NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-07-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

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Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Korva Coleman. The body of former President Jimmy Carter will be moved today from the Carter Center in Atlanta to Washington, D.C.

He will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol rotunda until early Thursday morning. Mourners will then hold his state funeral. Carter died last week at the age of 100. Much of the central and eastern United States is recovering from a winter storm that blasted through the region with a lot of snow and ice. It knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers from Missouri to the Mid-Atlantic. It closed schools, businesses and governments. It also snarled air traffic. Angie Barnwell is from Georgia. She was stuck at an airport near

Washington D.C. It's been a wonderful experience. My very first time ever seeing snow. So I didn't know exactly what to expect. But I kind of figured our flights would be delayed. But I wasn't prepared to the amount of hours we would be at the airport. The tracking site FlightAware.com says more than 30,000 flights were delayed or canceled yesterday. The massive winter storm did not stop Congress from certifying President-elect Trump's victory yesterday. The action by Congress is required by the Constitution. Meanwhile, Trump has lost an attempt to delay his upcoming criminal sentencing in New York City.

NPR's Jimena Bastille reports that is set for Friday. Judge Juan Marchand denied a request from Trump lawyer Todd Blanch to delay the sentencing in his hush money trial. In May, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. And Marchand later confirmed Trump did not have presidential immunity in the case.

Blanch argued in a filing on Sunday that the court should pause all proceedings while Trump's legal team appeals the immunity decision. But Mershon said Trump's lawyers repeated past claims he had already rejected. Trump's sentencing is set for January 10th, just 10 days before he's sworn in to the Oval Office. Jimena Bustillo and NPR News, New York. Chinese state media say at least 95 people have been killed by a strong earthquake that struck the Tibet region today not far from Nepal.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake had a magnitude of 7.1. NPR's John Rewich has more. The quake struck a little after 9 a.m. local time and USGS registered several substantial aftershocks. The epicenter was high in the Himalayas, some 50 miles north of Mount Everest. The earthquake rattled Tibet's second biggest city, Shigatse, the center of which is over 100 miles to the northeast. Photos and videos online showed collapsed walls, rubble in streets, and overturned vehicles.

Chinese media said the quake had a magnitude of 6.8. Shigatse is the site of a major Buddhist monastery that's the traditional home of the Panchen Lama, the second most important spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. John Ruech, NPR News. In Wall Street, in pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. This is NPR. A new rocket developed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is preparing to launch from Florida

early Friday morning. NPR's Jeff Brumfield has more on the rocket and its creators' ambitions. The rocket is called New Glenn. It's built by Bezos' space company Blue Origin. In many ways it's similar to rockets being developed by another billionaire, Elon Musk. Musk's company SpaceX launches rockets that can fly back and land their lower stage, making them cheaper and more reusable. New Glenn will try a similar approach, but in other ways it's different. While Musk and SpaceX are currently attempting to develop the tallest rocket ever, Bezos

is focusing on girth. The New Glenn rocket will be nearly twice as wide as the one SpaceX currently uses for most of its launches. That added circumference should allow New Glenn to carry larger payloads. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. The Biden administration says credit reports can no longer list people's unpaid medical bills. These debts can stop people from getting mortgages, car loans, or small business loans. The White House says the new rule will pull $49 billion in medical debt

off the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans. The White House also says President Biden will create two new national monuments in California. It's to honor Native American tribes. The Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California will protect wildlife habitat too. The Cetitla or Medicine Lake Highlands National Monument in Northern California is spread across three national forests. This is NPR.