NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-23-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

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Windsor-Johnston. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor-Johnston. In his first television interview since taking office, President Trump discussed a number of topics, including his executive orders, the future of the social media app TikTok, and former President Joe Biden. NPR's Franco Ordonia's reports, Trump also defended his decision to issue pardons for nearly all of the defendants charged in the January 6 insurrection.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox's Sean Hannity, President Trump explained his thinking behind those pardons. He also cited his own legal battles and complained about the unfairness of President Biden's preemptive pardons of his family and allies. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees and I won. But I did it the hard way. It's really hard to say that they shouldn't have to go through it all.

So it is very hard to say that. Trump also criticized the Biden administration's response to hurricanes and repeated several misleading or false claims about foreign governments emptying their prisons into the US. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. Senate Republicans are moving ahead today with President Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon. Former Army National Guard officer and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth is one of Trump's most controversial nominees.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a key swing vote, says she has concerns about confirming Hegseth for the job. There is a big vote this afternoon, or the initial vote on Hegseth this afternoon. And you will see my vote when I go to the chamber. Hegseth is facing a number of allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. The most recent accuses him of being abusive toward his second wife. The European Union got more electricity from solar power than coal last year.

NPR's Jeff Brady reports coal continues its long decline in the EU, even as the industry in the US is hoping for a boost from the Trump administration. Nuclear remains the top source of electricity in the EU, followed by wind, gas and hydropower. But a review of the European Union's electricity-gener generating fuels by the think tank Ember found for the first time solar generated more power than coal. Europe launched its Green Deal five years ago, aiming to zero out climate pollution by 2050. The US has the same goal under the Paris climate agreement, though President Trump is withdrawing from that as he did during his first term.

Renewable energy has also grown rapidly in the U.S. The research firm Rhodium Group says last year solar and wind power together generated slightly more electricity than coal in the U.S. Jeff Brady, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. Hotel workers in Las Vegas have ended their strike. Roughly 700 members of the Culinary Workers Union walked off the job in November

over a pay dispute with Virgin Hotels. The union says the two sides have reached an agreement that includes a 32% increase in salaries over five years. College enrollment in the U.S. has finally rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. It fell drastically in the fall of 2020. NPR's Alyssa Nadmorny reports new data out today show a growing number of students are willing to make the investment in college. During the first two years of the pandemic, colleges and universities around the country lost more than one million students. But finally, this past fall, college enrollment in graduate and undergraduate programs

has climbed out of the hole, in total, up 4.5%. The new data comes from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Professor Talani Britton studies higher education at the University of California, Berkeley. The fact that students are both seeing the value in college and enrolling, I think is really great news. It actually, you know, points to a recovery. Freshman enrollment grew more than 5% mostly at community colleges. Alyson Adworni, NPR News. Thailand has become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legally recognize same-sex marriage. Hundreds of people started to register their marriages in Bangkok today. The

legislation passed by lawmakers last June also allows same-sex couples to adopt children. This is NPR News in Washington.