NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-01-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

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Noor Ramen, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. In New Orleans early this morning, a man drove a pickup truck at high speed down Bourbon Street, killing at least 10 people and injuring 35 others. The man then shot at police, who returned fire, killing him. The FBI says it's investigating the incident as an act of terrorism. Drew Hawkins of the Gulf States Newsroom has more. So, I talked to two people who were visiting to celebrate New Year's Eve. So there were

a lot of people in town. Jim Mauer and his wife Nicole came from Des Moines, Iowa. And they said they were walking down Bourbon Street and then they heard what sounded like crashing sounds behind them. They turned around and they saw a white pickup truck speeding down the road, plowing through barricades and a crowd of revelers before they actually managed to jump out of the way into an alcove just in time for it to miss them. And what they described was a scene of chaos and carnage. Drew Hawkins reporting. The White House says President Biden spoke to Mayor Latoya Cantrell this morning to offer full federal support.

Bird flu continues to infect dairy herds, primarily in California, and more than 65 people in the U.S. have caught the virus over the past year. NPR's Will Stone reports. Almost all of the human cases of bird flu have occurred after someone had close contact with infected animals. Those working on dairy farms appear to be contracting the virus as they're milking dairy cattle. Raw milk can splash them in the face and get into the air.

Close contact with infected birds generally means people who are handling and culling infected poultry and other birds. Benjamin Anderson, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Florida, says the worry right now is mostly about what could happen if more people get infected and the virus mutates. We're very concerned about this virus. You know, we have to temper that with, okay, no, there's not a lot of risk right now to you directly. His advice is not to handle wild birds and keep your pets away from them if possible. Will Stone, NPR News.

Russia has halted its last major pipeline providing Russian gas directly to Europe. It comes after Russia and Ukraine failed to reach an agreement to renew a gas transit deal. The EU says that it is prepared and can cope. NPR's Charles Mains reports. It may surprise to hear that Russia has continued to export natural gas to Europe through Ukraine. Despite Russia's invasion of its neighbor in 2022. The continued flow came thanks to a five-year transit agreement between Moscow and Kiev that

expired January 1st. In announcing the stoppage, Russian energy giant Gazprom blamed Ukraine for refusing to renew the transit deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had long warned Europe of the cutoff, saying Ukraine would no longer allow Russia to quote earn additional billions on our blood. Europe sharply decreased its dependence on Russian gas in the wake of the cutoff, saying Ukraine would no longer allow Russia to quote earn additional billions on our blood. Europe sharply decreased its dependence on Russian gas in the wake of the war in Ukraine, but several countries including Austria, Slovakia and Hungary still rely heavily on Russian supply. Charles Mainz, NPR News. This is NPR News.

Electrical service is slowly being restored in Puerto Rico, where the power grid collapsed yesterday, leaving nearly the entire island without power. Officials say it may take 48 hours to get everyone back online. They say a preliminary investigation into the cause indicates a failure in an underground line. This week's billboard charts are out and holiday songs have done something they've never done before. NPR's Stephen Thompson reports.

The Christmas season is behind us, which means this may be the last time you hear Santa Tell Me for almost 11 months. But there are still two holiday milestones worth noting from this week's Billboard charts. One for the first time ever, the entire top ten consists of holiday music. In fact, the top 16 songs are all shouting at us to be of good cheer. That's a product of the streaming era, which has pushed Christmas to the top of the pop charts.

Also for the first time ever, a holiday song from this century has hit the Billboard top five. You heard it just seconds ago, it's Ariana Grande's Santa Tell Me, which joins Mariah Carey, Brenda Lee, Wham, and Bobby Helms at the top of the Christmas canon. Steven Thompson, NPR News. On New Year's Day, many new laws take effect across the country. Twenty-one states are raising the minimum wage, affecting more than 9 million people. It's estimated now a third of workers live in states with a minimum wage of $15 an hour or more. Many states don't have a minimum at all.

The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.