NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-08-2026 3PM EST

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Tensions are high in Minneapolis today, a day after an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good as she sat in her car. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam defends the agent's actions, saying Good was trying to run him over, but video appears to show she was driving away from him when he opened fire. Vice President Vance says the unnamed agent is protected. The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law. enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job. This as officials in Minnesota slammed the Trump

administration saying federal officials are blocking them from participating in the investigation into goods death. The White House says federal troops will remain in Minnesota. Five Senate Republicans join Democrats today in advancing a resolution that would stop President Trump from unilaterally ordering new military action against Venezuela. M.P.S. Claudia Grisales reports it's the largest GOP rebuke yet of Trump's growing U.S. Armed Forces intervention in the South American country. The successful bipartisan effort now sets up a series of votes next week and hours of debate in a bid for final passage. Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kane, who co-led the Venezuela war powers resolution, said those next steps are likely coming as a surprise for Republicans.

I don't think my colleagues in the other side thought it was going to pass, so I'm not sure that they've really thought that through. Soon after the vote, President Trump lashed out at the five Republicans who broke ranks. GOP Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Todd Young of Ohio, joined Democrats to rebuke new military action in Venezuela without congressional input. Claude Riesales, NPR News, the Capitol. Before leaving office, President Biden made big gains slowing the smuggling of deadly street fentanyl into the U.S. That's the conclusion of a new study published today in the journal Science. NPR's Brian Mann reports.

Researchers say the supply of fentanyl reaching U.S. communities dried up the last two years Biden was in office, while its potency also fell. Keith Humphreys at Stanford University as a co-lead author. You're looking at about a 50% decline in the purity of fentanyl that was being seen. seized. That's a big drop. The study in science found drug deaths from fentanyl also fell by one-third during Biden's last year in office. But Humphreys and other drug policy experts say Biden never told the American people about those gains. I think it hurt them because they had a story of success to tell. Since taking office, President Trump has reframed the fentanyl issue, dismantling many of Biden's programs and focusing on an increasingly militarized drug war.

Brian Mann, NPR News. to NPR News from Washington. In Juneau, Alaska, record-breaking snowfall has collapsed roofs and led local leaders to declare an emergency. That's as heavy rain as predicted to move in this weekend. From member station KTOO, Alex Solomon, has more. Juneau City and tribal governments issued the disaster declaration Tuesday, requesting help from the state to clear more than four feet of snow

that started falling just after Christmas. The city's emergency programs manager, Ryan O'Shaughnessy, says one of his main concerns is that the snow could collapse the roofs of public buildings, like schools, water treatment plants, and the hospital. In many cases, we are approaching the design snowload of those facilities. Some roofs across town have already caved in, and several boats have sunk in Juneau's harbors. Ahead of expected heavy rain, some streets are already flooding as temperatures warm and snow and ice clogged storm drains. For NPR news, I'm Alex Solomon in Juneau. know. In France, dozens of angry farmers protested in front of the country's lower house of parliament today after driving around 100 miles into Paris, upset about the European Union's plan to move forward

on a free trade deal with five South American countries. For years, farmers have denounced the trade deal saying it would hurt their livelihoods. The Interior Ministry says around 20 tractors were in Paris's city center, but that many were blocked farther out. The U.S. Trade Gap, rather, shrank in October to just over $29 billion, that's down 39% from the month before. Wall Street's trading in mixed territory, the Dow is up 247 points. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.