NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-06-2026 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. To pose Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's supporters, marching in large numbers in the Venezuelan capital heard here through the Associated Press. A contrast to many Venezuelans in the U.S. and other countries who are celebrating Maduro's downfall, while people also express mixed reactions to the U.S. military rate over the weekend, and President Trump's claim that the U.S. is now in charge. President Trump at a GOP retreat today. You know, people are saying it goes down with one of the most incredible,

it was so complex, 152 airplanes, many, many. Talk about boots in the ground. We had a lot of boots on the ground. Venezuelan officials say dozens of people, including civilians, were killed during the operation. Five years after the January 6th attack on the U.S. Congress, some Americans who were convicted for their roles, marked the day by marching again to the Capitol. NPR's Odette Youssef reports data show that political violence in the U.S. remains high.

And experts say divisive rhetoric from political leaders is largely to blame. Although they were pardoned by President Trump, many of the rioters still hold grievances tied to conspiracy theories about what happened that day. The White House echoed some of those narratives on its website, including unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud in 2020. Shannon Hiller is with the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University. What I worry about the attack on January 6th is that we're actually diverging in this country further. That sets us back in where we ultimately need to be, which is at least agreeing on some of the facts of that day, so that we can agree on the way forward from there. Hiller says BDI surveys show that the chilling effect and violence from this disunity has penetrated into local communities.

Odette Yusef, NPR News. Staff at one of NASA's flagship campuses in Maryland say they are worried. about losing important historical documents. That's due to a library closing at Goddard Space Flight Center. It's part of a consolidation effort under the Trump administration. Here's NPR's Katie Riddle. Officials at Goddard and NASA say the closure is part of a long-planned, quote, transformation effort at the campus.

But staff there say the library's closure has been hasty and disorganized. They're concerned that critical data and records will be lost. Dave Williams is a planetary scientist who retired, recently from Goddard. It's sort of a long-term record, really, of the solar system. In other words, probes that went to Mars or Venus or whatever in the 60s and 70s, you know, those data are still useful to see. Officials say staff will have the resources they need to do their jobs. Katie Riddle in PR News. U.S. stocks have ended the day higher. The Dow closed up 484 points or nearly 1% to settle at 49,462.

From Washington, this is NPR News. The Wyoming Supreme Court has struck down bans on abortion in the red state as unconstitutional. One law sought to restrict abortions to cases involving rape or incest or when a pregnant woman's life is in danger. A second law banned abortion pills. The plaintiffs argue the law has violated a state constitutional amendment allowing competent adults to make decisions about their own health care. Attorneys for the state argued unsuccessfully that the amendment was not written to apply to abortion in Wyoming.

Pope Leo has marked the end of the Vatican's Jubilee Year, a period that occurs once every quarter century with a message to Christians to help and care for immigrants. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports. In the closing ceremony for this holy Jubilee year, Pope Leo kneeled in prayer at the start. floor threshold of the holy door of St. Peter's Basilica, which Christians coming to Rome could walk through this past year. He then pulled the door shut. The Vatican says a record 33.5 million

pilgrims visited this year. Pope Leo has made care for immigrants a central issue of his papacy. He used his homily on this special day to call on Christians to welcome strangers and resist what he called the flattery and seduction of those in power. In a separate prayer for epiphany, he told worshippers, In the place of inequality, may there be fairness and may the industry of war be replaced by the craft of peace. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. It's NPR.