NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-13-2025 2AM EST

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Fire officials in Southern California are preparing for high winds as efforts continue to contain several wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles at this hour. Rich Thompson is a meteorologist warning in effect for this area until 6 p.m. Wednesday. We're expecting north northeast wind gusts anywhere from 35 to 55 miles per hour, maybe locally stronger on Tuesday, very low humidity. And again, the vegetation is still very, very dry. The medical examiner in Los Angeles, meanwhile, says it's now investigating 24 deaths related to the wildfires burning in and around the city. The total had been 16 on Saturday. As fires continue to burn across Los Angeles County,

the Federal Emergency Management Agency says its priority is aiding California in recovery efforts. NPR's Shawn Delis Duster has more on how the agency is assisting residents. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday that over 24,000 people impacted by the fires have applied for disaster assistance, and that number is expected to rise.

Chris Well also says President-elect Donald Trump's recent claim that FEMA is out of money is absolutely false, and the agency will help communities rebuild. We had bipartisan support with the supplemental, and we got an additional $27 billion to support the response and the recovery from these fires. Chris Wells says the agency cannot rebuild homes damaged by the fires and is advising property owners to contact their insurance agencies. However, the agency can reimburse those who have been staying in hotels because of the fires.

Chandelis Duster, NPR News. It's a big week for business and the economy, as NPR's Maria Aspin reports. Investors are waiting for a government update on inflation. Economists are concerned that inflation is ticking up again. The Consumer Price Index, which measures the cost of a market basket of goods, is the government's key gauge of inflation. The Labor Department is due to release its December update on Wednesday morning. Economists expect a slight increase in how quickly prices are rising.

Also on Wednesday, the nation's largest banks are due to start reporting their quarterly results. Investors will be watching for updates on how much consumers and businesses are borrowing. Loans are generally cheaper now that the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates three times. But the Fed has also signaled that it will slow down its cuts this year while it awaits more progress on inflation. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. Saudi Arabia is asking European nations to lift their sanctions against Syria so the country can more quickly rebuild. Syria's former leader Bashar al-Assad was overthrown last December.

The U.S. and European leaders have expressed concern over the Islamist roots of the country's new leaders and want to see political change before lifting any sanctions. This is NPR News. The destructive wildfires in California have affected award season in Hollywood. As NPR's Andrew Limbaugh reports, the nominations for this year's Oscar awards have been delayed and the voting extended. Bill Kramer, the CEO of the Academy of Motion Arts and Pictures, sent a letter to Academy members saying, the voting window for Oscar nominations has been extended by two days

and voting will now close on Tuesday the 14th. Quote, so many of our members and industry colleagues live and work in the Los Angeles area and we are thinking of you. Award season in Hollywood usually means a calendar chock full of events and everything is being affected by the fires. The Screen Actors Guild Awards canceled their live announcement of the nominees and the Writers Guild of America has also postponed their nominees announcement. But the biggest show, the 97th Academy Awards, is still set for March 2nd hosted by Conan O'Brien.

Angelo Limbong and Peer News. James Cook scored on a five-yard run and Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes as the Buffalo Bills dominated the Denver Broncos in the wild-card game Sunday 31 to 7. Jalen Hurts meanwhile let the Philadelphia Eagles to a 22 to 10 playoff win over the Green Bay Packers and the Washington commanders got a field goal as time expired in regulation play to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 to 20. It's the franchise's first playoff win in almost 7,000 days. The Philadelphia 76ers will not be building a new arena in the city's downtown area. Instead the team has struck a deal with the owner of the

Wells Fargo Center where the team currently plays. The City Council there approved the downtown location just weeks ago. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.