NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-07-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

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Lai from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Under sunny skies but freezing temperatures, the late former president Jimmy Carter's motorcade is slowly making its way through downtown Washington, D.C. Carter's flag-draped casket has been transferred to a horse-drawn caisson at Navy Memorial to make its way to the U.S. Capitol. Carter, who died last month at the age of 100, will lie in state in the rotunda for members of Congress and the public at large to pay their final respects. At a press conference, President-elect Donald Trump said he was looking at issuing pardons to people who assaulted police when a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

And as NPR's Tom Dreisbach tells us, Trump also made multiple false claims about that day's violence. Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort and said he was looking at pardoning January 6 rioters convicted of assaulting police and wanted to re-investigate the attack. So we'll be looking at the whole thing, but I'll be making major pardons, yes. The FBI calls the attack an act of domestic terrorism. More than 140 police officers were injured. Trump also falsely claimed that the

rioters did not have guns. In fact, several were armed with loaded handguns. And he said his administration would find out about the supposed role of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. No investigation has found any involvement by that group in the insurrection. Tom Dreisbach, NPR News. A New York appellate judge is denying Trump's request to delay sentencing in his criminal New York hush money case. It's still set for Friday. Trump argued he is protected by presidential immunity. The wildfire danger is growing across much of Southern California where several small

fires are burning and the wind gusts that fan those flames are getting stronger. Mandatory evacuation orders are now in place for people living near Topanga Beach in Los Angeles County. Cal Fire says there is an immediate threat to life. Here's NPR's Liz Baker. Firefighters are working to contain a bushfire that is rapidly exploding in size, driven by 60-mile-per-hour winds towards residential areas in the Pacific Palisades in the Santa Monica Mountains.

These gusty winds, which are forecast to hit 80-100 mph, are making firefighting difficult by picking up embers and dropping them up to ¾ of a mile beyond the fire line. Already there are reports of structures burning, and evacuation orders extend all the way down to the beach. Fire officials have been warning residents for days to prepare for this wind event, which is similar to the one last month that burned Malibu. Southern California hasn't had significant rainfall since last April, and a pile up of dry fuel in combination with these winds has the whole region on edge. Liz Baker, NPR News, Los Angeles.

You're listening to NPR News. The White House says the Southern California fires forced the cancellation of President Biden's trip to the region. He's still expected to give remarks from Los Angeles. With less than two weeks left in office, Biden traveled to California to talk about the creation of two more national monuments. Suicide risk is a growing concern for some policymakers. New research sheds light on how public policy can help mitigate the risk. NPR's Katie Riddle has the details.

Policies that can be effective in reducing suicide go beyond an increase in mental health support and resources to include things like a higher minimum wage and paid family leave. Jonathan Pertle worked on this research he teaches at New York University's School of Global Public Health. The policies themselves and even probably much of the discourse leading up to the passage of those policies wasn't about suicide explicitly, right? These are kind of like spillover benefits of policies that have different targets. When people are more economically secure, he says they may also be more safe. Katie Riddle, NPR News.

A Louisiana patient is the first person in the U.S. confirmed to die from bird flu. Yesterday, state health officials announced the patient had been hospitalized with severe H5N1 avian flu infection. They say the person had contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical problems. U.S. stocks end the day lower. The NASDAQ closed down any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.