NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-24-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

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JANINE HURST, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR,

NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, N Trump has described FEMA as too slow and bureaucratic. I'll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA. I think, frankly, FEMA's not good. Trump did not offer immediate details on this vision, and he sidestepped questions about a timeline for his plan. But he has suggested that states know how to handle disaster recoveries in their own regions better than outsiders coming in.

Trump is also visiting Southern California, still reeling from fires. The president has indicated he sees more aid for that state as leverage for getting support from Democrats in Congress for some of his legislative priorities. Asma Khalid, NPR News. And firefighters are still battling those wildfires in and around Los Angeles. Steve Utterman has more. With winds again diminishing, fire crews continue to make progress. One of the newest fires, the Hughes Fire, is still burning north of LA in the Castaic area, but it's no longer seriously threatening homes or businesses. It's now largely burning in wilderness areas,

and fire crews are slowly getting more containment. This weekend, some rain is in the forecast. It won't be much. In some areas, it could reach an inch. It could help. However, with any rain now comes another problem, potential mudslides and burned out mountain areas which no longer have any vegetation. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.

The Trump administration is trying to contain criticism from the White House adviser Elon Musk of a $500 billion AI infrastructure plan. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, Musk has been attacking the project known as Stargate since it was announced earlier this week. They don't actually have the money. That's what Elon Musk wrote on his social platform X about a White House partnership between chat GPT maker OpenAI, software company Oracle and Japanese tech investor SoftBank. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot back saying Musk was wrong, quote, as you surely

know, White House officials are trying to deescalate the feud over the AI mega deal. But things between Musk and Altman have been tense for years. Musk, who runs his own AI company, was an early investor in OpenAI and has claimed in a lawsuit that the firm deceived Musk into believing it would stay a non-profit research lab. And another post-Altman told Musk, what is great for the country isn't always optimal for your companies. Bobbi Allen, NPR News.

Preliminary closing numbers on Wall Street. The Dow is down 140 points. The NASDAQ is down 99. The S&P 500 is down 47. For the NASDAQ, that's down about a half percent. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration is giving immigration authorities the power to quickly expel migrants

who were temporarily admitted to the country by the Biden administration. About 1.4 million migrants were admitted to the U.S. under two Biden-era programs, the CBP One app that allowed migrants to schedule asylum claims appointments, and another one that led in certain people of people from certain Cuba, Haiti, rather, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Critics of Biden's humanitarian parole argued that the program was illegal. The U.S. government is trying to extradite a private investigator from the UK for his alleged role in a hacking campaign that targeted American climate activists. A lawyer for the private investigator said in a London courtroom, the hacking operation her client is accused of leading

was allegedly ordered by a lobbying firm working for ExxonMobil. And Piers Michael Copley has more. A lawyer for the private investigator said the U.S. is trying to prosecute her client for a hacking operation allegedly commissioned by DCI Group, a public affairs firm in Washington, DC that represented ExxonMobil. The private investigator is Amit Forlitt. He's previously denied ordering or paying for hacking. The Justice Department didn't respond to a message seeking comment. A British lawyer representing the US said Forlitt allegedly worked for a DC public affairs firm, which allegedly represented one of the world's

biggest oil and gas companies. DCI and Exxon declined to comment on being mentioned in court. Both have denied being involved in hacking. Michael Copley, NPR News. And I'm Janene Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.