NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-21-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

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This is Eric Glass. In this American life, sometimes we just show up somewhere, turn on our tape recorders, and see what happens. If you can't get seven cars in 12 days, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, holy, what are you kidding me? Like this car dealership, trying to sell its monthly quota of cars, and it is not going well. I just don't want one balloon to a car. Balloon the whole freaking place so it looks like I'm circus. Real life stories every week. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Some January 6 rioters

serving jail time for their roles in the attack on the US Capitol are now free. That includes the leader of the Proud Boys, a group that played a prominent role in the events of that day. They were freed in a sweeping clemency issue for 1,500 plus people last night by President Donald Trump, and Pierce Carey Johnson reports. Already, we're seeing people being released from prisons and jails, including Enrique Tarrio.

He's the former chairman of the Far Right Proud Boys Group, and he had been serving a prison term of 22 years. He's now free, according to his lawyer, Naib Hassan. I can tell you Enrique is looking forward to moving forward with his life and being a productive member of society. Several other members of the Proud Boys also won pardons and some had their sentences commuted.

NPR's Kerry Johnson, Trump freed individuals convicted of plotting to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power and of assaulting police officers after his 2020 election laws. New York representative Elise Stefanik is telling senators she'll push Trump's America First agenda at the UN if she's confirmed as the next US ambassador there. She's also vying to review US funding of United Nations agencies. More from MPR's Michelle Kellerman. Even before Elise Stefanik appeared at her confirmation hearing, President Trump signed an executive order pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization. Stefanik says the Trump administration will review all funding at U.N. agencies. Our tax dollars should not be complicit in propping up entities that

are counter to American interests, anti-Semitic, or engaging in fraud, corruption, or terrorism. If confirmed, she said she would work to counter China's influence at the UN and defend Israel. She even sided with far-right Israeli politicians who claim Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank, the occupied Palestinian territory. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. The Deep South is experiencing both bitter, cold and a rare wave of snow and ice. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports more than 30 million people across the region are under a winter storm warning. Forecasters say this is a once-in-a-generation storm that's dumped more than 10 inches of snow in parts of the Gulf Coast.

Meteorologist Stacey Denson is with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, Louisiana. But it is just really just crazy, I guess, is the best way to describe seeing this amount of snow. I'm actually from the area, so grew up down here and this is just nothing like I've ever experienced. She says whiteout conditions early in the day prompted forecasters to issue an unprecedented blizzard warning.

Parts of I-10 are closed and thousands of flights have been canceled. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Orange Beach, Alabama. The dial was up 537 points. This is NPR. A first-day executive action taken by the Trump administration keeps the video-sharing app TikTok up and running for the next 75 days, giving the platform's Chinese owners more time to find a U.S. buyer. ByteDance missed its January 19 deadline to sell the platform, but Trump's order says his administration will not enforce the law banning the app. Trump has promised to keep the social media platform open, crediting it with helping

him win re-election, however Trump's legal authority preserved TikTok under terms of U.S. Supreme Court ruling is not clear. Space turns out to be kind of chatty. MPR's Regina Barber reports on a natural phenomenon that produces bursts of radiation scientists call chorus waves. That sound isn't from Star Trek. It's an audio clip created from radiation coming 100,000 miles above Earth's surface. These waves are thought to be created from bunched-up charged electrons trapped in Earth's magnetic field.

These rising and lowering waves of radiation have been studied for the past 70 years. And a new study from Beijing, China, published in the journal Nature, was the first to find these waves at this location where Earth's magnetic field is weak and less uniform. This information could help protect satellites and other spacecraft from damage, since coarse waves can accelerate particles to close to the speed of light. Regina Barber, NPR News. With apparent talks now of a possible settlement, a high-stakes trial, bidding Britain's Prince Harry against Robert Murdoch's UK tabloids is on hold. Harry the younger son of King

Charles and one other claimant contend the publisher of the Sun hacked their phones and unlawfully snooped on them. The publisher has denied the allegations. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. Sending I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.