how those changes in vessel sizes have really made the industry completely different and had bridges really have to look at what they're doing in terms of that sort of thing.
--:-- Leila Fadel: These bridge owners need to be looking at recent vessel traffic.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: Things have changed over time.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Vessels have gotten bigger, heavier.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: At one point in the 1950s, we had vessels that had just 800 containers on them. Now we're talking 24,000 containers.
--:-- Leila Fadel: What about other bridges across the nation?
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: The NTSB noted that Maryland specifically hasn't conducted these assessments on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which spans 17.6 miles.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It's the fourth largest bridge in the United States, according to LYNC.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: It also identified 68 other bridges across the country that weren't built to the needs and specifications of this company NTSB is strongly urging those bridge owners right now to conduct assessments to report back to the NTSB with remediation plans.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And those bridges, they span from California to Washington to New York.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: They're all over the United States.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So this is going to be quite an undertaking for people who own bridges and for different states and departments of transportation.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: That's WIPR's Scott Mazzioni.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Thank you, Scott.
--:-- Scott Mazzioni: Thank you.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Here's some other news. In the coming days, an NPR team will be reporting in China.
--:-- A Martinez: Steve Inskeep will be joining us from there.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Steve, why now?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, Leila, because of the trade war that the United States has launched with China.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I want to see what this looks like from the other side, how the Chinese are responding to American tariffs.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And also a broader new U.S. attitude toward the world.
--:-- Leila Fadel: If you think about things like the effort to ban TikTok, to give just one example.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: One of the things we're going to be doing is going to this big Chinese business conference.
--:-- Leila Fadel: If you've heard of things like the big Davos meeting in Europe, this is the very rough equivalent of that.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The China Development Forum, global business people gather, and it's a chance for us to try to listen in and get a sense of what's going on with the economy.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So who shows up at a conference like that?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: International CEOs from Europe, from the United States, specialists on China and its economy.
--:-- Leila Fadel: From what we've heard so far, the Americans are going to be a little sparse, but some will be there.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And I'm going to be listening to the way that business leaders talk about the climate now and also how the Chinese government tries to position itself as the United States assumes a new role in the world.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So what is China's economy like as the U.S. ramps up tariffs?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, the big picture is a little bit slower growth than in the past.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Real estate prices, the fall in real estate prices, are dragging things down.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A lot of people don't feel as wealthy because their homes are worth less.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Consumer spending is low.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Consumer confidence is low.
--:-- Leila Fadel: At the same time, China's high-tech development is pulling them up.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They're dominating industries like electric vehicles.
--:-- Leila Fadel: They're being more competitive than people expected in artificial intelligence, on and on.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But we want to get at some of the nuances of how China's economy is growing and how it's changing.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And that is what we're going to hear in days to come, along with an NPR team that includes John Ruich and Anthony Kuhn.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There's going to be some news out of China. China's president is widely expected, perhaps, to have a meeting with international CEOs, and we'll try to follow it all.
--:-- Leila Fadel: All right. I'm looking forward to that reporting from you and your team, Steve.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Me too.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And that's Up First for Friday, March 21st.
--:-- A Martinez: I'm Leila Fadel.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And I'm A. Martinez.
--:-- A Martinez: With the recent arrest of Philippine ex-president Rodrigo Duterte, this weekend on the Sunday story from Up First, we return to the Philippines that Duterte left behind and examine the aftermath of his brutal war on drugs.
--:-- Leila Fadel: That's right here in the Up First podcast this Sunday.
--:-- A Martinez: And today's episode of Up First was edited by Nicole Cohen, Anna Yukhananov, Luis Clemens, Alice Woelfle, and Mohamad ElBardicy.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- A Martinez: We get engineering support from Simon-Laslo Janssen, and our technical director is Stacey Abbott.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Our executive producer is Jay Shaler.
--:-- A Martinez: And Up First is here for you tomorrow, too, with Aisha Roscoe and Scott Simon.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Join them on Saturday.
--:-- [Up First theme music starts playing]
--:-- Leila Fadel: This message comes from the Nature Conservancy.
--:-- A Martinez: Nature is common ground for everyone, and uniting to protect nature can help solve today's challenges and create a thriving tomorrow for future generations.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Discover why at nature.org slash NPR.
--:-- A Martinez: This comes from NPR sponsor, Sierra.
--:-- Leila Fadel: How businesses connect with customers defines their brand.
--:-- A Martinez: Sierra is the platform for building better, more human customer experiences with AI.
--:-- Leila Fadel: No stock answers, no hold music, just real solutions fast.
--:-- A Martinez: Visit sierra.ai to learn more.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Support for NPR and the following message come from Pete and Jerry's Eggs.
--:-- A Martinez: Their new organic pasture-raised eggs come from hens that roam lush pastures and enjoy a USDA-certified organic diet.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The result? Delicious, ethical, healthy eggs, as nature intended.
--:-- A Martinez: Learn more at PeteAndJerrys.com.
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