NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-08-2026 7AM EST

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Thousands of mourners gathered in South Minneapolis last night for a vigil. They honored a local woman killed yesterday by an ICE agent. Minnesota Public Radio's Matt SEPIC reports, eyewitnesses are disputing federal claims that the motorist posed a threat to immigration officers. Witness video shows 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, partly blocking a street with her SUV as ICE agents were conducting what the agency calls, quote, targeted operations. After agents order her out of the vehicle, Good reverses the SUV briefly, then pulls forward and turns to drive away as one of the agents opens fire.

Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam said Good weaponized her vehicle in an act of domestic terror. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frye says that's completely false. Using an expletive, Fry told ICE to get out of the city. For NPR News, I'm Matt Sepik in Minneapolis. President Trump says he has spoken with Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Trump recently threatened to send U.S. troops to Colombia, like Venezuela, and he denigrated Petro. But writing online, Trump says the two leaders will soon meet. And Pierre's Kerry Khan reports from Bogota.

In downtown Bogota's main plaza, Petro told a huge crowd he had just gotten off the phone with Trump and was glad to reestablish communication. Speaking directly is critical, said Petro, exhibiting a much softer tone since Trump threatened Colombia with interventions similar to what the U.S. did in Venezuela. Protesters held signs saying Latin America doesn't want kings, and Colombia will never be a colony. 74-year-old retiree Roberto Cordoba said he was still worried, though, about Trump's possible actions. You can't trust that man, said Cordoba. He's a psychopath, he said.

Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Bogota. In the U.S., congressional forecasters say they expect the United States. United States population to grow by 7 million fewer people over the next decade than they were projecting at this time last year. NBR Scott Horsley reports that's largely due to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. population will grow from 349 million people this year to about 357 million in 2035. That's substantially slower growth than CBO was projecting a year ago. The biggest factor driving the slowdown is immigration policy. Women in the U.S. are also having fewer children than they

used to. By 2030, forecasters think there'll be fewer babies born each year in the U.S. than there are deaths. Without newcomers from other countries, the population would begin to decline at that point. CBO also says Americans are living longer, so the fastest growing part of the population will be people over 65. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. On Wall Street and pre-market trading, Dow futures are lower. You're listening to NPR. House Speaker Mike Johnson has officially invited President Trump to deliver his state of the union address on February 24th. NPR's Elena Moore has more.

In a letter to the president, Speaker Johnson praised Trump's 2025 record, saying the country stands, quote, stronger, freer and more prosperous, adding that lawmakers look forward to advancing his 2026 priorities too. And though Johnson's invitation is just, a formality, Trump's upcoming state of the union does have stakes. It's a primetime opportunity to lay out his second year agenda and have it resonate with the American people ahead of the midterms as Republicans aimed to keep control of both the Senate and the House. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. A new study finds that commercial airlines could slash their climate heating emissions through more efficient operations. MPR's Joel Rose reports on the analysis for researchers in Europe. Researchers say,

carbon emissions from aviation could be cut in half without reducing the number of passenger trips by getting rid of premium seats, making sure flights are full, and using the most efficient planes. That's according to an analysis by researchers in Sweden and the UK, published in the journal Nature Communications, Earth, and Environment. They examined flights between 26,000 pairs of cities and found enormous variation in efficiency on different routes, with U.S. flights it's tending to be more polluting than the global average. An industry trade group says airlines are already trying to reduce their fuel burn and fill each plane, but notes that there's a huge backlog for the most efficient jets.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR.