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Episode Date: January 8, 2025

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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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

The rare event that is a presidential funeral has made its way to Washington, D.C. with the body of former President Jimmy Carter taken by horse-drawn caisson through snowy streets to the U.S. Capitol today. Members of the military escorted Carter's flag-draped casket to the Capitol Rotunda for the 39th Presidental Alliance State this week. Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, and the public honoring Carter, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Today, I join all Americans in mourning President Carter and remembering his example. But I rejoice in the thought that he, together with his beloved wife Rosalynn, is now before the face of his father. Carter's body left the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta this morning was flown to Washington aboard a special plane. Carter died at the age of 100 last month. The formal state funeral will be held Thursday at Washington National Cathedral. A New York appeals court denied President-elect Donald Trump's attempt to delay his criminal sentencing. More from NPR's Amanda Bastille. Trump is set to be sentenced for his hush money conviction in Manhattan on Friday, just 10 days before he's sworn in as

president. The appeals court denied a request from Trump's lawyers to delay the date. A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump is expected to attend the sentencing virtually and the judge has already signaled that he is prepared to offer a rare quote unconditional discharge, meaning Trump will not face any prison time or any lesser fine or penalty. Jimena Bustillo, NPR News, New York. Facebook and Instagram owner Metta is getting rid of its fact checking program, which has been accused of exercising anti-conservative bias.

NPR's Shannon Bond reports the move is part of big changes the company is making in how it polices posts ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's second term. Metta has relied on outside fact checkers to address false and misleading posts since 2017. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company has gone too far, echoing long-running complaints from President-elect Trump and other Republicans. We've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. Metta will replace fact checks by independent professionals with community notes written

by users, the same approach Elon Musk is taking at X. Some fact checkers who have worked with Meta for years pushed back against Zuckerberg's reference to quote censorship, saying they add context but have no power over Meta's content moderation decisions. Shannon Bond, NPR News. Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for more than 30,000 people living in Los Angeles County. That includes parts of the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and a section of the famed Pacific Coast Highway.

Cal Fire officials have now widened their evacuation order with a fire growing to more than 1,200 acres as 30 mile an hour winds continue to fan flames. On Wall Street today, Stock's lost ground, the Dow, was down 178 points. This is NPR. As the country heads toward a new administration in 2025, more Americans say that immigration should be a top focus for the US government.

President-elect Trump has promised the mass deportation of migrants and an end to birthright citizenship once he formally takes office. A poll done last month by the Associated Press-Nork Center for Public Affairs Research finds about half of all U.S. adults named immigration and border topics an open-ended question that asks them to share up to five issues they want government to work on. Every year NPR's student podcast challenge hands over the mic to students. To date we've heard from more than 90,000 fourth graders, middle and high school students from all over the country. And now they're getting ready to do it again. Here's NPR's Janet Ujung Lee. In her podcast, 14-year-old Lila Lanovic opens up about leaving school

and losing social outlets to chronic illness. But Lila herself isn't the star of her story. Introducing Lopez, the dog with a rainbow tail. Lopez loves balls, socks, and me. His job is to protect me and keep me safe, and he excels at it. That's from Lopez the Rainbow-Tailed Service Dog, the middle school winner in NPR's 2024 Podcast Challenge. The contest provides an opportunity for young people like Glanovic to share their stories with our national audience. You have until May 2nd to submit your entry for the 2025 Student Podcast Challenge. You can find more information online. Good luck, Janet Wujong Li, NPR News. Critical futures prices rose 69 cents a barrel to 74.25 a barrel in New York.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. 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.