NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-21-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

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Lyle from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been sworn in, becoming the first cabinet secretary in the Trump administration to get started in his job. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, Vice President J.D. Vance did the honors. In the vice president's ceremonial office, Vance was still getting used to his new role. Let's do it. Okay. So, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Marco Rubio, do solemnly swear. Vance said it was his first time ever swearing in an official to the U.S. government. So help you God.

So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. Secretary. And with that, Rubio became the nation's first Latino secretary of state. Rubio said Trump was elected to keep promises. And when it comes to foreign policy, that means putting America first. Tamara Keith, NPR News, The White House. Rubio later addressed State Department staff, praising them as the most effective and experienced diplomatic corps in the world. Whoever yesterday President Trump signed in order to make it easier to fire potentially thousands of federal agency employees and replace them with political

allies. Of the 2.3 million civilians in federal government, roughly 4,000 are currently political appointees. The administration is recruiting a number of big tech executives and Piers Windsor-Johnson reports more than a dozen industry leaders have been tapped to serve in government and advisory roles, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who's expected to play a pivotal role in Trump's second term in office. Matthew Dalek is a political historian at George Washington University. He says Trump courted many of these tech executives in the name of free speech.

They're seeking to protect what they have and what they built. And like many other companies, more legacy companies, they don't like government regulations. They don't like the government telling them what to do. They have a kind of libertarian streak. A series of strict regulations were implemented during the Biden administration, prompting pushback from big tech. President Trump has made clear that he takes a more lenient approach to regulation, specifically when it comes to artificial intelligence. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington.

A rare winter storm is gripping the U.S. Gulf Coast. Here's NPR's Debbie Elliott. Governors in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida have all declared states of emergency as the snow starts to pile up in places that rarely see it. A thick coat is blanketing New Orleans' French Quarter, and blizzard warnings were up in Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana. Officials across the Gulf South are urging people to shelter in place and be ready for possible power and water outages. Forecasters predict historic snowfall amounts for much of the region. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Orange Beach, Alabama. You're listening to NPR. A fire at a popular Turkish ski resort in the Bolu Mountains today killed at least 76

people. Dozens more were injured. Bolu Governor Abdulaziz Aydin says it took more than an hour for fire engines to arrive at the Grand Kartal Hotel because of its location and the frigid weather conditions in Turkey. Television images showed flames engulfing the top floors of the hotel and linen sheets hanging out of windows. Witnesses say some panic residents jumped from the 12-story building. Authorities say the hotel was operating at high capacity during a busy holiday break in the country. Jules Feiffer, the cartoonist best known for his work in the 1961 novel The Phantom Tollbooth has died from congestive heart failure at his home in upstate New York. He was 95 years old. NPR's Andrew Limbong looks back at the Pulitzer Prize winner's career.

Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth is a bit of a weird kid's book that takes you to unpredictable places, which made it a perfect fit for Juster's neighbor, Jules Pfeiffer. Here's Pfeiffer in an NPR interview last year. The one thing I don't want to know, ever, is where I'm going before I get there. I follow the orders of the book. The book tells me where it wants to go, and I write and I draw accordingly. Pfeiffer was born in 1929. He spent decades working for the Village of Voice, winning the Pulitzer Prize and editorial cartooning in 1986. Pfeiffer tried new things throughout his career, coming out with his first graphic novel for middle school kids last year.

Andrew Limbong, NPR News. This is NPR.