NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-24-2026 1PM EST

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skiyvone. Another shooting involving federal immigration agents took place this morning in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement the person approached border patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and an agent fired defensive shots. The person was pronounced dead at the scene. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on new protests. This is the third shooting involving federal agents here this month. It happened outside a donut shop. a neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis. As soon as word spread, dozens of protesters showed up.

They chanted for ICE immigration agents to get out. Local police barricaded streets for blocks and blocks. They pushed the crowd away and deployed multiple rounds of tear gas. Minnesota governor, Tim Walls, called the shooting sickening and in a statement said that thousands of violent, untrained federal officers should leave the state now. The Trump administration has accused protesters of being violent and said they are impeding their agents' work. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reporting. A massive winter storm is sweeping from the central U.S. down to Texas and east toward through New England. NPR's Amy Held reports.

The storm will last through Monday. National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Pereira says it could go down in history as the biggest. This may be the all-time, both population impacts and geographical scope. With more than half, the U.S. population hit by some combination of snow, topping a foot in parts. ice, up to an inch or more, and cold as low as sub-zero. Officials say stay home, but for some people, that's outside. It's brutal out there. It's so cold, it hurts. It hurts. It's painful.

Whitney Slater was sleeping in his car, but moved to a warming center set up in Detroit. The cold will lock in the snowpack for days. In parts of the south, forecasters warn of catastrophic ice threatening the power system. Amy held NPR News. The Trump administration is canceling solar projects in Puerto Rico, despite ongoing power outages and a failing electric grid. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports the projects were meant to serve people in rural areas. In an email obtained by the Associated Press, the Energy Department warned that Puerto Rico's push toward a 100% renewable energy system could threaten the reliability of the island's power grid. The message said the rapid expansion of rooftop solar has created instability, arguing the grid cannot currently support widespread distributed solar power.

Those solar projects were funded through a $1 billion program approved by Congress in 2022 to strengthen Puerto Rico's energy system, which has struggled since Hurricane Maria. The Category 4 storm devastated the island's power grid in 2017, exposing years of underinvestment and maintaining. failures. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR. President Trump is threatening Canada with a 100 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada if that nation goes through with a trade deal with China. Trump wrote on social media he would not permit Canada to become a drop-off port for Chinese goods and products to enter the U.S. China says it's investigating the country's most senior military general. This says China's leader, Xi Jinping, has been purging dozens of high-ranking defense officials and executives. NPR's Emily Fang reports this is the most high-ranking official yet

to be targeted. General Zhang Yu-sah is being investigated for suspected violations of Communist Party discipline. Seventy-year-old Zhang is a veteran of one of the only foreign wars China's military has fought. And like China's top leader Xi Jinping, Zhang is what political analysts call a princeling. The son of a senior soldier. revolutionary who fought in a 1940 civil war, which propelled the ruling Communist Party to power. A defense ministry spokesperson also said another general, Liu Zhen Li, was under investigation as well. This past October, China's defense ministry officially removed nine generals from its ranks. And in Xi Jinping's consolidation of power, he has purged several other high-level defense officials

in an effort to tighten discipline and reduce corruption. Emily Fang and Pierre News. At the Australian Open today, play was suspended briefly due to extreme heat after the pause. Yonik Center came back from a case of cramps to beat Elliott-Sizeri and move on to play in the fourth round. In women's play, Naomi Osaka withdrew before the third round due to an abdominal injury. I'm Luis Giovanni, NPR News, Washington.