NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-02-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

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Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr dot org. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. After a pickup truck rammed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and killed 15 people early New Year's Day,

some visitors to the city have begun questioning the current security plan. The Gulf States newsroom's Kat Stromquist has more on that story. Hours after the deadly attack, Jermaine Daniels and his wife stood across from Bourbon Street, the tourist drag where a man had hurdled a pickup truck into the crowd. Daniels was visiting from Texas. He

said he didn't know why the street was not fully closed off. We have been to Vegas before and they got the barricades at Vegas and I wish they would have had them here, the steel barricades, so can't nobody get down the street. New Orleans police chief Ann Kirkpatrick said bullets that once blocked the street weren't working well and the street was blocked by police. But that the suspect defeated that plan by driving onto the sidewalk. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. For NPR News, I'm Kat Stromquist in New Orleans. Police in Las Vegas say fireworks, mortars and fuel canisters were found in the back

of a Tesla Cybertruck that exploded Wednesday outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. The blast killed the suspect, who was found sitting inside the truck. Seven other people were injured. Joe Shaneman hosts Nevada Public Radio's morning show. He says the investigation by the FBI is now underway. They still have yet to release the name of the person who was driving it, and that is the person who was killed, but they said that would be forthcoming in a future press conference. And they were saying that the truck was rented through a company called Turo, which is a

company that facilitates the rental of private vehicles and it was rented in Colorado, driven to Las Vegas. The FBI is also investigating whether that explosion was qualified as an act of terrorism. For many of the millions of Syrian refugees living around the world, it seemed almost unthinkable that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad would ever be ousted in their lifetime. Now they have the option of returning home without fearing for their lives. But for many that decision isn't an easy one and Piers Fatma Tanis reports from Istanbul. At a cafe Syrians are smoking water pipes and celebrating the fall of the Assad regime three weeks on.

Among them is Hiba Ahmed who fled Syria more than a decade ago when she was just seven years old. She now speaks fluent Turkish and sees her future in the country that gave her refuge. It's a sentiment shared by many Syrians who have not only put down strong roots in foreign countries but also worry about the political instability back home. Others though like Mustafa Hamoud plan to move back to Syria in the coming weeks. He wants to start work on the family farm and marry his fiance. We were guests here in Turkey, Hamoud says, and we shouldn't overstay our welcome.

Fatma Tanis, NPR News, Istanbul. And you're listening to NPR News. Russian gas supplies to Western Europe were stopped on New Year's Day by Ukraine. The gas has been moving through a pipeline in Ukraine under a deal arranged before the war began there. That deal ended on New Year's Eve. Russia has been supplying 8% of Europe's natural gas through its pipelines. Certain clothing contains PFAs, which are also known as forever chemicals. They are now banned from being sold in New York. Natalie Abruzzo from Ember Station WSKG has more. New York's new

apparel PFAS ban, which passed in 2022, is meant to protect consumers from exposure to PFAS forever chemicals that have been linked to reproductive health issues, developmental delays in children, and some cancers. Kate Donovan is the Northeast Director of Environmental Health with the National Resources Defense Council. She says exposure to these forever chemicals can occur through skin contact. PFAS in apparel in particular is certainly a concern because we certainly don't want to be wearing

pieces of clothing with toxic chemicals on them. California and Colorado also recently banned the sale of certain textiles with PFAS. For NPR News, I'm Natalie Abruzzo in Corning, New York. Jeremiah Smith caught two touchdown passes as the Ohio State Buckeyes manhandled number one Oregon tonight. OSU dominated the first half before beating the Ducks 41 to 21. Texas meanwhile was almost upset in the Peach Bowl. The Longhorns needed two overtimes to beat Arizona State 39 to 31. And the game between Notre Dame and Georgia has been postponed until tomorrow because of the killings on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. What's in store for the music, TV and film industries for 2025? We don't know. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.