NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-06-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

NPR News: 01-06-2025 11PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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, I'm Giles Snyder. President Biden has told New Orleans that it is not alone. Biden spoke Monday evening at a cathedral in the city's historic French Quarter, paying tribute to the victims of last week's New Year's truck attack

that killed 14 people. Sam Pears, Deepa Shivran reports. At St. Louis Church in New Orleans, just blocks from where the Bourbon Street attack took place, Biden lit a candle during the prayer service honoring the victims. He said he was here to grieve with the victims' families and they should know they're not alone that the nation is grieving with them.

Biden said he knows New Orleans will bounce back. And if there's one thing we know, New Orleans defines strength and resilience. Before attending the service, the president and First Lady Jill Biden visited a makeshift memorial adorned with flowers and candles on Bourbon street where the attack took place last week. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, New Orleans. Congress's formal certification of president-elect Donald Trump's victory in the November election went off without a hitch Monday, but the reading of the electoral results from the states presided over by Vice

President Kamala Harris was conducted under heavy security because of what happened four years ago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. NPR's Tom Driesbach reports an officer who was assaulted that day says he feels betrayed in the aftermath of Trump's re-election. Former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Ganell was repeatedly assaulted during the January 6th attack. Ganell told NPR he cannot reconcile how lawmakers, whom he defended that day, can now support Trump's plan to pardon January 6th rioters.

All these elected officials, they don't care about the officers, like people like myself, that put their lives on the line to protect them. Trump has said he would pardon rioters convicted of assaulting police because they were convicted by a quote, very tough system. Tom Dreisbach, NPR News. Overseas now to southern Ukraine where local officials say Russians are using drones to

hunt and kill civilians. Some Russian soldiers appear to be bragging about the attacks on social media, as NPR's Brian Mann reports. Officials in Herson say attacks that appear to deliberately target civilians escalated last summer and are now a daily occurrence, killing and wounding hundreds of residents in recent months. Natalia Savchenko, who's 68 years old, told NPR she was targeted by a drone. When it happens, you look for anywhere to hide.

We run under the trees or into a shed or garage. My God, anywhere we could find. The city of Herson has been fiercely contested throughout the war. The Kremlin says Russia doesn't target civilians, which would be a war crime. But in social media posts, Russian soldiers warn that anyone in Herson is considered fair game. Brian Mann, NPR News, Herson. This is NPR News. Power outages from that winter storm that's been dumping snow and ice stretch from Missouri

to North Carolina and Virginia, and forecasters say the eastern two-thirds of the country will be dealing with several bone-chilling days courtesy of the polar vortex that has plunged south from the Arctic. Officials in Southern California are preparing for another round of powerful winds with forecasters warning of what they're calling a life-threatening destructive windstorm. The National Weather Service says gusts could reach 80 miles per hour across Los Angeles and Ventura counties beginning Tuesday, raising the risk for wildfires. We go via Zep-Bound are the biggest names and obesity drugs right now, but they're not the only game in town. New research looks at a range of studies about them to draw some big-picture conclusions. Here's NPR's

Sydney Lupkin reporting. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal conducted a review of 26 randomized controlled trials of 12 different obesity drugs. These included Wigovia and Zep-Bound as well as several new, not yet approved drugs. The review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found all the drugs worked, though their potency varied. Lead author, Arisha Moyes, says common side effects across the board tended to be nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. It occurred when they were escalating the dose of the drug, and they were mild to moderate,

and very few of these side effects actually required treatment discontinuation by the patient, and the effect could diminish over time. There were no head-to-head studies of the drugs included in the review, which limited its findings. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News. And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.

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.