NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-24-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

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Technologist Paul Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it. Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. Vice President Vance will address the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. today. As NPR's Sarah McCammon reports, activists are gathering for the anti-abortion march at a time when conservatives control all three branches of government.

President Trump has bragged about his role in choosing Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But since since then he's offered mixed messages about whether he'd support new federal restrictions as some activists are calling for. Trump's vice president, J.D. Vance, is set to address the march in person, his first public appearance since the inauguration. Here's Vance at the Ohio March for Life in 2023. For the millions of babies as yet unborn in this country, we are gonna fight for you every step of the way. There are many steps to take.

I'll be right there walking with you. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are also scheduled to speak. Sarah McKenna and PR News Washington. Trump administration officials say they have rounded up hundreds of migrants illegally in the U.S. and they claim they've deported more out of the country.

Officials in Newark, New Jersey, say agents raided a city business yesterday. But Newark's mayor says immigration agents also detained American citizens, including an American military veteran. The mayor says people are being unlawfully terrorized. The raids come as a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trump's executive order aiming to end birthright citizenship for some Americans. California Attorney General Rob Bonta noted the federal judge described Trump's actions as unconstitutional.

We expect that similar reception from courts throughout the United States. Any court that is fair, that is objective, that looks at the facts and applies the law, I believe we'll find the same way. He spoke to NPR's all things considered. President Trump's nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, is a step closer to Senate confirmation.

His nomination cleared a procedural vote yesterday. The full Senate vote could happen today. And Pierce Deirdre-Walsh reports two Republican senators say they will vote against Hegseth. Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski announced she could not support Hegseth, citing his lack of experience and reports about excessive drinking

and other inappropriate behavior that raised questions about his character. A second GOP senator, Susan Collins of Maine, also plans to vote no. She raised doubt about him leading the large department and his previous comments about women serving in group combat roles. Hegseth backtracked on those, but Collins says she's not convinced his position has changed. Hegseth is not expected to get any support from Democrats, but he can afford to lose as many as three GOP votes.

Hegseth appears likely to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense, mostly along party lines. Deirdre Walsh in PR News, the Capitol. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are lower. This is NPR. For Israeli female, hostages are expected to be released this weekend in exchange for about 200 Palestinian prisoners. This is part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. The names of the hostages, including some soldiers, are expected to be released tomorrow.

In the U.S., the operator of a now closed wood treatment plant in Eugene, Oregon, has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of violating federal law. From member station KLCC, Brian Bull reports the company president will pay $1.5 million in criminal fines. For nearly 80 years before closing in 2022, J.H. Baxter operated his plant amidst complaints of foul odors.

Now Baxter and company president, Georgia Baxter Krause, have admitted to violations of the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and lying to regulators about the duration and frequency of toxic releases. The news is being welcomed by locals, including Eric Dion, who survived pediatric cancer. Now it's just across the street there on Baxter Street. Up and down that bike path all the time. It's not a clean ditch, but I did it anyways, and I regret that I did.

Baxter Krause will be sentenced on April 22nd, which is Earth Day. For NPR News, I'm Brian Bull, in Eugene, Oregon. The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. will publicly unveil two giant pandas today. Ching Bao, a female, and Bao Li, a male, are giant pandas that are on a decade-long loan from China. And yes, fans, there's gonna be a panda cam. National Zoo officials will put up a live stream. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News from Washington. Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR News from Washington.