NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-13-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Authorities in Southern California say the death toll from wildfires burning in and around Los Angeles is up to 24. A number of people are still listed as missing. Crews have gotten the upper hand on some of the smaller fires, but the two largest, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire are still burning out of control. Containment on the Palisades Fire between Santa Monica and Malibu is at 13 percent. Crews have contained 27 percent of the Eaton Fire burning near Pasadena.

Firefighters on the ground continue to be assisted by airdrops from tanker planes. NPR's Amy Held says the scope of the fires continues to be a huge challenge for firefighters and the affected localities. L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney spoke Wednesday a day after fires broke out. L.A. County and all 29 fire departments in our county are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster. Flames fed by powerful winds and parched vegetation along densely populated areas. The kind of disaster, scientists say, growing more likely amid human-caused climate change.

Firefighters from out of state and abroad have arrived to help. Amy Held and PR News. Officials with the Los Angeles Unified School District say most schools there plan to reopen today. Health officials in San Francisco are reporting their first presumptive case of bird flu. The case involves a child who showed symptoms. They say that child did not need to be hospitalized and has since recovered from the illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to confirm whether it was bird flu. Officials in Northern California say the health risks to the general public remain low.

Donald Trump is expected to press for an extension of the tax cuts passed during his first term in the White House after he's inaugurated for a second term next week. Some House Republicans say they'd also like to bring back deductions for state and local taxes, known as SALT, as NPR's Luke Garrett reports. Representative Mike Lawler of New York met with Trump on Saturday to talk taxes.

Here's Lawler on Fox News. The only red line I have is that if there is a tax bill that does not lift the cap on SALT, I would not support that. SALT deductions allow some taxpayers to deduct state and local taxes from their federal tax payments. The issue is a sticking point for a number of House Republicans and underlines their fragile majority in the House. Lawler worries crafting two separate bills on taxes and immigration will lead to legislative chaos. I fundamentally believe that is best accomplished in one bill because the reality is our margin in the House is too small to screw around.

Last week Trump met with Senate Republican leaders who favor two bills. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. More talks are underway to try to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. This is NPR News. It's unclear when Blue Origin will try again to launch its new Glenn rocket. This morning's launch try from Cape Canaveral in Florida was scrubbed minutes before the scheduled liftoff because of an unspecified issue. The company is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The 320-foot rocket is supposed to carry a prototype satellite into space. American Cocoa Golf has won her first round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in straight sets. As Christina Kokolov reports, Gough defeated a fellow American and previous tournament champion in the women's bracket. It took just over an hour for women's world number three Coco Gough to eliminate fellow American and 2020 champion Sophia Kennan from the Australian Open, beating her 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the next round of the women's singles in Melbourne. Also through American Frances Tiafoe, the men's 17th seed, with a victory over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknecht. 7th seed Jessica Pagula is

up against Australian wildcard entry Maya Joint. And 10th seed Danielle Collins faces Ukrainian qualifier Darius Nigger. For NPR News, I'm Christina Kukalja in Melbourne. The last of this season's NFL wild card playoff games is being played tonight in Arizona. The game between the Rams and the Minnesota Vikings was moved from Los Angeles to State Farm Stadium in Glendale because of the ongoing wildfires in Southern California. Glendale is home to the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. Wall Street futures are lower this morning.

Dow futures are off 140 points. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington.