NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-08-2025 2AM EST

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

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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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles where two fires are raging out of control. State and federal resources have been mobilized to aid the response. As NPR's Giles Snyder reports, one blaze is threatening the Pacific Palisades area.

Governor Newsom is urging people to heed evacuation orders, but it hasn't been easy. The evacuations have led to traffic jams and some have abandoned their cars and fled on foot. The fire broke out just as a Santa Ana windstorm got going. The cause is unclear, but the National Weather Service warns the storm could be life-threatening and that winds have the potential to down trees and power lines. A second blaze is threatening homes in Altadena and Pasadena after doubling in size in just an hour.

Both blazes have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. President-elect Donald Trump is floating ideas to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, and Ferris Windsor-Johnston reports on what it would take to do that. During a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump announced his intention to rename the Gulf of Mexico. We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name. Trump didn't specify when or how he intends to make the change, saying he would provide those details at a later

date. But renaming a body of water isn't something that can be done unilaterally. It typically requires a written proposal to the relevant state or federal geographic names board in addition to a compelling reason for the change. Windsor-Johnston and PR News, Washington. Undocumented immigrants accused of nonviolent crimes could be targeted for deportation under legislation passed by the U.S. House Tuesday. The measure is named after Laken Reilly, the nursing student killed by a migrant in Georgia

last year. It goes before the Senate later in the week. Authorities in Las Vegas say the man who blew up a Tesla cybertruck and killed himself in front of the Trump Hotel used the AI service chat GBT. And Ferris Kirk Siegler has the latest. Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill says the cybertruck driver Matthew Livelsberger used artificial intelligence to learn how much explosives he'd need and where to buy them.

McMahill says it's still unclear why he chose Las Vegas. Do we consider this a terrorist attack or an attempted terrorist attack? And I would just simply say that we haven't closed any doors on where our investigation is gonna lead us. Authorities also released surveillance footage showing Lovlesberger pouring racing fuel on the truck, which they say contained 60 pounds of explosives

that ignited after he shot himself. Police say the decorated 37-year-old active duty green beret had no prior record and hadn't been considered a threat. Kirk Ziegler, NPR News. This is NPR. North Carolina Democrats are accusing Republicans in the state of trying to overturn results from the November election. This after the GOP-led state Supreme Court blocked the certification of a democratic justice.

Alison Riggs leads Republican opponent Jefferson Griffin by just 734 votes. Griffin is challenging the validity of 60,000 ballots. French far-right firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen has died at the age of 96. As NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports, Le Pen still divides French society over a decade after he left office. Many on the far right are calling Jean-Marie Le Pen a patriot, but young people on the left danced in downtown Paris to celebrate the death of

a man they call a racist. When he launched his party in 1972, his only followers were neo-fascists, says political scientist Jo-Yves Camus. He succeeded in bringing more mainstream people to the party. Because Le Pen foresaw that immigration would become a mainstream issue. He believes that immigration was, of course, the reason for everything wrong taking place in the country and they repeated that again and again.

Camus says in the 1980s as factories began to close and unemployment began to rise, many in the working and middle class began to believe him. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. NASA Chief Bill Nelson says the agency is seeking a more efficient way to retrieve rocks from Mars. He says the cost of the original plan ballooned to $11 billion and wouldn't be carried out until 2040 at the earliest. This is NPR. 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.