NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-14-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, the Senate Armed Services Committee will open the confirmation hearing today for Pete Hegseth. He's President-elect Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary. Some senators say the former Fox News host doesn't have the expertise to lead the large complex agency. NPO's Tom Bowman says Hegseth will be questioned about some of his controversial beliefs. He opposes women serving in ground combat units. Women have been eligible for ground combat jobs since 2016.

There are now some 3,800 women serving in army infantry, armor, artillery. Another 700 women are in marine ground combat units. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting. President Biden is signing a new executive order. It will help U.S. companies quickly build AI data centers. NPR's Deepa Shivaram reports they'll be used for training and operating AI technology. The new executive order will lease federal sites owned by the Departments of Defense and Energy to host new AI data centers.

The government will pick these sites, but the private sector will build on them. In a statement, President Biden said the U.'t get outbuilt when it comes to AI, but there should also be environmental standards. Last month, several Democratic senators penned a letter to Biden, urging him not to go forward with this order due to environmental and energy concerns. AI data centers use an enormous amount

of electricity and water. A study by Goldman Sachs showed one search with ChatGPT uses about 10 times as much energy as a Google search. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News. Powerful winds are returning to the Los Angeles area today. The firestorm has killed at least 24 people in the past several days. The largest blaze, the Palisades Fire, is only 14 percent contained.

The Eaton Fire, north of L.A., is a third contained. NPR's Liz Baker reports at least two lawsuits have been filed against Southern California Edison as speculation grows about the utility's potential role in the fires. Alleged eyewitness videos circulating on social media appear to show flames breaking out under a Soquel Edison transmission tower in Eaton Canyon. So far, investigators from the ATF have not determined the cause of the fire or where it started, but that hasn't stopped speculation. Attorney Ali Magadas represents a plaintiff whose house burned down.

He says the complaint was filed quickly to preserve evidence that might help reconstruct the scene in court. In an interview with ABC News, SoCal Edison parent company CEO Pedro Pizarro said employees monitored the lines remotely at the time of the fire and saw no indications of issues that would cause sparking. But the fires have prevented them from getting eyes on the equipment in person. Southern California Edison and other power companies say they preemptively turned power off during the height of the winds last week. Liz Baker and Peer News Los Angeles. Meanwhile, President Biden is calling on Congress to quickly speed federal disaster aid to the

Los Angeles area. But House Speaker Mike Johnson says there should be conditions on that federal aid. The speaker is blaming local leadership for mistakes around the wildfires. You're listening to NPR News. The Justice Department has published the first volume of the report by special counsel Jack Smith. It's about the federal charges of the report by special counsel Jack Smith. It's about the federal charges of election interference against President-elect Trump. The charges were withdrawn after Trump won election last year.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has temporarily blocked the release of the second volume of Smith's report. That's about the case against Trump that alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstructing justice. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in an online statement where he also called Smith a lot of names. NPR has learned that negotiators are close to a ceasefire deal for Gaza. A proposed agreement would reportedly see an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees. It would also include a six-week pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Drug prices are going up. NPR's Sydney Lupkin reports that is according to new data that look at price hikes in January. Prices went up for 575 name-brand drugs, and that's just in the first two days of 2025. Those included drugs for diabetes, HIV, in the first two days of 2025. Those included drugs for diabetes, HIV, cancer, rare diseases, and more. The drug price research firm 46 Brooklyn did the analysis and shared it with NPR. It found that the median price increase was 4%. If that holds the rest of the year, it would make it the lowest in more than a decade. However, many price increases still exceed inflation.

For people without insurance coverage for their drugs, that means they'll wind up paying more. For those with covered drugs, whether they pay more or less depends on their individual health insurance plan. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News. This is NPR.