NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-20-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have outlined their plans to slash the federal workforce with the help of a team of quote, small government crusaders. What's in store for federal workers and how are they planning for change? This January 1A's.gov series guides you through various government agencies and the people working for you. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. The Gaza ceasefire is continuing to hold at this hour. Israel has released some 90 Palestinian prisoners that came after three hostages

held by Hamas were turned over to Israeli authorities. Israeli Defense Force spokesperson Peter Lerner says the freed hostages now have a lot of work ahead of them. We have reunited the three hostages with their families. They're undergoing initial medical checks just to see their condition and they will be transferred to a further medical examination later on. More than 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid are moving into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of fighting. Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump are in Washington today preparing to celebrate

his inauguration. As NPR's Sarah McCammon reports, some of them have traveled hundreds of miles for the event they hope to witness, only to find that it has moved indoors because of cold weather. The inauguration is set to take place on July 4, 2021. Michael Webb and Jonathan Mahoney were excited for the inauguration, but they're rolling with the change of plans. SOT, Jonathan Mahoney, President-Elect, NPR I got moods inside, so it's kind of sad.

Kind of sad. Yeah, we had tickets too, so we were like on the lawn, and then we don't know what's going on with that now. Webb, who's from Texas, and Mahoney from Massachusetts, are in the military and stationed together a few hours from D.C. Edwin Alas traveled from Colorado with his husband Gabriel. Alas says they don't have tickets, but they wanted to come celebrate the new president. You want the best for him because a successful presidency no matter what party is a successful

country so we hope the same for President Trump. Trump will take the oath inside the Capitol Rotunda with many supporters watching from a downtown arena. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Washington. With President Joe Biden on his way out of office, NPR's Corey Turner asked more than a dozen educators, researchers, advocates and experts how they would grade his job on education. Here's what he heard. On the K-12 side, my bipartisan panel thought Team Biden did pretty well with a lot of support for the $120 billion

he pushed to send schools to help with the COVID-19 recovery. Research shows the money did help students regain some ground. On higher ed, the troubled rollout of the FAFSA was like that big test question you blank on and it tanks your whole grade. There were also mixed reviews for Biden's efforts to cancel student loans. Conservatives were scathing while the rest were split. Some cheered the fact that Biden did forgive the debts of 5 million borrowers, while many worried it distracted the Ed Department from other priorities. On average, the panel gave Biden a pretty average C.

Corey Turner, NPR News. Weather officials say the fire risk for Southern California is again on the rise. Santa Ana winds are expected across the region over the next two days. Humidity is also very low there and those two factors have fire officials concerned. Firefighters are continuing to battle two major blazes in and around Los Angeles. This is NPR News. India has opened up its border villages for what they're calling battlefield tourism. Amkar Khandekar has this report. India's defence ministry has launched a website and mobile app to promote the tourism of more

than 70 border areas where Indian soldiers have clashed with their counterparts in Pakistan and China over the last eight decades. Many of these areas are in the high mountains of the Himalayas and were earlier restricted for civilians. India's Army Chief Upendra Dwevedi said that the move is part of a series of initiatives to support the residents of border villages, who have been moving out for years due to low employment opportunities. Analysts say that their absence was making these regions vulnerable to encroachment,

especially around the Indo-China border. Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, Mumbai. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolly announced Sunday that she is endorsing former central banker Mark Carney to be the next leader of that country's Liberal Party. She said she believes Carney is best positioned to defeat the Conservative Party leader in the upcoming general election. Justin Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister earlier this year. Saquon Barkley ran through snow in Philadelphia on Sunday to score two touchdowns and he helped lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 28-22 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Barkley finished

with 205 rushing yards. The Eagles will now host the Washington Commanders next week in the NFC Championship game. The Buffalo Bills, meanwhile, held off the Ravens during a snow-filled game in Buffalo, winning 27 to 25. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation. So as a new administration promises action our news.