NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-02-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Authorities have identified the man killed in the cyber truck outside of a Trump Hotel in Las Vegas as an active duty U.S. Army Special Operations soldier. As NPR's Frank Langford reports, Las Vegas police say the man shot himself in the head just before the truck exploded. Authorities identified the man as Master Sergeant Matthew Livelsberger, age 37, who was on approved leave. Livelsberger lived in Colorado Springs

and had served five combat deployments to Afghanistan. The FBI says it's following leads around the world to determine a motive. Police note that the Las Vegas bombing shares similarities with the New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans. Both perpetrators rented their vehicles using the same app. Both served in the U.S. military and what was formerly known as Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Though police emphasized there's no record the men served in the same unit or same years. Authorities say they don't know if the attacks are connected but are continuing to investigate. Frank Langford, NPR News. House Speaker Mike Johnson spends part of the day meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill looking to lock down the votes he needs to hold onto the Speaker's gavel. That's as the House election looms, however Johnson today appeared upbeat. People are talking through process changes they want and those kinds of things and I'm open to that and I think tomorrow is going to go well.

Some members of the far-right Freedom Caucus have been expressing doubts about supporting the Louisiana Republican. In recent weeks, Johnson angered some Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, over a bipartisan deal to keep the government operating and a failure to raise the debt ceiling. When the 119th Congress is sworn in tomorrow, the total number of women will decline for the first time in more than a decade. And Piers-Sara McCammon has that story. Since 2011, the number of women in Congress had been steadily rising, but the new Congress will see a slight decline.

The new House and Senate will include 150 women, down from 151 who were serving as of Election Day. A post-election analysis by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University reports that of those 150 women, 110 are Democrats and 40 are Republicans. The new Congress includes the first openly transgender person, Democratic Representative Sarah McBride of Delaware. Meanwhile, the number of female governors reached a record. record 13 women will be running states. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Washington.

Better than expected weekly jobs numbers continue to suggest American workers are enjoying a fair degree of job security. Labor Department reporting first-time jobless claims last week fell by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 211,000. The number of people filing for unemployment fell to its lowest level since March of last year. A down start to the trading day on the first trading day of the new year. The Dow fell 151 points. The S&P lost 13 points today. You're listening to NPR.

Under new measures signed into law, championed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, pregnant residents of the state are now entitled to at least 20 hours of paid leave for prenatal medical appointments. That makes New York the first state to offer paid leave for prenatal care. That would include the ability to schedule time off for such things as physical exams, end of pregnancy care, and fertility treatments. Governor Hoke will push for the law as a way to help reduce maternal and infant deaths in New York

State. In the last 35 years, the share of students with disabilities who spend more than 80 percent of their day in general ed classrooms has more than doubled. From Oklahoma, reporter Beth Wallace looks how some teacher prep programs at universities are changing to meet the needs of more inclusive classrooms. Last spring, the University of Kansas graduated its first cohort from a new kind of degree program. Elementary Education Unified has 10 required special education courses. A regular education degree has just two.

Lisa Didion teaches special education at KU. When we think about students with disabilities, I want you to think about them as all of our students. Unified programs are flourishing in Kansas, with Wichita State, Pittsburgh State and Fort Hays State also offering them. The University of Northern Iowa debuted an early childhood unified degree last year, and Oklahoma State University is working to launch a similar program. For NPR News, I'm Beth Wallace in Tulsa.

Critical futures prices gained ground on the first official trading day of the new year. Oil was up $1.41 a barrel to $73.13 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.