NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-25-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. During a Friday trip to two disaster sites, President Trump said he's considering getting rid of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Trump said is doing a poor job of providing assistance to people and businesses after natural disasters. Trump says he's considering having the states handle disaster relief. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell says some of the proposals the White House could implement may work. There's always opportunity to continue to improve, and I think having somebody come by and take a look at it is not a bad thing. But just, I think that it's important to start the conversation with really understanding what FEMA's role is also at the same time. FEMA typically responds to disasters when local leaders request a presidential emergency

declaration. It's a signal that the incident is beyond a state's ability to handle. A federal judge is barring the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group, Stuart Rhodes, from entering Washington, D.C. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. Oath Keepers founder and leader Stuart Rhodes was convicted by a federal jury of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 by a mob of Trump supporters. US District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Rhodes to 18 years in prison and called him an ongoing threat to the country. On Monday after after taking office again, President Trump commuted Rhodes' sentence to time served.

And since his release from prison, Rhodes was spotted at the U.S. Capitol. Now Judge Mehta has issued an order prohibiting Rhodes and seven other oath keepers convicted in connection with the Capitol riot from entering Washington, D.C. or the U.S. Capitol building or grounds without first obtaining the court's permission. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, D.C. or the U.S. Capitol building or grounds without first obtaining the court's permission. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. Families of refugees approved to resettle in the United States are now in limbo after their flights have been canceled. This after President Trump signed an executive order

suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. From Member Station New Hampshire Public Radio, Jackie Harris reports a local resettlement group has been breaking the news to its clients. New Hampshire's Ascentria Care Alliance was expecting 12 refugees to come within the next month. All of them had fled a conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians in the last year. Jean Hakuzimana works at Asentria, resettling refugees in the state. He says several people in New Hampshire were supposed to be reunited with their children or spouses, and are now in limbo.

The communities are crying, and I can say depressed as well, because of those news. Hakuzimana says he's worried by misinformation regarding refugees who legally enter the U.S. after an extensive vetting process, including criminal background checks and medical exams. For NPR News, I'm Jackie Harris. This is NPR. U.S. tennis player Madison Keys is aiming to win her first Grand Slam title going up against the two-time defending champion Ariana Sabelanka at the Australian Open, the women's finals. As Christine Kukula reports from Melbourne, it comes seven years after the Americans last

reach a Grand Slam final. The 19th seed Keys has had an impressive run in Melbourne to reach the Australian Open final, beating world number two Poland's Igor Świętyk in a dramatic third set tie break to reach the last two. Now the 29-year-old faces world number one Irina Sabalenka from Belarus, who's vying to secure a third consecutive Australian Open title. The two have played each other five times before with Sabalenka winning four of the matches, most recently at the China Open in October.

Keys, the underdog in what's expected to be a blockbuster final, is playing some of the best tennis of her career. For NPR News, I'm Christina Kukola in Melbourne. Minneapolis-based Target now says it will scale back their corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This in the wake of President Donald Trump's federal executive orders mandating the government cancel many of these programs. The programs were designed to increase minority representation by considering such factors as race, gender, and sexual orientation when it came to hiring and promotions.

Target's announcements mean that it will end the program designed to help black employees build meaningful careers within the company. From Washington, this is NPR News.