NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-05-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. More information is emerging about the man who drove his pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans on Deer's Day, killing 14 people. The FBI says Shamsuddin Jabbar 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 says before the attack, Jabbar had tried to burn down the house where he was staying.

He also set a half gallon of accelerant gasoline in a plastic gasoline container in that hallway. He also poured accelerant in different rooms throughout the house. We believe he did this and his hope was to burn the entire house down and hide evidence of his crimes. He was unsuccessful. Investigators say it appears that he had acted alone, that he didn't have an accomplice, either in the US or overseas. They say they still don't know his motive

or why he picked New Orleans. Donald Trump becomes president again in 15 days. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants to do all he can to jumpstart Trump's agenda. He told Fox News a priority is to extend the Trump tax cuts. We've got to revive the U.S. economy and we can. We know how to do it. Part of that is preventing the largest tax increase in U.S. history, which would happen automatically at the end of next year if we don't get our ducks in a row. So we're going to make sure that happens.

We're going to incentivize American companies to manufacture in the U.S. again. And we're going to make sure that the regulatory burden and the red tape that is smothered, our free market is reduced and eliminated. And we're going to be dismantling the deep state all along the way. Tomorrow, January 6th, Congress counts the electoral votes and certifies that Trump won the presidential election. Johnson hopes a predicted snowstorm won't discourage attendance. He says, blizzard or not, Congress must make sure it's done.

Four years ago, Trump supporters disrupted the process by storming the Capitol. The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta will be open around the clock until Tuesday for those paying final respects to former President Jimmy Carter. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Sarah Kalis reports. Mourners are flocking to the Carter Center in Atlanta to pay tribute to former President Jimmy Carter during the public repose. 19-year-old William Mendoza drove 214 miles from Knoxville, Tennessee to the Carter Center in Atlanta for the repose. 19-year-old William Mendoza drove 214 miles from Knoxville, Tennessee to the Carter Center in Atlanta for the Repose.

It's a really great refresher of who Jimmy Carter was. Such a man who was willing to work for everyone no matter who you are, a man who was willing to put the people first and not their political party. Mourners are led through the Carter Museum and Presidential Library to see artifacts from Carter's life and presidency before arriving at his casket. Public repose continues until Tuesday morning, and the Carter Center is expecting thousands of people to attend each day. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Kalis in Atlanta.

This is NPR. A major winter storm is sweeping across the central U.S. with snow, ice, and freezing temperatures. Blizzard warnings are posted in Kansas and Missouri. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quintin Lucas says they're ready. Quintin Lucas, Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor, This is not something that's unusual for us. Major winter storms are a thing that we have.

It doesn't mean that we are unserious about them. It does mean that we're realistic and our city will reopen in the days ahead. The National Weather Service warns people to avoid unnecessary travel. Forecasters expect the storm will reach the mid-Atlantic states by tomorrow, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida. Researchers in southern England have uncovered more than 200 Jurassic footprints. Rebecca Rosman reports they were discovered on a so-called dinosaur highway. The discovery started last June when a worker at a limestone quarry in Oxfordshire spotted unusual bumps as he was digging up clay.

Now a team of over 100 people has confirmed those bumps are in fact dinosaur footprints dating back to the Middle Jurassic period, roughly 166 million years ago. They uncovered five trackways, four made by long-necked herbivores called sauropods, and one believed to have been made by a carnivorous megalosaurus. In one area, sauropod and megalosaurus tracks overlap, sparking questions about possible interactions between the species. Tracks were first found in the area nearly 30 years ago, leading the British government

to designate the quarry as one of the world's most significant dinosaur track sites. Rebecca Ronsman, NPR News. And I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.