NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-20-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

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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 on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices. The S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever. Follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Some 20,000 people packed Washington's

Capital One arena today to hear President Trump speak in person following his indoor inauguration. Many who went cited what they described as a favorite Trump policy, immigration. Here's NPR's Frank Langford. Joanne Floyd traveled from Mississippi and spent five hours in the cold trying to get into the arena on Sunday, only to be turned back. This time, she got in. The biggest thing that I love about Donald Trump is those borders and it's sickening, very sickening to see under Biden's administration, all of these illegal immigrants coming into

the country. Trump is declaring a national emergency at the southern border and is pledging to deport immigrants who've been convicted of crimes. As COVID-19 era restrictions eased, illegal border crossings rose sharply under President Biden but are now at their lowest level in recent years. Frank Langford, NPR News, Washington. In his inaugural address, which focused heavily on Latin America, Trump said the US will again consider itself a growing nation that expands its territory and renewed his threat to seize the US-built Panama Canal. Reporter John Oduz says more. The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and is a key route for world

shipping. It was built and operated by the US, but under a treaty signed by both countries in 1977, the canal was handed over to Panama. In his address, Trump insisted that US ships are now being overcharged to use the waterway and claimed, without evidence, that it's controlled by China. China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back. However, Trump offered no details on how that would happen and Panama's president, José Raúl Molino, insisted that the canal belongs to Panama.

For MPR News, I'm John Otis. President Trump, during his inaugural inaugural speech mentioned under his administration there will be only two genders, male and female. Trump also pledged to end federal government diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In his final moments as president, Joe Biden preemptively pardoned several members of his own family. NPR's Asma Hall reports it was an unusual move. In a statement, Biden wrote that his family had been subjected to, quote, unrelenting attacks and threats that he does not foresee ending.

And therefore, he was pardoning his brother James and his wife, his sister Valerie and her husband, along with his other brother Francis. He said the issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that they did anything wrong. But it's a sign of the distrust Biden has for the new administration. This despite Biden's longstanding avowal of respect for the rule of law. Late last year, Biden issued a sweeping pardon of his son Hunter, who had been convicted of gun and tax related crimes.

Asma Khalid, NPR News. This is NPR. The Hubble Space Telescope has completed the most comprehensive survey yet of the Andromeda Galaxy. As NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports, the new images will help scientists understand the history of our galactic neighbor. The spiral-shaped Andromeda Galaxy is the closest galaxy to our Milky Way, only about 2.5 million light years away. That's made it tough for astronomers to construct a full picture of Andromeda, because to see it, telescopes need to cover a relatively large swath of the sky. Now NASA's Hubble telescope has completed the widest look yet. In a study published last week in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers added about 100 million stars in the southern half of Andromeda.

It took the telescope over a decade, about 1,000 revolutions around Earth, to collect all of the photos. The analysis will help researchers reconstruct Andromeda's history, which scientists suspect involved collisions with smaller galaxies. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. National Women's leader Cecile Richards has died. Richards, the daughter of the late Texas governor and Richards, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2023.

Richards led the group Planned Parenthood through some of the organization's most tumultuous years. Planned Parenthood has long been a lightning rod for debate, and Richards over her 12 years leading the group. Richards spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November. Cecil Richards was 67 years old. Critical futures prices closed modestly lower today, oiled down 91 cents a barrel to settle at 76.48 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies, I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.