NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-02-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. The FBI has identified the suspect in the deadly attack in New Orleans Wednesday. The 42-year-old rammed a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street and killed at least 15 people while injuring dozens of others. As the Texas newsroom's Lauren McGuy reports, neighbors say they recall seeing the alleged attacker in their Northwest Houston neighborhood. Francois Venegas said he did not know Shamsuddin Jabbar by name but remembers saying hello to him in the street. Like normal person, like simple person you know. Venegas says he's lived

in the area a couple of years. He described it as a quiet largely Muslim community. State records showed Jabbar started realty businesses in Texas but that at least two were now defunct. Jabbar was in the army from 2007 to 2015 and then in the reserve until 2020. He had one deployment to Afghanistan. A US official who was not authorized to speak on the record about Jabbar told NPR he had some quote discipline problems and a DUI on his record and that he was honorably discharged. I'm Lauren McGahee in Austin. Police in Las Vegas say they're trying to determine whether the explosion of a Tesla cyber truck in that city has any terrorist connections, particularly with the Islamic states.

We don't have any indication of that here in Las Vegas. No overt ISIS flag as we've seen in New Orleans. But again, we are investigating every aspect of this and if that comes to light we'll certainly update you." That's Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMayhill. He says police crews found fuel canisters and fireworks mortars in the back of the truck. One person was found inside the truck and seven people outside received minor injuries from the blast. Authorities in India are moving more than 300 tons of toxic waste from the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal, which was the scene in December 1984 of the world's worst industrial accident. Thousands of people were killed when deadly gas from a chemical used in the production

of pesticides swept through the city after a storage tank shattered its concrete casing. We have more on this story from the BBC's Tom Bailey. A convoy of trucks under tight security transported away contaminated soil, residue and chemicals packed in 12 specially designed containers. These will now be incinerated 225 kilometres away at the most sophisticated disposal plant in Madhya Pradesh state. Despite concerns raised by communities living close to the incineration site. Officials insist the process will be completely safe.

The order to finally clear the waste was made by the state's high court last month following the 40th anniversary and strong criticism of the pace of the clean-up operation. Health officials in Gaza say Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday killed at least 12 people and most of those killed were women and children. Israel's military is blaming Hamas, saying its fighters should not operate in dense residential areas. Gaza's health ministry meanwhile says Israel's ground and air offensive has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians.

This is NPR News. A new California law says schools can no longer require teachers to disclose the status of LGBTQ plus students to their parents. Megan Myzkowski with CAP Radio in Sacramento reports. The laws in response to several California school districts enacting policies that require teachers to let parents know if their child identifies with a gender other than what's listed on their school record. For example,

if a child indicates at school that they'd like to use different pronouns, school staff would have to alert parents. The law doesn't prevent teachers from outing students to their parents, as long as they're not forced by their employer. But it does protect them from retaliation if they choose not to share that information or if they teach sexual health education in line with the state's requirements. For NPR News, I'm Megan Myckowski. Movie ticket sales were down in 2024. That's according to ComScore estimates. The annual domestic box office take is expected to be about $8.75 billion. That would be down more than 3% from 2023. One reason is the effect of the Hollywood strikes in 2023, which delayed productions and movie releases. Annual sales have still not recovered to pre-COVID levels

when sales regularly surpassed $11 billion. Two touchdown underdog Arizona State almost pulled off the first major upset of the new college football playoff era, but they lost a number four Texas in double overtime, 39 to 31. Ohio State meanwhile, led number one Oregon 34 to 8 at the half before beating the Ducks 41 to 21 and the attack on Bourbon Street

in New Orleans on Wednesday night caused the game between Georgia and New Orleans to be postponed Thursday. I'm Dale Willman NPR News.