NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-24-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

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Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked a Trump administration order curtailing what's known as birthright citizenship.

NPR's Martin Cassidy says the judge called the order blatantly unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, but on Monday, President Trump signed an order withholding citizenship from children born to mothers who are in the country illegally or on temporary visas. Several states immediately sued, and a federal judge has now ordered the administration to hold off changing the citizenship rules. Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown welcomed the move. We're back to the status

quo. We're back to the rule that has been the law of this land now for generations, that you are an American if you were born in the United States. But this is just a two-week pause as the states and the Justice Department prepare for the next steps in lawsuits over birthright citizenship. Martin Castee, NPR News, Seattle. President Trump spoke with Saudi Arabia's crown prince in his first call with a foreign leader. NPR's Ava Batrani reports the heir to the throne pledged to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the kingdom's money in the U.S. over the next four years. Saudi Arabia was Trump's first stop overseas as president during his first time in office. And he told reporters in Washington earlier this week he'd be open to making the kingdom

his first stop abroad again. That is if the Saudis pledge hundreds of billions of dollars toward the American economy, as they did before in a major arms deal. It appears Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman got the message. The Saudi state-run news agency says that in a call with Trump, the prince expressed his intention to broaden Saudi investments in trade with the U.S. by $600 billion or more. U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia were strained under President Biden, but Trump has vowed to fix that and says he'll be working to get Saudi Arabia to establish full ties with Israel

during his term in office. Ayah Boutraoui, NPR News, Dubai. Evacuation orders have been lifted for tens of thousands of people in Southern California as firefighters on the ground and crews using airplanes drop water making progress against the latest wildfire in the mountains north of Los Angeles. Officials say the fire known as the Use Fire didn't expand much Thursday and the aerial water drops are helping. Meanwhile, California's Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday signed legislation to spend 2.5

billion dollars in state money to assist Los Angeles. I'm honored, thank you, to sign these two bills appropriating two and a half billion dollars effective immediately to the communities impacted by these wildfires. Meanwhile the forecast for Friday is now calling for gusty winds but relief could be coming over the weekend with rain. On Wall Street the three major stock indexes closed the day up Thursday. The Dow, the S&P and the NASDAQ were all positive. This is NPR News. Tina Turner's record label has released a previously lost song by the late rock icon. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports Hot For You Baby isn't creating sparks among critics,

but it's a welcoming dose of nostalgia for her fans. Hot For You Baby was originally destined for Tina Turner's blockbuster 1984 album Private Dancer, but it didn't make the cut. The song languished forgotten for roughly 40 years until Turner's record label rediscovered the master tape. Rolling Stone magazine contributing editor Anthony de Curtis says Hot For You Baby is a bit one-dimensional, not nearly as nuanced as tracks like What's Love Got to do with it. But you know, it's got energy and it's got power and it's got excitement. The critic says most importantly, it makes us feel like Tina Turner, who died in 2023,

is still with us. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. Family members who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin and the company itself, have agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a new settlement over lawsuits concerning the powerful prescription painkiller. Attorneys generals from several states have sued the drug maker. They announced the settlement Thursday. An earlier deal last year was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, and those negotiations were reopened. Former Texas Congressman John Radcliffe has been sworn into office as the new CIA director. Earlier in the day, the Senate,

by a wide bipartisan margin, confirmed him he becomes the second person in Donald Trump's cabinet to secure approval from the Senate. From Washington, this is NPR News. I'm Dan Rundman. Supported by the U.S. Supreme Court, President Trump is back in Washington pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. This is NPR News. I'm Dan Ruhman.