NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-20-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

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Donald Trump is starting his second term as president. What will his administration do and what policies will it promote? On the NPR Politics Podcast, we'll break down what the new administration does and explain why it matters. Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast every day. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. President-elect Donald Trump moved his inauguration later today indoors after reports that frigid temperatures are descending on Washington, D.C.

It's the first time an inauguration will be held indoors in 40 years. Now as NPR's Amy Held reports, President Joe Biden, members of Congress, and other select guests will be attending the event, but in the Capitol Rotunda. The Rotunda can hold 600 people. For almost everyone else, some 250,000 people plans to see proceedings in person are not panning out. Even though Luke Griffin says he came to D.C. equipped for the weather, we would show up. We're prepared. We've got gloves and hats and scarves and coats. We're ready to go. Capitol police say they can't go to the west front of the U.S.

Capitol, where the inauguration is usually held, the House Sergeant at Arms says tickets can now be considered commemorative. Trump announced D.C.'s Capital One arena with a 20,000-person capacity is open to those wanting to view the inauguration and said he would swing by after being sworn in. Amy Held and PR News. Just after, hours after it shut down its U.S. servers, the video app TikTok was back on the phones of millions of Americans. The decision to change course followed an announcement by President-elect Donald Trump

that he would pause a ban on the service by executive order after he is inaugurated on Monday. A federal law ordered TikTok to shut down Sunday if its Chinese-based parent did not sell the service to a non-Chinese entity. As the Biden administration readies to leave office, the Justice Department recently filed three voting rights lawsuits, as NPR's Hunzey Lo Wong reports. Many voting rights advocates are watching to see how the incoming administration handles those cases that allege racial discrimination in elections. The latest lawsuit was filed against Houston County in central Georgia. County commissioners there are elected as at-large representatives of one voting district.

The Justice Department claims that violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by not giving black voters an equal opportunity to elect their preferred candidate in a county where voting is racially polarized. There's a similar case against an at-large voting system in the city of Hazleton, northeastern Pennsylvania, which the Justice Department argues discriminates against Latino voters. The Justice Department also recently sued Tennessee's Fayette County over a voting map that it says dilutes the collective power of black voters. Many voting rights advocates are concerned incoming Trump officials will de-prioritize these cases and scale back

enforcing the Voting Rights Act. Anzila Wong, NPR News. After a delayed start, the Gaza ceasefire continues to hold at this hour. The first two steps in the deal were completed on Sunday, with Hamas returning three hostages, followed by Israel releasing 90 Palestinians. Gaza has been devastated by more than a year of fighting, and its residents have been dealing with starvation and a lack of basic supplies, but now more than 600 aid trucks are moving in and across Gaza. You're listening to NPR News. Two of college football's most storied programs will play tonight for the national championship.

The first season of a new 12-team playoff has all come down to this. Notre Dame taking on The Ohio State University, and Pierce-Becky Sullivan has our preview. Between them, the Fighting Irish and the Buckeyes have won 19 national championships over the years. Ohio State most recently, back in 2014, Notre Dame last won in the 80s. This year, both teams took their lumps in the regular season,

but they've looked strong in the playoffs. Ohio State's offense is top tier. They're the favorites by more than a touchdown. But Notre Dame has a stout defense and they lead the nation in points off of turnovers. If Notre Dame wins, history could be made. No black head coach has ever won a national championship in the top level of college football, which lags far behind the NFL and college basketball in that way. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, who is both black and Asian-American, could be the first. Becky Sullivan in PR News. About 60 items, once owned by Bob Dylan, were sold at auction in Nashville this weekend. The draft lyrics to his song, Mr. Tambourine Man, sold for more than a half million dollars.

Other items included one of his guitars, some photos, and sheet music. Most of the items came from the collection of the late music journalist Al Oranowitz. It's been a particularly slow holiday weekend at North American box offices. The buddy comedy One of Them Days took first place in its debut weekend with 11.6 million dollars in ticket sales. It barely beat out Disney's Mufasa the Lion King. The R-rated horror flick Wolfman, meanwhile, opened in third place with 10.6 million dollars. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. It's a new year and according to Pew, 79% of resolutions are about one thing, health. But there are so many fads around how to keep ourselves healthy.

On It's Been a Minute, I'm helping you understand why some of today's biggest wellness trends are, well, trending. Like why is there protein in everything? Join me as we uncover what's healthy and what's not on the It's Been a Minute podcast from NPR.