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

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

NPR News: 01-01-2025 11PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2025? We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year. Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. President Biden says the nation is grieving with the victims and families of the truck attack in New Orleans during a New Year's celebration. As NPR's Frank Ordonez reports, Biden also called the investigation fluid. Speaking from Camp David, President Biden said the attacker posted videos saying he

was inspired by ISIS to kill just hours before the attack and that investigators were looking into whether he acted alone. I directed my team to make sure every resource, every resource is made available to federal, state and local law enforcement to complete the investigation in New Orleans quickly and to make sure there's no remaining threat to the American people. Biden was also briefed on the cyber attack explosion outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas. Biden said officials are investigating whether there may be any connection, but have found none yet.

Franco Ordonez, NPR News. The college football Sugar Bowl in New Orleans has been postponed until tomorrow at 3 p.m. because of that deadly attack in the city. NPR's Sean DeLis Duster has more. Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hunley told reporters that the game between the Notre Dame fighting Irish and Georgia Bulldogs would move to Thursday. We have been in consultation with ESPN, with the college football playoff, with the Southeastern Conference, with the University of Georgia, with Notre Dame.

All parties and all agree that it's in the best interests of everybody in public safety that we postpone the game. Officials from both universities say they are praying for those affected by the attack. The University of Georgia says a student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment. Chandelis Duster, NPR News. There are a few million more residents of the U.S. this New Year's Day than there were on January 1st of last year. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports. this New Year's Day than there were on January 1st of last year. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports. The Census Bureau's population estimate is based on births, deaths,

and international migration and it's extremely precise. Lauren Bowers, chief of the Bureau's population estimates branch, says the projected number of people living in the U. is 341,145,670 people. And here's what we can expect throughout January, says Bowers. One birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.4 seconds. And add another person every 23 seconds through international migration.

It makes the US the third most populous nation in the world following India and China. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago. A new law took effect in New York State today that entitles pregnant women in the state to at least 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments. Governor Kathy Hochul says the law makes New York the first state in the country to offer paid leave for prenatal care. The measure was passed to help reduce maternal and infant deaths in the state. You're listening to NPR News. A probe called Lunar Trailblazer could launch from Cape Canaveral as early as next month.

Joe Palka reports that its mission is to map the water on the moon. Scientists have evidence there's water on the moon, but they don't know how much is there, they don't know exactly where it is, and they don't know what form it's in. It's definitely not liquid water, but it could be ice, water vapor, or individual water molecules bound to rocks. Lunar Trailblazer has instruments that should help answer those questions. The answers could determine whether astronauts could use that water when they get there. To get to the moon, the probe is catching a ride aboard a SpaceX rocket. The rocket's main mission is to deliver a lander made by the company Intuitive Machines to the lunar surface.

Right now that launch is scheduled for the end of February, but the launch date has changed several times in the past year and it could change again. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca. Ukraine stopped the flow of natural gas from Russia today. The gas which passes through a pipeline in Ukraine was destined for Western Europe. The gas had been moving under a deal struck between the two countries before the war began. That deal ended on New Year's Eve. The pipeline was giving Europe about 8 percent of the natural gas it uses.

The college football playoff quarterfinal in New Orleans has been postponed a day after a man drove his truck onto Bourbon Street in the French Quarter and killed at least 15 people. The Ohio State Buckeyes, meanwhile, dominated No. 1 Oregon for the first half and won 41-21. And Texas avoided the first big upset of the playoffs after they beat Arizona State 39 to 31 in double overtime I'm Dale Willman NPR News The indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation

So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes and home prices, the S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever, follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR.