NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-03-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

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What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2025? We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year. Listen now to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The judge in Donald Trump's hush money case says the president-elect will face no penalties but has set a date for sentencing. CNPR's Amanda Bastille reports that date will be just 10 days before Trump is sworn in as president for a second time. New York judge Juan Mershon ordered the sentencing hearing to take place on January 10th.

In his order, Mershon said he will not be sentencing Trump to jail, a possibility legal scholars have long said was unlikely. Still, he said that because Trump does not have presidential immunity in this case and the jury had delivered its verdict after weighing testimony and evidence, a sentence should be served ahead of Trump's inauguration. Trump's legal team spent months attempting to dismiss the case altogether and argued that he had presidential immunity. Last month, Merson denied the immunity.

If Trump is not sentenced before inauguration, Murchon says it may have to wait until Trump is out of office. Jimena Bustillo, NPR News, New York. Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson has won re-election as Speaker of the House. Johnson failed to get the support of one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky. But as NPR's Claudia Grosales reports, once two more GOP lawmakers switched their votes, Johnson had the 218

needed to retain the Speaker's gavel. Massey, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Keith Self of Texas were nos. That triggered a series of negotiations off the floor extending the time for this first round ballot to more than an hour before Johnson was finally able to flip self and Norman to yeses, sealing the deal. And while Johnson prevailed, it shows deep divisions remain within the GOP ranks. Some pressure from President-elect Donald Trump also apparently helped change lawmakers' minds. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries easily was re-elected by Democrats, pledging to work

with Republicans on issues ranging from border security to the economy. People in the city of New Orleans are working through the New York's day tragedy of a deadly truck attack in which 14 died and dozens were hurt. Drew Hawkins of the Gulf States newsroom shares one man's story. Tyler Burt knows the streets of the French Quarter like the back of his hand. A graduate student at Loyola University by day and a petty cab driver by night, he was parting ways with his last customer for the night when the truck turned onto Bourbon Street. We had a high five and then I believe that he was run over while I was like in contact with him.

And then so I just remember that was one of them of him going under the vehicle. Burt says he's still trying to recover from it, but it takes time. I don't want to meet that with fear. I'd rather meet that with love. But at this time, I've got to just make sure I'm capable of doing that. For NPR News, I'm Drew Hawkins in New Orleans. Wall Street appears to have broken out of a post-holiday funk to end the first trading week of the year on an up note.

The Dow gained 339 points. The S and P was up 73 points. The NASDAQ rose 340 points. This is NPR. Discount airline jet blue has been hit with a $2 million penalty for having chronically late flights. The department of transportation today saying half of the money will go to passengers who were delayed along four East Coast routes between the summer of 2022 and 2023.

Officials say it's the first such fine ever levied against the commercial airline over what were termed chronic delays, citing what is called unrealistic scheduling. JetBlue says some of the blame should fall on the air traffic control system. David Lodge has died. The British writer and academic died Wednesday in Birmingham, England. He was 89 years old. MPR's Chloe Veltman has this remembrance. David Lodge was best known for Campus Trilogy, his satirical novel set to fictional university. Two of the books, Small World and Nice Work, were shortlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted for television in the late 1980s. It's no fun at all being Dean of Faculty these days. All you do is give people bad news. Lodge was born in London in 1935 and grew up in a lower middle class Catholic home.

He had a long academic career as Professor of English Literature at Birmingham University. In a 1990 interview on WHYY's Fresh Air, Lodge blamed academia for making literary discussions impenetrable to the general public. That I think is regressible. David Lodge added it's difficult for people to sustain both academic and literary careers. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. Critical futures prices moved higher closing up ahead of what is expected to be colder weather in both Europe and parts of the US, oil up 83 cents a barrel to $73.96 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack

Spear, NPR News in Washington. The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation. So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes and home prices, the S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever, follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR.