NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-01-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

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Noor Aram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aram. The FBI is investigating a deadly incident in New Orleans early this morning. Police say at least 10 people were killed and more than 30 injured after a pickup truck drove through a crowd on Bourbon Street. The Gulf States newsroom's Drew Hawkins has more. Eye witnesses report seeing a white pickup truck accelerate and intentionally drive through the crowd before exchanging gunfire with police and speeding away.

I think we alone probably saw five, six, seven bodies. Jim Maurer and his wife were in town visiting for the celebrations. He says Bourbon Street was packed with revelers for New Year's Eve. They heard crashing sounds and turned to see the truck plowing through the crowd. We were hoping to provide some first aid to the bodies we came across, but we're very clearly deceased. And then we moved out of the area. Police have not released information about suspects or motives at this time. For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans.

The 119th Congress convenes Friday, and the new year could see a new House speaker. Mike Johnson is running to keep his position, but NPR's Windsor Johnson reports he may not have enough support. Many House Republicans are concerned about keeping the majority for the second half of Donald Trump's term in office. And some have said that Speaker Johnson is not up for that task. Republican Congressman Chip Roy says Johnson doesn't have enough support in the lead-up to Friday's vote.

We need to have the conference get together so that we can get united. There are a lot of great members of Congress. Mike's a friend and maybe he can answer the call and he can deliver an agenda and a plan. Byron Donalds is a good man and a good friend. I nominated him two years ago. President-elect Donald Trump says Johnson has his complete and total endorsement. The Louisiana Republican needs 218 votes to retain the speakership. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. The flow of Russian gas to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine ended early this morning.

Ukraine refused to renew its agreement to allow the shipments because of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. Russia launched a New Year's Day drone attack on Ukraine today, striking a residential area of the capital, Kyiv. NPR's Brian Mayen reports. Well, this is what it sounded like just before dawn as air defenses began to fire here in Kiev. Military officials say Russia targeted the city with drones packed with explosives. One civilian was killed, six others injured, and the attacks at an apartment building on

fire. NPR's Brian Mann in Kiev. In South Korea, funerals are being planned now that authorities identified all 179 people who died in a plane crash Sunday. Only two people survived the crash. This is NPR News in Washington. Utility officials in Puerto Rico say it may take two days before electricity is restored to everyone on the island. More than 1.3 million homes and businesses lost power early yesterday.

Officials say it appears the outage was caused by a failure in an underground power line. A parcel of land in Wyoming has been sold to Grand Teton National Park. This caps months of negotiations between state and federal officials to merge the land with the park to stop it from being developed. Wyoming Public Radio's Chris Clements reports. Wyoming's Republican Governor Mark Gordon certified the sale of the Kelly parcel in Northwest Wyoming just before a critical fundraising deadline.

Lawmakers approved the $100 million sale to keep it from being subdivided, a prospect that had sparked outrage across political lines. The land is surrounded by sawtooth mountain ranges and speckled by sagebrush. This past summer, Jared Becker with the non-profit Greater Yellowstone Coalition talked about the significance of the sale. One square mile of land has significant implications on the ecology, particularly for big game species migrating through this area. The proceeds will be used to fund Wyoming public schools. For NPR News, I'm Chris Clements in Laramie.

President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to attend next week's funeral for Jimmy Carter. The 39th president died Sunday at the age of 100. The funeral is scheduled for January 9th at the National Cathedral in Washington. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.