NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-11-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The Los Angeles Fire Department issued new evacuation orders and warnings for the Palisades Fire last night affecting the area of Brentwood. But at the same time firefighters managed to prevent flames from encroaching on another highly populated area as Steve Futterman reports. For those here in Los Angeles who thought it couldn't get worse, last night it almost did. The Palisades fire reached the very top of the Santa Monica Mountains and nearly came into the San Fernando Valley. That would have exposed thousands of additional homes to this already destructive fire. Suddenly though the fire stopped advancing for the moment

the valley is spared. Fire officials are using an air assault to battle all of the fires. Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are flying around the clock, dropping water and repellent. The winds have been less intense, but late today they are expected to increase. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. Back in Washington, the White House says President Biden underscored the importance of continued support for Ukraine in a phone call with the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. MPR's Tamara Keith reports that Biden has been rushing

aid to Ukraine's war effort before President-elect Trump takes office. The Biden administration announced a new sanctions package targeted at Russia's energy sector, including oil tankers, another effort to weaken Russia's economy. But Biden admitted it could also affect American drivers. It is probable that gas prices could increase as much as three, four cents a gallon, but it's going to have a more profound impact on Russia's ability to continue to act in the way it's acting in the conduct of war. Russia's President Vladimir Putin is in tough shape right now, Biden said, and he doesn't want him to have any breathing room. Based on recent statements, it is unlikely President-elect Donald Trump will take a similarly hard line on Russia.

Tamara Keith, NPR News. President Zelensky says Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion back in August, Kyiv says North Korean troops entered the war on Russia's side in October. The popular short video app TikTok is waiting to hear from the Supreme Court on whether it will be banned from the U.S. unless it's sold by its Chinese parent company to an American owner. The court heard arguments yesterday in a case pitting free speech rights against national security concerns. TikTok attorney Noel Francisco.

We don't normally think of speech as dangerous. The Supreme Court has repeatedly said speech is not dangerous. And you don't shut down a speech platform because you're worried about speech being dangerous. That is the whole point of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon. TikTok has until January 19th to sell or be banned in the U.S. This is NPR News. Entertainer turned anti-gay activist Anita Bryant has died. She was 84 years old. She became an iconic promoter of Florida orange juice in the 1970s. She was later known for opposition to LGBTQ rights. NPR's Walter Ray Watson has more.

Anita Bryant's public career and national attention began when she was Miss Oklahoma in the 1959 Miss America pageant. She then released this pop single. Paper Roses was a hit in 1960. By the early 1970s, she became the pitch woman for the Florida Citrus Commission. Come to the Florida sunshine tree. Bryant later gained national prominence, leading efforts to overturn a local ordinance in Florida, protecting some LGBTQ rights. But her activism mobilized the gay community around the country to boycott Florida orange juice.

Bryant eventually lost sponsors and money, but she was unwavering in her position. Walter Ray Watson, NPR News. Singer Sam Moore has died. He was half of the 1960s duo Sam and Dave known for hits such as Hold On My Coming and Soul Man. Moore's publicist says he died in Coral Gables, Florida of complications while recovering from surgery. He was 89. He and his late partner, Dave Prater, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. I'm Joel Snyder, NPR News.