NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-05-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: January 5, 2025

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Noor Ramen, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. The FBI says the suspect in the truck attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, killing 14 people, had visited the French Quarter twice before, using hands-free glasses to record video. He was killed in a shootout with police. FBI Special Agent Joshua Jackson said the man earlier had tried to burn down the house in which he was staying. The former was to burn the entire house down and hide evidence of his crimes. He was unsuccessful. Investigators say it appears the man had acted alone.

Tomorrow is January 6, the day Congress certifies the winner of the presidential election. Four years ago, Trump supporters disrupted the proceedings by storming the Capitol. NPR's Mara Liason says no one expects trouble this time. Well, for one thing, the Capitol has been fortified like it wasn't in 2021, and it's gonna be very hard for any large numbers of people to make their way into the building. But the other bigger reason is that there's no belief among Democrats that the election was stolen.

Vice President Kamala Harris will be presiding over the joint session of Congress tomorrow. And instead of spreading false rumors or lies about a rigged election or stolen election, as Trump did four years ago, she has conceded that she was defeated. NPR's Marla Iason. Senator Richard Blumenthal says he plans to reintroduce legislation this session to protect children on social media. Molly Ingram from member station WSHU has more. Blumenthal first introduced the Kids Online Safety Act

with Tennessee Senator Marcia Blackburn in 2022. It overwhelmingly passed the Senate last summer, but House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to call a vote in the House, citing free speech concerns. Blumenthal says the bill would impose a duty of care on social media companies, as well as force them to let users opt out of algorithms and strengthen their privacy settings.

We need to pass the Kids Online Safety Act to give parents tools and young people controls so that addictive, destructive content on bullying, eating disorders, self-harm can be stopped. Mollie Ingram, NPR News, Fairfield, Connecticut. A major winter storm is moving across the central U.S. on its way towards the East Coast. Karen Zarr with Member Station WUKY reports from Lexington, Kentucky. Governor Andy Beshear has declared a state of emergency and opened the Emergency Operations Center.

Members of the Kentucky National Guard have also been activated and will initially be helping state transportation crews keep roadways clear and assisting stranded motorists. Forecasters say the storm could bring the heaviest snowfall in decades in some areas. This is NPR News. In Europe, heavy snow and freezing rain suspended flights at several major airports in the United Kingdom and Germany today. Roads have been closed, rail service disrupted, and some sporting events have been canceled.

This is a busy weekend for travelers, with many people returning home from the holidays and students returning to universities. A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Washington Post, Anne Telnez, has resigned after the editorial page editor killed her sketch depicting tech and media titans bowing before President-elect Trump. NPR's David Fulkinflick reports, among those shown in the cartoon was Washington Post owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. David Fulkinflick The backdrop for all this is Bezos' decision back in October to kill the paper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris just days before the neck-and-neck election.

About 300,000 people canceled digital subscriptions between revelation of his decision and election night. Telnez tells NPR that she's used to editing but has never had an editor say she cannot address a particular subject at the post. Editorial page editor David Shipley says he values her contributions, but that two colleagues had written columns on the same subject. Too much repetition. Telnez says media magnates have an obligation to protect the free press,

and that cartoonists need those protections, too. David Falkenflich, NPR News. A congestion toll is now in effect in New York City. It charges drivers $9 to enter the busiest parts of the city at the busiest times. The toll is designed to reduce congestion and to raise money to help improve public transit. I'm Noora Rahm, NPR News.