NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-01-2026 12AM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

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Hello, and happy New Year. It's Michelle Martin from Morning Edition. Thank you to everyone who donated during our end-of-year fundraising campaign. 2025 dealt a big blow to NPR and local stations with the loss of federal funding for public media, but we are so heartened by the outpouring of support, and we will get through this together. Thank you for keeping NPR strong, moving into 2026 and beyond. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay-Stevens. President Trump says he's pulling National Guard troops from several major cities.

As NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, the move comes after the Supreme Court rejected the administration's emergency appeal of plans to deploy troops to Chicago. President Trump says in a social media post that he's pulling troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. In his true social post, Trump credits the deployment with reducing crime and promises to come back in a different and stronger form. Trump has argued that the guard was needed in. in the democratically led cities to quell crime and protect federal immigration officers, but he's also faced legal defeats as Democratic governors have opposed the moves. This was the first time the Supreme Court waited into the matter, and while not precedent-setting, the ruling brings some clarity to Trump's presidential powers.

Franco Ordonez. NPR News, Palm Beach. A transcript of the House Judiciary Committee's interview with former Special Counsel Jack Smith has been released. NPR's Gary Johnson reports that, Smith has volunteered to testify publicly, but no Republican leader has accepted his offer. The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee dropped the nearly 300-page transcript on New Year's Eve. Jack Smith fielded questions about his work building criminal cases against now President Donald Trump over Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged refusal to turn over secret documents to the FBI. Smith told lawmakers the election case was built on Republicans.

who put their allegiance to the country before their political party and that several state and federal officials would have been witnesses for the prosecution. The Justice Department dropped both cases against Trump after last year's election, following a long policy that the sitting president cannot be prosecuted. Carrie Johnson and PR News, Washington. January 1st marks one year since a deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans, a truck plowed into New Year's revelers from Bourbon Street, killing 14 people. As NPR's Debbie Elliott reports, the city is still using temporary security measures to protect the busy tourist thoroughfare. The New Year's terror attack raised questions about pedestrian safety in New Orleans' popular French quarter. At the time, the city was in the process of replacing malfunctioning bollards. Steel columns intended to block vehicles from entering Bourbon Street.

A year later, the street remains protected by a mix of removable barriers, including bollards, barricades, and police vehicles, what one police official calls a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Now, New Orleans police are asking the City Council to approve a $1.5 million plan to install permanent metal swing gates along Bourbon Street. Debbie Elliott, NPR News. It's 2026. This is NPR. With the new year comes new rules. Postal Service, it means a change in how postmarks are defined. Cards, letters, and tax returns may not necessarily be postmarked on the day they're dropped off. But concerned customers can

take their mailings to a post office to ensure that the item is poked right away. The search for wreckage from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has resumed for the first time in years. The plane disappeared from radar during a March 2014 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Official search operations in the South China Sea and Southern Indian Ocean were suspended in 2017 and a private search to under nothing a year later. It's still unclear what caused the crash, which killed 239 passengers and crew members. 2025 was a tough year for nightclubs, with a number of well-known venues closing across the country. The story from NPR's NETA Ulubi.

Several clubs in Brooklyn and San Francisco announced closures, including YOLO, where this live set was recorded last year. In Los Angeles, the legendary Mayan Theater closed, and clubs announced closures in Cleveland, Chicago, Austin, Texas, and on the Jersey Shore. It was a hard year. Stephen Parker runs the International Venue Association. He says the economy is to blame. Margins are tight, people are going out less, and they do not drink as much. Plus, he says gentrification is an issue, and so is pressure from big corporations like Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Their practices spurred an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department with a trial scheduled for March. Netta Ulibe, NPR News.

You're listening to NPR. What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2026? We don't know. But we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year, plus setting some personal pop culture resolutions. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you.