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Episode Date: January 11, 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 Jack Spear. As some Los Angeles residents are returning to their smoldering neighborhoods to salvage what they can. Questions are being raised about whether all of the resources needed were in place to fight the devastating wildfires there. The fires have now claimed at least 11 lives, burned an area the size of San Francisco,

and destroyed more than 10,000 homes and structures. LA Fire Chief Christian Crowley says she repeatedly warned city officials cuts to the department's budget were a problem. Right now we need to be fully, fully funded and supported so that our firefighters can do their jobs. Additional resources coming in will help us with this current disaster, but moving forward that potential can happen anywhere in the entire city of Los Angeles and we need to be fully funded and supported. Crowley pointed to a memo she wrote last month pleading for more resources even as fire crews

have made some progress, the two largest wildfires continue to grow. Supreme Court appears likely to uphold a law that would ban the popular video sharing app TikTok in the U.S. effective later this month. Justices were hearing arguments today in a clash between free speech advocates and those who worry the company's Chinese parent bite dance could use the app to spy on US users. More from MPR's Bobby Allen.

All the justices appeared pretty skeptical that TikTok's free speech rights are more important than oversee threats. Some worried that TikTok could collect personal information on teenage users who as adults might work in the military or the federal government. Then the information can be used against them as blackmail. Other justices voiced concerns about China

pushing propaganda on the app. TikTok has as many as 170 million users in the US, some of whom earn their livelihoods from videos they make in place there. The Biden administration has extended temporary protected status for nearly a million migrants from Venezuela, El Salvador and Ukraine. And here's Sergio Martinez-Boltran reports the TPS extension would allow them to stay

in the country and renew their work permits. Nearly 600,000 Venezuelans, 234,000 Salvadorans and 100,000 Ukrainians will benefit from Biden's actions. But President-elect Donald Trump could undo it. He tried during his first term to end TPS for six countries, including El Salvador, but was blocked by a court. The Trump-Vance transition team didn't respond to a request for comment, but Tom Homan, Trump's incoming border czar, has said the program could be ended. 17 countries currently have TPS

designation, a temporary status that can be granted on the basis of a humanitarian or security crisis in the home country. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin. the markets reacting to stronger than expected jobs numbers which investors think may make a Fed rate cut less likely later this month. The Dow plunged 696 points, the Nasdaq dropped 317 points. This is NPR. The U.S. has announced an increase in the bounty for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has been widely accused of rigging Venezuela's latest election. Manuel Ruda reports from neighboring Colombia. Maduro struck a defiant tone after he received his presidential sash,

saying he had defeated efforts by the United States to oust him. The people of Venezuela have defeated imperialism and its diplomacy of deceit, he said. Maduro claims he won Venezuela's latest election with 51 percent of the vote, but his government never published any evidence of the vote count. Hundreds of people have been arrested in protest against Maduro's re-election, including opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was detained briefly on Thursday and then released. guard to help stranded motorists. Schools were canceled for millions of people across a broad swath of the southern U.S. As much as seven inches of snow fell in parts of Oklahoma and northern Texas. Snow began falling in Atlanta today, canceling flights there. Four people aboard a Delta plane were injured after an aborted takeoff. It's not clear if weather

was a factor. Critical futures prices moved in the opposite direction of stocks closing sharply higher today oil up more than 3% amid US sanctions against Russia will rose to $76.57 a barrel 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.