NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-02-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

NPR News: 01-02-2025 9AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, authorities continue to investigate the man believed to have killed 15 people and wounded dozens more yesterday in New Orleans. Shamsuddin Jabbar drove his truck into pedestrians celebrating New Year's Eve. He apparently fired at officers, wounding two of them before he was shot and killed. Authorities say an ISIS flag was attached to the truck. Meanwhile, information is also coming out about the victims. 25-year-old Matthew Tenedoria was on Bourbon Street when he was apparently hit by the truck.

His mother, Kathy, says his friends had searched for him. They met up with each other. They kept trying to call Matthew. And then they walked to where Matthew's car was parked in an outdoor lot on Rampart Street. And his car was still there. So they knew, you know, he must be somewhere. She says Matthew Tenandoria worked at the Superdome in New Orleans. That's where college football's Sugar Bowl was supposed to be held yesterday.

That game has been postponed until this afternoon. Meanwhile, police in Las Vegas say they're investigating any possible connections between the New Orleans attack and yesterday's explosion of a Tesla cyber truck in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. The driver was killed and seven bystanders got minor injuries. NPR's Frank Lankford reports. The two events have some things in common. They both involved trucks and occurred in tourist towns on New Year's Day.

And both vehicles were obtained using the same car rental app, Turo. However, police in Las Vegas say they're still investigating whether the explosion, which killed the driver, is an act of terror. And they point out that, unlike in New Orleans, the cyber truck did not have an ISIS flag. If police determine the explosion was a terror attack, they suggested an obvious question will be whether the figurative targets were Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, and President-elect Trump, whose name adorns the hotel. Frank Lankford, NPR News.

Police in South Korea have raided the offices of the airline and the airport at the center of Sunday's plane crash that killed 179 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul the first crash victims have now been laid to rest. Police raided the Muon International Airport, the offices of low-cost carrier Jeju Air, and other sites. Police had a search warrant issued on charges of professional negligence resulting in death. Attention is focused on a concrete barrier housing landing navigation equipment, which

the Jeju Air flight collided with after overshooting the runway. Authorities have launched a nationwide inspection of all aviation safety equipment near airport runways. Identification of all 179 victims' remains was completed Wednesday, and so far at least two dozen have been returned to their families. Two flight attendants were the only ones to survive the worst aviation disaster ever on Korean soil.

Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Authorities in India say they've moved many containers of toxic waste from an Indian chemical factory, the Union Carbide Factory, in the central Indian city of Bhopal, was the site of one of the world's deadliest gas leaks more than 40 years ago. That killed thousands of people and injured many more. Activists say that toxic containers will be buried in a landfill, and they say that could contaminate the groundwater and cause more environmental concerns.

A probe called Lunar Trailblazer could launch from Cape Canaveral as early as next month. Joe Pelka reports its mission is to map the water on the moon. Scientists have evidence there's water on the moon, but they don't know how much is there, they don't know exactly where it is, and they don't know what form it's in. It's definitely not liquid water, but it could be ice, water vapor, or individual water molecules bound to rocks. Lunar Trailblazer has instruments that should help answer those questions. The answers could determine whether astronauts could use that water when they get there. To get to the moon, the probe is catching a ride aboard a SpaceX rocket. The rocket's main mission is to deliver a lander made by the company Intuitive Machines to the lunar surface. Right now, that launch is scheduled for the end of February.

But the launch date has changed several times in the past year, and it could change again. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca. The utility company in Puerto Rico says electric power has been restored to most of the island. Most of the U.S. territory lost power on New Year's Eve. The private company, Luma Energy, says 98 percent of Puerto Rico's customers have had their power restored. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.