NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-22-2025 7PM EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

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Usher, Yo-Yo Ma, Boy Genius, Shaka Khan, Billie Eilish, Weird Al, one thing all these big stars have in common, they've all played behind NPR's Tiny Desk. And if you enter NPR's Tiny Desk Contest between now and February 10th, you could be next. Unsigned musicians can find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. Federal health agencies have been told to halt all external communications. In a memo, the acting head of the Health and Human Services Department

also told agencies, including the FDA and the CDC, to refrain from issuing documents or guidance for now. And here's Selena Simmons-Stuffin has more. The memo was sent by Acting Health Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink. It instructs all health agencies to institute an immediate pause on external communication, including social media, until items can be reviewed by an appointee of the Trump administration. It asserts such a pause is, quote, consistent with precedent. The freeze on communications was first reported

by the Washington Post. Dr. George's Benjamin is the president of the American Public Health Association and says he's giving the HHS team the benefit of the doubt. They're simply trying to get their hands around the government. This is a big government. But it creates enormous confusion. He believes the communications pause

could have been avoided if there had been a smoother transition between the Biden and Trump administrations. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News. President Trump is threatening to impose high levels of tariffs and sanctions on Russia if there's no deal to end the war in Ukraine. In Pierce Franco, Ordonez reports, Trump hauled out Russian President Putin by name today in a social media post. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly said he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he was elected president. Speaking to reporters this week, Trump said the Ukrainians want to make a deal. President Zelensky would like to have peace.

He's told me that very strongly. He'd like to have peace. But it takes two to tango. We'll see what happens. In his social media post, Trump emphasizes that he's not looking to hurt Russia and that he's actually doing Putin a very big favor considering the number of Russian lives lost and the impact on the economy. In Trump's words it's time to end the ridiculous war adding quote we can do this the easy way or the hard way and the easy way is always better. Franco, Ordonez,

and Pierre-Nous, the White House. In California, a new fire has broken out north of Los Angeles, the Hughes Fire, with mandatory evacuations. The fire started today and has grown to more than 5,000 acres. Steve Buttermann has more from Castaic. This fire in Castaic is spreading very rapidly. The location where we're at, we're near one of the main hot spots right now. The location where I was standing two minutes ago before fire crews told me to leave, that spot is now in flames. There's nothing really stopping this fire. The

wind gusts of, we're told around 30 up to 40 miles an hour wind gusts are moving the fire very rapidly. This is very dry brush and there's really nothing stopping it right now. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Castaic, California. Wall Street higher by the closing bell. The Dow up 130 points, NASDAQ up 252. This is NPR News. This week's Billboard charts are out and Bad Bunny has the country's top album. Empire Steven Thompson has more.

It's no surprise that Bad Bunny's De Be Tirar Mas Fotos is this week's top album. It just came out and the Puerto Rican rapper and singer is one of the world's biggest pop stars. But when Bad Bunny topped the latest albums chart, he did it by the thinnest of margins. The album just behind him at number two? It's Lover, Live in Paris, a 2019 recording released entirely via Taylor Swift's website. Lover, Live in Paris is no longer available for sale and it's not on streaming services so it's run on the pop charts is destined to be a short one. But for now it's the number two

album in the country. Steven Thompson, NPR News. Stellantis, which owns Chrysler and Jeep, says it plans to reopen an assembly plant in Illinois and increase production in other plants around the country. This says the automaker, whose headquarters are in Amsterdam, seeks to strengthen its U.S. manufacturing base and resolve ongoing disputes with the United Auto Workers Union. The automaker says it will move forward with plans to build a new Dodge Durango SUV at a plant in Detroit. Stellantis also says it will make investments in its plants in Toledo, where it makes the Jeep Wrangler and the Gladiator models.

U.S. futures contracts are trading lower at this hour. Dow futures down a fraction. NASDAQ futures are down about one-tenth of a percent. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News. Hey, it's Robin Hbst, NPR News.