NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-12-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 12, 2025

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This is Eric Glass. In this American life, sometimes we just show up somewhere, turn on our tape recorders, and see what happens. If you can't get seven cars in 12 days, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, holy, what are you kidding me? Like this car dealership, trying to sell its monthly quota of cars,

and it is not going well. I just don't want one balloon to a car. Balloon the whole freaking place so it looks like I'm circus. Real life stories every week. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office says it's investigating the deaths of at least 16 people in connection with the major wildfires that have been raging in Southern California for five days. Officials warn that number

could rise as firefighters reach more neighborhoods. At least 16 people are reported missing. Some 12,000 structures have been destroyed. LA County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney says firefighting efforts may become more complicated in the next few days. We know that elevated critical fire weather conditions will continue through Wednesday. The Los Angeles County Fire Department is prepared. These winds combined with low relative humidities and low fuel moistures will keep the fire threat in Los Angeles County very high. The largest of the fires is the Palisades fire, which has burned more than 23,000 acres since it broke out Tuesday. Officials say that blaze is now about 11 percent contained. About two years after a universal voucher program became law in Florida, the state's

Republican governor says more than 500,000 students in the state are taking advantage of the program. Central Florida public media's Danielle Pryor has more. Governor Ron DeSantis says Florida students now account for about a third of all students throughout the country who are enrolled in school choice programs. In fact, DeSantis says he's hoping Congress passes something similar to a universal voucher program at the national level once the Trump administration takes office. So we hope that they will consider looking at Florida's model for education choice and applying that nationally. DeSantis says when he took office in 2019, only about 100,000 students were on scholarships through the state's step-up program.

For NPR News, I'm Danielle Pryor in Orlando. South Korean President Yoon Song-yeol will not attend the first hearing of his own impeachment trial, according to his attorney. It's scheduled for Tuesday. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul. South Korea's parliament voted to impeach Yoon for his brief declaration of martial law last month. Now it's up to the Constitutional Court to uphold or overturn the impeachment.

But Yoon's lawyers say that because Yoon is wanted on separate criminal charges of insurrection, attending the impeachment hearing could jeopardize his safety, implying that he could be arrested. Yoon remains holed up in his residence, protected by the presidential security detail, which blocked police and investigators from executing an arrest warrant. If Kuhn is absent on Tuesday, the hearing will be rescheduled for Thursday, and if he doesn't show up then, the proceedings can go ahead without him. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. You're listening to NPR News in Washington. An emergency task force arrived today at the scene of a growing oil spill in southern Russia.

Two tankers damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait began leaking oil on December 15. Thousands of emergency workers are trying to clear tons of contaminated sand and earth. The U.S. Census Bureau is asking for public feedback on its plans for the next major field test ahead of the next national headcount in 2030. As NPR's Hansi Luong reports, the Bureau says the test in 2026 is designed to help produce an accurate tally of the country's residents that will be used to redistribute political representation and federal funding.

Next year's census test is set to involve more than 600,000 participants in parts of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. Counting who lives in college dorms, nursing homes, and other group living quarters has long been a challenge. One of the potential changes the Bureau plans to test before the 2030 census is giving administrators and residents of those group quarters the option to fill out a census form online. Another change is training some census workers specifically to interview residents of group quarters as well as those of individual households.

Public comments on testing plans are due in early March. Results of the actual census in 2030 are set to be used to determine each state's share of congressional seats, electoral college votes, and trillions in federal funding for the next decade. Anzila Wong, NPR News. This is President Biden's final full week in office. He's scheduled to deliver a foreign policy speech tomorrow at the State Department. He's expected to highlight what he's done to rebuild alliances around the world. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.