NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-07-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Korva Coleman. 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 dollars in medical debt off the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans. President Biden is using his executive authority to create two new national monuments in Northern and Southern California.

NPR's Deepa Shivaram reports the move will protect more than 800,000 acres. The two national monuments are Chukwala and Satitla Highlands. Their designation means the land will be protected from development and preserved for its significance to tribal nations and ecological importance. For example, the Cetilla Highlands Monument includes a dormant volcano and is home to the longest known lava tube system in the world.

The White House says with these two monuments, Biden is setting a record for the most land and water conserved by any president. It will also establish the longest stretch of protected land in the continental United States, about 18 million acres of land stretching through California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News. The body of former President Jimmy Carter will be flown to Washington today. He will lie in state in the U.S. Capitol's Rotunda. Carter's state funeral will then be held on Thursday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stepping down

as the leader of Canada's Liberal Party. This means he'll stay on as Canada's caretaker Prime Minister until his party chooses a new chief. NPR's Jackie Northam says this comes as President-elect Trump has been talking about Canada and its outgoing leader. Since the presidential election Trump has been needling Trudeau, suggesting Canada become the 51st state and calling Trudeau a governor rather than a prime minister. And more importantly, Trump is threatening to impose

25% tariffs on many Canadian products. Now, Trudeau will still have to deal with Trump as he's staying on as prime minister until the Liberal Party chooses a new leader. NPR's Jackie Northam reporting. Health officials in Louisiana say that an adult patient has died after catching bird flu. The death is the first reported in the U.S.

as someone who had close contact with sick or dead birds. And Biers Will Stone reports. This was the first severe case of bird flu in a human in the U.S. Last month, the Louisiana Department of Health reported the patient had been hospitalized after being exposed to backyard flock and wild birds. Now the person has died.

Health officials haven't shared many details except that the patient was over 65 and had underlying medical conditions. Most cases in the U.S. in the current outbreak have only led to mild illness. A teenager in Canada was hospitalized last year after catching the virus. The overall risk to the general public

is still considered low because it requires close contact with an infected animal to catch the virus, and there's no indication it's spreading between people. Will Stone, NPR News. It's NPR. Chinese state media say an earthquake in Tibet has killed at least 95 people. The US Geological Survey says the magnitude was 7.1.

French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has died according to his daughter Marine. He was 96. Le Pen called himself a nationalist. Detractors labeled him a racist. He founded the far-right National Front Party, later renamed the National Rally. It's now led by his daughter. The CEO of Chipmaker NVIDIA pitched humanoid robots at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. NPR's Bobby Allen reports Jensen Huang says AI-powered robots could be a multi-trillion dollar industry. Flanked by more than a dozen waving robots, Huang says soon soon humanoid robots could be headed to a warehouse and factory near you. The chat GPT moment for general robotics is just around the corner.

Meaning robot breakthroughs are about to accelerate thanks to developments in AI. Nvidia soared to become one of the most valuable companies in the world by designing AI chips, but it has also been developing software to train robots to do tasks in the real world. Experts say such bots aren't likely to be cheap and reliable enough to use widely anytime soon, but Wang is optimistic and Nvidia's big bet on robots will pay off. Wang also announced a $3,000 supercomputer for AI researchers to run powerful AI models on their machines rather than in the cloud. Bobbi Allen, NPR News.

Two leading visual content companies say they're going to merge. Getty Images and Shutterstock say they'll join to build a company valued at $3.7 billion. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.